Sophia Institute online Art of Teaching Waldorf Program

Art of Teaching Waldorf Grade 1

Lesson 5

HELP

Waldorf Curriculum

Introduction

A curriculum could be compared to the list of ingredients for a recipe. However good the recipe, the quality of the ingredients is crucial but to make a start the components also need to be available. When they are to hand, the next question is whether the cook is skilled enough to combine and adjust flavors so that each item plays its part without overwhelming the others. An experienced cook may be able to substitute one ingredient for another, even to improvise in such a way that something new is created. But we should not forget that emotion, even love, goes into the preparation of food and this will influence how it is received. And, of course, the expectations, health and culinary experience of the diners also makes a difference.

A curriculum guides an entire learning process. It should not, like a dish into which a chef has thrown every possible taste, explode in an overwhelming, sensation-bursting blowout; it should bring to the table ingredients that are well- balanced, digestible and nutritious, that promote health and stimulate, not stupefy, the senses. Over time, as with diet, a curriculum can introduce items that may not be immediately appealing, stronger tastes or more subtle and complex ones: intellectual chillis, subjects initially sour or astringent, as well as flavors, textures and scents that help to educate the palate. A primary school curriculum, in particular, sets out ingredients for the hors d'oeuvres of lifelong learning.

Of course, many school curriculums share common ingredients, but the distinctive qualities of the Steiner-Waldorf curriculum framework are, we believe, unique:

• The curriculum unfolds over time, is wide and richly experiential: not merely designed towards narrowly-defined 'achievement', but intended to promote capability for the art of living
• The curriculum is really only a series of 'indications', as Steiner described them, pointers inviting interpretation and free rendering, i.e. it calls on and encourages the creativity ( or artistry) of teachers
• The importance of content is fully recognized (young people need certain skills and useful knowledge), but as a creative framework, the Steiner- Waldorf curriculum is embedded within a developing practice and method. The curriculum outline takes its cue from the development of the child: subject, or content, provides a medium for a meeting and collaboration of teacher and learner. Thus, since meaning and knowledge are built over  time, this is co-constructive learning in which understanding unfolds as a process of learning to learn encompassing both students and teacher
• Subject content and necessary competence are always relative to the child: the curriculum is midwife to the emerging individuality, rather than suit of clothes into which the child must be made to fit

• The shaping principles of the curriculum are extraordinarily robust and resilient. Many independent educators recognize this fundamental coherence, which has stood the test of time and many generations of children
• The creative freedom within the Waldorf curriculum framework enables it to be successfully adapted for a variety of settings, languages and cultures. Schools founded on the principles and example of the first Waldorf School (Stuttgart 1919), can be found around the world, including every inhabited continent. What started as a central European curriculum has been modified by applying its essential principles to the education of children in -the Americas, many parts of Africa, the Middle East, India and the Far East, as well as most of the rest of Europe.
  

Course Outline

Sophia Institute Waldorf Courses: The Art of Teaching Waldorf Grade 1
Lesson 1 / Waldorf Curriculum / Introduction
Lesson 2 / Waldorf Curriculum / Grades 1 - 3 (Part 1)
Lesson 3 / Waldorf Curriculum / Grades 1 - 3 (Part 2)
Lesson 4 / Waldorf Methods / Reading and Math / Introduction
Lesson 5 / Waldorf Methods / Reading and Math / Reading / Grade 1
Lesson 6 / Waldorf Methods / Reading and Math / Math / Grade 1
Lesson 7 / Waldorf Methods / Sciences / Chemistry / Introduction
Lesson 8 / Waldorf Methods / Sciences / Physics / Introduction
Lesson 9 / Waldorf Methods / Sciences / Life Sciences / Introduction
Lesson 10 / Waldorf Methods / Sciences / Geography / Introduction
Lesson 11 / Waldorf Methods / Sciences / Geography / Grades 1 - 8
Lesson 12 / Waldorf Methods / Sciences / Gardening and Sustainable Living

---

Tasks and Assignments for Art of Teaching Waldorf Grade 1 /AoT15

Please study and work with the study material provided for this lesson. Then please turn to the following tasks and assignments listed below.

