Today was our first day back to school and, surprisingly, the most remarkable thing about it was how easy it was to pick right back up where we left off!

Now, of course, the 2nd graders grew a TON over the summer (I remember noticing how different the 2nd graders looked last year) and many of them learned a few new tricks over the summer, but for the most part we slipped right back into the groove.

Honestly, one of the things that helped with this was a bit of a happy accident. Though many aspects of our morning routine remains the same, I chose all new songs, rhymes and poems. The past few days I’ve been diligently working with an unfriendly copier to get them all printed out and in my circle binder so they’re at my finger tips. Though I’ve practiced all of the songs, they are not all in my memory. Well, as luck would have it, I left that binder at home!

Luckily, I had a couple of the songs memorized, and one of the others I had saved in a voice memo on my phone, so I quickly wrote out the words before school (by the way, pro tip, record the songs on your phone and listen to them in the car on your way to school.) BUT, the point here is that for other songs we just sang the ones we did last year.

I actually think it helped the 2nd graders to feel more at ease on the first day to not have too much new stuff to learn.

My favorite moment of the day, which helped me to see that my sweet little first graders have transformed into just-as-sweet 2nd graders . . .

[After finishing our new Michaelmas song.]

F: I like it! Can we do it again?!

Ms. F-P: Tomorrow.

Many 2nd graders: Hooray!

The photo above is my first chalkboard drawing of the year. Now, I readily admit that chalkboard drawing is one of my strivings and one of the techniques I’ve learned is to give myself a satisfying little boundary. Often I use my chalkboard compass to draw a circle, or draw a frame so my drawing can start and stop where I please. I haven’t much thought about the pedagogy behind this practice — it could very well be more appropriate for the students to have a full drawing, without a frame, so they can live into the picture a little more fully — but regardless, they were full of compliments for my feeble attempt.

Fox, hare, deer and owl are the names of our rows and they each have gestures that they do when they respond row-by-row in our daily roll call. It’s very sweet and is reminiscent of the bird calls that we used for roll call last year.

This year, for the first time (ever?!), I’m beginning the year with a math block. It worked better with my block rotation and the position of my play and I’m glad to have some time to review phonics rules in our extra main classes before we start with a language arts block. I’m frequently stumped for a drawing during math blocks, so I was glad to have the first day row introduction as inspiration for this drawing.

Those little forest animals also gave some inspiration for my story today. All summer long I’ve been so immersed in planning out the skill-building content for our main lesson blocks. If you’ve been following the blog, you’ve seen my notes about preparing for my math and language arts blocks. But in the midst of all of that academic content prep, I haven’t given much thought to stories! Telling stories is the part of my job that I love most, so I knew that they would come as I went along, but yesterday afternoon I suddenly found myself sitting down with my lesson book with a nicely outlined list of activities, but no story for the first day.

I actually think it worked out, because when I sat down and thought about my students (somehow they were so much clearer to me knowing that I would see them the very next day), the story just poured right out of me. I’ve often been dissatisfied with my own invented stories, but not this one!

I started with a character named Kavi whose characteristics are exactly those of the archtypal 2nd grader. Some mornings Kavi wakes up and he is like a golden knight. He is kind and thoughtful with everyone in the castle. Other days he wakes up and he is like a wild animal, storming about, thinking only of himself. At some point I may write out the whole thing, but here’s a basic outline.

• Kavi finally notices that the cook in the castle kitchen is a little fearful of him when he comes into the kitchen, wondering which version of Kavi is going to appear.
• Kavi is saddened that the cook is afraid of him, so he asks advice from his mother.
• She tells him to go to the forest and see what wisdom he can find there. He encounters a fox, hare, deer and owl along the way who gradually lead him deeper into the forest. (These animals represent the fables we’ll hear this year.)
• Just when he is about to despair he sees a wise hermit deep in the woods. He’s wearing a brown robe tied with a simple rope and he has soft eyes and a golden glow around him. (He represents the saints we’ll learn about this year.)
• The hermit tells Kavi to go back to the kitchen and take out the jar of beans and count them. “In this task you will find the patience you seek.”
• Kavi does so but has to begin counting again several times because he lost track of his counting.
• The hermit sends him back three more times to count popcorn kernels, lentils and finally grains of rice. Each time he is interrupted and needs to begin counting again. Finally, when counting the grains of rice he learns something.
• He returns to the hermit and he is a new person. He has learned something new and says he has found the wisdom he was seeking.

