I hope this finds you all well. In efforts to help support your home-based learning and supplement the many wonderful lessons I’m sure Ms. Renee has provided you, I have some art resources for you to share. First of all, please tell all your kiddos how much I miss seeing them every week. It’s one of the highlights of my week to get to spend 2 hours a day sharing and teaching them Art. However, my favorite part has become how much they have to share with me too. All of the students at Little Bluestem are open, creative and insightful. It’s a joy to work with minds that are free to explore.
So far this year, we have studied all but one Element of Art. We’ve practiced Line, Shape, Value, Texture, Color, and Form. The only element left is Space. What can you tell me about Space? How would you describe it? After you’ve thought about it, watch this YouTube link on Space. More lesson ideas follow as well. Can you draw a picture that shows space? If you try this, post a pic below. I’d love to see them!
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are doing Science Club remotely via Zoom on Friday afternoons.
Using the "flipped classroom" approach, children and their families are doing several science experiments at home prior to the class meeting. I love that families are able to hang out and do these activities together! Then we gather in the Zoom room and discuss the results of their experiments and I share some demonstrations and questions. It was fun and very successful!
Building upon our activities last week in Science Club, we are doing an exploration of Sound.
Friday, March 20
Prior to Meeting
#1 - "Determining the Different Sources of Sound," page 41
from Physics is Fun! by Roberto Trostli
#2 - "Mystery Sounds," page 42
#3 - "Grouping Sounds into Categories," page 42
#19 - "The Propogation of Sound through Solids," page 51
#22 - "Underwater Sounds," page 52
Design Challenge - DIY Phone Speakers
materials: cell phone, a wide variety of household items which are curved or tubular
some possibilities: a glass, a ceramic mug, a styrofoam cup, a bowl, a paper towel tube, etc.
Find something curved or tubular and place a cell phone (which is playing music) inside of it. What happens? What material or design works the best?
During the Meeting
review the results of student at-home activities #1, 2, 3, 19, 22
demonstrate tuning forks, discuss pitch
tuning forks 256 Hz Note C; middle C 1024 Hz Note C; two octaves above middle C
discuss that sounds can be grouped in terms of their source or method of production
#4 - "Sounds Can Be Created by Blowing," page 43
from Physics is Fun! by Roberto Trostli
demonstrate with a wooden train whistle let students brainstorm/show other instruments
#5 - "Sounds Can Be Created by Plucking, Bowing, or Striking a String," page 43
demonstrate with a dulcimer
let students brainstorm/show other instruments
#6 - "Sounds Can Be Created by Striking," page 44
demonstrate with a cowbell, drum, castanets, maraca
let students brainstorm/show other instruments
#7 - "Sounds Can Be Created by Rubbing," page 44
demonstrate with a frog rasp, sandpaper blocks
let students brainstorm/show other instruments
review the results of student design challenge DIY Phone Speakers
This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!
"Making Cutlery String Chimes"
from Physics is Fun! by Roberto Trostli, page 51
"You Can Hear With Your Teeth" on page 49
"A Jar of Noise" on pages 50-52
look at picture in Ants are Fun, use tin can telephone
This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!
In the midst of all of this concern about the Coronavirus crisis, I am thrilled to share this blog space with a cherished colleague, Barbara Albert.
Barbara Albert teaches Practical Arts (1-8 Handwork and 6-8 Woodwork) at Mountain Sage Community School in Fort Collins, CO. She hosts Wool Wood Wax, a Waldorf Practical Arts Teaching Workshop, and posts ideas at WoolWoodWax.org
What is Wool Wood Wax? Three days of hands-on workshops, passionate speakers, and collaboration with Practical Arts Teachers of Handwork, Woodwork, Metalwork, Sculpting, Pottery, and more from Elementary to High School! Time to share new project ideas, talk about what today's children need, to identify classroom ideas you can use, and develop your own artistry. The most curious and committed in our craft are going to be there forming a common unity to connect with all year long. Check out the 2020 schedule
Barbara and I met at Suzanne Down's Puppet Boot Camp in Boulder CO this past summer, working with Steiner's 12 Archetypal Professions. I am excited at the opportunity to present at the inaugural session of her new initiative!
