Melinda West | West Gardens Basketry

Growing, gathering, and weaving with plant fibers from the Pacific Northwest

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How do You Measure Learning?

November 18, 2012 By Melinda

Options Program Students, 4-12

I originally wrote this blog entry last June.  But today, it is raining torrentially, so I am revisiting some ideas that concern me about the concept of how to measure learning, and the bind that most excellent classroom teachers find themselves in, trying to serve their students, with an insatiable burocracy on their backs.  Gordon Elementary's … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Students, Weaving Nature, Workshops Tagged With: age-range, clam shell rattle, class, Gordon Elementary, Measure learning, necklace, Options Program, public school, rattle, workshop

The Odyssey Program 1st and 2nd Grades

June 19, 2012 By Melinda

Camp Indianola, 5-7-12

This May I was happy to be invited to teach an ethnobotany lesson to Peggy Koivu's 1st and 2nd graders in the Odyssey Program, from the Bainbridge Island School District, at Camp Indianola, in Indianola, Washington. Here is one group of students making 'nature beads' out of 1" lengths of Red Osier Dogwood and Swamp Willow twigs, that were … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Students, Weaving Nature, Workshops Tagged With: 1st and 2nd graders, Bainbridge Arts Education Community Consortium, Bainbridge Island, Camp Indianola, clam shell rattle, class, Environmental Science, Michelle Berg, North Kitsap Odyssey Students, Peggy Koivu, Seattle, Small Plant Fiber Projects, spring, students, teaching, The Basketry School, workshhop

The Suquamish Basket Marsh

June 14, 2012 By Melinda

Suquamish Basket Marsh, 6-10-11

It's been over a decade now since the conception and development of the Suquamish Basket Marsh.  This outdoor classroom for environmental learning on the grounds of Suquamish Elementary School, in the town of Suquamish Washington, is a product of an ongoing collaboration between the school, teachers, students, parents; volunteers from the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Students, Weaving Nature, Workshops Tagged With: cedar limbs, clam shell rattle, drainage catchment area, Elementary students, environmental classroom, fiber technology, Gelk'ali, impermeable surfaces, Jan Jackson, librarian, library, Lushootseed, manilla clams, native plants, nature, Pond Kids, Puget Sound, relationship, Salish, Salish Sea, salmon, Small Plant Fiber Projects, stewards, storm water run-off, Suquamish, Suquamish Basket Marsh

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About Melinda

Forty years ago, while sitting on the beach playing with my young children, I made my first basket out of a pile of willow trimmings someone had tossed there. It looked wildly made like a crazy bird’s nest. While being together with my two sons on a beautiful Pacific Northwest shoreline, this simple experience of crafting with the natural materials at hand kindled a passion for creating forms using plant fibers. I thank my family, my community, and all my teachers for cultivating this gift in me.
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