Sophia Institute online Art of Teaching Waldorf Program

Art of Teaching Waldorf Grade 1
Waldorf Methods/Reading and Math 1.2.

Additional Resources

​Phonological and Phonemic Awareness Activities
​Activities to build your students’ skills in the Emergent Phase and the beginning of the Phonemic Awareness Phase   

Specifically Waldorf 1st Grade students need to become skillful at recognizing that words are  made up of different sounds to learn to read and spell. This overall ability, phonological  awareness, includes the following skills, moving from word to syllable to sound:  
1. Understanding “Theory of Word” 
2. Understanding Syllables  
3. Phonemic Awareness – listed in order of difficulty (easiest to hardest)
- Phoneme matching (rhyming) 
- Onset and rhyme 
- Blending phonemes 
- Sequencing phonemes 
- Segmenting phonemes 
- Manipulating phonemes: Addition, Deletion, Substitution, Transposing 
​
This collection of activities are targeted for the students in the Emergent Phase and the  beginning of the Phonemic Awareness Phase. These are activities we have found that really  spark children’s enthusiasm and allow them the “deep practice” they need to master these  skills. Use them in both the Skills Practice section during Main Lesson and in your daily  Language Arts Skills periods. 

Understanding Theory of Word: Sentence Segmentation  
1. Step, Stomp or Clap Words of a Sentence Say the lines from a known verse or poem  while standing. Then say again stepping or stomping for each word of the sentence. Then  have students do this with you a few times. Add clapping each word of a sentence with stepping or stomping at first in a day or two. Then try only clapping the sentence. 
2. Toss Along Words Say a line from a known verse or poem, and then repeat the sentence  while tossing a beanbag back and forth on each word between you and individual  students. For example, with the verse “Brave and True” the teacher tosses the beanbag to different children with all reciting the verse as follows: “Brave” (toss beanbag to one  child), “and” (child tosses back), “true” (teacher tosses back to another child), etc. 
--- Initiate these next two activities when the students are in the beginning level of the Phonemic  Awareness Phase: 
3. Scrambled Sentences Write sentences from a verse or song that the children know by  heart from their Memory Reading on butcher paper. Cut each sentence strip into words  and keep each sentence in its own pile. Read one sentence aloud to each small group,  and then have the children in each group rearrange the words to make their sentence.  Once the children have placed the words in the correct order, have them read the  sentence to the whole class. Advanced: Each small group has all the scrambled sentences  of a verse to put in order. 
4. Sentence Match Up Give some of the students one of the scrambled sentence word  cards from Activity #3. Begin with just one sentence of the verse. Call out the words,  asking the student with that card to stand up. Once all of the cards are called for that  sentence, have the children go to the front of the room and stand in order from left to  right. As the children and teacher read the cards together, have the children hold up their  card as it is read. 

Understanding Syllables 
1. Jaw Drop Have the students hold their hands under their chins, palm side down. Ask  them to say a word, like banana, slowly and count the number of times their jaws drop  open and push their hands down. Give them more words to try their jaw drops on, counting the syllables as they go. Any logical break counts at this point in their discovery. 
2. Clapping Syllables After Jaw Drops, demonstrate clapping the syllables of your name as  you say it. Show the students how to clap the syllables of their names. Go around the  room clapping each child’s name together as a class and then individually. Do this activity  often. 
3. Finger Count Syllables On a subsequent day after the class has mastered Jaw Drop and  Clapping Syllables, demonstrate tapping one finger at a time against the palm of the  other hand while saying a word in syllables. Then demonstrate how to hold up the  number of fingers to show the number of syllables. 
4. Name Game (Prerequisite: All the students can recognize each other’s name at least by  the first letter.) Write all of the children’s names on index cards and place in a basket. Sit  in a circle and pass the basket from one child to the next and sing a song the children  know. When the music stops, whoever is holding the basket pulls out a card and reads  the child’s name on the card. The class repeats the name and claps out or finger counts  the number of syllables as they say the name (e.g. Mor-gan has 2 claps, Em-i-ly has 3).  Continue this routine until all names have been pulled from the basket.  
5. Car-Semi-Train Tell the children that a car has one part, a semi-truck has two parts (cab  and bed), and a train has three or more parts (engine, box car, and caboose). Hang  pictures of each up on the wall. Remind the children that words have parts too, syllables.  Say a word while clapping its syllables. Assist the children in deciding how many parts  each word has and ask if it is a car, semi or train word. Say another word and have  students clap the syllables and tell you which kind of word it is. Advanced Level: Blend this activity with sight word practice by writing the sight words that the students are  learning at the time on cards and adhere the cards under the correct syllable category,  car, semi or train. 
6. Roll call This activity is a great way to dismiss the children for recess. Explain that you will  be calling them by saying their name in its parts. Say each name with definite breaks  between the syllables (then move to sounds). When a child hears her name, she stands  and says her name in parts and then as a whole word (e.g., Pa/ tri/ cia, Patricia). 

