Tag: lower grades

First Grade Math: Bird by Bird

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This week, our First Grade teacher, Ms. Weger, shared this lesson from the last block of the year.

The First Grade students have been reviewing the four math processes of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division in their last three-week block of the year. Typically, a nature story of some kind is told, and the children follow along, inwardly calculating as they go.

During this block, the main lesson concluded with the students writing their math sentences from the nature story in their books with a drawing of their choosing. Here is the math story:

The birds have become a symphony of sound from the trees since their babies hatched earlier this Spring! While walking, I noticed a family of quail cross the road. First the mama quail, and then 4 juvenile quail, and then 5 more juvenile quail. Including the mama, how many quail are there? _____. As the quail finished crossing the street, the crows started shouting at each other from the Bishop Pine trees above. There are 2 crows in one tree, and 3 crows in the other. How many crows are there? _____. How many more quail are there on the ground than crows in the trees? _____.    

And here are some of the images the students created in response:

If you’d like to read more about the Waldorf curriculum’s approach to teaching math, The Chalkboard blog from Waldorf School of Moraine has a great introduction “Why is Waldorf Math Education Unique and Powerful?“

2nd Grade Haikus

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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:

  1. Choose a topic
  2. Sit, listen, observe
  3. What would you like to share? Count the syllables. A haiku is 3 lines, with the first and last line being 5 syllables and the middle line being 7 syllables.
  4. Write your haiku!

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

Third Grade Shelter Project

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The 3rd Grade shelter project is a highlight of the year, a venue for cultural studies, creativity, and building for our students. Below, please enjoy the wonderful description of this year’s project by third grade teachers Ms. David and Ms. Stroud, along with colorful pictures of student work.

The shelter project is such a big part of the third grade curriculum and this year we took on the challenge of building each of our shelters at home whilst we all have had to ‘shelter in place’ — it certainly gave a new depth of meaning to our shelter projects!

Once the children had each decided on the shelter they wanted to make, the challenge was to find materials from around the home to build their model: Gautham used clay from his garden to build his cob hut; Colin chose to make his igloo out of sugar cubes; Bianca collected sticks in the woods by her house to make her log cabin; Noah found fennel sticks to make his tree house; Adam used a dish towel for his tipi cover and Roen used mud from his yard to make his mud hut.

The students not only created their own shelters but also the people and animals that lived in them, and the landscape around them;  Alona lives in Leah’s Clay House, she sleeps in a hammock that she wove from soft grasses;  Kiian’s Mongolian Yurt is in a desert which is cold by night and hot by day; Adrian’s pueblo has a large fire place inside the red walls; Oliver’s Swiss stone cottage is under the Matterhorn mountain; Alexandra’s Thai Water House is on stilts; Sofia’s grandparents home was on a Colombian coffee plantation; Leo’s Tabernacle has a lapis lazuli heart stone hidden inside and Dario’s barracks was to house soldiers, like his Grandfather.

The children had to think about life inside their shelter — what would the people living their wear, what would they eat and drink, how would they get all their food and clothing and necessities to keep warm and dry?  Sara’s imaginary ‘Hutacie’ had animal skins for warmth, Jude had two pigs and a chicken to help feed the peasant farmers that lived in his Chinese shelter; Angelo had cooking and sleeping inside his tipi which was situated near a lake for water; and Lucas’s shepherd had sheep for wool, meat and milk.

I am so proud of all the work that went into these shelters and so grateful for the patience and support of all the third grade parents!

We would usually have an event to display all this fantastic work and the children would all be there to answer questions.  We hope you will tour the gallery of photos and please do ask us any questions you have!!

Thank you, from all the third grade students, Ms Stroud and Ms David