As The Garden School of Marietta school grows, new needs and opportunities arise. In fifth grade, Waldorf students traditionally start their woodworking lessons. Wood is an important medium for students of this age. By working with its resistance and shaping it into new forms, students develop their will forces.

When I learned that I would be joining the Garden School as a woodwork teacher and would be tasked with building a new woodworking program from scratch, I reached out to my friends and my community and received a lot of support. Some offered me generous tool donations. Additionally, our school has supplied many items to begin this program. These tools are now available for the students’ use and open up new and exciting opportunities for our lessons. I also had an amazing opportunity to chose specific types of hardwood for the students to work with which was donated by Top Tier Trees (a warm thank you to them!).

The year started with the fifth graders by preparing a space outside that will grow into our outdoor woodshop. The students used the wood from the area to whittle coat hangers using whittling knives. The coat hangers will serve us in the outdoor classroom. We also worked on making shields for the second grade for the Day of Courage. The fourth graders are working on building a rabbit hutch that will soon house our school bunnies. This will be such a fun addition to our farm. With the second graders, we made swords that helped them to face the dragon during our Day of Courage celebrations. All of this is just the beginning. Soon we will open our first woodworking courses for interested adults. Details will be forthcoming. So stay tuned!