A Collection of Saint Stories

Leah and I will do 14 saints in her main lesson block. Now... which ones?

I have so many stories but naturally I need to narrow them down. I went looking for artwork to inspire me but this is a case where my Pinterest board is of little help, and it looks like the same saints are done again and again. I know I want some of the traditional ones, and I want some unusual ones too.

Here are the resources I have on my shelf:

Beasts and Saints translated by Helen Waddell, edited by Esther de Waal

The Desert Fathers

The Hermit's Garden in the Desert
The Penitent Wolf
The Blessed Ammon and the Dragons
St. Macarius of Alexandria and the Grateful Hyena
St. Pachome, Abbot of Tabenne, and the Crocodiles
The Abbot Helenus and the Wild Ass
The Abbot Helenus and the Crocodile
St. Simeon Stylites and the Unconverted Dragon
The Unsociable Lion
The Abbot Gerasimus and the Lion
St. Jerome and the Lion and the Donkey

The Saints of the West

The Death of King Teudiric
St. Columba and the Crane
St. Columba and the White Horse
St. Columba in the Vosges
St. Malo and the Sow
St. Malo and the Wren
St. Cuthbert in the Sheiling
St. Cuthbert and the Otters
St. Cuthbert and the Ravens on the Farnes
St. Werburga of Chester and the Wild Geese
St. Benno and the Frog
St. Godric at Finchale
St. Godric's Garden and the Wild Deer
St. Godric and St. John the Baptist's Salmon
St. Godric and the Hare
St. Godric and the Hunted Stag
St. Cuthbert's Birds and Bartholomew, the Hermit of Farne

The Saints of Ireland

St. Ciaran and the Nesting Bird
St. Ciaran and Brother Fox and Brother Badger
St. Moling and the Fox
St. Brendan and the Sea Monsters
St. Brendan and the Sea-Cat
St. Brendan and the White Birds
St. Cainnic and the Mice
St. Cainnic and the Sea-Brids
St. Cainnic and the Stag
St. Kevin and the Cow
St. Kevin and the Wild Boar
St. Kevin and the Rooks of Glendalough
The Mountains that are Creatures of God
St. Kevin and the Blackbird
St. Ciaran of Clonmacnoise and the Stag
St. Colman and the Cock, the Mouse, and the Fly

Saints Among the Animalsby Cynthia Zarin

This collection is particularly useful because an illustration is included for each story. These illustrations are simply drawn and would be of great help for a MLB or chalkboard drawing. There are only 10 stories in the volume. Brief biographical notes about each saint are included in the back.

The Story of Saint Colman
Saint Werburge and the Geese
Saint Francis and the Wolf of Gubbio
A Story about Saint Medard
A Few Short Tales of Saint Canice
A Story about Saint Hilda
The Story of Saint Keneth
Saint Brendan and the Whale
Saint Kevin and the Blackbird
Saint Jerome and the Lion

Stories of the Saints: A Collection for Childrenretold by Siegwart Knijpenga, translated by Tony Langham and Plym Peters

Mary: Thus the temple became her home

Brigid: Have you forgotten me, Bride?

Columba: The doors sprang open

Francis of Assisi: Until the roses bloom again

Giles: Let us ask the earth

Benedict: Why is the last stone so heavy?

Jerome: Brothers, the lion wishes to stay with us

George: And fate chose the King's daughter

Barlaam and Josaphat: This is where I will be king

Eustace: You thought you would hunt me

Elizabeth of Hungary: Pure red roses

Christopher: If you wait long enough

Martin: Aren't you afraid?

Antony of Egypt: I have come for my friend

Patrick: Because you did not forget my name

Thomas: Where is the palace?

Gregory the Great: At last he agreed

Beatrice: Had she not gone away?

Emma: Take what you can carry

Agnes: For you I would go through fire

Francis of Paola: This is my fire

Boniface: A house was build from the oak tree

Paschal Baylon: And the water always welled up

Veronica: You don't have to go to the painter

Lioba: Dear red ball of wool, roll!

Ambrose: His words are as sweet as honey

Margaret of Antioch: Your name means pearl

Odilia: Because she had no light in her eyes

Brendan: And he looked into the depths

Nicholas of Myra: What storms there are at sea

Gall: Bear, fetch wood for the fire!

