Teaching the Joy of Making what You Need

During Social Studies today, I donned the long green skirt and collar that I made yesterday, and sat down amidst many baskets and basketry supplies. When my 3rd graders arrived, I explained that I was about to become a wax figure in a museum exhibit. I passed around a tray of nickels, quarters, and a dollar bill, and telling the students to each choose one. Then I froze.

When the first child dropped a quarter into the slot labeled 25 cents, I picked up the basket I was soaking and showed how to weave the weaver reed through the basket's spokes. When the next child paid 5 cents, I showed colored reed and told how it was dyed with berries. After everyone had a turn, I  answered some questions, then sent them off to begin preparing their own facts, stories, and speeches.

Years ago (15, maybe?) I took my first basket weaving class at the Sawmill Center for the Arts in Cook Forest, PA. My daughter Kathe went with me. We each made a heart-shaped basket; thet still hang on the wall at our cabin in Forest County, PA. I've made many more baskets over the years, some of which I shared with my students today. This Christmas basket (above)sits on a shelf in my dining room.

I made the basket that my earrings dangle from one summer while I sat at the picnic table under the white pine tree at our cabin. It's a gardening basket, used for holding vegetables or flowers as they're picked. I found these green beads at the bead shop on Saturday. They match the green of my skirt, and the green of the reed I'm weaving into my little basket. They look like nuts or seeds--I wish I knew for sure.
I wanted something natural to wear as I talked about weaving baskets from gathered materials--reed, and sapwood strips, and natural dyes. This year, my students and I have knapped arrowheads, carved soapstone, painted with sand, woven with wool and beads, made leather pouches, and tin lanterns, and assorted other projects that show how people have used natural materials to make useful and beautiful objects.

Now, in this final project of the year, they will each create their own display and costume, so that they can explain a colonial craft or trade at our Colonial Wax Museum. My fondest wish is that they get a sense that they can make what they need, using ingenuity and persistence, as our human ancestors have always done.

Ready to Begin Anew

I had a crafty day. This morning I sewed a skirt and collar to wear during tomorrow's Social Studies class. Then I started weaving a simple basket to use as a prop for my "wax museum" colonial basketweaver, frozen in place until someone slides a coin into a slot to bring me to life.

• 5 cents for a fact
• 25 cents for a story
• $1.00 for a speech

But more about that tomorrow.

Between laundering clothes, planning for tomorrow, and vacuuming stink bugs, I set out my earring-making kit and fiddled about. I made a pair for tomorrow, a pair for the future, and then a pair for today. 

Making things renews my soul. Last week was long and hard. I wondered whether this weekend could be long enough. But tonight, I feel myself looking forward to another school week.

Tomorrow should be fun.

Strawberry Season

I have owned a pair of strawberry earrings for 6 or 7 years. My daughter Kathe made them for me to wear to a local tradition: the Delaplane Strawberry Festival, hosted every Memorial Day weekend by Delaplane, VA's tiny Episcopal Church. I plan to wear them to the festival again this year, on May 28th.

Tonight my husband and I planned to attend the dinner for the festival's sponsors. So this morning I headed for a bead shop, hoping for strawberry beads to use in making another pair. Mission accomplished!

This festival is a remarkable accomplishment for the families of this tiny church. They work hard all year, volunteering their time and energy to raise funds to support charitable causes in the local community. The thousands of dollars they raise help homeless families, hospice patients, neglected animals... 

Tonight I wore my new strawberry earrings. We ate strawberry shortcake. It's strawberry season. For the people of the Delaplane Episcopal Church, this is the season of giving.  

Owen Glass

Raindrops?

Light bulbs?

Both were in my forecast for today. I left home in a drizzly mist for a morning of four more parent-teacher conferences (22 down, 5 to go), followed by an hour in which to prepare for the afternoon's Third Grade Variety Show: 27 acts in 90 minutes, performed under the lights in the school theater.  

How glad I am that I spent this rainy afternoon watching my students dance and tumble; play cello, violin, and piano; hula hoop and jumprope and pogo; act and rap and juggle; share PowerPoint and animation; and sing songs of many sorts. Under the glow of the lights, each child in turn strode onto the stage and shared a talent. The assembled parents, classmates, and teachers cheered. I love this day of courage and sharing.

Lightbulbs. Definitely lightbulbs. The raindrops played no role in my day.

These were gifts from my ex-sister-in-law. They are antique glass, from a company called Owen Glass. My brother's first name is Owen. Back when she gave me this pair, she smiled and said dreamily, "Owen Glass... Just as alluring as your brother." 

And still glowing, even on a drizzly day.

Thoughts for Thursday, May 12

As I prepare to write, the voice of my daughter Phoebe rises from downstairs, singing a song we both love, Ruth Moody’s One Voice, sung by the Wailin’ Jennys.

This is the sound of one voice
One spirit, one voice
The sound of one who makes a choice
This is the sound of one voice

This is the sound of voices two
The sound of me singing with you
Helping each other to make it through
This is the sound of voices two

This is the sound of voices three
Singing together in harmony
Surrendering to the mystery
This is the sound of voices three

This is the sound of all of us
Singing with love and the will to trust
Leave the rest behind it will turn to dust
This is the sound of all of us

This is the sound of one voice
One people, one voice
A song for every one of us
This is the sound of one voice
This is the sound of one voice

Today I sat in a chair all day for the second day in a row, describing the strengths and the challenges of my students to their parents and our head of school. I often wear these earrings to parent-teacher conferences, symbols of the important connection between teachers, students, and parents.

On the way to school, I listened to One Voice on CD, singing along. On the way home, I heard it again.

Not until I heard Phoebe singing did I think, “That’s it! That’s the goal of parent-teacher conferences!"  One Voice, singing with love and the will to trust.

Chairs for Sitting

Today I sat in a chair all day long, talking about my students with their parents and our head of school: 45 minutes per child X 27 students = 20.25 hours of sitting in chairs. This was day one of two full days and two half days.

This has got to be the best pair of earrings ever made for a day of sitting in chairs.

My ex-sister-in-law bought these for me at Atlanta's High Museum gift shop some 20 years ago. A few years ago, while my brother and his wife were going through hard times, one of the seats fell off. I put the earrings and the seat away "in a safe place" and didn't see them for a long time. I discovered them again last summer and glued the seat to the chair. Time has passed, and I can wear them with joy again.

Tomorrow I will discuss another 9 students with their parents. Another year, I might don my chair earrings again. Not this year. 365 days, 365 pair.

"Can't you wear the same pair again, if you want?" someone asked.

"No!" I replied. "That would be against the rules."

"Who makes the rules?"

"I do."

Cairns of Blue

I saw some earrings like these at a shop recently, and thought to myself, "I like those...not enough to buy them, but certainly enough to make them."

So today I wore these stacks of stones and blue seed beads-- cairns that maintained their balance as I jostled them through my day.