Handwork in First Grade

For the last few weeks, the first graders have been learning how to finger knit. This is an essential milestone for the children before they learn to knit with two needles. During their first grade year, the children will felt wool with soap and water, finger knit, make their very own knitting needles, and create some simple knitted projects like a washcloth and a cat.

Here are two links that provide an overview of Handwork through the grades!

http://www.waldorfsandiego.org/our_programs/grades/Handwork.aspx

http://mnwaldorf.org/handwork/

Presenting..... Your First Grade Artists!

                                                   Finger Painting in Spanish!
                 

Wet-On-Wet Watercolor Painting

When we have painting class in first grade, we always start off using only one color. The children are given the opportunity to really experience that color. I ask them, "What does yellow feel like?" Different children are attracted to different colors and painting can be a very calming and therapeutic experience for them. After we experience the three primary colors, we will begin to combine them on the paper to create orange, green and purple. 

The Importance of Imagination

Hello everyone! I am sure that your child has shared at least one of the stories they have heard over the last few weeks with you. If not, ask them to! They may also have told you, that I usually do not show pictures while reading books. I am purposely choosing to do this so that they can work on developing their imagination and visualization skills. With the abundance of images in their everyday lives, children these days have to work especially hard to develop their imaginations. With imagination and pretend play comes critical thinking skills, improvement of reading, writing and speaking skills, and creativity. I would like to share two articles with you on the subject:

https://www.nationalserviceresources.org/literacy-storytelling

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703344704574610002061841322.html


Ask your child to share the stories that they are hearing at school with you before bedtime! This is also important for improving their memory and retrieval skills.

Check out Bella Luna Toys for imaginative play! Silks, butterfly wings, doctor kits, furniture, play tents and canopies.

http://www.bellalunatoys.com/waldorf-toys-imaginative-play.html

Thank you everyone.

Shadow Tracing Without the Sun

After living in Colorado for three weeks or so, I have found that I can almost always count on the sun. Friday was not one of those days. I had planned on the students investigating shadows for outdoor education, both their own shadows and the shadows of other things on the playground, such as a tree or the picnic table. As soon as we stepped outside, I heard the students say, "Where is my shadow? I can't find it!" I knew that the sun was not there to aid us in our lesson. So we decided to trace each other with chalk instead. Students were in pairs and took turns. Dahfna and Gwenyth even wanted to
trace my feet!

Main Lesson Books and Form Drawing

This was the week that the first graders began their first main lesson block, Form Drawing. Form Drawing is a precursor to writing and gives students the opportunity to practice using their new block crayons (presented in their very own beautiful crayon pouches sewn by parent volunteers), strengthens hand-eye coordination, and supports the integration of the right and left side of the brain. Even if students already know how to write their letters, Form Drawing is a very important subject in the Waldorf curriculum and continues all the way through eighth grade, where students eventually draw intricate Celtic knots. Form Drawing develops spatial orientation, inner visualization and observation. The very first lesson in Form Drawing is focused on the straight line and the curved line. We talk about these two forms and how everything in this world is made up of straight lines and curves. Later on, these straight lines and curves will help the children with their writing and drawing.

Here are some Form Drawing examples from multiple grades:

http://www.waldorftoday.com/gallery/Form+Drawing/

As the first main lesson block begins, each child also begins to create his/her own main lesson book, which showcases the hard work that he/she is doing each day during main lesson. At the end of the year, you will be presented with a handful of these wonderful books that were created by your child. 

This week, we started working with the primary colors and talked about how powerful and special red, yellow and blue really are. When these colors play together, something magical happens; other colors are born. On Tuesday, the children discovered green by combining blue and yellow, and today red and yellow were layered on top of each other to create orange. 

Also....our little golden fish made out of beeswax!

Our First Week!

We have had a busy first week! I definitely noticed the switch from half-days to full-days just because of the energy level in the classroom. These children are tired! We have very active days and I think all of the children are ready for our 20 minute rest time in the afternoon.

We begin our day with Main Lesson, and start by doing some stretching. We stretch to greet the sun and then reach way down to touch our toes. The children love "Acorn, Star, Tree," where they are essentially doing jumping jacks. We also have circle games like, "The Grand Old Duke of York." We even challenged ourselves and tried it walking backwards! On Wednesday, I introduced the children to the amazing world of beanbags and we did some exercises to develop their coordination, balance and sense of rhythm. Next we sing some songs and review the story told the day before. On Tuesday we reviewed the story verbally by sharing characters and events, on Wednesday the children put on a play, and today we reviewed the story by drawing it. After review, we call the story fairies and I tell the children a new story.

This week, the children have had Spanish twice with Maestra Surage and about half of the class were fitted for their Eurythmy shoes (kind of like ballet flats).

The children were introduced to Sir Compost, King Trash and Queen Recycle on Tuesday and we have been practicing since, at the end of snack and lunch. I've heard children say, "King Trash is so full! I think he has a bellyache!"

Yesterday, the children began felting little wool eggs and I told them about my trip to a Scottish sheep farm this summer. Today we all made little beeswax fish from our "Golden Fish" story on Monday. At the end of the day, the children have exploration time, where they can choose to read, play a game, try the marble run, build with blocks, use the slates and chalk, explore the nature table, or draw. They have had a wonderful time building cities together and sharing favorite books. At the very end of the day, we sing and I play guitar. The children learned a song called, "Aiken Drum." Ask your child to sing it for you.

Welcome Parents!

Welcome to our classroom page! This is where I will post photos of the work we are doing at school, Wednesday updates and other important information.

First Grade Rose Ceremony! What a wonderful day that was. I loved walking with my class through the rainbow tunnel!