Fairy Dust Teaching

Woo Hoo! Welcome to my New Digs

2013-06-17T03:43:43Z

Oh my word! I am so excited to welcome you to my new cyber home. Jeni, the Blog Maven, has made some real magic in her design of my site. I am so grateful for her hard work and amazing talent!

I would like to give you a tour! Ready?! Let’s check out the magic here! Let’s start at the navigation bar.

If you click on HOME you will be taken to my new landing page. Isn’t it divine?!

The EXPLORE tab: I am beyond excited about this feature. This a visual index of my site. There are twelve basic categories to search the posts. When you click on the category – you get the visual index. I would love to know how it works for you!

LESSON SHOP: Here I will be loading all of my goodies – e-books, e-lessons, and more! Tip! Be sure you are on my subscriber list because I will be sending special coupons to use in my shop!

E-COURSES: Click on this tab and you will get a drop menu. Here you can read about my courses and check out when they are scheduled. Again – subscribers will receive coupons for discounts.

ABOUT: Get to know a little more about me and the features of Fairy Dust Teaching!

FREEBIES: Make sure you have signed up for my freebie list. This list will give you access to the following: blog updates, deep discounts on my courses, e-books, e-lessons & more!

Woo hoo! I am hosting a “Website” Warming Party all week long! Check back for prizes and special treats!

Sally

The post Woo Hoo! Welcome to my New Digs appeared first on Fairy Dust Teaching.

Homeschooling in France: French Fibre Festival

2013-06-17T02:12:51Z

For the last 3 weeks, I have invited you into our homeschool & daily life in rural France. You can see those posts here & here & here. I’ve been posting the “extra” photos that go along with those posts on my own blog – you can see those here.

This is the final guest post of this mini-series with Sally.

I would like to send her a great big thank you for sharing her bit of the blogosphere with me. She was the one who made me realize that I am a real teacher even though I don’t do it in a classroom. Her e-courses created a foundation upon which I was able to build a successful (& happy) homeschool life. Her deep knowledge, vast experience & sharp wit never cease to amaze & delight me !

If you ever wondered who to turn to for answers about early childhood education – just look for the fairy dust….

******

Today, come along to a French fibre festival which my family & I recently attended.

La Tonte des Moutons

(The Sheep Shearing)

We set out on a beautiful Sunday afternoon & arrived at a marvelous historic outdoor museum/living history site, the Ecomusée du Pays de Rennes. Our first stop was a sheep herding exhibition which included a flock of tiny Ouessant sheep & a very eager border collie.

Originally from the island of Ouessant just off the coast of Bretagne, these rare sheep are one of the smallest breeds in the world (the males are only 19″ high at the shoulder). I have a friend who has a flock & she says that she just “pops” them into the car if she has to take them the vet !

Next, we watched a professional shear a sheep in a couple of minutes (flashbacks to The Thorn Birds for me…). The sheep looked like she was in a trance & afterwards was thrilled to be free of her heavy & dirty fleece.

Even though I know that the fleece is supposed to come off in one-piece, I still find it fascinating that they actually manage to do it!

One thing the French do quite well at their fairs & historical events is actually engage the entire family. There was something for everyone – even little girls who’d rather colour the sheep pink than glue the fleece on it !

She comes by her love of colour honestly – I’m absolutely addicted to colour & people make fun of me because my whole family ends up going out in matching outfits (really it’s not on purpose – it’s just that I have such specific colour tastes & I buy everyone’s clothes!).

I found the dyeing demonstration fascinating. The fact that a French dyer would have an English book in her library made me think that this one must be pretty good (& it’s now on my Amazon wish list).

Imagine being able to see & touch so many natural dye plants all in one place ! It was so inspiring to see that one can achieve such vivid colours without synthetic dyes.

Look at those vibrant shades ! These skeins were spun by the lady who dyed them with plants that she had grown & harvested. They included wool, mohair, silk & samoyed (yes, dog fur).

Gaude is french for “weld” & garance is “madder” – I think you can probably guess what the other colours are.

This whole experience made me want to run out & buy these plants & substances (cochinelle/cochineal is extracted from an insect) & start dyeing up a storm.

But then… we went into a huge tent filled with even more delights ….

