On Day One of lectures to the first Waldorf teachers, Rudolf Steiner outlines the Waldorf story content for each grade. Here's the list for homeschoolers.
Let’s talk all things first grade! In Waldorf education, there is so much emphasis placed on the transition from kindergarten to first grade, and in many ways, it’s for good reason! The child is ready to transition into the grades, and with that comes a need to approach things a little differently:
First grade is such a sweet, memorable year. It’s the bridge between the kindergarten and elementary years. Like the kindergarten child, the first grader still thrives on days full of play, connection, and rhythm. (For more on supporting these needs, see this post on How to Teach Kindergarten ). Yo
Let’s talk all things first grade! In Waldorf education, there is so much emphasis placed on the transition from kindergarten to first grade, and in many ways, it’s for good reason! The child is ready to transition into the grades, and with that comes a need to approach things a little differently:
Are you teaching the Waldorf first grade Quality of Numbers block? I took a bunch of photos of my main lesson book. What a great block!
Are you teaching the Waldorf first grade Quality of Numbers block? I took a bunch of photos of my main lesson book. What a great block!
Let’s talk all things first grade! In Waldorf education, there is so much emphasis placed on the transition from kindergarten to first grade, and in many ways, it’s for good reason! The child is ready to transition into the grades, and with that comes a need to approach things a little differently:
Are you thinking about Waldorf-inspired homeschooling for first grade? Waldorf-inspired methods might be exciting and intriguing when you first encounter them, but it can also feel overwhelming to figure it all out. But you don't need to figure it all out at once. First
Somehow 2016 is nearly in the books and I still haven't had time to post about what we've been up to for the first semester. Jack's...
Well, school has officially started! We’ve had one joyful day and, I have to say, it was fantastic seeing my students again! Aren’t those end of summer reunions wonderful?! I just love it when all of the anticipation of the summer prep is over and we finally have our first day back at school. Don’t […]
Let’s talk all things first grade! In Waldorf education, there is so much emphasis placed on the transition from kindergarten to first grade, and in many ways, it’s for good reason! The child is ready to transition into the grades, and with that comes a need to approach things a little differently:
In Waldorf homeschooling the main academic subjects are presented one at a time in blocks. A main lesson block typically lasts 2 - 4 weeks and the main lesson takes 1 - 2 hours a day. It’s a holistic approach to learning so even though one subject is the focus in main lesson, each day the subject is
I'm going to take a brief break from my Main Lesson Book Photography Project to say that I've finally finished my list of stories for Waldorf First Grade Capital Letters! There are LOTS and LOTS of resources for using Grimm's fairy tales to teach the letters, and I'm happy to share the traditional story list with anyone who asks, but I wanted to come up with a creative way of doing the stories using picture books which I already had on my shelf. I was looking for some unusual choices for the letter illustrations, and some fun creative follow-up ideas for the stories I picked. Here is the web page with all of the details on this main lesson block! my merry little jumping juggling jester which I painted years ago, when I was first learning about Waldorf It also includes ALL of the links to the traditional resources as well, and lots of photos of the traditional illustrations. But here are my choices, first in alphabetical order, and then in the combinations which I will use for them. The web page includes all the stories which go with each letter and links to all the books I'm choosing, so I don't feel like I need to repeat that here. A - Asparagus B - Bubbles C - Cave D - Door & Den E - Elephant F - Feather G - Goose H - House I - Icicle J - Jump & Joy K - King L - Ledge M - Mountain N - Net O - Otter P - Parrot Q - Queen R - River S - Shooting Star T - Tower U - Underground V - Valley W - Worm X - Xylophone Y - Yak Z - Zucchini Story and Activity Combinations: #1 - Worm + Underground #2 - Tower + Bubbles #3 - Yak + House #4 - River + Net #5 - Otter + Shooting Star #6 - Mountain + Elephant #7 - Feather + Goose #8 - Xylophone + Parrot #9 - King + Queen #10 - Ledge + Valley + Cave #11 - Icicle + Jump/Joy + Door/Den #12 - Asparagus + Zucchini I would do this over two main lesson blocks, combinations 1 through 6 in one block and combinations 7 through 12 in the second block. Please, as always, feel free to share any comments in the comment box and I will be sure to respond! UPDATES: Looking back at this old post, I've realized that I have some newer ones that go with it very well. See How Waldorf Teaches Capital Letters (October 14, 2019) for my detailed lesson plan notes from Tue, Oct 1 (L - Ledge, D - Dragon) Thur, Oct 3 (R - River, N - Net) Mon, Oct 7 (V - Valley, C - Cave) Thu, Oct 10 (M - Mountain, E - Elephant) Fri, Oct 11 (W - Worm, U - Underground) You may also be interested in the post Shopping List for Capital Letters Block (March 25, 2020) which gives a summary of the artistic and hands-on projects I like to do for this block and all of the supplies needed. This post contains affiliate links to the materials I actually use for homeschooling. I hope you find them helpful. Thank you for your support!