Tomorrow we’ll talk about the story and I’m hoping that the students will realize the strategy that Kavi learned as he was counting the grains of rice. (I think I even heard someone at the end of the story say something about “counting by 10’s”. Hooray!)

And I’ll let you guess what our math class activity is going to be.

Once again, I’m feeling so blessed to lead this amazing group of students. They astonish me every day with their interest, enthusiasm, respect and love for each other. Today was no different when we started having our “hopes and dreams” conversation. This is a process for defining classroom rules that is outlined by Responsive Classroom. I have used it with upper grades classes, but I wasn’t sure it would translate to the lower grades. I didn’t do it last year, but the 2nd graders are able to beautifully participate in the process. It goes like this.

• Class discussion — “Why do we come to school?”
• Class discussion — “If these are the reasons why we come to school, what is the work we’ll do at school to practice these things?” List these activities on the board together.
• Class discussion — “Of all of these things that we’ll do this year, what are you most looking forward to?” Make sure the whole class gets to hear everyone’s answers. In the past I’ve had students draw pictures of their “hope and dream” for the year.
• After everyone has heard the hopes and dreams, you work together to discuss the things everyone will need to remember to help make sure everyone’s hopes and dreams come true. You’ll get a long list of “reminders” on the board. (Listen to the teacher. Pay attention. etc.)
• Sort these contributions into categories of SELF, OTHERS, PLACE. Usually everything that the students come up with will fit into one of these categories.
• Work together to come up with language for these new rules then post them in the classroom and refer to them often.

Today we got through the first two steps and the 2nd graders just blew me away.

Reasons we come to school . . .

• To learn to read.
• To learn to write.
• To do math.
• To learn manners.
• To learn how to have friends.
• To learn other languages so you can be friends with people who speak other languages.
• To have fun.
• To learn songs.
• To hear stories.

We then listed all of the activities we do at school that help us learn and practice these things. Their homework was to think of something that they’re most excited about and be ready to share tomorrow.

I can’t wait to hear what they come up with!

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Waldorf Classroom Photos

I put a couple of hours in at school today, just sprucing up a little bit. I’m just about done with my room and tomorrow I’ll put the finishing touches on my lessons for the first week. I also finished my first chalkboard drawing of the year. I kinda like it, even though I struggled with a topic, for sure!

I’m looking forward to getting back, but I am going to miss those 8-hour nights of sleep!

After finishing work in my classroom, I went around and chatted with colleagues and took some pictures around the school. I think it’s fair to say things are going to look just beautiful for the first day of school. (Thanks so much to my colleagues for letting me snap these gorgeous shots!)

The power of habit is great!

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It’s been a few weeks since the completion of my Waldorf 7th grade Age of Exploration block, but it sure was a fun one to teach!

This was the block I taught in my very first teaching practicum and it was fun revisiting the content, but it sure reminded me of how far I have come as a teacher. In that very first practicum I memorized my lessons word for word — committing everything to memory out of concern that the words wouldn’t come when I was standing in front of the students.

These days I still do write out my content by hand, often composing sentences with the language I imagine myself using when I speak with the students. But I certainly don’t memorize everything and at times I even trust myself to work from a list of bullet points.

Here’s the basic outline of what we covered.

• Eric the Red and Leif Ericsson (1 day)
• Marco Polo (2 days)
• Henry the Navigator and Gil Eannes (2 days)
• Bartholomew Diaz (1 day)
• Three voyages of Christopher Columbus (3 days)
• Ferdinand Magellan (3 days)

Our block was a bit shortened because of the sailing trip that the 7th graders and I all took together on an historic schooner. We spent a couple of days reviewing and writing reflections on that trip at the end of the block.

In addition to the work above that was completed in class, the students all chose an explorer and completed a written report. They also made a board game that showed the voyage of their explorer. One morning we played the games together in class. Such fun!

I mostly used resources from the public library, as well as a couple of YouTube documentaries. I’ve actually found several YouTube videos to be helpful throughout the year — sometimes there’s nothing quite like a video documentary to summarize a story. Of course, I don’t show them to the students, but I’ve spent several Sunday evenings in front of my computer screen taking notes into my lesson planner!

