Marianna

Cultural History and Crafts Teacher

Resources

Bookings

Tasty Time: What's for Lunch?

Mondays

3:15pm - 4:15pm

13 Classes

9/8, 9/15, 9/22, 9/29, 10/13, 10/20, 10/27, 11/3, 11/10, 11/17, 12/1, 12/8, 12/15

Grades K-5

12 students

Yarn’d It! Hands-on Fiber Fun

Wednesdays

3:45pm - 4:45pm

9 Classes

9/3, 9/10, 9/17, 10/22, 10/29, 11/5, 11/12, 11/19, 12/3

Grades 2-4

5 students

Gideon Hausner Jewish Day School

450 San Antonio Rd, Palo Alto, CA 94306
Travel Through France Language and Culture Series

Thursdays

3:15pm - 4:15pm

9 Classes

9/11, 9/18, 9/25, 10/2, 10/9, 10/16, 10/30, 11/6, 11/13

Grades K-2

6 students

Yarn’d It! Hands-on Fiber Fun

Fridays

3:30pm - 4:30pm

10 Classes

9/19, 9/26, 10/3, 10/10, 10/17, 10/24, 10/31, 11/14, 12/5, 12/12

Grades K-2

7 students

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Experiences

In a whimsical world of movement and creativity, children discover the magic of crafting their own paper dolls and marionettes. Using yarn, crayons, and stickers, they'll bring fairies to life. This joyful activity ignites imaginations and develops creativity and motor skills.
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After the school bell rings, the adventure continues with an inviting afterschool experience. It offers a supportive environment for imagination to soar. Children can unwind, explore new activities, or enjoy hobbies with art, crafts, reading, and camaraderie.
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Embark on a culinary journey where budding chefs create delightful recipes, experimenting with colorful salads, mouthwatering sandwiches, and refreshing smoothies. Young gourmets will also craft scrumptious desserts, discovering the joy of healthy eating and delicious meals.
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Unleash colorful creativity with an exciting dive into the world of craft! Explore yarn, weaving, crochet, and macrame. Develop fine motor skills with each loop and weave, creating personal masterpieces. Share ideas and make new friends while crafting memories.
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Children are transported to the vibrant heart of French culture, learning the language while exploring famous landmarks and captivating stories. They dive into traditional dances, twirling and stepping to lively rhythms, making unforgettable memories.
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Get ready to twirl, leap, and shimmy through the splendid world of music and movement, where traditions meet modern beats. Kids groove to lively French tunes, learning language basics through engaging activities, fostering coordination and a love for global cultures.
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Dive into a vibrant world where Spanish language meets playful learning in an exciting adventure. Through storytelling, children will embark on a journey with imaginative hands-on activities. Enchanting tales and creating adorable sock puppets enhance the experience.
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About Marianna

Marianna brings a unique fusion of European cultural depth and American adaptability to her teaching. Her passion for crafts, history, and education stems from her days in a historical dance group during college. This unique background fuels her engaging teaching style, particularly evident in her role at the Ukrainian School in San Francisco where she taught embroidery to children. As an interpreter and moderator for USA Supports UA, she bridges cross-cultural connections, fostering English learning through storytelling. Marianna's love for learning, commitment to kindness, and creativity make her classroom a haven of discovery and joy.

Class reflections

Tasty Time: What's for Lunch?

🎨

October 14, 2025

Tru

It was loud for me, but I used some more stern voice and warnings that I do not hear myself over their shouts and got them a bit more into the boundaries. In any case, the students got a lot of fun, and I was able to finish on time and walk them to their next location on time.

Today we got our creativity into Deviled Eggs with the Halloween twist. I brought one fresh egg and about 20 hardboiled eggs, so that we can learn a trick on how to tell a fresh egg from a hardboiled one without cracking it (I marked one fresh and one HB for this exercise). As a "curveball" we discussed if the egg yolk is the future chicken or not (one of the youngest students actually gave the correct answer that "we need a daddy for it to be a chicken, and this one has none"). Later the students peeled the eggs, mashed the yolks with mayo and mustard, added some food coloring and filled the rescued egg white halves with the mashed edd yolks+coloring. From all the decoration optoins we used only the sliced olives and the capers, but they got the idea quite well. At the end we had some time for coloring and clean-up, except two students who were exploring the possibilities of creating monsters out of egg pieces pretty much to the last minute of the class.

Yarn’d It! Hands-on Fiber Fun

🎨

October 11, 2025

The Carey School - Main

It was better than previous Friday, because when some students got too unruly we (with the said students) agreed to walk to the supervising teacher outside. We had some warnings before actual walking out, and I think next time I'd verbalize the amount of warnings I can issue before we actually step out (like "two warnings and then we go"). Also I have to prepare more moving and brain breaks that can be less supervized from my side as these students really need some more frequent breaks in this class.

Today we made some pompoms on a fork, using acrylic yarn. Students strengthened their counting skills when wrapped the yarn around the fork some fixed number of times, and practiced tying the string, also they expressed themselves in choosing different colors for their pompoms. Some student made as many as four pompoms total during the class.

