Sukkot Story

In handwork we often create an item which celebrates a festival or season and, living in a muti-cultural society, we will have a stories and crafts relating to religions other than our own. For tomorrow's lesson, we are using black card, tracing paper and coloured fleece to create a star of david suncatcher and I will be telling a story relating to Sukkot. I have done my research for the story but am aware that the internet is not infallible so feel free to leave a comment.

Sukkot Story Have you ever shared a meal beneath the stars? Have you ever slept under the stars? This story is about these things . . . Ben and Ruth held the wooden post steady as their father drove into into the ground. They were building a shelter for Sukkot, as they always did at this time of year. Ruth liked to think about all the other Jews throughout the world who right now would be doing the same thing and she looked forward to spending her time sharing meals in this shelter with friends and relations and listening to the stories of her religion. Ben looked tentatively up at the sky. He hoped it would not rain. Last year it had rained and only his father had spent the week sleeping underneath the stars. His mother had told him that this year - if it stayed warm enough and the rain kept off - then he too could camp out. But he didn't trust the Manchester weather and expected that he would have to go back into the house after the last prayers of the day. Why can't we just put a plastic sheet over the roof?” He had asked his mother and she had smiled and told him that the sukkah must be made of natural things that had grown from the earth, just as the original Hebrew shelters had been. “Besides,” his father added “a plastic sheet would block out the stars and it's important that we can see the wonders of creation”. When all the posts had been put into the ground, the children helped to attach the canvas that was to be the walls. Then they ran to fetch to branches that they had collected on their Summer walks so that they could begin to build the roof. As they laid the branches across, their father reminded them of the story of their Ancestors. They had been slaves in Egypt but God had freed them and Moses had led them out into the wilderness where they lived for forty years until they reached their new home in Israel. All that time their people would build temporary homes out of dry palms and branches. “We are so lucky,” Ruth said “to have our safe, warm homes”. “You are right,” agreed her father “and that is why Sukkot is so important, it reminds us of all that God has blessed us with. Now, let's go and get a biscuit, all this hard work has made me hungry!”

Back to School

A new term, and a new attempt for me to keep a blog. First lesson back today the children will be making a drawstring for their handwork bags. Class One children will be fingerknitting, Class Two will be plaiting and for those of my children who relish a challenge, they can have a go at this (great for coordinating both hands in preparation for crochet later in the year)

Catching up after going crackers!

I've been away from my blog for a while as I have been frantically making cracker toys for 30 sets of crackers (we sell these to raise money for our school). However, I have been doing some wonderful activities with the chldren. We have created knitting needles from dowelling and weaving sticks from sticks that they found in the woods. All the children have made a set of jumping pixies as a gift that they can give to someone they love and they learnt how to wrap their gift with a ribbon.

Today I watched the children as they acted the nativity story and I realised how much I have come to love and respect each one.

What a fabulous end to my first term!

A Story and Craft for Halloween/Samhein

I have a Class One handwork lesson on Halloween and we are going to make minature besom brooms. By learning this technique in handwork the children will be able to make full size besom brooms on their nature walk (as arranged with their class teacher) which they can then use for gardening. The minature besoms they make they can take home and leave by their door for "the little people" to borrow. I will demonstrate how to make the brooms while telling this story that I wrote especially for them.

The Magic Broom: A Story and craft for Halloween.

Once upon a time there was a good woman who lived by herself in a little cottage by the edge of a woods. She worked hard in her house and in her garden. She kept her house cosy and clean and, in her garden, she grew all manner of herbs and vegetables. And, because the woman worked so hard, her garden grew well for her giving her all that she needed. Any food that was left over she would give away to anyone who was poor and hungry and she used her herbs and her learning to help people who were sick. Because of this, all the people of the town loved her and called her a dear.

The only problem that the good woman had was that, try as she might, she could not keep the Autumn leaves from falling all over her vegetable patch. She was worried that if she could not keep the patch clear, then her vegetables would not get the sunlight they needed. So the woman took the finest of her ripe vegetables and, with these and some herbs, she made a delicious stew then she put the stew in a pot and went off to see the little people of the woods.

Now, as you may know, the little people of the woods will not appear for just anybody. They have very high standards and will only entertain the purest and most kind hearted of people but they knew of the good woman and of all that she did for the people of the town so, when she set down her pot and called to them, the oldest of the little wood people came out to greet her. The good woman told the little old wood man all about her problems with the leaves on her vegetable patch and he gladly decided to help her.

“Now my dear,” he said, and, as he spoke, he demonstrated his words, “you must take a good stout pole – one of a good size for you, as this is a good size for me. Next you must gather a bundle of twigs and surround the pole with them. Tie them as tightly as you can so that they will work as hard for you as you do for them” The little old wood man held up the besom broom that he had made and the good woman knew what she must do. She left the stew for the little people of the woods and then she gathered all that she needed to make her broom. Before the sun went down that evening, the woman had in her hand the finest besom broom that you ever did see.

