Teaching Handwork in Waldorf Education
Each afternoon from 11:45 to 2:45 Pacific time handwork teachers will gather together for presentations and discussions specifically relevant to teaching handwork in Waldorf education.
In the fifth grade, the hands are ready for something new.
Strength and dexterity are growing.
Attention lengthens.
Students begin to sense that skill, patience, and beauty are connected—and that what they make carries meaning.
This conference invites Waldorf handwork teachers to step into the rich possibilities of the fifth grade year with clarity, confidence, and renewed inspiration.
Together, we will explore the deeper purpose of handwork at this developmental threshold: what fifth graders are ready for physically and inwardly, how to meet a wide range of skill levels, and how to welcome students who are new to Waldorf education—or new to handwork itself. Through guided, hands-on sessions, we will work with projects that support beginners as they move toward knitting in the round, while offering depth and challenge for more experienced students.
Our work will also connect handwork to the broader fifth grade curriculum. Teachers will create resist-dyed Pentathlon flags, linking handwork to the ancient civilizations studied in the morning lesson, and explore cultural traditions through Fair Isle colorwork, Portuguese knitting, and Latvian knitting techniques—bringing history, geography, and artistry directly into the hands.
This is a practical, collegial working space where teachers share process as well as product. Participants leave with concrete project ideas, renewed confidence in their teaching, and a deepened cultural and pedagogical understanding of handwork in the fifth grade year.
Explore fresh ideas for meeting your 5th grade handwork students while deepening your own cultural understanding of traditional crafts!
Handwork Projects
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Meet the Handwork Team!
We are honored to be working with an amazing team of handwork teachers who are coordinating this portion of the conference!
Elizabeth Seward
Elizabeth Seward is the co-founder and director of Waldorf Handwork Educators. She has 35+ years teaching Handwork and other subjects in public, private, and homeschool Waldorf settings. She was co-director of a nationally recognized Waldorf teacher training institute from 2000 - 2003. Elizabeth is a trained Waldorf class teacher in the grades. She holds a PhD in Education, an MA in second language learning, and an MA in Education and Spirituality. She is author of Teaching Through Stories: Jane and Jeremy Learn to Knit
Shellie Smith
Shellie Smith is is the co-founder and director of Waldorf Handwork Educators. She has found profound joy in guiding and empowering handwork teachers around the world. Shellie is a lifelong educator with over two decades of experience in both public and private Waldorf schools. For 12 years, she served as the handwork teacher for grades 1–8 at the Haleakala Waldorf School on Maui, where she nurtured a deep love for the transformative power of handwork.
With a background in social work and education, and formal training in Waldorf handwork education from the Rudolf Steiner College, Shellie brings a rich blend of skill, heart, and experience to her work. She believes that teaching through the imagination and fostering authentic relationships are the keys to meaningful, lasting learning. Shellie is also the author and illustrator of A Twisted Tangled Tale: A Handwork Fairy Tale,
Beth Brown-Reinsel
Beth Brown-Reinsel has been passionately teaching historic knitting workshops nationally, as well as internationally, for over 30 years. Her book Knitting Ganseys has been deemed a classic. She has completed three DVDs and created a class for Craftsy. She loves to prowl the storage section of museums around the world to look at old knitted things for inspiration for her patterns and classes, which are well known for the tiny sampler sweater projects which teach technique within the context of a garment. Her articles and designs have appeared many of the major magazines. She continues to design for her own pattern line Knitting Traditions. Beth's website, blog, and eNewsletter can be found at www.knittingtraditions.com. She lives in Vermont in the United States and loves New England winters.
Andrea Wong
In the past 23 years Andrea has taught thousands of knitters in the USA and abroad to use the Portuguese Style of Knitting, either personally , through her 3 published DVDs, or her book “Portuguese Style of Knitting – History, Traditions and Techniques”.
As the foremost expert on the subject, she teaches knitting at venues throughout the country and abroad, has been published in a variety of knitting magazines, books, TV programs and is the lead designer for her business, Andrea Wong Knits. She continues to travel the world researching and developing her style of knitting, and bringing that knowledge to knitters worldwide.