Travel Through France Language and Culture Series

🌍

October 10, 2025

Cathedral School for Boys

To me it was a bit stressfull at the beginning, when an odd student coming by said "The Crazy Children are Coming!". One student of my group challenged another in kicking markers up to the ceiling, and after that I walked all the group to the Afterschool teacher / Supervisor, where the said student stayed and I, returning back with the group, finished our "visit to France" with much better attention and involvement from the rest of the students.

on Oct09, we "discovered" the South of France: Provence region and Corsica island. The students watched my micro-presentation on these to regions and listened to the Marsellaise, the anthem of France (because we "visited" Marseille). We also talked about the most famous Corsican man, Napoleon Bonaparte. The fact the students liked the most was the Louisiana purchase (they were really invested into drawing the territories that were under US control in late 18ct, and the rough sketch on how much Napoleon sold to the US). We also read a book "Little Wolf who didn't want to walk anymore", that has our old friend Little Wolf, the names of every month in French, and some interesting ways of transport/not walking in French too.

Travel Through France Language and Culture Series

🎢

October 3, 2025

Cathedral School for Boys

Again, chaotic. I will need to improve the engagement point, as this group is very easily distracted by each other to move around, the predicted structure of the class time (maybe with visual cues), and the restricions that may come if one is not interested in class but in messing with friends.

We tried to discover l'Occitanie, the southern part of France. Students were more interested in being children though. We had a book/song about Cadet Roussel, and learned to say "Mais vraiment, Cadet Roussel est bon enfant" -> "but really, Cadet Roussel is a good kid". We also listened and watched a song about three little piglets "Les trois petits cochons" by Henri Des — the familiar subject got their attention better, and we tried to do the redirected activity of "match the action verb" with written verbs from just learned songs to the moves these verbs are meaning.

Tasty Time: What's for Lunch?

🍲

September 30, 2025

Tru

For me it was easier but still a lot. The youngest students got their joy in creating some concoctions of their own, the older ones were actually cooking and learning by hands-on experience. They were very reasonable being around the hot plate, but still required supervision and some redirection to stay safe (which is expected). It took quite a while for me to clean the area afterwards, so besides managing the time and the students being on time for their next activity I will work on the faster clean-up as well.

Today, Monday Sept29, we cooked soup. We recalled a bit what techniques we used in our previous classes, then the students chopped the onion, peeled and chopped carrots, diced potatoes and cut the greens. Under my supervision they added all the ingredients in the pot and waited the in-between times, took turns stirring the vegetables in the pot, and enjoyed some coloring while we waited for the soup to be ready. At the end some students were so much into eating the soup they cooked that it was an issue to get them to their next place - I will work on it.

Yarn’d It! Hands-on Fiber Fun

🪢

September 27, 2025

The Carey School - Main

Better than previous class with this group. The easier activity really rocked for most of the students. I will add some extras for those who are less interested with the main theme of the class for the next time.

today we were doing friendship bracelets that are sort of basic macrame knots in a row. One student already knew how to do the basic one so I added a layer of challenge for her: we tried the two-colored "fish" pattern. Three students learned the basic knot pretty well and created a bracelet each, last three students were more interested in movement breaks than the knots-making

Travel Through France Language and Culture Series

🌈

September 25, 2025

Cathedral School for Boys

Way better than before, even ifvthe kids are still more interested in running around after some 15-20 minutes of the start of class.

Today students watched a little presentation about Nouvelle Aquitaine, our third "destination" in the travels. They also got an activity with paper airplanes and colors, practiced naming the colors in French, we read a book Un Loup qui voulait changer des couleurs (a Wolf who wanted to change colors) and listened to a song about a Rainbow (Arc en ciel, by Will et Seeka). We also repeated some words from the last two "voyages" and looked at the map to see where our steps are tak8ng us.

Enrichment Program Substitute Supervisor

😊

September 25, 2025

Mission Dolores Academy

Extremely good. Students were not too happy to do the homework but we did at least some, each.

Checked students in, helped them with homework, spent some free play time in the yard, helped with the crafts when they were ready for the crafts

Tasty Time: What's for Lunch?

👩‍🍳

September 23, 2025

Tru

I will prepare something easier for the next class, because even the "thirty minutes recipe" turned out to be too long to go through with such a big and mixed-age group.

We did muffins. Speaking of cooking, the students did: - read the instructions, - supervise younger students (mostly I supervised them) on measuring the ingredients, - actually measure the ingredients and putting them in the appropriate bowls in the appropriate order, - whisk, mix and fold the batter, - stay very, very patient when the muffins were baking in the oven, regarding their age, - clean up after the cooking.

Yarn’d It! Hands-on Fiber Fun

🧶

September 20, 2025

The Carey School - Main

It is quite nice but I have to prepare a bit different activities with yarn for this younger group of students, and more "mid class" movement breaks, stories, songs etc

today we got to know each other, talked a bit about where the yarn comes from and how it is made. Students shared what projects they would like to make, and we tried the "finger crocheting". Two students out of six were getting it really quick, other four were tired of this activity, so we created a small tassle with them that they called "a mop". One student decided that she'd like to wear her creation on the ankle, one student (a couple of years older than the rest) did the single crochets over her chain. We also had an improvised game of silly sounds.

Testimonials

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