This past week the students were busy learning about measurement. Rudolf Steiner wanted everything the students learn, to relate back to the human being. Measurement is an easy way to follow these indications. I began this new learning of measurement through a story about two lands that would always come together at harvest time, and end up arguing about fairness. It became clear in this story that there was no standard way to measure, and therefore some people had bigger houses, more wool, and less apples. I told them about King Henry VIII and how he declared that his foot would be the standard way to measure. However, there needed to be a smaller increment of measurement, and therefore he decided that 1/12th of his foot would be called uncia meaning "one-twelfth part". After time this word changed to inch and that is now what we use to measure smaller increments of measurement. I also introduced the measurement of hands (your palm side to side) , fathoms (fingertip to fingertip with arms outstretched , and cubits (from middle fingertip to elbow).

After introducing this story, I had the students measure using their body. We soon found out that there were different sizes of feet in our classroom! I provided large sheets of butcher paper, and each student traced another student so that they could figure out how tall and wide they were. They have been using their thumbs, feet, hands and arms to understand measurement. I will soon introduce a ruler, and we will see if anybody in the class has the "King's" measurement of an inch or foot, on their body.

It has been such fun watching the children learn in a "hands-on" way (pun intended)!

Last week while I was working with the Craft Group, we had a conversation about "Aha Moments". The students were asking lots of questions, and soon the conversation turned to their own "Aha Moments". One student shared that they were having an "Aha Moment" right then! Another was saying that they had enjoyed those times when they had "Aha Moments" and that their time was when I taught them the "New" way of math subtraction. But then, a melancholic child shared sadly, that they had never had an "Aha Moment". The other students were so sweet, and kindly offered him hope that soon he would, and not to worry. It was such a special moment and it made me laugh and smile. I have many moments like this story, and that is what fills me, and continually reminds me how lucky I am to be the teacher to this crazy, wonderful, rascally class! I love them so much!

It is time for us to press all of those apples that we harvested. On Tuesday September 29th, we will be walking up to the Luther Burbank Gardens to press our apples into cider. Please pack a full water bottle and a sun hat. I am estimating that we will be working till about 1pm. Strings and reading are canceled on Tuesday because of our field trip.