Arabella was captivated by the Angora rabbit & talked to it for quite some time until she noticed the lady who had a drum carder on her table.

Although she was drawn to it, she was quite apprehensive at first.

When she found out that she could have a try AND use pink fibre – she jumped right in !

The tent was filled with fibre exhibits & experts & enthusiasts. My mother & I were in a fibre paradise… This display featured many types of spindles & other spinning tools. The book is “Respect the Spindle” – in case you’re wondering.

Other fibres were represented as well – here are flax & nettle. I asked the lady at this table if that was the same nettle that covers large sections of my yard & she said YES. Who knew I had a fibre crop growing down in the orchard !?

Her display included a replica of an ancient vertical loom with terracotta weights – she said that it was a type of loom that was used 1000′s of years ago (or at least that’s what I THINK she said – when these ladies got going talking about their passions – they forgot that some of us are still learning their language !)

It reminded me of looms which I read about in Elizabeth Barber’s amazing book – Women’s Work: The First 20,000 Years: Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times. If you are interested in anything to do with fibre – this is a must read.

Eventually, my husband dragged us out of the knitting, spinning, weaving, crocheting heavenly tent & we continued on into a typical mid-19th century kitchen/living room in the main house. Those are beds beside the huge fireplace.

Both of my kids now want a bed with doors.

Everything here is real, no replicas or reproductions. It is all available for touching & looking – I suppose there is no shortage of these items & so no one worries about them being handled. According to a sign on the wall , the people who lived here had 10 children & 2 servants -they all lived in just this room & one above… talk about family ties.

Andrew & my husband, Will, enjoyed the eco-museum too – although they were more drawn to the machines & displays about historic building techniques. What an entertaining & enlightening day !

See you soon !

Elizabeth

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DIY Color Matching Game

2013-06-14T15:24:35Z

I saw this in my colleague’s classroom. I love how simple it is! Easy peasy. This is a great activity to have in a basket like the photo below or you could set it up like a Montessori tray.

What you will need:

paint samples (2 of each color you use)
clothespins
tacky glue

One paint sample strip will be the base that the children clip on the matching color.

With the second strip of the color sample – cut a square and glue it to the clothespin. Let dry.

The children then clip the clothespin to the color square it matches.

So easy. Such goodness.

Thank-you Lauren for sharing this with Fairy Dust!!

The post DIY Color Matching Game appeared first on Fairy Dust Teaching.

Dynamic Family Involvement Course Starts Soon!

2013-06-15T04:55:12Z

When: June 23-29

Where: Online Classroom

Cost: Only $37 (deal ends June 14 at midnight)

I must confess. I absolutely love this workshop – Dynamic Family Involvement. Hands down – it is one of my most treasured workshops. Why? Because I know the impact it has on each child’s learning. Family support is key.

This workshop will teach you:

Module 1: How to EXPLODE Family Involvement!

The Three Crucial Needs of Every Family
My method of dealing with difficult and challenging parents
My Secret Weapon for dealing with families you don’t want to miss!
How to avoid the worst mistake you could ever make with families! This is worth the course price!

Module 2: How to POWER START Your Year

My Proven Step by Step System for working with Families
How I create a climate of trust and safety with families
My two most important documents I give parents (a real game changer!)
BONUS: My Personal Blueprint to Meet the Teacher & Back to School Night

Module 3: The Secret to ROCKING Your Communication with Families

My 5-point Communication System for keeping Parents in the loop
How to set up a year-long communication system that creates consistency and trust
BONUS: I am going to share my personal communication documents!

Module 4: The Gentle ART of Family Partnerships

My top seven strategies to creating family partnerships
The 2 things you never want to do – my mistakes can save you years and tears!
BIG BONUS: You will receive my newest offering (not yet released!) Hands-On Homework! In this program you will receive training and my packet of homework assignments that have been designed to engage families in the learning process. This program launches the week of August 11, 2013! (This is a $65 value!)

Module 5: The MAGIC of Family Volunteers

The 3 things you never want a family member to volunteer to do in your class
My system for preparing my volunteers
The most powerful and least invasive way to use volunteers
How to involve working parents
BONUS: My Volunteer packets!

Module 6: Completing Your Year on a HIGH NOTE

My top four strategies for ending the year on a powerful note with parents.
How to wrap up a year of learning with inspiration and love.
My top activities and events that are a home run year after year!
BONUS: Critical last documents I share with parents.