1. Study the material provided and look up other resources as needed and appropriate.
2. Create examples of curriculum that addresses the learning method and content appropriate for the grade 1 as follows, Curriculum examples should include outlines and goals, activities, circle/games, stories, and illustrations/drawings:
2.1. Create 2 examples that relate to "Speaking and Listening" for grade 1.
2.2. Create 2 example that relates to "Grammar" for grade 1.
2.3. Create 2 examples that relate to "Writing and Reading" for grade 1.
3. Additionally submit comments and questions, if any.

Please send your completed assignment via the online form or via email.

---

---

Study Material for this Lesson

Introduction

Language is our most important means of mutual understanding and is therefore the primary medium of education. It is also a highly significant formative influence in the child’s psychological and spiritual development and its cultivation is central to the educational tasks of Steiner/Waldorf education. It is the aim of the curriculum to cultivate language skills and awareness in all subjects and teaching settings. Clearly the teaching of the mother tongue has a pivotal role within the whole education.

English Language and Literature/Class 1

Speaking and Listening

These aspects (speaking and listening) are emphasized from the children’s very first day at school. Following the recitation of a morning verse in chorus, the ‘rhythmical part’ of the main-lesson begins. Here recitation of poems alternates with short musical exercises (singing, playing the lyre or recorders). The transition from kindergarten child to schoolchild is marked by the way the children can now recite not only nursery rhymes but also longer seasonal poems. Songs and ring games are also included. The main elements of this pattern are maintained for several weeks before any change is introduced.’ 
Stories are told by the teacher from traditional sources including folk tales and nature stories which the children subsequently recall and retell in their own words and may be enacted. Telling fairy tales requires a specific approach. A simple sentence construction and avoidance of dramatic language used by the storyteller helps prevent subjective feelings from coming into play and bringing the fairy tale down into the realm of the child’s direct everyday experience, where it loses its validity. Folk tale figures are not to be taken literally but archetypally

The value of genuine fairy tales for a healthy psychological development of children would require a separate chapter in its own right. What concerns us here is the role of language. Experience has shown that if the class teacher works on story telling with sufficient seriousness, the children’s imaginations will be stimulated by the archetypal images rather than the stereotypes suggested by film, cartoon and comic book. These associations soon disappear and the children are ready to listen. They sense that the different language of the fairy tale and the way it is told is something new into which they can grow. They enjoy learning whole sentences and passages word for word by heart. 

Teachers consciously prepare such stories by learning the content by heart and choosing language that is clear, artistic, rich in expressive vocabulary and which enhances the meaning of the story. In listening, the children acquire a sense for narrative structure and sense of style. They are able to extend their active vocabulary, learn idioms and phrases through emulation and experience wide variety in the means and form of expression. When the natural rhythms and intonations of the language are consciously used, the children acquire a certainty of feeling for basic punctuation and sentence structure. This provides a basis for the subsequent grasp of the use of commas and full stops. A sense for the different articulation of questions, statements, commands and exclamations is acquired aurally, as well as the distinction between words describing activities, things and attributes. They can also experience the linguistic expression of emotional qualities such as surprise, curiosity, denial, willing affirmation, enthusiasm and so on. 

The directness of the oral approach to storytelling (as opposed to reading) stimulates the child’s engagement, interest and imagination. This provides an empathetic basis for future reading and appreciation of literature, which depends on the readers’ ability to recreate the content of the text in their own imagination in a fluid and uninhibited way. This approach is continued throughout the following years with age-appropriate developments. 

Initially, literature in written textual form is in many respects a kind of foreign language for children. This is even more the case for non -literary texts. Being able to feel at home in this strange land requires the child to leave the stepping stones of the individual words and swim in the meaning of the sentence. Beyond that the reader must be able to enter into the imagination of the writer. This faculty is greatly assisted by listening to and emulating quality oral language that stimulates an interest in story and ideas generally and awakens an interest in literature. 

The ‘story part’ of the main -lesson is also an artistic cultivation of language. In a lecture to teachers in Basle Steiner stated that all lessons to do with language should be built up artistically. 

Children bring their instinct for language to school with them. But it will probably be up to us to shape their feeling for style by the time they reach their ninth year. 

Steiner- Waldorf education attempts to cultivate and encourage the Significance of oral linguistic abilities whilst cultivating literacy. Speaking and listening play a key role in the Steiner-Waldorf approach throughout the curriculum. Poetry and verses are recited throughout the curriculum and this begins on day one in Class 1. 