The end of our first year homeschooling, and what a year we had! Happy to say we fared well. Here, our weather tree is a symbol of our journey. We started in September with a bare tree on a very clean blackboard, which you can see on this blog post. Leaves were placed on this ...
Now that 8th grade graduation is behind me, I’m starting to get all geared up for 1st grade. I’ve got just 3 weeks before my family and I head off for our big summer trip, so I’m wasting no time getting going on my summer prep. Years ago a former colleague of mine put together […]
An introduction to Waldorf Form Drawing. Movement is the way in which we explore the cosmos and ourselves within it. The very act of breathing is movement. Movement is one of the most primary activities of nature and of the human being. As such, movement is at the very foundation of all learning a
The first math main lesson block of first grade is completely unique to Waldorf. Unless you went to a Waldorf school yourself, this is new and unfamiliar territory for you! In this post I’ll walk you through the Quality of Numbers block and give you some ideas for how to teach it
An introduction to Waldorf Form Drawing. Movement is the way in which we explore the cosmos and ourselves within it. The very act of breathing is movement. Movement is one of the most primary activities of nature and of the human being. As such, movement is at the very foundation of all learning a
Form drawing is a unique subject in the Waldorf curriculum. It’s the drawing of patterns, or forms, beginning with the straight line and curve on the first day of first grade and progressing through to very complicated Celtic knots by fourth grade and freehand geometry in fifth. Form drawing can be
Q: What is the Waldorf first grade art curriculum? (This post is part of a series in which we answer the most common questions we receive in our inbox re: homeschooling, Waldorf curriculum/pedagogy, and whatever else comes our way! Click here to read more from the series!) A: If you’re j
An introduction to Waldorf Form Drawing. Movement is the way in which we explore the cosmos and ourselves within it. The very act of breathing is movement. Movement is one of the most primary activities of nature and of the human being. As such, movement is at the very foundation of all learning a
An introduction to Waldorf Form Drawing. Movement is the way in which we explore the cosmos and ourselves within it. The very act of breathing is movement. Movement is one of the most primary activities of nature and of the human being. As such, movement is at the very foundation of all learning a
Q: Why are verses spoken at the beginning of Waldorf painting lessons? (This post is part of a series in which we answer the most common questions we receive in our inbox re: homeschooling, Waldorf curriculum/pedagogy, and whatever else comes our way! Click here to read part one!) A: Ver
Waldorf form drawing curriculum progresses across the grades, and evolves to meet the growing child in their development. So, how do the forms change from first through fourth grade? In first grade, the curriculum starts at the beginning! First graders begin their journey by explo
An introduction to Waldorf Form Drawing. Movement is the way in which we explore the cosmos and ourselves within it. The very act of breathing is movement. Movement is one of the most primary activities of nature and of the human being. As such, movement is at the very foundation of all learning a
A summary of the beginning of our Waldorf Inspired Homeschool year for Grades One and Three.
First Grade Science Full Year Curriculum 36 weeks of Science for first graders. Actually probably would work for first and second. I would suggest finding books or videos online to go along with th…
We began this block with a talk about how the human body is formed. In short, we have three major parts: head, trunk, and limbs. The basis for this discussion, and our first week of Man and Animal …
I typed up a routine/rhythm based on the way our days flow. The white band is the new main lesson block from our new Waldorf curriculum. We already started with the stories and forms and it is goi…
Q: Why are verses spoken at the beginning of Waldorf painting lessons? (This post is part of a series in which we answer the most common questions we receive in our inbox re: homeschooling, Waldorf curriculum/pedagogy, and whatever else comes our way! Click here to read part one!) A: Ver
Waldorf form drawing curriculum progresses across the grades, and evolves to meet the growing child in their development. So, how do the forms change from first through fourth grade? In first grade, the curriculum starts at the beginning! First graders begin their journey by explo
An introduction to Waldorf Form Drawing. Movement is the way in which we explore the cosmos and ourselves within it. The very act of breathing is movement. Movement is one of the most primary activities of nature and of the human being. As such, movement is at the very foundation of all learning a
While we continue many of the same kinds of forms explored in first grade, we begin a new impulse in second grade. (Read an introduction to this topic, as well as Rev’s piece Form Drawing in Grade One, here.) The second grader begins to experience a vague sense of duality or polarity in the wo
One of the quintessential first grade main lesson blocks is Fairy Tales and Letters. First grade language arts is a continuation of the kindergarten years when you surrounded your child with the rhythms of oral language. In Waldorf-inspired homeschooling we teach language arts holistica
A basket full of ideas for homeschooling first grade with Waldorf inspiration! What's in my basket, why, and how does it meet the needs of the growing child.
Are you teaching the Waldorf first grade Quality of Numbers block? I took a bunch of photos of my main lesson book. What a great block!
I am a Waldorf homeschooling mother, just like YOU! This was a block I made up for First Grade (a January block) and thought it may give some of you inspiration for working science in with all the…
