Playing with Jack Frost

Imagine the joy of children arriving to school with the ground covered in frost and even snow! They laughed with glee as they collected all the ice they could find.  We built a cozy fire every day, told stories, worked on our crafts and handwork, played our flutes for the snow fairies, and observed the plants withdrawing their life forces into their resting places under the earth's blanket.

Yurt Insulation!

Thank you to all who helped to insulate our yurt and keep us warm through the winter and cool in the summer!

Shoemaking

The children worked on their shoes as the ground became colder and harder during the Autumn months.  For their first pair, we chose a pattern that is modelled after moccasins.

They the story of Little Tuppen which includes a cow generously offering her leather to make shoes:  http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=baldwin&book=fables&story=tuppen
The 3rd grade was studying textiles this year so they shared an account of how leather is made with our class.  Later, we also heard the Grimm's story of the Elves and the Shoemaker.  It's a story about how the elementals help a hard working craftsperson who gives his trust and effort to the world, even in difficult circumstances. http://www.authorama.com/grimms-fairy-tales-39.html

We sang our shoemaker song while we worked.
The children developed their fine motor skills, joyful focus, and confidence.  They used awls, sewing needles, sinew, and scissors. It's not easy to sew leather! When needed, the shoes will help them to keep both feet "firmly on the ground."  The children grew in relationship with each other as they noticed that everyone had different strengths and humbly helped each other.  Shoes are something they will use almost every day, and now they have a more conscious, direct experience with them.

During our letters block, we played with all the sounds that help us in our work.  During our numbers block, we counted stitches, discovered the twoness of our feet as we stand upright, counted by twos forwards and backwards, stepped our numbers, and played many other number games in preparation for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division which we will explore in February.

We're looking forward to wearing them while we jump rope in the Spring!

Lantern Walk

I hope to every family at our Lantern Walk next Wednesday, November 6th at Tryon Creek State Park at sunset (5pm.)  Until then, the children will be making lanterns, learning songs, and hearing stories about caring our light through the darkness of winter.

Flutes

We've met our flutes and are getting to know them! We even began playing and will practice every Tuesday and Thursday from now on.  CHeck back here for more info...

November Conferences

Conferences are coming up (before Thanks giving break) and I'm excited to be able to share our work with all of you in person and hear your questions and observations!  We'll also be discussing the Handle Institute's sensory screenings that Judy Russell performed for us.  Check here soon for more info...

Quality of Numbers and Samhain Story

For our first week of our first numbers block, I told a story adapted from "A Journey to the Shining Isle" from Starhawk's book titled Circle Round.  It's a story about leaving an apple out for Grandfather Deer on Samhain (Halloween).  He brings you to a river as wide as the sea where a Ferry person asks you riddles (in my version).  Each day, they ask a riddle which is answered by a number.  Here are the first two:  

 1) As straight as a spear I stand, to reach for the sky with both my hands, my shape reveals how many "I am"  Answer: The number one!  I am the only one who is me!

2) Alone I cannot feel myself, but with the one I can feel the other.  You have them both, what am I and what is my sign? Answer: My two hands! 

And so on...

Eventually, the children cross the river to the Shining Isle where they meet their ancestors, play and eat wonderful food!  They then meet the Goddess with two moons in her eyes who is stirring a pot full of stars.  These are the spirits of the children who have yet to be born.  The brew tastes sweet and will help the whoever drinks of it through hard times.  Eventually, they make their way back home.

The children are asked "What is One?', 2, 3 etc each night.  The day after the number is revealed, we find things which express oneness (the circle, ourselves), twoness (our eyes, hands, sun and moon), threeness (triangles) and so on all around us.  We are so lucky be out in nature for this!  We can also count our garden beds, the animals we see, etc.  We also are stepping to our verses and then counting in ones, twos, and threes forwards and backwards. This is all preparing us for arithmetic, and some of the children are discovering the connection already. We draw some of those things.

The next day, a new number is revealed, and we write the number from 2 days before in basic Roman numerals (a series of I's) and in Arabic numerals (1,2,3,4 etc.)

Eurythmy

From a flyer given to the families attending a Eurythmy performance...

