The Garden

With the manpower of Orlando, Andy, and Patrick, the garden space here has expanded.  We made two large raised beds and filled them with good compost and soil. 

  There are renegade papayas and gingers sprouting up.  Being from the Midwest, I thought they must be oak or maple trees… something we definitely don’t want.   It’s amazing to have unplanned fruit trees popping up!

 

Talon and I spend a little time in the garden every day.  So far we’ve planted radishes, green onions, carrots, green beans, cucumbers and a sprouted potato.  Many more seeds and sprouts to come!

 

Last month, Talon and I began cursive writing.  Talon loves to paint, so we created a garland of each letter of the alphabet that we painted.  We also incorporated some handwork into this activity and created a finger-knitted braided chain to string the letters on.  It is hanging in the front of the school room, brightening up the space!

For the next two weeks, Talon and I are talking about World Religion Stories.  In this block, we will discuss three stories from the Old Testament, three stories about the Buddha and three traditional Native American stories.  Here are some of the painting activities we’ve been working on:

 Painting the 7 Days of Creation

Moses and the Burning Bush

There is a wonderful documentary that has just been released about the life of Rudolf Steiner, the man who's philosophy (anthroposophy) is behind Waldorf education.  It can be downloaded here: Rudolf Steiner Film

 ~~~~~{{{here are some of the drawings the children have created in our class}}}~~~~~

~the lessons I've been following are from the Live Education! grade 1 series~

http://www.live-education.com/ 

~G~

~Golden Goose~

tongue twister~Three gray geese in a green field grazing

~L~

~Lily pad~

tongue twister~The light that lingers long and low, Makes the lovely colors glow

~F~

~Firebird~

tongue twister~Far in the forest on fir-trees tall, Feathery snowflakes flutter and fall.

~C~

~Crystal Cave~

tongue twister~Crisp Christmas cookies (say 5 times quickly)

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~{{{~~~~{~{{{{{{{{~}}}}}}}}~}~~~}}}~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~here are some of Talon's form drawing exercises~

 a little more information about this powerful learning tool...Form Drawing: A Three-fold Perspective

~and a color star that Talon created while experimenting with color mixing~

inspiration

This week we are introducing the letters G, C, and F.  The corresponding imagery will be a Goose, a Cave and a Firebird.  

*On Wednesday, Brianna and Reni and I made little short books that I asked them to make up themselves.  My mom, who is a reading specialist in Kansas City, suggested this activity.  She said that it gives the children the understanding that reading is simply spoken words written on paper.  We started with just a few pages and each girl wrote their individual story about a CAT: we were introducing the letter C that day.  I'd like to expand on this activity and cater it to individual needs in the future.*  

Here is a link to a great article about how reading is taught in Waldorf schools.  In our class, there are definitely some more traditional elements incorporated (for example, the use of early readers) and we're a little developmentally early.  I found it to be some good, inspirational food for thought.  Hope you do too!

Myth Busting: How Reading is Taught in Waldorf Schools

a River, a Lily, and a Goose

This week we are talking about the letters R, L, and G.  The images we'll be drawing are: a river for R, a lily pad for L, and a goose for G.  Talk about these letters with your kids!  Ask them what they can spot around the house that begins with these letters.

~Last week we  had a birthday party for Reni's doll, Mousie...

 Cecily made delicious cupcakes and the girls got to put the frosting on themselves~

~Last Friday, we played a 'fishing' game.  The girls were asked to fish for a letter and identify something in the room that began with that letter.  Each fish had either an M, D, C, N or B... letters we had talked about in the previous two weeks~

~...and here are Talon and Julian peacefully fingerknitting.  Once they got the hang of it they loved it!  They were coming up with all kinds of ideas and made belts for their mamas, then belts for their play swords~
 

today we made pinch pots!!  the girls were very excited about the color of their hands... and the smell of the clay.  it was super fun!