To be able to shape and carry through the ’rhythmical part’ of the main -lesson which includes the learning and recitation of poetry, the teachers will have had to strengthen their own relationship to lyrical expression as well as practice a suitable way of speaking. Steiner-Waldorf teacher training includes schooling in 'speech formation'. Some schools also have a trained speech teacher who can assist the class teachers in their preparation. When, for example a poem is introduced to the class for the first time it is very important that it should be spoken by heart. The teacher must have familiarized herself with all the nuances of sound, rhythm and other aspects that are special to the poem. Then, by first reciting it to them and then gradually getting them to join in, she will teach them the poem, i.e. will commit it to their memory in an artistic way.

The 'rhythmical part' also includes speech exercises (e.g. tongue twisters) both for the whole class and for individual children, especially when their pronunciation needs to be cultivated and kept under observation. Orientation (e. g. Simon says) and co-ordination exercises also have their place in the 'rhythmical part: Here the children learn to follow verbal instructions. 

The first exercises in repeating what they have heard begin now. The teacher will only tell the next part of the story once the children have repeated what they have heard on the previous day. Initially the children who volunteer have a turn, but eventually every child should be able to stand up in front of the class and retell a part of the story, if necessary with inconspicuous help from the teacher.

​Grammar

Grammar is not yet taught at this stage. It is up to the teacher to emphasize sentence structure, be aware of how the sentences are formed and draw attention to striking words or syntax in the text used. Careful cultivation of clear speaking and well-structured sentences creates an 'aural' awareness of language structure.

Writing and Reading

The children gradually learn to write throughout the first school year. Reading follows writing on the principle of 'first do then understand: In seeing to it that the child speaks well we are laying the foundation for correct writing. Running parallel with this telling and retelling of stories we introduce the child to a kind of language of pictorial forms.  

Before the letters are introduced, the children practice form drawing, using sequences of straight and curved lines within a horizontal framework. Out of this follows the introduction of the capital letters through the media of movement, gesture, speech, picture, name and symbol. Consonants are evolved out of pictograms, vowels out of interjections and expressions of feeling. 

Writing is a highly complex activity and time taken to establish the skills involved is time well spent. The psychologist F. Kainz described the process as follows: 

Learning to write during childhood is an intensive process lasting several years that has the effect of retraining the effectiveness of specific neuronal systems. Writing is difficult because it is served by a number of complicated movements. But complicated movements ... can only be carried out successfully if they have been thoroughly practiced. This practice is an optical-motor achievement of procedural memory based on a physical substrate. We may imagine that the functional fine tuning brought about by practice leads to most delicate changes in the movement centers of the central nervous system.

The process proceeds from pictorial representation of the letters to formal writing. This includes exploration of the relationship of sound and symbol through the use of emergent writing. The shapes of the consonants as capital letters are presented to the children embedded in an artistic drawing made by the teacher with an accompanying story that emphasizes the character of the letter. The letter F, for example, may - be evolved from a drawing of a fish, and W, perhaps from the shape of the waves. The letter is separated from the pictogram and drawn and practiced in its own right. We begin with upper case, then introduce lower case later on in the year, spending more time on it, because lower case can be more difficult as letters are sometimes only distinguished by their orientation: d/b/p/q, m/w, h/y, u/n, etc. It is important to make sure that the letters are written correctly, anti-clockwise, from the top downwards, etc.
A common mistake is to teach every letter of the alphabet with a story and a picture. The alphabet will take all year that way! Once you feel the children have understood the concept - experience (story), picture, letter - then you can teach the remainder of the alphabet more economically. 

This approach is used for the consonants. The special nature of the vowels is shown by the way they can appear as interjections expressing emotions. Wonderment can sound like 'ahl, surprise like 'oh!' Experiences like this at the level of feeling, embedded in a short description and expressed in a picture, pave the way for the discovery of the letters for the vowels. Experiences in eurythmy lessons can be very helpful here. The English vowels and diphthongs are introduced as strong, mutable elements that bond words together. 

In English, however, we don't call the letter 'J\. ah. It rarely makes that sound unless it is accompanied by an 'r' (as in cart). Although it is important to get the feeling, musical, cosmic quality of the vowels across to the children, it is also much more helpful to concentrate on the short vowel sounds (a in apple, i in Indian, e in elephant, 0 in orange, U in umbrella). This gives them the tools to read and write simple words. 