Activity for Phoneme Matching, Onset-Rime, Sequencing Phonemes 
1. Picture Card Sorting
Note: The boxed game Blurble has very simple, clear picture cards that are perfect for  Picture Card Sorts and other activities below; you can order the game from  blurblegame.com. 
Teacher-led Picture Card Sorts: 
a. Rhyme match Have children make cards with pictures of objects that rhyme with  different CVC words, such as dog, log, hog; cat, hat, mat; bun, sun, fun or use  appropriate Blurble cards of CVC objects. Say one of the CVC words and have  children sort picture cards that end with the same rime.  
b. Initial Sound Find or have students make 10 picture cards of common items that  begin with /p/ and /c/ and mix them up. Show students how to sort into pre arranged categories, like words that begin with /p/ and words that begin with /c/.  Have volunteers put cards one at a time in correct categories after saying the  word. Review to make sure the sorts are correct.  
c. Short Vowel Find or have students make 10 picture cards for the pre-arranged  categories, like words with /short e/ and words with /short i/. 
Vary this activity with these sorts: 
• Buddy Sort: Students work together in pairs to sort. They discuss their work and have  to come to consensus on which words belong in which categories.  
• Speed Sort: Students work individually and sort their words as fast they can.  Note: Use the Blurble picture cards or have students make their own cards to make enough  sets for buddies or each student. 