"Eurythmy is an art in which the heart learns to speak and sing
through flowing movements of the body. The movement choreographed to
poetry and music bring the word and tone to life in the visible world.
Entering the cultural life of man in 1912, under the guidance of
Rudolf Steiner, Eurythmy began as a performing art and soon found its
way into education in the Waldorf school.

Waldorf education is a worldwide movement in which each child learns
not only through thinking but also through their feeling and willing
as well. Every subject is taught so that the child can approach it
with his intellect, experience it artistically and work it into his
will through physical activity.

Eurythmy is the heart of Waldorf education. The wealth of pedagogical
possibilities within Eurythmy is limitless in that it can enhance and
develop imagination, creativity, limb coordination, dexterity,
individual initiative, and an ability to work harmoniously within the
social sphere. Furthermore, it brings the students a deeper
understanding of many aspects of their curriculum, in particular
geometry, music theory, grammar, and poetic structure such as rhythm,
rhyme, assonance, alliteration, etc."

Here is an email I received from Miss Orchid, our Asst. Fairy Garden Teacher and a Eurythmist:

Hello, it was requested by one of the parents that I send her a little
bit more on Eurythmy. Though it is hard to express in to words, below
are a few attempts.  It may be too extensive for all the parents to
want to read or try to understand - but feel free to pick and choose
from these descriptions to pass along as interest may arise in what
the children are actually doing in their eurythmy class.

-OrchidFrom the book "Rudolf Steiner" by Johannes Hemleben

"Architecture, the plastic arts, and painting have been a part of all
civilization. Art always reflects the spirit of the age. The pyramids
of Egypt, the Greek temples, the medieval cathedrals, are each a
manifestation of their age. But Eurythmy is something new. It is
neither gymnastics nor dance nor is it mime. True, it is an art of
motion, but at the same time is is an art of consciousness. To
understand this we have to strip from the word 'consciousness'
everything that is suggestive of 'intellectuality'. No art comes from
the intellect, which is the enemy of all true art. The aim of Eurythmy
is to make visible by gesture and movement the spiritual conformity
and quality of words and sounds, and make of them an artistic
experience. This requires 'spiritual consciousness', which makes the
unseen vital processes that lie behind every uttered vowel or
consonant, every syllable, every word, every sound, something that can
be enjoyed as an artistic experience. From the subjective-objective
experience Eurythmy is borne as visible speech, as visible song.
Starting in a very modest way in 1912, Eurythmy under the aegis of
Marie Steiner developed in three directions: as stage art, as an
educational aid in schools, and as a therapeutic method. "

From Rudolf Steiner:

"Man as we see him before us in complete in himself. But this
completeness is the result of motion...And when we develop eurythmy we
are carried back to the very beginnings of motion...God does eurythmy,
and in so doing produces the human form.  ...for eurythmy means in a
certain sense the making of gestures, yet no transient random
gestures, but cosmic ones, loaded with meaning, such as cannot be
otherwise and are not due to any human caprice.  There is perhaps no
art in which one is made so intensely aware of being at one with the
Cosmos, as in eurythmy."


And here is a description of Euythmy by one of our students and her mother:

Kaia's description of eurythmy (unsolicited - she chose to write this herself, I simply typed what she wrote so I could email it to you):
"Eurythmy is where you do all of these movements, and we each have our own special eurhythmy shoes. If you have a certain kind of color, the bottom of your shoe is hard, like for tapping, and it's the same color as the top of your shoes, which are soft.

I love the stories the most, especially the one where the dragon flies up to the sun and swallows it. We flapped our arms like dragons, and I felt strong.

I like the stepping stones, where we step and say a poem.

I like skipping around the circle while we clap and sing:

"Skippity skip
Skippity skip
Under and over
We never slip
Pepper and salt
Pepper and salt
Over and under
We never halt"

When I do eurythmy, I feel happy because I like to skip and to sing."