There should be a clear distinction between the names (and long vowel sounds), for example 'J\. for 'Angel', 'E' for 'Eagle', T for 'Icicle', '0' for 'Opal', 'U' for 'Unicorn'. 

In this way the routes that lead to the different letters are enriched and enlivened in a variety of ways. If the synthetic method has been applied for a while, then - once the children have learned a number of letters - a new letter can be derived by an analytical process. This has an enlivening effect. Alternating between synthesis and analysis in this way amounts to more than merely a helpful way of teaching. Steiner advised that both methods are as important for children as waking and sleeping, breathing in and breathing out. 

In the early lessons, exercises that serve a conscious command of right and left are also essential. Steiner referred to this as c ••• letting the children use their own body to become skilful in developing pictorial thinking." For example one can say to the children; with your right hand quickly touch your left knee, your right ear, etc. In form drawing, mirror images (right/left, above/ below) also help orientation in the dimensions of space. 

The children learn to read by reading what they have written or what the teacher has written on the board. The first words that the children read and write in school should be of significant content and already be familiar to the children. Sentences of meaningful rather than banal content should be chosen such as, 'The sun gives light to the world:

Several methods of teaching reading are integrated. These include the whole word or analytic method, the phonetic method and the spelling method. Steiner described this integrated reading method as follows: 

If the letter forms have been gained through painting-drawing, and if one has gone on to a kind of phonetic (and) or whole word method, which is now appropriate because it leads the child to an appreciation of wholeness, and prevents it from becoming too fixed in details - if all this has been done, there is yet something else... It is this: the single sound by itself, the separate M or P, this too represents a reality. And it is important to see that when a sound is part of a word, it has already entered the external world, already passed into the material and physical world. What we have in our soul are the sounds as such, and these largely depend on the nature of our (humanity's) soul (conditions? 

Steiner gave a detailed analysis of the qualities that each of the various reading methods involves in the lecture quoted above. Their transformation and integration through what he called a 'certain pedagogical skill and artistry, which will avoid a too one-sided drill in pronouncing the letters in the conventional way; is the crux of the matter. 'Instead, the child will gain some experience of how the letters came about and this is something which can live within its formative forces, something which is real for the child: If the children are taught in this way, and assuming as Steiner did in 1923 that the children start at the age of seven,  … they will be able to read in due course - perhaps a few months after their ninth year. It does not really matter if they cannot read earlier, because they have learnt it in a natural and wholesome way. Depending on the various children's response, this stage may be reached a little earlier.

To many contemporary educationalists this may seem very late to have learned to read. What is not clear is whether Steiner meant independent reading ability, and at what level. But assuming he meant that children should be able to read text with familiar vocabulary on their own, it is still quite late by conventional standards. One must however see this late start as a conscious extension of orality. Learning in the first three classes does not depend upon literacy skills but on the skills of orality, thus considerable learning in a wide range of topics and areas of experience occurs. Rather than literacy leading the learning process, it complements and supports it. 

The fact is, the moment children learn to read is very individual regardless of the methods used. Generally the child will read when she is ready. The systematic and careful introduction of literacy skills benefits all children, but especially those with learning differences. For those who apparently acquire the skill easily the time ad care taken at least enhances their sense that writing and especially reading are something special. 

In fact in most Waldorf classes most children can read and understand what they have written by the end of Class 1. Steiner advised that if we proceed rationally in these matters we shall bring it about in the first year that the child can put on paper, in a simple way, anything he may wish to or words that are spoken to him, and he will be able to read simple things,"

By the end of Class 2 they can read and understand printed letters and can use cursive script. Nevertheless, reading and writing are not used as means of access to information or as learning tools. These are skills which are acquired which take their context from the overall context of the lessons. This is a fundamental distinction from learning to read and write in order to learn.

Blackboard drawing: Letter "G" (Story: The Golden Goose)

​​The Golden Goose - by The Brothers Grimm - translated by Margaret Taylor (1884)

There was a man who had three sons, the youngest of whom was called Dummling, and was despised, mocked, and put down on every occasion.