Phoneme Matching: Recognizing Rhymes and Alliteration 
1. Shouting Out the Rhyming Word with a Stomp or Clap* Chant a nursery rhyme or verse  with the class. When you get to a rhyming word stomp or clap and shout out that word. Example: 
The cock doth CROW, 
To let you KNOW 
If you be WISE 
Tis time to RISE. 
2. Word Play  
a. Sing songs, such as Down By the Bay or Willoughby Wallaby Woo, during which the  singer(s) gets to add a rhyming word to the lyrics. After you fill in the rhyming word the first time or two, begin having volunteers give their offerings. At first allow  students to create nonsense words for the rhyme if that is what they are capable of.  The most important goal is to enjoy the word play! 
b. Recite a known nursery rhyme with the class and then change the last word of the  first line and have the children fill in the next rhyme. Here’s an example: With the  rhyme Eeney, meeny, miny, moe, change moe to man and have fun making up the new  lines, like: 
Eeney, meeny, miny, man, 
Catch a tiger by the fan, 
If he hollers let him plan, 
Eeney, meeny, miny, man. 
As with 1a, at first don’t require new words to make sense. Just enjoy the word play! 
c. Read read-aloud books that use rhymes and alliteration throughout, such as Llama  Llama, Red Pajama or Madeline. Read the book with delight for these word plays. Stop  and say the words that rhyme or are alliterative. Read these books often during  transition times, handwork periods, etc. at the beginning of 1st Grade so that the  students begin to fill in the rhyming words for you as you read. Have students bring  such books from home to share with the class. 
3. Rhyme pairs Pair up the students and have them stand by each other. Say a known  nursery rhyme, poem, or song lyrics such as “Down by the Bay” with the class. Tell  partners to walk around the room slowly as you call out pairs of words (e.g., grow/go,  pig/jig, whale/hair, etc.) found in that verse. If the pair of words rhyme, the partners hold hands. If not, the partners continue to walk around the room together.  
4. Rhyme line Say a word, such as sky. Each child in turn gives a word that rhymes with your  word. At first have the rhyme line end after 4-5 students and start a new line with  another CVC word such as dug, hit, etc. As the students develop their rhyming skill,  stretch the line out a bit longer. Help students who get stuck by giving them two words  to choose from – one which rhymes with your word and one that doesn’t. 
Note: One of the earliest signs of dyslexia is the inability to recognize rhymes. If you have a  student who has continual issues with rhyming words, contact your mentor. Chances are  this child needs a professional assessment. 
5. Getting to Know You This is for practicing alliteration. Demonstrate by saying your name  and then name something you like that begins with the same letter as the first letter of  your name. For example, “My name is Patti and I like popcorn.” Make sure that the  concept of using the initial sound of one’s name is clear from the beginning. Help a child  who makes a mistake by guiding her with positive statements like, “Which words can you  think of that begin with the sound /m/ , the first sound of your name, Maria? Do you like  marigolds, monkeys or milkshakes?”  
6. Grandma’s Suitcase (Basket) This activity is perfect for your Consonant Blocks! Find 5-10  items that begin with the consonant letter introduced and put them in an old suitcase or big basket covered with a cloth. Demonstrate how to either pull out one item without  showing it to the class or feel it inside the suitcase without looking at it; then give the  class clues that describe the item. The students take turns guessing what the item is. Call  on volunteers to do the same for each of the remaining objects.  
7. Grandmother’s Trunk The original version of this activity is to have each student say one  thing that is in grandmother’s trunk. It is an auditory memory exercise, such that each  student needs to recall what came before her item in order to add something. (Student 1,  “I looked in Grandmother’s trunk and I saw a red balloon.” Student 2, “I looked in  Grandmother’s trunk and I saw a red balloon and a kangaroo“…and so on.) For sound  discrimination practice, have the students add an item that begins with the new  consonant sound, such as only items that begin with /m/.  
Variations: 
a. Each item has to begin with the next letter in the alphabet (apple, ball, cap, etc.) b. Begin with the sound that the last one ended with (cat, turnip, pumpkin, etc.) c. Have students add the number of each item beginning with the same sound as the  number: one waterslide, two turtles, three thumbs, four frogs, etc. 
8. A, B, C, what do you see? Choose something in the room that begins with the new  consonant sound the class is studying. Say, “A, B, C, what do you see, I see something  starting with a …”. The students give their guesses. Don’t go past 5 guesses before  giving another clue so as to keep the game going well. Advanced variation: Have a  volunteer whisper something in your ear that begins with the sound and the others give  their guesses. 
9. I Spy (This is a variation of #8) Say the verse, “I spy with my little eye, something that  begins with the __ sound.” (Choose a sound the students have studied.) The students  give their guesses. See above for variations.  
10. How many words? Say, “How many words can we make that start with the /t/ sound?”  Have students say words one at a time. You keep a tally on the BB for fun or write them  on the BB as students share.  
11. Sound switch Tell students to switch seats with a partner if they hear a word that begins  with the consonant sound you choose. Call out words – some that begin with the  consonant sound and some that do not. The students switch seats when they hear a  word that begins with the consonant sound.  
Variations in order of difficulty:  
a. Have the students listen for two different initial sounds. That means you need to add  another movement, such as stand up, clap their hands, jump up or curl up. b. The students switch seats if the words have the short vowel sound. c. Have the students listen for two different short vowel sounds, such as short ‘i’ word  and a short ‘a’ word. Examples: bad-bid, lad-lid, big-bag, dad-did, in-an, bill-ball. d. The students switch seats if the words have the same ending sound. e. Have the students listen for two different ending sounds. 
12. Bouncing fun Have whole class while in a circle bounce ball back and forth, each person  saying a word that begins with a letter sound you choose while bouncing it to the next person. Advance to pairing up students in two lines and saying words that begin with the  chosen initial sound back and forth with their partner. 
13. Object and Letter Have students make a set of letter cards and a set of picture cards with  objects and that begin with the sound(s) of those letters. Play games like matching (also  known as Lotto), flashcard identification, Go Fish, ‘fishing game’, and Bingo as described  here:  
a. Sound Bingo Give each child a bingo card you copy off. Have the children draw the  pictures you have chosen for the sounds you want to practice on their bingo card.  Review all of the pictures on the bingo cards by saying the name of the picture and  the sound that the word starts with. Call off the selections by the first sound in the  word or picture. The children identify which picture begins with that sound. For  example, if you call off the sound /k/, the children cover the king picture with a  marker. As the children place markers on the pictures, they call out “Bingo” when  they have a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line of words that have been covered. We  like to play until all students have gotten one “Bingo”. 
14. Feel a Letter Have students make letters out of cardboard or other textured material. Cut  these out so they can be identified by feel. Put them in a bag or box and have students  feel one letter and give a word that begins with that sound for the other children to  figure out which letter it is. 
15. Letter Jump Write letters on the sidewalk in an array that is possible for the students to  easily jump from any one letter to another in the array. Have each student jump from  letter to letter saying words that begin with each letter sound.  