Dionysius: They felt the earth tremble

Radegund: On my word, Lord

Joan of Arc: I am just a peasant girl

Cuthbert: They are like the snow

Luke the Evangelist: My eyes saw

John the Evangelist: The strength of the poison abated

The Giant at the Ford and Other Legends of the Saints
by Ursula Synge

The Giant at the Ford, St. Christopher

Zita and the Rich Man's Cloak

St. Jerome, the Lion, and the Donkey

Odilia and Aldaric

St. Moling and the Fox

The Farm-Labourer Who Wanted to See Jerusalem

St. George and the Dragon

St. Mochae and the Bird from Heaven

Queen Sunniva

The Flying Walking-Stick

William Firmatus and the Savage Boar

St. Senan

Werburgh and the Troublesome Geese

St. Paul and St. Antony

St. Wulfric, the Boy and the Bread

There are other resources for Saint stories, such as the Harvest Loaf story in All Year Round: Christian Calendar of Celebrations(St. Michael). There are indications for modeling St. Francis in Learning About the World Through Modeling: Sculptural Ideas for School and Homeand there are painting lessons for both St. Francis (four different paintings) and St. Michael in Painting and Drawing in Waldorf Schools: Classes 1-8

Painting with FORMS, as opposed to color stories, in second grade is a matter of some contention in Waldorf circles.

I've heard in many places that the child shouldn't begin painting figures until after the 9 year change (third grade) and that the Old Testament Creation stories are the place to first introduce this. Kelly Morrow did a wonderful DVD on watercolor painting which helped a lot when I was starting out; it is in the Waldorf in the Home store. It is suggested in Painting in Waldorf Education that the child paint the saint stories as color stories, with the push and pull between the forces of good and evil being represented abstractly through color on the page. No figures are actually painted. You will need to decide for yourself what is suitable for your child. Leah is older than the usual age for doing the Saints so we will most likely use Thomas Wildgruber's suggestions.

Update:
Magic Wool: Creative Pictures and Tableaux with Natural Sheep's Wool contains instructions for flat wool pictures of St. Christopher carrying the child (figure 21) and St. Francis preaching to the birds (figure 27). Example pictures for each are shown.

Novalis Press

If you go to Amazon.com searching for Putting the Heart Back into Teaching: A Manual for Junior Primary Teachersyou will find that it is out of print and that used copies start at $145.

This is a wonderful book, used as teacher training for grades 1-4 in South Africa, and I would like to share the text from the back cover:

Many experienced teachers have serious misgivings about the way children are educated today. They feel the emphasis on information gathering to meet the needs of commerce and industry has taken precedent over children's learning needs as developing human beings. The study of external 'facts' has displaced the careful building up of inner capacities and the harmonious integration of the child's faculties of thinking, feeling, and willing, which should be a primary school teacher's main task.

Only imaginative and morally sound teaching methods, based on an understanding of the inner development processes taking place in children, which change from year to year, will prepare them to become creative, self-reliant initiative-takers, able to fully contribute to society. And nothing else will provide the quality of teaching urgently needed to transform South Africa's stagnant education system. The crisis will not be solved by providing more classrooms and textbooks.

'Putting the Heart Back Into Teaching' has grown out of the popular teacher enrichment programs of the same name conducted by The Novalis Institute. Stanford Maher and Yvonne Bleach show in this manual how teachers can renew their enthusiasm for their vocation. They offer an approach to child psychology which can inspire teachers' further professional and personal development, as well as innovative teaching methods to create a more satisfying classroom experience for both teacher and pupil. There is also a treasury of stories, songs, verses and games to make the teaching easier.

The methods are those used in the international Rudolf Steiner (Waldorf) schools, which UNESCO has approved as a dynamic alternative model suitable for the 21st century. It is a proven model which is fully in tune with the spirit of ubuntu or African humanism [emphasis added].

This book is comprehensive and would be enough to be a starting curriculum for anyone teaching first grade, which is why I have recommended it on my website. Unfortunately it is extremely hard to find. There are two volumes in the National Library of Australia, if that helps anyone. But the best thing, ultimately, would be if we could bring this book back into print.

I have contacted The Novalis Ubuntu Institute to request whether this title can come back into print, and would encourage people -- as many people as possible -- to do the same. There is no reason why a book this valuable should cost several hundred dollars. They are on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and have a blog. Or phone, fax, or email them!

I told Leah another story about St. Michael today, to follow up on yesterday's lesson. It was from the source material found in Putting the Heart Back into Teaching: A Manual for Junior Primary Teachers

The story is called "A Legend of St. Michael's Mount."