Finally! There is a proven system of creating family involvement!

If you are like me, you know the importance of family involvement. Yet, with the new pressures and accountability in academic performance – who has the time? I can give you a specific, concrete method of involving families.

Just imagine! What if you had a go-to guide to strategically involve parents and families?

This workshop is a step-by-step guide to family involvement!

I have spent years refining and adjusting how I include families in the educational process. I have had pitfalls and made mistakes. In this workshop – I am going to save you years of work. These are strategies and tips from the trenches.

My approach takes the jewels from my Waldorf training, my Head Start experience and work with families from both poverty and wealth. I have worked with families that were homeless, had felonies and drug addictions — and with families that were CIA special agents, doctors and university professors.

Dynamic Family Involvement will save you time and give you deep, rewarding relationships with families.

This workshop is for you if:

You are ready to get the tools to implement a powerful family involvement structure!
You want to experience the support and inspiration of families standing behind your work.
You want to raise your confidence with dealing with parents and families.

What others are saying:

“Sally, I am so sorry you cannot hear me, because I am clapping, clapping, clapping! This has been a great workshop! I think getting families involved is a teacher’s first priority and you have given me so many ideas on how to it in a fun way. Even after 31 years in education – I learned new things and ways to implement. Thank you thank you!”

Carmen S.

Enrollment is limited!

$37

How it works:

Beginning Sunday, June 23 – six modules will be released daily into a private membership site.
Each session will consist of video presentations, handouts, how-to’s, and more – - jammed packed with goodness!
The workshop modules will stay online and available until July 31, 2013.. Take your time to watch these modules.

BONUS:

I am so excited to tell you! I have a super-power-packed bonus for this workshop - another workshop! Oh yeah! My new hands-on homework program. This program is designed to bring families powerfully into the learning process. When you sign up for Family Dynamic Involvement – you are automatically registered into Hands-On Homework.

This program will address literacy, math, science and character development for early childhood (grades PreK, K, and 1st). This is a $65 value!!

Two Workshops – One Price:

Dynamic Family Involvement Workshop will open June 23 and be online and available until August 15 Bonus Workshop, Hands-On Homework Program, will open August 11 and be available until the end of September.

The post Dynamic Family Involvement Course Starts Soon! appeared first on Fairy Dust Teaching.

Homeschooling in France: Our Village & Countryside

2013-06-17T02:13:47Z

For the last two weeks, here at Fairy Dust Teaching, I have been giving you a peek into our homeschool & daily life in rural France.

You can see those posts here & here and even more photos on my blog, Handwork Homeschool.

Today, we’re going to take a little tour around our village & surrounding countryside – so settle in & indulge in a little armchair tourism.

Our Village & Countryside

One of our goals when we moved here from Toronto was to have more time to be together & to spend lots of time in nature.

If you’ve seen our yard, you’ll know that we’ve got many places to work & play there. But, it’s always nice to get “out & about” (as we Canadians like to say), to look off in to the distance & see one beautiful sight after another.

The origin of our town is linked to a castle, built around 1034, which used to stand on a high hill (to the right of us in the top pic). Not long afterwards, a gift of lands was made to a group of Benedictine monks who founded an abbey nearby & the town sprang up between the two.

The castle was placed between two rivers (one runs right through our yard) which were intended to protect it during feudal wars.

In the 13th century, two dams were built & a large area was flooded to create the lake. Unfortunately, the castle was destroyed during political upheavel in 1616. There are a few remains of it sprinkled throughout the town & our dear friend is convinced that she a secret tunnel from the castle still sits below her home !

Our town, like many French towns, features buildings from many centuries. Our house was built in the late 19th century & it’s one of the youngest ! One of the most photographed houses, the Hotel Sevoy, built in 1634 is listed as a National Monument.

We have two very unusual buildings in town, I had to ask the locals what they were because I had never seen one. They are called “lavoirs” or communal washing stations. Women would boil water in large cauldrons & wash their laundry in the rivers.

I’ve been told that they were still in use in the ’50s !! These ladies are re-enacting a wash-day – they sang as they worked (I’m not sure I would have…)

It is fabulous being surrounded by so much history every day – even a walk to the boulangerie is like a mini field trip. Living in the country has other benefits too – like horseback lessons !

