Worldwide Endangered Species List

A valuable resource for the classroom! But make sure you have several large binders and several boxes of page protectors.

Combined List of All Endangered Species

Endangered Plants List

Endangered Animals List

The endangered animals list was 164 pages long when I printed it on September 13, 2010; today it is 173 pages long.

Endangered Species and Extinction

Galapagos Georgeby Jean Craighead George
597.9

Artful Thinking

Artful Thinking: Stronger thinking and learning through the power of art
final report (pdf)

November 2006

Ecosystems

The Case of the Vanishing Golden Frogs: A Scientific Mystery
597.8

Birthday Rings

When I first bought a birthday ring for my girls, I thought that a 12-hole ring would be sufficient. I figured that, by the time they were teenagers, they would have outgrown the tradition.

Well, my oldest daughter, Natalie, is turning 12 tomorrow. And tonight she is setting up her ring. She took the basket of ornaments and candles and wooden pieces and turned to me and said, "Didn't you tell me once that there is a ring that goes up to 16?" And I said yes. The girls all clustered round the laptop as I went to Nova Natural and brought it up on the screen. They agreed, "We like our family's traditions."

So a 16 Hole Cherry Birthday Ring went in my cart.

If you have a little one, and you are thinking of starting this tradition, forewarned is forearmed. Go for the 16 hole one!

Quality of Numbers

Putting together some resources on the Quality of Numbers block (first math block of first grade). I like Eric Fairman's book A Steiner-Waldorf Mathematic Resource: Grades One through Eight and Barbara Dewey's book Waldorf Math Grades 1-3. Of course, there are lots of great resources on the internet as well! Here's a wonderful set of blog posts that I found and wanted to pass along:

• Quality of Numbers I to IIII
• Quality of Numbers V to IX
• Quality of Numbers X

She shares lots of details about the stories she told her girls, pictures of their MLB pages, and the beautiful nature layouts that accompanied the story as it developed.

Eurythmy Videos

Looking for resources beyond books? Resources that will show you what eurythmy looks like in action?

I have great eurythmy books including

The Healing Art of Eurythmy


Eurythmy for the Young Child: A Guide for Teachers and Parents


Leaving Room for the Angels: Eurythmy and the Art of Teaching


Come Unto These Yellow Sands: Eurythmy, Movement and Classroom Experience

and a DVD called "Eurythmy: Balance of Body and Soul."

Bob & Nancy's Bookshop has a great selection in homeschool/curriculum resources (and make sure you look at the Eurythmy page in the anthroposophy section as well). They also carry a eurythmy DVD.

I love reading about the theory and participating when I go to Waldorf conferences but I find it very reassuring to see it in action at home as well.

With all of that said, how can Youtube help us, especially when homeschoolers want to use eurythmy (the art of speech made visible) to support the teaching of the letters?

Some suggestions... and feel free to use the comment box to share your favorites!

Update 04/19/16:
My Pinterest page of Eurythmy links

And this beautiful deck of Eurythmy Figures Cards

Fairy Tale Notes

This is a personal list of resources I have found which are related to each Grimm's fairy tale. Please share other resources which you find; suggestions are always welcome! Page numbers refer to The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales (Pantheon Ed.) and are listed in the order they are found in this book.

Gateways: A Collection of Poems, Songs and Stories for Young Children by Wynstones Press includes a song and a verse to begin story time (p. 66).

---

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Frog-King, or Iron Henry

The Wolf and the Seven Little Kids

The Pack of Ragamuffins

Hansel and Gretel

Cinderella

Mother Holle

The Seven Ravens

Little Red-Cap

The Bremen Town-Musicians

The Elves and the Shoemaker

Little Briar-Rose

Little Snow-White

Rumplestiltskin

The Queen Bee

The Golden Goose

Hans in Luck

The Goose-Girl

The Water of Life

Sweet Porridge

The Poor Miller's Boy and the Cat

One-Eye, Two-Eyes, and Three-Eyes

The Shoes That Were Danced to Pieces

The Donkey

The Star Money

Snow-White and Rose-Red

The Hut in the Forest

The Spindle, the Shuttle, and the Needle

The Crystal Ball

---

The Frog-King, or Iron Henry (page 17)

Gateways: A Collection of Poems, Songs and Stories for Young Children by Wynstones Press, pages 70 -- song

Magic Wool: Creative Activites with Natural Sheep's Wool by Dagmar Schmidt and Freya Jaffke, page 39 -- wool picture

The Wolf and the Seven Little Kids (page 39)

Let Us Form a Ring: An Acorn Hill Anthology by Nancy Foster, page 47 -- song

Let's Dance and Sing: Story Games for Children by Kundry Willwerth, page 16 -- circle game

The Pack of Ragamuffins (page 65)

Making Fairy-Tale Wool Animals by Angelika Wolk-Gerche, page 31 -- animal figures

Hansel and Gretel (page 86)

Making Magical Fairy-Tale Puppets by Christel Dhom, page 63 -- mobile

Gateways: A Collection of Poems, Songs and Stories for Young Children by Wynstones Press, pages 88 & 89 -- two songs