The next morning she took it out and found, to her delight, that it caught up all the leaves so that she could move them off her vegetable patch and set them aside for turning into compost. Each morning she did the same, working hard for her crops and treating her broom well so that her broom came to love her as much as she loved it. So much so that, when one day the good woman caught the flu and could not work, the besom broom took it upon itself to do her sweeping for her.

Now, just down the road from the good woman, there was a wicked woman who was so full of meanness that everyone would run away from her and call her a witch. She was jealous of the good woman and said that it was the good woman herself who must be a witch to have her garden grown so well for her. Not only that she said that the good woman must have enchanted all the people of the town to make them love her so. Well, it just so happened that this wicked mean woman was walking past the good woman's house just as the broom was doing the sweeping.
“I knew it!” exclaimed the wicked woman, “that horrible neighbour of mine gets all the good stuff using magic. Well, I'll show her! This evening I shall go round for a cup of tea and I shall steal that magic broom away from her.”

So, that very evening, the wicked woman called on the good woman and the good woman, although still quite ill, invited her in for a cup of tea. The besom broom stood in the corner and watched the mean old woman suspiciously. He soon worked out that she was up to no good and that she planned to steal something from the good woman (although he couldn't work out what she planned to steal). “I'll not have this!” thought the besom broom to itself, “That mean old woman will not steal from my mistress! I will take her away as far as I can!” And, with that, the besom broom leapt up, caught the old woman between the legs and flew her out of the door, up into the sky and across the town.

So it was that those townsfolk who were looking up that evening saw the mean old woman flying on a broomstick across the sky and called out to each other “Come, look at this – the wicked old witch is flying on a broomstick!”

Carding with Teasels

Last week we had a fantastic time washing our 'Tarry Wool'. The children helped me to wash it in cold water to get the dirt and sweat out. Then I cleaned out the lanolin with hot water. Tomorrow, it is time to card. I have got myself some teasels and knocked up some hand protectors from wadding and cloth so we're all set to card the old fashioned way. Although, having said that, we'll have some rather more efficient metal and wood hand carders available or we'll spend the rest of the year on carding!

spinning

I'm really enjoying working with the children to prepare our fleece but looming on the horizon is the spinning task and, as the time approaches, I'm thinking that I really do need to teach myself to spin! The link below might be just the inspiration that I need. (sorry my link button isn't working - you made to cut and paste it)

http://themagiconions.blogspot.com/2011/08/discovering-waldorf-spinning-straw-into.html

A story to tell while preparing the wool

I wrote this story to tell the children whilst we are picking the bits out of the wool. It goes with my previous post about the song Tarry Wool. I hope that any Scottish readers will approve of this story about the great Bard. (If it helps, I am descended from the MacIntosh clan)

Once upon a time in Scotland, there was a little boy called Robert Burns but, because this was Scotland, everyone knew him as Rabbie. Rabbie lived a hard life. Even as a young boy he worked hard to help his father plough and farm his land. But there was one thing that made little Rabbie happy. For Rabbie loved to listen to music; he loved to listen to his mother Agnes singing as she swept and cleaned their home; and he loved the songs of William, his father, and of the other farm workers as they toiled to make a living off the land.

As a boy and then as a man, Rabbie walked from hill to valley and from town to city, listening to the songs that the people were singing and learning them for himself.

One day, Rabbie was walking from one town to another, high up in the hills with no one but the windswept sheep for company, when he heard singing

“Tarry wool, oh tarry wool
tarry wool is ill to spin
Card it well oh card it well
Card it well ere ye begin”

Rabbie was very excited at the prospect of learning a new song and he followed the sound until he came across a group of shepherds, sitting busily working while they sang.

“Tarry wool, oh tarry wool
tarry wool is ill to spin
Card it well oh card it well
Card it well ere ye begin”

Rabbie asked if he could join the shepherds and listen to their song and he sat himself down by a young shepherd boy. After a while of listening to them singing and watching them working he asked the boy what he was doing. The boy told him how they were cleaning their sheep's fleece to get all the little bits out and Rabbie asked if he could help. He sat with the shepherds overlooking the valleys as they cleaned the fleece and sang their song. What's this black sticky stuff he asked the boy. Ah, well that is the tar. We always put black tar on the sheep if he hurts itself. It stops dirt from getting in. That's why we call dirty wool Tarry Wool. But, you know, this here Tarry wool is the greatest stuff in the world. It clothes rich and poor alike. And it keeps us all warm and healthy and, with that, all the shepherds joined in again to sing. Rabbie Burns never forgot the song they sang and, when he was older, he wrote it down in a book so that we might never forget it too.

“Tarry wool, oh tarry wool
tarry wool is ill to spin
Card it well oh card it well
Card it well ere ye begin”