Onset and Rime: Recognizing and Creating Rhymed Words 
1. Hand Spell This activity is also useful for rhyme and alliteration, segmenting phonemes,  and introducing word families. Say a word and put out your fist (example word: bat). Say  just the onset (the consonant(s) that comes before the vowel) and put up your thumb at  the same time (ex. /b/). Say the rime (the vowel to the end of the word), and stick out the  rest of your hand as if you were about to shake hands. (ex: /at/). Put the onset and rime  back together into a whole word and pull your hand back into a fist position (ex. bat).  
2. Silly Sally Tell the students that you have become “Silly Sally” and you will change the  onset of every word to /s/. Demonstrate with naming an object, like bun, and show them  that now that you are “Silly Sally” you will change the onset to /s/ to become sun. Change  the onset to /s/ for a few more objects. Then tell the students that they too can be “Silly  Sally” and blend the onset /s/ to the rime of a new word. It’s ok if the words make sense  (bat to sat; land to sand) or don’t make sense (house to souse; rug to sug). Change the  onset for the next game to play Silly Patty (with the onset /p/), Silly Millie (/m/), etc. 
3. "I'm thinking of…” Use known nursery rhymes for this guessing activity. Say, for  example, "I'm thinking of the animal Bo Peep lost. It's a sh-eep." The students have to  figure out what the riddle solution is by figuring out the onset and rime. Advance to  leaving out the answer and the students saying the riddle solution as onset and rime first  and then the whole word.
4. Who’s different? Say 3 words as onset and rime with one word that doesn’t rhyme, such  as "c-at", "m-at", "r-an". Have the students repeat after you and work in pairs to decide  which word is different, doesn’t rhyme with the others.  

Blending Phonemes 
1. Stretching Words (Also use for Sequencing and Segmenting) Get enough stretchable  fabric (like swimsuit fabric) to cut into 6in x 18in lengths for each child. Say a word like  sun and hold up the fabric. Say the word slowly, ssssuuuunnnnn, and stretch your piece as  you do so. Exaggerate how you stretch out the word. Then let the fabric return to its  normal size and say the word again. Have students do this often right before they Finger  Spell (see below) and write the Sound and Letter Boxes for specific words. 
2. Come Together Have three children stand at a distance from each other in front of the  class. Explain that they will each represent a sound in a word. Begin with 3 children and  CVC words. Say a CVC word such as “r-e-d,” placing a definite break between the sounds.  Before guessing the word, instruct the children to move closer together as you say the  word again. When the correct word is given, have the children move so that they are  touching sides. 

Sequencing Phonemes 
1. Head-Hip-Feet With the children standing, instruct them to listen as you call out CVC  words and their sounds. When the first sound is introduced, have the children place their  hands on their head. When the second sound is made, the children place their hands on  their hips. As the last sound in the word is made, the children touch their feet. Move on  to longer words when the children consistently identify CVC words. 
2. 1-2-3 Sounds Using masking tape, mark one or more 3X1 rectangles on the floor. Prepare a  basket that holds several pictures of CVC words (such as dog, cat, put, bet, mob) or when  they are ready the written words. Demonstrate how to separate the word into its 3 parts  and hop in each section of the rectangle as you say each sound. Have the children each  pick a card and take a turn. 
2.a Finger Spelling* (Use for Blending also) Say a word (ex: bat) and show your hand in a fist. Then say each sound and put out a finger for each sound, starting with your thumb (ex:  /b/ said with thumb, /a/ with pointer, /t/ with middle finger).  
3. Sound and Letter Boxes (Elkonin Boxes)* (Use for Sequencing also) After finger spelling a  word, make a box for each sound in a word on the BB. Have student finger spell again  and place a letter in the right box immediately after saying it. It’s good to do Stretching  Words, Finger Spelling, and then this activity together to apply segmenting to encoding  words.
4. Say it Loud Ask three children to be your assistants in the front of the class or small  group. The child on the group’s left crouches down on her hands and knees. The middle  child stands tall and the child on the right is on her hands and knees. When you say a  three-sound word like ‘bell’ have the first child say the /b/ in a very quiet voice, the  second child says the middle sound loudly and the third child says her sound very quiet.  Emphasize the vowel sounds. 
5. Meet in the Middle Collect 2 sets of picture cards, one set with the same short vowel  sound (Short /i/ vowel: pig/fish/king) and another set with another short vowel sound (Short /a/ vowel: hand/cat/lamb). Have two boxes or baskets ready with a card showing  the designated short vowel sound taped to the outside of each one. Show the children  how to sort all of the pictures into the right boxes or baskets based on the vowel sound  that comes in the middle of the word. Help the children begin sorting them. When  sorting is complete, take all the cards out from each box and review the words and their  vowel sounds. Sort different pairs of short vowels before sorting three or more vowels. 
6. Name that Vowel Sound Say sets of three words that have the same vowel sound  (Examples: hat/rap/Sam; game/lake/paint). Have students identify which vowel sound is singing in the words. You can begin with a question, “Is short /a/ or long /a/ singing?”  Begin with the short and long sounds of one vowel and then add other vowels.  