Cinderella (page 121)

Making Magical Fairy-Tale Puppets by Christel Dhom, page 55 -- mobile

Magic Wool: Creative Activites with Natural Sheep's Wool by Dagmar Schmidt and Freya Jaffke, page 32 -- wool picture

Let's Dance and Sing: Story Games for Children by Kundry Willwerth, page 24 -- circle game

Mother Holle (page 133)

Let Us Form a Ring: An Acorn Hill Anthology by Nancy Foster, page 47 -- song

Making Magical Fairy-Tale Puppets by Christel Dhom, page 69 -- mobile

Gateways: A Collection of Poems, Songs and Stories for Young Children by Wynstones Press, pages 72 & 73 -- two songs

The Seven Ravens (page 137)

Making Magical Fairy-Tale Puppets by Christel Dhom, page 47 -- mobile

Gateways: A Collection of Poems, Songs and Stories for Young Children by Wynstones Press, page 83 -- song

Little Red-Cap (page 139)

Let Us Form a Ring: An Acorn Hill Anthology by Nancy Foster, page 46 -- song

Making Magical Fairy-Tale Puppets by Christel Dhom, page 43 -- mobile

The Bremen Town-Musicians (page 144)

Making Fairy-Tale Wool Animals by Angelika Wolk-Gerche, page 25 -- animal figures

Gateways: A Collection of Poems, Songs and Stories for Young Children by Wynstones Press, pages 82 & 83 -- verse

The Elves and the Shoemaker (page 197)

Let Us Form a Ring: An Acorn Hill Anthology by Nancy Foster, page 46 -- song

Gateways: A Collection of Poems, Songs and Stories for Young Children by Wynstones Press, pages 68 & 69 -- two songs and a verse

Little Briar-Rose (page 237)

Making Magical Fairy-Tale Puppets by Christel Dhom, page 53 -- mobile

Gateways: A Collection of Poems, Songs and Stories for Young Children by Wynstones Press, page 67 -- verse

Magic Wool: Creative Activites with Natural Sheep's Wool by Dagmar Schmidt and Freya Jaffke, page 22 -- wool picture

Come Unto These Yellow Sands: Eurythmy, Movement and Classroom Experience by Molly von Heider, pages 14 to 17 -- story and eurythmy gestures

Little Snow-White (page 249)

Making Magical Fairy-Tale Puppets by Christel Dhom, page 70 -- mobile

Gateways: A Collection of Poems, Songs and Stories for Young Children by Wynstones Press, pages 80 & 81 -- two songs

A Child's Seasonal Treasury, page 23, has a verse to begin crayon drawing which uses the characters from Snow White

Rumplestiltskin (page 264)

Let Us Form a Ring: An Acorn Hill Anthology by Nancy Foster, page 44 -- song

Making Magical Fairy-Tale Puppets by Christel Dhom, page 59 -- mobile

Gateways: A Collection of Poems, Songs and Stories for Young Children by Wynstones Press, pages 76 & 77 -- song

Magic Wool: Creative Activites with Natural Sheep's Wool by Dagmar Schmidt and Freya Jaffke, page 28 -- wool picture

The Queen Bee (page 317)

Let Us Form a Ring: An Acorn Hill Anthology by Nancy Foster, page 47 -- song

Gateways: A Collection of Poems, Songs and Stories for Young Children by Wynstones Press, pages 92 & 93 -- two songs

The Golden Goose (page 322)

Gateways: A Collection of Poems, Songs and Stories for Young Children by Wynstones Press, pages 74 & 75 -- two songs

Come Unto These Yellow Sands: Eurythmy, Movement and Classroom Experience by Molly von Heider, page 57 -- song

Hans in Luck (page 381)

Making Magical Fairy-Tale Puppets by Christel Dhom, page 49 -- mobile

The Goose-Girl (page 404)

Making Magical Fairy-Tale Puppets by Christel Dhom, page 51 -- mobile

The Water of Life (page 449)

Come Unto These Yellow Sands: Eurythmy, Movement and Classroom Experience by Molly von Heider, pages 38 to 40 -- story and eurythmy gestures

Sweet Porridge (page 475)

Gateways: A Collection of Poems, Songs and Stories for Young Children by Wynstones Press, pages 78 & 79 -- two songs

The Poor Miller's Boy and the Cat (page 482)

Let Us Form a Ring: An Acorn Hill Anthology by Nancy Foster, page 44 -- song

One-Eye, Two-Eyes, and Three-Eyes (page 585)

Gateways: A Collection of Poems, Songs and Stories for Young Children by Wynstones Press, page 71 -- song

The Shoes That Were Danced to Pieces (page 596)

Gateways: A Collection of Poems, Songs and Stories for Young Children by Wynstones Press, page 77 -- song

Come Unto These Yellow Sands: Eurythmy, Movement and Classroom Experience by Molly von Heider, page 57 -- verse

The Donkey (page 632)

Let Us Form a Ring: An Acorn Hill Anthology by Nancy Foster, page 46 -- song

Magic Wool: Creative Activites with Natural Sheep's Wool by Dagmar Schmidt and Freya Jaffke, page 38 -- wool picture

