Beginning in first grade, Waldorf students study form drawing, working on increasingly complex renderings as they grow. This work is done freehand until the 6th grade, when students begin to work with the aid of a straight edge and compass.
We’re proud to share the beautiful work our 6th grade class is doing this year, under the guidance of skier, philosopher, and 6th grade lead teacher Mr. Stopeck.
This week, 2nd Graders demonstrated their creativity, as well as their understanding of parts of the English language, by composing and illustrating haiku poems that describe the world around them. Below, our 2nd Grade teacher Ms. Martin shares her lesson, as well as some samples of student work.
Dear second grade children,
In these past few weeks, you have learned about naming words (nouns), doing words (verbs) and describing words (adjectives) and have seen how they work together to make a sentence. Now, in writing a haiku, you are using these parts of a sentence , and also your senses! What do you see, taste, feel, hear? Remember, a haiku is a short poem that captures a moment in time. It is a small window into a moment or an experience. We have heard many stories of saints and sages in these past few weeks!
Do you think Francis of Assisi observed nature? Remember how he communicated with the birds and the wolf of Gubbio? Odelia did not have her eyesight from the time she was born until she was a young woman, and yet she knew of the ways of nature. She felt the wind on her cheeks and could feel the flowers growing in a way most of us are not familiar with. Do you remember that Kee-ten (the Native American author, Mourning Dove) had to learn as a child to listen to the river, the wind and all of nature which was trying to speak to her?
When we sit still to listen and see the tiny creatures of the earth, or the twinkling stars on an early morning, or the intricate, colorful wings of a butterfly, we too are listening to nature! What is it trying to teach us? What moment in time would you like to share?
In order to write your haiku you must:
Here is the haiku I wrote, inspired by the fawns I saw in front of our
classroom.
Two fawns in tall grass.
Spotted, brown and white they lay,
Curious and calm
The most famous haiku poem of the most famous haiku poet in Japan.
古池や 蛙飛び込む 水の音
The old pond
A frog leaps in.
Sound of the water.
The syllables are different in Japan than they are in English!
Thank you, children, for doing your best work in writing your Haikus. I look forward to seeing what you have created.
Warmly,
Mrs. Martin
Fifth Grade’s botany block begins with the study of mushrooms, working its way to trees and flowering plants. Our 5th Grade teacher, Mr. Stopeck, shared these wonderful main lesson pages created by his students.
Yesterday, we shared a beautiful lesson on the Middle Ages created for our distance learning program from 6th Grade teacher Ms. Terziev. Part of the learning process throughout the Waldorf curriculum is the creation of a main lesson book: with the teacher’s guidance, students create their own illustrations and summaries of the material presented in class.
The creation of a main lesson book is one of the ways Waldorf teachers incorporate art, creativity, and meaning into every lesson, while also encouraging recollection and a personal connection to the material. In a Waldorf school, children don’t reference textbooks to remember their lessons, but their own handmade work.
Below, some images from this year’s 6th Grade main lesson books during their Middle Ages block.
If you’d like to learn more about main lessons, Summerfield Waldorf School in Santa Rosa, California, offers a primer on main lessons, main lesson books, and how they support learning and retention. Click here to read “Where Are the Textbooks? The Use of Main Lesson Books in Waldorf Education” from Summerfield Waldorf School.
Grandmother Oak