Manipulation: Phoneme Deletion 
1. First Drop Off Have the children draw pictures of CVC words, such as bus, fan, dog, web,  pit, or use Blurble cards, and place them in a basket. Have a child draw out a picture and  name it. That child then calls on another child to tell the group what that word sounds like when you remove the first sound of the word (e.g., “cat” becomes “at”). That child  can then draw the next picture, name it, and then call on another child. 
2. First and Last Drop Off Use the same CVC picture cards. Give each child a card. Ask each  child to first name the object, say it again without its first sound, and then say it again  without its last sound (e.g., pin/in/pi). If one of their deleted sound words is a real word  they can turn in their card for another one and earn one point (e.g., in). Continue until all  of the children have a point or more. 
​
Manipulation: Phoneme Substitution 
These activities are appropriate for students in the beginning of the Phonemic Awareness Phase. 
1. Sound Focus Have the children write CVC words that can have their initial consonant  substituted on cards. See below for examples. Place them in a basket. Be sure to use one  set of words at a time. Have a child draw out a card to read to the other children. Have  the children take turns changing each word by taking off the first sound and exchanging  it for the sound indicated. 
a. Replace the initial consonant with /s/: bit (sit), cat (sat), fun (sun), tell (sell) b. Replace the initial consonant with /m/: soon (moon), cake (make), seal (meal) c. Replace the initial consonant with /l/: book (look), dock (lock), say (lay), tip (lip)  d. Replace the initial consonant with /d/: log (dog), big (dig), meal (deal), say (day) 
2. Letter Play Choose a CVC word such as cat. Whisper in each of three students’ ears one  of the letters and have each write that letter on her slate. Have these students stand in  front of the group to spell out the word after you say the word. Variation: Don’t say the  word to the whole group, only say it to the 3 students and have them line up correctly.  
After the whole class has identified the word (in this case cat), give a new letter to  another child, such as s and have her replace the child representing the letter c. Then  have a volunteer read the new word, sat. 
3. Sound Reverse Say one of the following reverse pairs (also known as emordnilap words),  such as net/ten, bat/tab, saw/was, bad/dab, may/yam, pit/tip, pot/top, pan/nap, bob/bob,  pup/pup. Write the word on the board and show how you can the first and last sounds  (e.g., ten/net) and create a new word. Say the next word and call on a child to write it on  the board. Have a second child write the reverse of the letters of the first word and read  the new word. Variations: 
a. Say the first word. The students write on their inner blackboard and tell you the  reverse word.  
b. Move on to 4- and 5-letter reverse pairs. 