Where else would you see a 14th century manor across the street ? And who owns it ? Well, the same man who owns the riding school, of course !

Note the arrow slits & door big enough for a man to ride right into the hall on his horse. This was a feudal land-owner’s fortified home.

Animals play a big part in our days – aside from our two fuzzy black kittens -

we visit pigs-

…. storks & even…

Other days,

we go to the ocean, it’s only 20 minutes from our house

or to one of the local castles (this one is 5 minutes from our house)

this one is a little farther away… on the coast. It is privately owned (as are many castles around here) & was completely restored by the owner’s parents in the early 20th century.

The kids loved climbing the tower in the wind. ( I spent the whole time trying to hold onto them!)

France is such an inspiring place to live, learn & play. When we moved here, I decided that it was finally time to gather up all of my handwork ideas & resources into one neat package & share them with others who want to add creative elements to their lessons.

See you soon !

Elizabeth

P.S. When I collected photos for this post, I came up with so many… come over to my blog, Handwork Homeschoolto see more.

The post Homeschooling in France: Our Village & Countryside appeared first on Fairy Dust Teaching.

DIY Sand Blocks

2013-06-14T15:30:53Z

It is super simple to make your own sand blocks – and on the cheap! These are wonderful for a Music center. You can do group music as you can make a class set for under $25. Woo hoo!

What you will need:

60 coarse grit sand paper
wood blocks (wood craft section of Hobby Lobby or Michaels – I watch for sales)
wood glue
wood ball knobs 1 1/2″
wax paper

I prefer the wood blocks with the beveled edges for a more professional look.

These cost 79 cents each. (Watch for your favorite craft store to put the wood crafts on sale!) For super cheap – buy the wood slats (6 per bag).

1. I cut the sand paper to fit just inside the wood area.

I like to use my paper cutter for a clean cut.

2. Spread a thin layer wood glue on the face of the wood block.

Smooth the sand paper into place.

3. Place a layer of wax paper on top of the wood block.

Put a heavy book on top. Let dry.

(Tip – be careful to place book carefully as not to move the sand paper out of position)

4. Add a wood ball knob to the back of each block with wood glue. Let dry.

These knobs make it easier for small hands to hold the blocks during playing.

Ta Da!! A Pair of Sand Blocks – cost $2.00 (less if wood is purchased on sale!)

(This set costs under a dollar if done with plain wood blocks!)

Buy a set like this in a store and you will pay $4.00 to $5.95.

I love DIY!!!

5. Play play play!

Here is a fun song to sing and play with your sand blocks:

The Blocks On The Bus

(tune: Wheels on the Bus)

The blocks on the bus go scrape, scrape, scrape,

Scrape, scrape, scrape, scrape, scrape, scrape,

The blocks on the bus go scrape, scrape, scrape,

All through the town.

The post DIY Sand Blocks appeared first on Fairy Dust Teaching.

Dramatic Play: It’s Brain Smart!

2013-06-14T15:31:37Z

Dramatic Play is not only a source of wonder and magic — it is good for cognitive development! Pretend play requires the ability to transform objects and actions symbolically; for example, pretending to be mommy or a doctor; pretending a bowl of nuts and leaves is oatmeal for Goldilocks.

There is research that has shown that pretend play coupled with literacy props increases a child’s understanding and awareness of environment print and the use of signs.

In Dramatic play children:

develop their receptive and expressive language skills (listening and speaking)
expand capacity for imagining
imitate life around them (being a mommy, fix a meal, etc)
build their attention and engagement capacity
learn how to negotiate other children and their thoughts, ideas and strategies
develop important abstract thinking skills
put math understandings to use in meaningful/playful context (counting, sorting, etc)
practice problem solving skills with their peers
build their working vocabulary
and more!

Here are some elements of a high quality pretend play in the Dramatic Play/Housekeeping Center:

The use of real objects such as placemats, cups, forks, wooden plates, tins, wooden spoons, etc. These can be more engaging and meaningful to role playing when chosen carefully.

The home in miniature. Dollhouses are excellent places to “pretend” the daily round of life and all the rich relationships held in this primal place.

