FIRST GRADE HANDWORK VERSES 

OPENING

This is little Tommy Thumb -round and smooth like any plum
This is Peter Pointer, surely he's a double jointer 
This is mighty Toby Tall, he's the biggest of them all
This is dainty Ruby Ring, much too fine for many things 
This is little baby, so tiny and so shy
All the five we've counted now, busy fingers in a row 
Each one knows the way to go 
How to work and how to play
But together they work the best 
Each one helping all the rest 

Spider, Spider, what are you spinning? 

A cloak for the faeries, I'm just beginning

What is it made of...tell me true

Threads of moonshine and pearls of dew

When will the faeries be wearing it? 

Tonight when the glow-worm lamps are lit 

Can I see it if I come a peeping? 

All good children must then be sleeping 

CLEAN UP 

I heard a little gnomie say 

It's time to put your work away

Wind up your balls, pick up lost threads 

And quietly put your handwork to bed 

CLOSING

My fingers are so sleepy

It's time they went to bed 

First you you little baby 

Tuck in your tiny head 

Ruby Ring now your turn

Next comes Toby Great

Peter Pointer hurry

For now it's getting late 

Let's see if there all nestled

One more to come 

Move over fingers make room

For little Tommy Thumb 

Now it is time for my hands to rest 

They have done their work 

They have done their best 

Brief Introduction to Parents and Students

Welcome to our Handwork Blog!

I have compiled old resources, and created new ones that you and your students may use during our extended learning time. Parents and students can access materials by pressing on their labeled grade, located on the right-hand side of the blog.

I have put up patterns for 1st - 3rd grade, as well as uploaded a series of mini videos to assist students in creating and sewing projects up.  I have created and uploaded a series of mini-videos for 5th grade students to assist them in every section of creating their socks.  For 5th grade, a few of the sections are out of order as I had to edit videos to fit within the allotted time; the videos are numbered and labeled according to sections of the sock. For 6th grade I have uploaded a series of video tutorials to assist students in creating their pajamas for their Waldorf Doll. I also uploaded a short video to help them remember how to do get their needle ready for sewing, how to do the backstitch and how to tie a knot when they are finished sewing a section.

I hope these resources will be useful to everyone! I also hope each of you are staying healthy and happy and are making progress on your projects. Please know that I am available for any help needed, or if you just need to reach out and talk to a teacher during this time. Thank you parents for all that you are doing during this transition time.

I will be available for any questions either on the blog (I will try to check once a day), or at my personal email: nsadlier@hotmail.com


Sincerely,
Ms. Noel

Great Handwork article by Arvia

HANDWORK -By - ARVIA MACKAYE EGE found in Journal for Anthroposophy 1982-83 no. 36 Winter

Whole Handwork article

...While all this is being carried out, the teacher may, from time to time, at the beginning or end of a lesson, (but not while the children are using their hands), unfold a story — a story in which are hidden the deeper aspects of the process they are involved in. Perhaps it tells about a child who once visits the star-fairies and dances with them in the great hall of the heavens. There, through the flow and pattern of their dancing, they are weaving a great, wondrous magic veil for the Queen of Heaven. The story tells of the joy of their dance, what they sing and what they say to one another, and of their anticipation of the appearance of the Queen. Ever after this event, the child longs to dance again with the star-fairies — until one day the Queen of Heaven herself comes to him and tells him that he can indeed dance with them again, and can weave a magic veil if he will truly learn to dance with his fingers. She gives him a golden ball with a gleaming thread and two magic wands, shows him how his fingers can dance with them, and how a wondrous veil begins to grow, gives him her blessing — and forever afterward he is able to weave magic veils of every imaginable description for her children here upon the earth. And what then is the meaning of this "veil”? 
These are some intimations of the beginnings of handwork as it may be taught in a Rudolf Steiner school. How all this evolves further can only be touched on here in outline.

Writing first - handwork benefits writing

"Steiner felt that writing was closer to the child, and reading was more intellectual and one-sided.  If writing come first, then reading what someone else has written makes more sense. There is some idea of where it comes from.  The teacher sees how the musical element of speech flows into a harmony with the sculptural moulding processes of drawing-writing during elementary school.  This insures that writing shall be an exercise of the whole person, arms and hands and ears and eyes and spirit.  this way of teaching writing keeps it from becoming abstract.  Its connection with handwork sowed seeds for many later developments in my own life.  What we have come to think of as interdisciplinary, a cross-over between writing and handcraft, is based on a primal union."  From Towards Wholeness by M.C. Richards