A Beautiful Way to Do Jellyfish Paintings

It always seems that by the time I get to the computer in the evenings I have a million thoughts running around in my mind. I will try to do just a few right now. But I wanted to share the changes we made in Math. In the morning circle time, I taught Leah a 6th grade math trick from Jamie York and Natalie a 7th grade math trick.

Making Math Meaningful :
A Middle School Math Curriculum for Teachers and Parents

Boy is that a great book. No middle schooler should be without it! Then in the afternoon circle time, we did some more from Marilyn Burns.

Here are the multiplication word problems that the girls wrote, inspired by a lesson on multiplication in A Collection of Math Lessons: Grades 3-6

In the lesson we first brainstormed things that come in sets, from 2 (our eyes, for example) all the way to 12 (a dozen eggs, inches on a ruler, etc.). Yes, 11 was the hardest number to do! It made for a fun challenge, even for middle schoolers. This list then provided some assistance in writing story problems which contained a multiplication problem. They had to create a problem, trade clipboards, read each other's stories, write the problem as a number sentence, and solve.*

Leah was going on a road trip. On the way she amused herself by counting stop signs. When she got to where she was going, her older sister said, "I'm smarter than you. I counted the sides of the stop signs as well as how many there were." Her older sister said if she could tell her how many sides there were on 182 stop signs, she would be deemed "smart." Can you help poor Leah figure out this whopper of a problem and be deemed smart?

written by a 6th grader


Susan was going grocery shopping with her sister because their mother had broken her ankle. Susan and her family had just moved to Mitchell County and were quite new here. She had to study all amounts of measurement before she went shopping. Her mother told Susan what she needed. It was quite simple and would take her less than 1 "yard" to do so. Here is Susan's shopping list:

• Four "pushels" of tomatoes
• Two "3 peck" cans of beans, and
• 2 stalks of angoli mushrooms

Susan remembered that 1 "pushel" is 13 tomatoes and a "3 peck" can of beans holds 43 beans, but she wondered exactly how many tomatoes and beans she would be buying. Can you help Susan?

written by an 8th grader


*Note: When Leah solved Natalie's paper, she wrote Susan a note.
13 x 4 = 52.
43 x 2 = 86.

52 tomatoes
86 beans
2 stalks of angoli mushrooms

This is Susan's shopping list simplified. Good luck, Susan. I hope you like Mitchell County. By the way, how much time is 1 "yard"? I just moved here as well and my mom hasn't explained it to me yet.

Today we started the Saints block for Leah. Our poem to memorize this week is Saint Francis's Canticle to the Sun. I'm using The Waldorf Book of Poetry: Discover the Power of Imaginationfor this, but I'm sure you can find it in a million places. Leah and I are starting with St. Michael. Actually, Becca is involved too because she's helping with "The Harvest Loaf" recipe mit story, found in All Year Round: Christian Calendar of Celebrations

They are working together to gather and measure the ingredients, which is a nice review of the Metric System for Leah.

I like starting the Saints block after All Saint's Day, and we will end it at Thanksgiving. I'm putting together another post of Saint stories, so I will save that and instead share here the instructions for a beautiful jellyfish painting which Leah put in Man and Animal (head animal). We had an artist friend come to our home to give the lesson. She loved that we had liquid watercolor paints already!

Supplies:

large piece of watercolor paper (we folded Leah's in half and it fit in a horizontal medium MLB... you turn the page and unfold it to reveal)

Stockmar Watercolor Paint Basic Assortment - 6 Colors

round brush

rinse water

a large tarp to cover your work surface

small containers for mixing secondary colors (so our primary colors didn't get muddied -- I used the compartments of a large plastic egg carton)

rubbing alcohol and an eyedropper

salt (we had table salt and coarse sea salt)

chalk or chalk pastels

Work with dry paper. Using a round brush, create a semicircle. This is the bell of your medusa. Be sure to really pool the liquid watercolors on your paper. Then stand your paper up on end so that the drips run down to form tentacles. Lay your paper down. Make another jellyfish. Stand the paper up again. Repeat as many times as you want. Try some special effects. Layer colors on top of colors... put a drop of rubbing alcohol on the wet jellyfish... sprinkle salt. Chalk pastels add more swirly shaped tentacles and an extra layer of texture.

They were BEAUTIFUL!