Sarah's observations of Kaia:
"I believe we all chose to share and teach what we are most excited to have learned ourselves. And as the eldest of 8 cousins in her family, Kaia loves to teach. She brings home imaginative stories and songs and poems she learned at school and involves her very willing friends and family in a gentle way, guiding each of them through movement and lyrics. Each child is engaged with a part of their own-maybe a cat who chases a mouse or a farmer tending his growing vegetable. Every time we have guests, Kaia encourages everyone to participate ineurythmy because it enlivens her spirit, which is clearly contagious, and eurythmy provides an artistic outlet for her.
I've also noticed that when eurythmy is integrated into the curriculum, Kaia picks up concepts very quickly. Counting and multiples are an excellent example of this: The students learn by incorporated movements how to count by multiples of any number. Kaia's favorite is 4. "One" is counted by touching the toes, "Two" is counted by touching the knees, "Three" is counted by touching the shoulders, "Four" is counted by reaching up to the sky. "Five" starts again at the toes, and each time she reaches to the sky, she knows it is a multiple of four. Another example how eurythmy works is with the memorization of poetry and rhymes. There is an emphasis on the rhythm of the words, and when movement is incorporated into stories, there is a deeper understanding of the message. The golden sun and the apples on the trees are represented by specific movements when recited, so that the students feel confident retelling because they understood it so well to begin with.
I am also grateful for the effects eurythmy has had on Kaia's speech and annunciation, as well as her posture. Young children eventually learn to fine tune their speech and movements, but eurythmy helps guide them in subtle ways they may not even realize. It feels like playful expression rather than scheduled therapy.
Thank you for sharing eurythmy with our family; I have no doubt its effects will be far-reaching."

Vowels (Wind Sounds), consonants (stick sounds) and the World Tree

For the final week of our first writing block, I told a story given to me by Miss April, and changed greatly by myself.  It was a very windy Autumn week, and the children's imaginations met nature quite harmoniously as they discovered the secrets of the "wind sounds", or vowels.  Though the pictures I painted with words for the children were more colorful and detailed, the essence of the story is this:

Long ago, the first people told each other their stories under the World Tree.  They never had to remember them, because they never forgot.  Then, one day, one of them dropped a story into the sea, and it sunk to the bottom.  It was not lost, it just sat there on the bottom of the sea, waiting to be recovered.  The first people asked the Sun, Moon, and Stars for help, and they spoke with Mother Earth who decided to send Brother Wind to help.  The Wind began to howl around the World Tree, and it dropped its branches to the ground.  They began to fall like this: (I'd like to post a photo here of a few branch letters we made during the storytelling-they were shaped like B, M, T and other consonants and we made the sound as they fell.)  The sticks reminded the First People of the stick sounds, so they began to tell their stories with the stick sounds.  (We practiced saying each others' names using only consonants-mine was T-CH-R Fr-nk.)  Then they paused, listened and looked at the great wind howling and raised their arms in awe, and said "aaawwwsome!"  As a stick flew at one person, she crossed her arms in protection and said "stay!" Then one person stood, raised her arm to the sun and said "me!"  Another did the same but put both arms to the side and said "I am me."  They all joined hands in a big O and said "O, we are whole." (we then sang and danced our "Make New Friends" song we've been practicing all year.)  And, after the wind let up a bit, a little boy noticed a small bird flying from a branch, raised his little arms straight up together and said "oo, that's cuuute."

One of the vowels was revealed to the children each day of the week, and we would practice toning the vowel sounds together with our voices, making the vowels with our bodies, feeling how the sounds made us feel, discovering their shapes in the outdoor environment, and finding words that have those sounds in them.  On the next day, we would color a picture of the world tree with the vowel shapes floating in the wind.  Some of each day is spent practicing writing letters we've already been aquainted with.  There are no lines on the paper, this is basically form drawing, so the children can really experience trying to make the letters evenly spaced, sized, and on the same plane.  They are learning to hold their crayons properly, sit up straight for this short period, and take care of their supplies.

Movement

Movement is a central aspect of our class.