The Star Money (page 652)

Rose Windows and How to Make Them: Coloured Tissue Paper Crafts by Helga Meyerbroeker and Polly Lawson, page 54 -- tissue paper transparency

MAKING MAGICAL FAIRY-TALE PUPPETS by Christel Dhom, page 67 -- mobile

Gateways: A Collection of Poems, Songs and Stories for Young Children by Wynstones Press, page 67 -- song

Magic Wool: Creative Pictures and Tableaux with Natural Sheep's Wool by Dagmar Schmidt and Freya Jaffke, page 25 -- wool picture

Snow-White and Rose-Red (page 664)

Let Us Form a Ring: An Acorn Hill Anthology by Nancy Foster, page 45 -- song

Making Magical Fairy-Tale Puppets by Christel Dhom, page 65 -- mobile

Gateways: A Collection of Poems, Songs and Stories for Young Children by Wynstones Press, pages 84 & 85 -- two songs and a verse

Magic Wool: Creative Activites with Natural Sheep's Wool by Dagmar Schmidt and Freya Jaffke, page 31 -- wool picture

Come Unto These Yellow Sands: Eurythmy, Movement and Classroom Experience by Molly von Heider, pages 8 to 13 -- story and eurythmy gestures

The Hut in the Forest (page 698)

Let Us Form a Ring: An Acorn Hill Anthology by Nancy Foster, page 46 -- song

The Spindle, the Shuttle, and the Needle (page 764)

Let Us Form a Ring: An Acorn Hill Anthology by Nancy Foster, page 45 -- song

The Crystal Ball (page 798)

Gateways: A Collection of Poems, Songs and Stories for Young Children by Wynstones Press, page 90 -- song

---

NOTES
Gateways: A Collection of Poems, Songs and Stories for Young Children by Wynstones Press also includes

• a verse for The Three Billy Goats Gruff, page 79
• two songs and a verse for Jack and the Beanstalk, pages 86 & 87
• a song for The Flower Queen's Daughter, page 91

Let's Dance and Sing: Story Games for Children by Kundry Willwerth also includes

• a circle game for The Three Little Pigs, page 11
• a circle game for The Carrot (The Gigantic Turnip), page 28
• a circle game for Stone Soup, page 35

Roy Wilkinson's book The Interpretation of Fairy Tales includes notes on the meaning and lesson of many of these stories; click on the link for the Table of Contents.

COMPLETE BOOKLIST

Wet Felted Geodes

Today we had my youngest daughter's ninth birthday party at Annmarie Garden. It was a great time, complete with fairy and gnome house making (and a dragon's lair), sandwiches and banana splits, and an extra bonus few art sessions! Annmarie is doing something called "Artists in Action: Artists in Their Natural Habitat" where several artists set up display space in the lobby of the main exhibit hall, sell their work, and demonstrate their techniques. Lots of the children, including Becca, stayed after the party was done and got to try sumi-e, watercolor painting, and wet felting.

My hands-down favorite was Sharron Parker, an absolutely incredible fiber artist from Wake Forest, NC. Her speciality is handmade felt. She has developed a technique for making wet felted geodes, which I will share with you here!

Her materials immediately drew us in...

The person before us made one, and then we got to try!

Sharron told Becca that felt requires moisture, heat, and pressure, which was interesting because I always thought that you needed friction (rubbing). But she said that pressure is enough and the technique that she used was very effective. Here's Becca's finished geode:

You will need:

• hot water (she used an instant tea kettle)
• wool roving or batting in eight colors
• soap (she used a refill sized bottle of white CVS hand soap)
• a work surface which can get wet
• an old sock
• a sink
• a towel
• a pair of scissors

Choose your outer color and set it aside. Choose seven small pieces to comprise the inner colors. Lay them in a stack, alternating the directions of the fiber (one color with fibers going horizontally, the next with fibers going vertically). Either roll the stack into a tube and then crumple it to make a ball, or bring each of the four corners of your stack into the center and then crumble to make a ball. This is what gives you the swirls and designs in the finished geode.

Wrap your outer color completely around the inner swirled ball. Lightly needle felt it in place if desired. Place in an old sock and dip in a bowl full of hot water. Squeeze firmly for several minutes or until the ball begins to felt. Remove from the sock. Squirt with liquid soap (she placed the soap in a diner-style ketchup bottle) and keep squeezing firmly. The total time is 10-15 minutes.

Rinse all the soap bubbles out under cool running running and squeeze as much water out of the ball as you can with a towel. Decide where to cut it (this is the fun part because the inside will be a surprise) and cut it in half. Lay the two halves out to dry.

Sharron had some beautiful artwork made of pieces of geode-style felting laid onto wool batting and felted further to create tapestries. She also had some cylinders of wet felting that she was using as pincushions, which I thought was a great gift idea! She had some wedges of the geode work that were meant to be hung as Christmas tree ornaments, as well as some geode slices that were embellished with sewn glass beads.

Her work was absolutely lovely!