Tag: RRS

Early Childhood (ages 2-6) — Mama Shanah

Winter is the general theme for these littlest of Rose Rockers. In our “Woodsman” Circle, we sing songs while joyfully working to chop, haul, and stack our wood. Last week, it was super cold, and we built a fire, wherein the children experienced the practical but magical experience of gathering, sawing, and stacking wood. Of course, many sang the song as they worked! 

Our Story features a dear and resilient duck named Shingebiss, who always manages to find food and keep himself warm no matter how Old Man Winter howls. 

Why do we choose to play outdoors when it is cold? 

Handwork (Grades 1-3)  — Mrs. Ball

We have finished making our knitted bunnies. Many of the students were amazed that we could make a round soft thing from a flat square of knitting. Setting our knitting needles aside we are moving to hand sewing. Our first project is a drawstring  project bag made from upcycled tshirts.t-shirts. This project is meaningful work that teaches our children practical life skills as well as to see the potential to give objects a new life. 

Main Lesson (Grade 1) — Miss Varasteh

For the past month, 1st Grade has moved from their understanding of numbers from their previous mathematics block of “Quality of Numbers” to the applicable and practical practice of “the Four Processes.” Initially, the class was presented with a story about four characters: Queen Adelaide residing in her queendom; Linus Minus, who gives alms to the poor; Multi of Plier, who plants numerous seeds at a time for a fruitful harvest; and Divya, the chef, who emphasizes fairness in the serving of her dishes. When the idea was presented of combining two queendoms together, Queen Adelaide held up her scepter for the other queen to embrace, thus symbolizing her gesture of “the more the merrier” (and also interestingly, looking an awful lot like a plus sign…) As the 1st Grade heard tales of each character and their moral (and potentially even temperamental) qualities, they then moved into using manipulatives (gems) to practice various scenarios: Queen Adelaide wanting 7 more guests to come to her party of 5; Linus Minus starting out with 12 alms, and giving away 8; Multi of Plier wanting to plant 4 sacks with 3 seeds in each; Divya wanting to serve 12 slices of cake to 6 guests. These types of activities allowed students to practice the various mathematical processes fluidly, fluctuating between one process and another, thus imbuing the sense that mathematics is not fixed but ever-flowing. 

Morning circle activities helped promote this, including verses to emphasize addition resulting in even numbers, as well as in odd, and a song about frogs hopping into a pond to emphasize the multiplication of eyes and legs! (2nd and 3rd Grade frogs even came to visit the pond one day!) The math subject class on Tuesdays had the students practicing where numbers are in order (in increments of 10), what numbers are higher or lower than the one at hand, the partnerships of what makes 10 (1 and 9; 2 and 8; etc.).  A continuous project in Projects & Excursions is the creation of an official, royal scroll to document all numbers from 1 to 100. Stay tuned to see the 1st Graders’ progress! Meanwhile, throughout the Four Processes block, the students continued to hear stories from the Magical Wonder Tales book, practiced their form drawings, and deepened their exploration of color while painting.

Peek at Grade 1– by Miss Varasteh
While quantitative mathematics is continuously developed throughout the grade school curriculum, exposing the students to the qualities of mathematics helps the students relate to the world of numbers in a way that is accessible to them, and thereby connects math to the perceptible world, thus causing the children to take interest in the subject and aspire to excel in it. With this truth in mind, it is now official; First Grade has completed their first mathematics block: Quality of Numbers! In this time, the students heard a continuous story of a king who sent his twelve knights out on a journey to find the greatest number. Each knight returned to the kingdom with confidence and certainty that their number must be the greatest! (See some photos from this story below.) Throughout this time, the students explored the various ways in which five could be five, for example; five fingers on one hand, five toes on one foot, five seeds in an apple star, and so on. Each number has an inherent quality about it, a feeling. As the students became acquainted with each, up to twelve, they practiced writing the numbers and exploring what made up each. Eight could be one and seven, but it could also be four and four, not to mention five and three! Lastly, this block incorporated a great deal of counting and seeing which situations called for counting by twos, counting by fives, and lately the most helpful for large quantities, counting by tens. If you have a child in first grade, feel free to ask your child what they think the greatest number is, and why! 

Peek at Grade 2/3–by Mr. CoadyLast week we completed a math block. The theme of the block was “Math Magic” During this month-long study, we reviewed and strengthened previously learned math facts while laying groundwork for those times tables that need to be strengthened. However, this was not done solely in the “rote” sense. Instead, the children’s interest was engaged by inviting them to find the beauty in math. For instance, students discovered for themselves the patterns that exist in the times tables; that geometric shapes can be formed using number patterns (see picture below); that even and odd numbers relate to the different times tables; and that add and subtract are opposites, as are multiply and divide. In my opinion, the most important result of this block was not the significant leap forward the class took in arithmetic. What is more impactful is the fact that the children feel enthusiastic about math, and also that their attention towards searching for patterns has been awoken. These two characteristics will impact their orientation towards math and the world for a lifetime.

Peek at Handwork–by Ms. Ball

With much excitement the grade school students began knitting in October. Before we started to learn how to knit, the class made knitting needles using dowel rods, 3 grits of sandpaper, some lovely beads, and bee’s wax. The children were then told a story as a means to learn how to knit.

Father Tomten lived in a cozy home under the floorboards of the barn with all his children. He had so many that nobody knew quite how many there were. The tomten children were very good and helpful children.They made hats and socks out of wool the sheep left on the fences. The Tomten children had one bad habit, they liked to play pranks on the animals in the nearby forest. One day they teased the Fox who lived in the tall, tall tree in the middle of the forest one time too many. Mother Tomten thought there were fewer children at the table each evening, until suddenly one day there were no children at the table. Mother and Father Tomten went to find the children. Finally Father Tomten heard a cry from beneath a tall, tall tree. He reached under the root and over the dome shaped rock, but he just couldn’t reach the children. Finally, with the help of some kind woodsmen, Father and Mother were able to carry a very big log and get the children out one at a time “under root, over dome, catch the tomten and bring him home.“

The children learned this  rhyme to help them to remember the process of making a single knit stitch. “Under root, over dome, catch a Tomten, bring him home.”