Using nature items such log discs for plates.

. . . using pinecones as food. The use of non-representational (open-ended) items is very important. It exercises the imagination (frontal lobes).

The use of warm and comforting colors (versus loud and primary colors). This provides a visual canvas for the child’s imagination.

Chest of drawers filled hats, scarves, and other role playing props.

Shoes for different occasions. These can encourage seasonal pretend play as well as a variety of coats and outwear. (Builds a relationship and care for the impact of weather.)

Baby dolls and beds. These can encourage the nurturing actions of pretend play. (Builds empathy and compassion skills)

A sense of beauty and order to the pretend rich spaces. It is important to restore the order after the play is over. Have the children help in putting things back in their places. (Sorting and classifying skills)

A variety of textures – plastic, metal, cloth, wood, woven.

A BIG THANK YOU to the teachers of Rosa Parks Early Childhood Center for the generosity of sharing their rooms. All the photos in this post are from Rosa Parks. What an inspiration!!

The post Dramatic Play: It’s Brain Smart! appeared first on Fairy Dust Teaching.

Homeschooling in France: The Secret Garden

2013-06-17T02:14:31Z

Guest Blogger: Elizabeth des Roches
Blog: Handwork Homeschool

Last week, here at Fairy Dust Teaching, I introduced my family & gave you a glimpse of our days at home. You can see that post here & more photos on my blog, Handwork Homeschool.

Welcome to our house.

We do a lot of learning, making & general fun stuff during our homeschool days. As a Wild Waldorf Mama – I generally don’t make much of an effort to separate the “learning” times from the “play” times. We have formal lesson times, 4 days a week. The rest of the time we just DO. My kids are learning from the moment they get up until the moment they fall into bed at the end of a busy day.

Today, let’s go out into our yard. Everybody knows how good it is for children to spend time in nature. Of course, there are the main benefits – like fresh air, sunshine, exercise – but there are also benefits that aren’t mentioned quite so often. The sense of accomplishment after some (self-imposed) hard labour or the sense of freedom while yelling at the top of your lungs or the sense of excitement when hiding in the bushes during an extended game of hide and seek (or “cache-cache” as it’s called in French).

Our Secret Garden

When we lived in Toronto, we had a tiny yard. Room enough for a large sandbox & to ride a bike in a small circle. We always hoped that we would have some land one day. We never dreamed we’d end up with an old orchard, room for a veggie garden, a river that wrapped around our house, a bridge & even an ancient stone ruin (aka my future garden crafting room & BREAD OVEN) !!

When we arrived, no one had lived here full-time in about 20 years. Needless to say, things were a bit overgrown…

Andrew got right into hacking back the jungle.

The weeds & brambles were so high, the kids couldn’t even walk through the yard !

I’ve often seen books & blog posts talking about the 4 elements & how to include them in your homeschooling. It’s amazing how naturally the kids do it when left to their own devices.

Earth

We looked & looked for a great place for the sandbox (you’d think it would be easy with a yard this size…) finally, an unusual idea hit me. Why not wrap the sandbox around the house ? It had never occurred to me to dig out one of the garden beds, line it with plastic & fill it with sand. They love it because they are close to the house & have lots of room for them both to play.

Needless to say, my kids know their way around our local quarry. Andrew can tell you exactly how much a ton of the fine, sparkling sand we bought costs – around 20 euros. Our orchard had been sadly neglected too over the years, but amazingly our few trees bear plums, apples & pears. Andrew, whose interest in anything to do with farming skyrocketed since we arrived, insisted we put in a garden. Of course, we agreed. The kids used to stroke & kiss (!) their veggies as they grew.

Water

With a river (this is not a stream, but a real river with speckled trout, that empties out into the ocean !) winding along one side of the house & around the back, we day-dreamed of the kids paddling idly on hot summer days.

In the summer, the water level is quite low & many a river walk has taken place. What we didn’t know was that we had another “water feature” on our property. After clearing part of our land which lies on the far side of the river we discovered a strange indentation….

which after a good bit of digging turned out to be …

a pond which is fed by a spring that flows down the hills above our house. Our neighbour, who has lived here since 1938, says she has never seen it before !