​Blackboard drawing: Letter M and Mountain

​Sight Word Activities, Chants and Songs 

Flash Cards: Write the sight words on oversized cards using lower case letters. Show the  cards to the class. On your signal, they have to say the word together. Start with 5+  seconds per word and gradually work down to 1-2 seconds per word. Be sure to shuffle  the flash cards so they are in a different order each time. 
Sight Word Shuffle: Have students read all sight word flash cards out of order and  individually.  
Oops: Erase some letters of 3-4 sight words on BB before class. Students write correct  words on slates or in practice books. Volunteers come to BB to add the letters with  others’ help if needed. 
Find My Word Hunt: Choose a word on the sight word wall. Give class an easy clue on  Monday, such as, “My word has three letters. The last letter is a vowel” (who). Have  students write down word on their slates or whiteboards. Do 3-5 words. Each day give  different and/or more difficult clues, such as, “My word rhymes with bear. (there) My  word has the word end hidden in it. (friend). Advanced students could help you create  the clue. 
Word Scramble: Scramble or misspell 3-4 sight words on BB before class. Students are  given a few minutes to correctly spell them on their slates or in practice books. Then  volunteers come to BB to write them correctly. Others are ready to help if needed. 
Sight Word Tic-Tac-Toe: Each student needs a slate and chalk (or paper and pencil), and  9 markers for covering spaces on his tic-tac-toe board. This can be a small group activity  so that each group has a set of 9 sight word cards for each round. Select one student in  each group to be the leader. How to play: 
1. Each student draws a tic-tac-toe board on her paper.  
2. The leader calls out the first sight word.  
3. Each student writes the word anywhere on her board.  
4. The leader checks the spellings as students write. Students correct spelling as  needed. 
5. The leader calls out the sight words, one at a time, repeating the steps above. 6. When all the tic-tac-toe boards are complete, the leader places the cards in a basket. 7. Students take turns drawing a word card randomly and reads it to the group.  8. Each player finds that word on his game board and covers it with a marker.  9. Words are drawn and read until one (or more players) have covered three words in  
a row in any direction. The first player(s) to cover three in a row wins the round. 10. Play a few more rounds with the same boards, with players taking turns as leader. 
Exit Card: When dismissing for recess or going home, each student has to spell a sight  word to be dismissed. 
Transition Minute: Choose a student to choose whether the class will whisper, shout,  clap and spell, write in the air or on partner’s back, etc. each of the sight words given by  the teacher. Say word and choose a student to spell the word on BB then erases it. Whole  class spells word.
Partner Work: Partners test each other with a short list of sight words. They use slates or  sidewalk or practice books to spell word for each other. 

Chant and Singing Activities 
1. Arm Tapping: Stand up. Hold left arm in front, pointing down to make a 45-degree  angle. Say the word. Chant each letter while simultaneously gently karate chopping  the left arm from the shoulder to the wrist. Say word again while rubbing from the  shoulder to the wrist in one sweep. Example: BUT: B (chop) U (chop) T (chop) BUT  (Sweep).  
2. Animal Moves: Stand up. Say the word. Say each letter while hopping like a bunny in  place or going forward. Example: IN: IN, I (hop) N (hop), IN. Variations: duck  waddle, frog jump or flamingo one-legged hop. 
3. Aerobic Chanting: Say the word and then do a jumping jack for each letter, ending  with saying the word. Variations: Do a push up for each letter. Have your hands up  high and feet spread like you are a star and then toe touch for each letter. 
4. Pat-a-cake: Stand up. Face desk partner. Say the word while clapping your hands  together. Say the first letter while right hand crosses to high-five partner’s right hand.  Clap your hands back together. Say the second letter while left hand crosses to high five partner’s left hand. Clap your hands back together. Repeat the word and clap.  For example, IT (clap): I (right high five), clap, T (left high five), clap, IT (clap).  
5. Hand Jive: Face desk partner in seats or standing. Partners put hands in the air as  they say the word. Then they clap hands together for consonants and lap clap for  vowels. Put hands in the air at the end as you say the word. 
6. Bean Bag Toss: Stand up. Face desk partner. Say the word. Say each letter while  tossing bean bag back and forth. Say the word. Example: AND, A (toss), N (toss), D  (toss), AND. Variation: Add another kind of toss, such as around your waist. 
7. Bouncing Ball: Partners stand facing each other. First partner bouncing ball in front of  herself and both say word. Then she and her partner bounce back and forth, spelling  the word letter by letter. Use a rubber four square ball.  
8. Directional Gesture Chants: Learn directional words by using gestures, such as for under, put your hand under your chin and flap your hand down with the rhythm of  spelling it, u-n-d-e-r, then saying the whole word. More directional words: around,  over, through. 
9. Back Tracer: Stand up. Desk partner face same direction. One partner is first back  tracer. Everyone says the word as back tracers “erase” (rub) partners back Then the  back tracers trace each letter on the back of his/her partner as everyone chants letters. Then turn in opposite direction. Variation: Do in a circle with everyone facing same  direction. Then everyone has a back to trace on. Note: This is also a common strategy  in teaching dyslexic children- so they can feel the letter.
10. Use a Known Song: Sing the letters of a sight word to a song they know as if the letters were the words to the song. Sing the whole song since it reinforces the word  more often. Point to the word on the word wall or use flash cards while singing. Here  are some suggestions:  
Songs for 3 Letter Words: This Old Man, Are You Sleeping? (C-A-N, can), Three Blind  Mice 
Songs for 4 Letter Words: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Skip to My Lou
Songs for 5 Letter Words: Row, Row, Row Your Boat, You Are My Sunshine, BINGO  ("There was a class that learned to spell; And this is what they sang-o")
​Songs for 6 Letter Words: Michael Row Your Boat Ashore, The Farmer in the Dell
Songs for 7 Letter Words: She'll Be Coming Around the Mountain, My Bonnie Lies Over  the Ocean, Willoughby Wallaby Woo