It happened that the eldest wanted to go into the forest to hew wood, and before he went his mother gave him a beautiful sweet cake and a bottle of wine in order that he might not suffer from hunger or thirst.

When he entered the forest there met him a little grey-haired old man who bade him good-day, and said, "Do give me a piece of cake out of your pocket, and let me have a draught of your wine; I am so hungry and thirsty." But the prudent youth answered, "If I give you my cake and wine, I shall have none for myself; be off with you," and he left the little man standing and went on.

But when he began to hew down a tree, it was not long before he made a false stroke, and the axe cut him in the arm, so that he had to go home and have it bound up. And this was the little grey man's doing.

After this the second son went into the forest, and his mother gave him, like the eldest, a cake and a bottle of wine. The little old grey man met him likewise, and asked him for a piece of cake and a drink of wine. But the second son, too, said with much reason, "What I give you will be taken away from myself; be off!" and he left the little man standing and went on. His punishment, however, was not delayed; when he had made a few strokes at the tree he struck himself in the leg, so that he had to be carried home.

Then Dummling said, "Father, do let me go and cut wood." The father answered, "Your brothers have hurt themselves with it, leave it alone, you do not understand anything about it." But Dummling begged so long that at last he said, "Just go then, you will get wiser by hurting yourself." His mother gave him a cake made with water and baked in the cinders, and with it a bottle of sour beer.

When he came to the forest the little old grey man met him likewise, and greeting him, said, "Give me a piece of your cake and a drink out of your bottle; I am so hungry and thirsty." Dummling answered, "I have only cinder-cake and sour beer; if that pleases you, we will sit down and eat." So they sat down, and when Dummling pulled out his cinder-cake, it was a fine sweet cake, and the sour beer had become good wine. So they ate and drank, and after that the little man said, "Since you have a good heart, and are willing to divide what you have, I will give you good luck. There stands an old tree, cut it down, and you will find something at the roots." Then the little man took leave of him.

Dummling went and cut down the tree, and when it fell there was a goose sitting in the roots with feathers of pure gold. He lifted her up, and taking her with him, went to an inn where he thought he would stay the night. Now the host had three daughters, who saw the goose and were curious to know what such a wonderful bird might be, and would have liked to have one of its golden feathers.

The eldest thought, "I shall soon find an opportunity of pulling out a feather," and as soon as Dummling had gone out she seized the goose by the wing, but her finger and hand remained sticking fast to it.

The second came soon afterwards, thinking only of how she might get a feather for herself, but she had scarcely touched her sister than she was held fast.

At last the third also came with the like intent, and the others screamed out, "Keep away; for goodness' sake keep away!" But she did not understand why she was to keep away. "The others are there," she thought, "I may as well be there too," and ran to them; but as soon as she had touched her sister, she remained sticking fast to her. So they had to spend the night with the goose.

The next morning Dummling took the goose under his arm and set out, without troubling himself about the three girls who were hanging on to it. They were obliged to run after him continually, now left, now right, just as he was inclined to go.

In the middle of the fields the parson met them, and when he saw the procession he said, "For shame, you good-for-nothing girls, why are you running across the fields after this young man? is that seemly?" At the same time he seized the youngest by the hand in order to pull her away, but as soon as he touched her he likewise stuck fast, and was himself obliged to run behind.

Before long the sexton came by and saw his master, the parson, running behind three girls. He was astonished at this and called out, "Hi, your reverence, whither away so quickly? do not forget that we have a christening to-day!" and running after him he took him by the sleeve, but was also held fast to it.

Whilst the five were trotting thus one behind the other, two labourers came with their hoes from the fields; the parson called out to them and begged that they would set him and the sexton free. But they had scarcely touched the sexton when they were held fast, and now there were seven of them running behind Dummling and the goose.

Soon afterwards he came to a city, where a king ruled who had a daughter who was so serious that no one could make her laugh. So he had put forth a decree that whosoever should be able to make her laugh should marry her. When Dummling heard this, he went with his goose and all her train before the King's daughter, and as soon as she saw the seven people running on and on, one behind the other, she began to laugh quite loudly, and as if she would never leave off. Thereupon Dummling asked to have her for his wife, and the wedding was celebrated. After the King's death, Dummling inherited the kingdom and lived a long time contentedly with his wife.

Additional Resources