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Pinterest for Waldorf Teachers

Okay, so I know that your Waldorf teacher training instructors would never advise you to check Pinterest for your lesson ideas, but today’s modern Waldorf teachers know that there is a wealth of information on Pinterest for Waldorf teachers and you’d be crazy to not take advantage of it!

There’s a method to the madness on Pinterest, though, and if you approach it with your Waldorf teacher savvy smarts, you’ll be able to make the most of a fantastic resource. So, here are my 7 steps to making Pinterest work for your Waldorf teacher self.

1. Use it to save ideas.

We Waldorf teachers are in the unique situation of preparing for a new curriculum every year. It’s one of the things that makes our job so difficult . . . er . . . refreshing. But, knowing that you will eventually need to prepare for grade six (and seven, and eight) means that you can start the preparation now. Go ahead and right after you sign up create a board for each grade. That’s right, 8 boards right off the bat. That way when you see that awesome chalkboard drawing for the 7th grade Age of Exploration block, you can pin it and have ready to go when the time comes. And while you’re at it, create a separate “chalkboard drawing” board, too. You (and all of the people who end up following your board) will be glad you did.

2. Choose other people’s boards to follow.

The other thing to do right after you sign up (after you create those boards of course — have you done it yet?) is to start following some people’s boards. There are plenty of Waldorf Pinterest Power-Users and they’ve got lots of boards with lots of images just waiting for you to follow and repin. Some of my favorites?

• My own 4th grade board.
• My own 5th grade board.
• My own 6th grade board.
• My own 7th grade board.
• My own 8th grade board.

And now that the shameless self-promotion segment of this post is over, here are some other fantastic people and boards. (These people have so much more content going on Pinterest than I do. You should really follow them first.)

• Waldorfish
• Waldorf Inspired Learning
• Circle Garden Cooperative
• Waldorf-ideen-pool.de
• Firefly Cottage

3. Find your next chalkboard drawing.

Raise your hand if you’ve ever consulted Google images to find your next chalkboard drawing. (Hand in the air over here!) Well, imagine a search engine like Google except that it is entirely image-based. Every single thing that is on Pinterest is an image. It is a visual medium that is meant to recreate a bulletin board of all of your favorite things. But then, you get to see everyone else’s bulletin board full of favorite things and then put them on your bulletin board of favorite things! And then, more people get to see your bulletin board of fav . . .

I digress. The point is — Pinterest is extremely visual. When you’re looking for inspiration to create something in a visual medium (like chalkboard drawing) Pinterest is basically the best search engine you could find. Go ahead. Type “waldorf chalkboard drawing” in the search bar on Pinterest. How much do you wanna bet you find something that makes you want to pick up your chalk and head to your board right away?

Well, okay, maybe not right away. But I bet it will at least make you want to pin it and save it for later. See how this thing works?

4. Expand your search beyond the Waldorf world.

Because, well, the world is not made of Waldorf teachers. But Pinterest is full of all kinds of teachers. Pinterest is for Waldorf teachers, but it’s for other kinds of teachers, too. I’ve found so many fantastic classroom management ideas that I really need to create a whole board for it. You might even want to create a board for every subject you teach. I’ve found fantastic reading program ideas, team-building exercises and motivational feedback suggestions.

5. Keep an eye on your feed.

Every time you repin something, follow a board, search for something or follow a user, Pinterest adds that little piece of information to their algorithm to determine what you’re going to want to look at next. All of that information comes together to create your home feed. My home feed is remarkably accurate at determining what I want to look at. Sometimes it even predicts my next great idea, hobby, interest, obsession. That home feed is pretty darn good and worth your eyeballs’ attention every now and then.

6. Pin your own stuff to document for next time.

So, I know it can be the last time-consuming straw on the camel’s back, but I hope that you’re doing something to document your work. I’m so grateful for my iPhone because it means that at least remembering to take a photo of my chalkboard is pretty easy for me to do. I also remember to take photos of student work every now and then, but deciding what to do with those images so they’re ready when I want them is another thing entirely. I try to use this blog as a chronicle of my journey, but we all know that my posts can be called intermittent at best. But if a blog sounds like a good idea for you, hit me up and I’d be happy to help you get started.