Fire

While we’ve been here, I’ve had to get used to my kids becoming more & more adventurous. Along the way, they have developed many new skills. While watching his father re-build part of our stone wall, which had fallen, Andrew decided he wanted to build his own BBQ.

He found old bricks in the basement, mixed up his own mortar from mud & sand & came up with the design all on his own. The best part of the whole project is that it works ! He even cooked crepes one Sunday morning for us. He is proud of it (although he still mutters under his breath because we won’t let him light it…maybe this summer he’ll be old enough…)

Wind

We do have hopes for installing some wind-generators, as the wind seems to get caught down in our walled garden. For the moment, most of the wind that gets enjoyed around here is experienced on the swing set.

Next time, come & explore Our Petite Cité de Caractère (“little town of character”), which was founded in the 11^th century & is now filled with an international array of interesting people.

Until then – have a happy week !

Elizabeth

P.S. When I collected photos for this post, I came up with so many… come over to my blog, Handwork Homeschool to see the rest if you’d like !

The post Homeschooling in France: The Secret Garden appeared first on Fairy Dust Teaching.

Reggio: Ramps & Texture

2013-06-14T15:32:26Z

Guest Teacher: Kati Nash
Reggio Blog Series

For months friends had been exploring ramps and their relationship to the objects that travel down them. After exploring with different objects in our classroom from wooden spools to water, friends began making objects with clay to roll on the ramps. Friends started by making balls and logs to roll down the ramp.

As friends explored the ramps and clay they soon decided they should use clay to decorate the ramps. Friends worked tirelessly adding collage materials to clay and placing the clay with the utmost care onto the ramp in precise spots.

Friends brought their decorated clay to morning meeting with pride.

As friends began discussing it they soon realized that nothing was rolling down the decorated ramp and that it must be broken. Friends initiated brainstorming how to “fix” the broken ramp.

Three theories were put before the group: A.) Clay must be added to the back of the ramp. B.) The clay at the top of the ramp must be made taller. C.) All the clay must be removed. A small group of friends then went back to the atelier to test the different theories.

Through trial and error friends discovered that out of the three proposed solutions only removing the clay was a viable possibility for causing movement down the ramp. Friends plan to bring the bare ramp to morning meeting and discuss their findings.

Teachers wondered if this would lead into further investigating the texture and incline of ramps. This experience provided children with rich scientific inquiry and problem solving possibilities, along with opportunities for showing flexibility and inventiveness in thinking.

After children began exploring the texture of the decorations they made for their ramp the teachers realized the children’s ideas of texture were expanding and developing, but their ability to express their ideas of texture verbally were still limited to an unimaginative vocabulary.

Teachers decided to set up different provocations to promote further development of texture concepts. Children really became intrigued with creating their own textures using paint and a variety of small materials including rice, sprinkles, baking soda, birdseed, noodles and other items.

As children created textures they began bringing them to morning meeting to share and discuss with their friends.

Children brainstormed names for each texture and then worked tirelessly in the writing center to put pen to paper and get the names of their textures written down.

These experiences provided children with the opportunity for comparison and classification development, along with furthering their knowledge of the physical properties of objects and materials. Children also expanded their expressive vocabulary and inventiveness in thinking.

The post Reggio: Ramps & Texture appeared first on Fairy Dust Teaching.

The Making of a Clay Fairy House

2013-06-14T15:34:36Z

One day, while a few children were exploring clay, the notion of building house emerged. Several children pulled out some of the log blocks.

Pieces of clay were placed in the log “forest” as one child called it. The piece with the hole in this photo was created for “lady bugs to crawl through.”

Another child created an umbrella to protect the creatures from rain. He poked a wooden dowel on top of the clay “pancake” to make raindrop markings. (It is the piece laid on top of the log in this photo.) Pieces of clay became homes for bugs and butterflies.

One child decided to make a wee bird to sit on the tree. Another made a place for spiders to walk.

The next day, two girls gathered at the clay table. They chattered about the forest and the fairies. “Fairies live in trees.” (I am so sad I do not have photos of the next phase. But little clay fairies were formed and added to the landscape.)

It was amazing to let the story unfold as each piece of clay revealed a new layer of the plot. It was extraordinary to be a witness as simple organic shapes of clay became something so magic.

The post The Making of a Clay Fairy House appeared first on Fairy Dust Teaching.