Barbara is currently working assiduously to collect distance learning ideas for Handwork instruction, so that we as teachers can continue to support our students and their parents. She writes:
COVID-19 Prep and Wool Wood Wax
by Barbara Albert
Learning Together Admid COVID-19
Eighty Waldorf teachers stared back at me from my computer screen Monday as we were socially distanced but still communicating on the Zoom app to talk about what all teachers are talking about this week....how DO you teach the arts when students are in their home rather than in their classroom? From across the US and Canada, teachers were questioning. What are you going to teach? Can you teach knitting online? Are you sending home materials? How can you keep your class connected? Will parents be stressed out or jump in to help?
Some of the best ideas for distance learning can easily be carried out by families at home. One teacher was planning a scavenger hunt to get kids away from screens and moving. She is placing treasures around her community park that relate to her lesson. One teacher is making a whistle out of chicken bones, string and hydrogen peroxide. Shoe-tying, making knots and macrame are popular. Soap carving can be done with tools commonly in households. Kite making was a popular idea to get families learning together and outside for some movement.
Some ideas were around community building. Having each member of the community create a small piece of art that will be brought back together to make a whole art piece when group activities resumed is a great way to share the comforting idea with young children that we will be back together again. Learning a community song to be sung at the return of activities is another way to do this.
Some teachers will teach knitting to small groups online. Some are making YouTube videos that will be available to all teachers including those that teach at home. With so much time off, students have time to pursue their own interests so I will be encouraging and supporting "Passion Projects" for my middle school students. Whatever they choose to make they can bring to school when we resume for a Passion Project Art Show. You can see more ideas to enrich your own lesson plans here
I left that call feeling stronger in my own lesson plans, with a few new technical skills and a great appreciation for my colleagues across the world.
Renee Schwartz to Speak at Wool Wood Wax
Monday's conference call was just the beginning of Practical Arts teachers gathering to learn together. This summer, Renee Schwartz, blogger at this site, will continue the learning that Practical Arts Teachers (think Handwork, Woodwork, Sculpting, Pottery, Blacksmithing) will do when they all gather to hear Renee speak at Wool Wood Wax, a Teaching Workshop in Fort Collins, Colorado. Renee will be bringing her amazing knowledge of the Waldorf Classroom Blocks and sharing how weaving is a thread that can connect to many ages and many blocks. Renee will join Thesa Callinicos, Art & Grade Level Teacher at Gradalis Teacher Training who will speak to The Role of Imagination, Intuition and Inspiration in the Practical Arts and Clay Modeling Through the Grades and Logan Nance, Educational Support at Mountain Sage Community School, who will teach about Therapeutic Movement. I will be giving a session on Working with the Will in the Woodshop. Homeschool, private and public teachers are all invited.
I am glad that Renee and others with similar passions are gathering to teach and learn from each other in a variety of places. Whether in a Zoom app, at a kitchen table or at a workshop at the base of the Rockies, people are striving to better themselves and the next generation. That is some good news we can all use.
Microbes are in the news. Even though our simple inexpensive USB digital microscope isn't powerful enough to actually see microbes, it is a great start for kids to the idea of microscopes and, in particular, the idea of careful observation and scientific drawing. I also like that you don't need to buy or prepare glass slides. Simply choose a household item and bring it into focus. Just as in Greg's Microscope by Millicent Selsam!
Here were our results from the first time using this microscope (up to 250x magnification). We had an absolute blast! Natalie was the photographer.
This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!
Waldorf curriculum conversations...
Integration and places of intersection of Waldorf ideas with traditional approaches, homeschooling, Montessori and Reggio methods, and academia. Linked to waldorfcurriculum.com. Amazon Affiliate links are included in both my blog and my website.
Follow This Blog
Simply go to follow.it and type in the address of this blog (switzerite.blogspot.com).
Immersive Experience
Immersive Experience
Immersive Experience
Immersive Experience