Here is one of the movement sequences we practice every day:

The morning sun slowly rises (Laying on stomachs, Arch backs like a cobra)
Out squiggle snakes of all sizes 
Wiggling squiggling by the brook (Wiggle on ground)
Hush be still (Finger on mouth)
take a look (hand over eyes)
a lizard  (plank push up position)
scurries beneath a log (Scoot backwards)
rib­bet, rib­bet out hop the frogs (two foot leap into squat, then frog jump reaching high)
widdling waddlng to and fro
out come the ducks all in a row (duck walk)
around the meadow the swift deer run (Run in lemniscate)
under a golden shining sun (arms over head in a circle)
On the branch closest to the sky (reach high, arms together, on tiptoes)
an eagle leaps (jump up and land on one foot, arms stretched wide)
and begin to fly (jump and land on other foot, stand on one foot, arms wide)
then lightly touches down (both feet down)
without a sound (arms down at sides and quiet)

(There are many movement sequences we practice throughout the day, this is just a sample.)

and these are some of the skills I'm observing and working with in each child's development throughout the year (let this be a guide, never a cause for worry):   

GRADE 1 MOVEMENT DEVELOPMENT SKILLS

Sense of touch

Is comfortable being hugged, tickled, getting dirty or messy

Doesn’t mind different kinds of clothing

Has beginning sense of social boundaries

Sense of life

Not unduly restless or lethargic

Uses limbs vigorously and actively 

Enjoys moving furniture and heavy objects

Is willing and engages in movement activities for 15-20 minutes w/o fatiguing

Sense of self-movement or Proprioception 

(Body position as experienced through tension in joints and muscles)

Maintains physical boundaries (i.e., doesn’t bump into people or things) 

Stands upright during verse and speech work

Sits upright at desk

Sense of Balance or Vestibular Function 

Walks a beam, log, or line forwards looking straight ahead

Bunny hops (both feet together)

Balances on one foot with eyes closed

Hops on either foot

Stands on one leg

Beginning to skip and gallop

Jump rope: pass through front door; w/one beat of rope; w/specific number of jumps then out; jump to ‘Teddy Bear’; run through w/partner; jump w/partner; jump over stationary rope getting increasingly higher; pass under rope to 10” from ground. 

Rolls, leaps dodges, and runs smoothly

Sits on chair without rocking back and with feet on floor

Comes to quiet stillness physically and maintains that posture for 2 minutes. 

These lower senses build three capacities in the child – 

Sensory integration (of four lower senses)

Demonstrates normal amount of movement, wiggling, tipping, bumping, touching, and squeezing (showing that an average amount of sensation is sufficient for his sensory systems)

Participates fully in movement activities

After a required and reasonable time is given to rehearsal, is able to execute these movements with ease and coordination 

Accomplishes two tasks simultaneously, such as claps and says rhyme  

Beginning abilities with working, sequential, short-term memory skills as seen in mental arithmetic and dictation  

Stays on task and quiet for a period of 15-20 minutes

Visual-spatial processing and orientation 

Knows and moves easily on the above/below and front/back spatial planes to build an internal map of what is where in their body and in their world

Identifies and copies simple geometric drawings while exhibiting proper pencil grip. 

Climbs easily and with confidence

Knows left from right

Shifts gaze from one object to another, from blackboard to paper

Head stays steady when reading

Tracks moving object with eyes without jumps 

Visual-motor integration 

With increasing focus and concentration

Executes simple geometric form drawings

Writes letters and numbers as taught

Demonstrates smooth eye tracking when following a finger with eyes only 

Kicks a medium-sized ball accurately

Throws a ball or bean bag to each other

Throws and catches bean bag/ball with one hand

Bounces ball 

Aims and precisely throws bean bag into basket from 2’ away.

Does not distract or need inordinate amounts of help or redirection

Bi-Lateral Coordination and Dominance

Crawls correctly

Has good body awareness and good gross motor skills

Crosses vertical midline shown through executing hand clapping or feet jumping games with crossing 

Has established hand preference 

Body geography 

Homolateral movement of the body, uses right hand to touch body parts on the right side of the body to the middle 

Fine motor  

Use fingers dexterously (sew, finger knit, finger games, cuts with scissors, ties shoelaces, buttons, zips)

Opposes all fingers to thumb precisely with eyes open or shut

Shakes hands w/ thumb separated from fingers

Has appropriate pencil grip

Auditory motor 

Sings and moves at the same time

Says rhymes and chants with clapping rhythms

Auditory or Language processing

Identifies separate sounds

Able to pay attention to one voice or sound

Attends to, understands and remembers stories he has heard or read

Follows sequence of 2-3 directions

Responds to others’ questions, stays on topic

Creates rhymes and sings on tune