Waldorf Skill: Storytelling One reason the parent/teacher tells the story is so (s)he can adapt it to his/her class. If you are telling a fairy-tale from Germany and all the kids have names like “Hansel” and “Gretel” but you live in a culture where everyone is named “Serjito” or “Maria” you might consider changing the […]
Storytelling
Ava’s Gift – An Easter/Eostre Story
Last week a friend who helps rehab injured or abandoned wildlife posted a beautiful story on her Facebook page about some small rabbits she found and how she helped them find a new mama when their mother was killed. It was a story filled with the kindness of humans, the magic of serendipity, and the […]
Celebrate Earth Day with Worms!
What better way to celebrate Earth Day than to honor the creatures who move the earth under us and are the caretakers of all things that grow in the earth? I have a tradition that we always have a difficult book that we read together as a family. The last two books we read were […]
Storytelling in the Waldorf Inspired Classroom
Introduction One of my favorite memories from a parent-child class we attended in the Chicago area at a Waldorf School was the first time I saw storytelling come to life with the figures on a table colored with silk scarves. It was magical. The teacher told a fable to the two to five year-old class […]
A Winter Nature Story for Everyone
This is a wonderful secular seasonal story because it teaches the values of giving and kindness without talking about any particular holiday. Additonally, it can be told in countries where there are not fir trees because other kinds of trees are mentioned in the story as well and all children would be familiar with those […]
Michaelmas Inspirations
If you are celebrating Michaelmas with children you may enjoy some of these inspirations from our classroom albums. The following ideas are from our classrooms and Earthschooling member classrooms. Michaelmas is celebrated on September 29. Our featured picture this week is of two puppets. One is a dragon and one is a horse. They can […]
Three Apple Harvest Activities
Today* for our EarthSchooling Enrichment class we made apple-pickers, told the apple star story and made apple crisp! All the fruit on the lower branches has been snacked away by Sofi and her friends so we had to reach a little farther into the tree 🙂 Making the apple pickers and using them was everyone’s favorite! […]
A Question is a Gem: Free Story
Enjoy our free story this week. Stories are not just for kids. I use stories with my children, my students, my friends, family and my clients. We can all find wisdom in stories and share that wisdom with others. One thing I have learned in 19 years of Earthschooling my children is that a question […]
Finger Knitting Story for Boys & Girls
Today we planted herb gardens, tasted herbal tea, did a flower form-drawing, made some “story gardens” and enjoyed many stories. During free time the boys all decided to finger-knit so I decided to make up a story for them. They were doing that project that boys often do where they want to finger-knit the entire […]
Extend Your Spring Celebrations!
Well, it is past the days of NoRuz in Persia (a celebration for the first ten days of spring) and spring is close to ending here in the midwest but we are extending our celebration! Here is a sample from our it Fifth Grade Ancient Cultures Block (we do this two week lesson, The Ten Days of […]
Why March Has 31 Days – Story
In Bulgaria, the month of March is personified as Baba Marta (Grandmother March), a hunched old woman whose unpredictable temper is reflected in the changeable March weather. She is always arguing with her brother, Little Sechko (February), who likes wine (you can change this to juice or any other food item for your children but […]
Storytelling in the Waldorf Classroom
The other night I was watching Dr. Who on TV with a friend who is a Dr. Who enthusiast. However, it was not the program that captured my attention, but the commercials. The first commercial showed a man who was jealous of a colleague’s new computer that the company gave the colleague after accidentally spilling coffee […]