But, if a blog feels like more than you want to mess with, you can post your photos to your Flickr account. You can organize them there, but if you get yourself in the habit of checking Pinterest before every block to see what you’ve saved, it would be a fantastic idea to pin those Flickr photos onto your Pinterest boards. They’ll be there for you later, but they’ll also be there for other teachers looking for inspiration.

7. Find all kinds of DIY crafts and projects.

Pinterest is the DIYer’s dream. If Mod Podge, decoupage and hot glue guns are your thing, Pinterest is the place for you. I’m not so crafty, myself, so when it comes to finding crafty things to do with my students, I turn to Pinterest. You can find your typical handprint = Thanksgiving turkey, Kleenex = Halloween ghosts and tissue paper collages but there are also much better projects to be found. (Though once I brought a googly eyes/construction paper/Elmer’s glue Pinterest project to my students and they loved it. They’re still talking about it 3 years later.)

So, if you haven’t done it already, go and set up thyself a Pinterest account and get pinning.

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I’m using one of my favorite resources to teach this block — The World of Walls by Polly Schoyer Brooks. It’s a great book full of Middle Ages biographies, but it is long out of print and sells for $1700 on Amazon (makes me wonder if I should sell my copy!) If you can somehow get your hands on a copy of this book, grab it! Update! It is available (not in the edition I own, but still, the stories are great!) Check out this Amazon link to get it!

This week we learned about St. Benedict and Gregory the Great. Next week we’re on to Charlemagne and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Good stuff!

We’re also in the midst of our play — Robin Hood. We don’t have a dedicated play block, which makes me a little nervous that we won’t have enough time to practice, but it will help us avoid losing focus with the spring. We have lots of activities ahead of us before the close of the year, but it promises to be good, fun stuff. I’ll do my best to keep you posted.

I’m also thinking a lot about 7th grade. It’s been a while since I taught that curriculum, but I’m up to the challenge and looking forward to entering the Renaissance with this vibrant group! Our team of middle school teachers is coming together to create a really exciting, enriching middle school experience that promises to bring a fresh, modern perspective to the Waldorf middle school. Creative juices are flowing!

The post Waldorf Sixth Grade Middle Ages appeared first on A Waldorf Journey.

• We finished our block on Ancient Rome. The block culminated in an evening of Roman rhetoric and feasting. The students prepared speeches about the ancient Roman topics they studied, we invited families and siblings, everyone brought a dish to share and we ate by candlelight together. It was truly a magical evening and the students did a fantastic job!
• Our school has a practice of having the middle school teachers swap a block once in the year. My colleague taught the sixth graders Business Math, while I led a block on North American Geography in the fifth grade. Their Business Math block ended with a Holiday Bazaar. Each student created a product and calculated expenses, profit margins, etc. It was a great exercise and the students made quite a bit of money to go towards their 8th grade trip.

Those two blocks took us through to Christmas Break and now we are back in the new year and studying geometry.

I went back through the blog to take a look at some of my old sixth grade geometry posts. Those posts are some of my most popular of all time, probably mostly due to Pinterest. I realized that the last time I taught sixth grade geometry it was in January, and it really did feel like a good time for the block. There is something very inward about geometry — every individual is alone with his or her drawing. (Check out those old posts by following the links below.)

• Waldorf Sixth Grade Geometry Sample drawings
• Waldorf Sixth Grade Geometry Main Lesson Pages
• Waldorf Sixth Grade Geometry Chalkboard Drawing

This time around I’m realizing even more strongly how perfect this block is at this time. Our middle school math program happens to be in a geometry unit, which is very different than the geometry that I am doing with the students in main lesson, but the two are dovetailing very nicely.

In main lesson the students are learning to create various constructions using the compass, straightedge and pencil, while in their math classes, they are doing calculations about those forms. Last week in main lesson we did an exercise to discover that a circle yields the largest area (given an equal perimeter/circumference) and then in math class the students did calculations to prove the truth of that observation. Just perfect!

I also spent some time during the holiday break to find just the right compass to give my students. You can find my favorite on Amazon by following the link below.

Staedtler Precision 6 Inch Student Comfort Compass (556WP00)

There are lots of other interesting new things going on in our classroom. I hope to blog about them soon!

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