Texts (Examples) for Learning How to Read and Spell for the Phonemic Awareness Phase

Learning to spell and read is much more meaningful for children when we share sentences, rhyming  verses and little stories that they are “connected to”. Below is a collection of texts from a variety of  sources that we have found create that connection. Some of them we made up from stories we told  our students in main lesson, some have been given to us over the years (authors unknown), some  
we adapted from the Waldorf Approach to Writing and Reading in Grades 1 and 2 (an excellent e manual!) by Catherine Van Alphen and some are traditional nursery rhymes.  

Create A First Grade "Reading Book" 
We suggest that you give each student her own My Reading Book (a three-ring binder or report  folder) so that the students can read these texts again and again, gaining confidence with decoding  and fluency.  
Write these texts in your own script using upper and lower case print or type them in a large font and  make an 8x11 copy for each student. We like to leave space on each page for the students to draw  their own illustration. Some texts we turned into small, stapled books for the students. They took  these handmade books home to read to their parents once they knew them by heart.  

How to Use These Texts 
Whether a text is introduced in Main Lesson or a practice period, guide the students through a  thorough analysis of the new phonics element(s) and the sight words in each. For examples work on:  1. Encoding each targeted word 
1. Practice phonemic awareness skills, such as phoneme blending, deletion (creating new word  by taking away a sound), matching (do pan and pit start with same sound?), and substitution  (creating new words that rhyme with the ones in the text) by leading them in different  activities such as “Erasing Gnome”, etc.  
Note: The texts in italics are summaries of stories Patti told during a Main Lesson block. The students  wrote these texts into their main lesson books after they read and analyzed them from the BB. Patti  has added the story title in parentheses for your reference. Consider typing these texts and printing  a copy for each student to add to her Reading Book for ease of reading.  

Suggested Texts 
The texts are in order of the Phonics Rules sequence of instruction:  
Short Vowels  
A 
My cat is fat. My fat cat sat on the mat. My fat cat caught a rat. I love my cat. 
The sad lad ran on a long path. 
If you look beneath a plant,  
Chances are you will see an ant.
E 
Little Red Cap led herself to the bed. (Little Red Cap from Grimm’s Fairy Tales) 
I 
The spider is set to begin, 
He has a silky web to spin. 
The fish had a fin, 
The thimble is thin, 
The cricket is wicked, 
It makes such a din. 
It hid in the bin. 
How did it get in? 
O 
The ladybug has tiny spots reminding me of polka dots. 
One day when it was hot 
I was in a sorry lot, 
For my name I plum forgot. 
God called me, “Forget-me-not.” 
(From story of Forget-Me-Not at  
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/mulets/flower/flower.html#pansy-5)  
Up and down grasshoppers hop, 
Don’t they have time to stop? 
U 
On did Johnny Cake run for fun in the sun.  
(from story of Johnny Cake from English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs) 
“I’ll lull your to sleep with a lullaby,” 
Hummed the bumblebee to the butterfly, 
“But first let us sup 
From this flowery cup,  
Ere the sun goes down 
And the moon comes up.” 

Stories To Practice Short Vowels  
The Pond (Short A, O and E) 
(Student 1’s name) fell in the pond. She got all wet. (Student 2’s name) got a net and helped  (Student’s name). (Student 3’s name) ran to tell (Student 1’s name)’s dad. 
Nell and the Fox (Short A, E, I)
Nell, the red hen, had ten eggs in her nest. The big, bad fox got Nell’s eggs. The fox fed on Nell’s ten  eggs. The fox then went to bed and slept well. Nell was sad. 

Beginning Consonant Blends 
Introduce some of these then add more as you introduce more advanced phonics rules below. BL 
The bleak, blinding blizzard blustered and blundered, 
Blowing and blending a blurring blanket of snow.  
BR 
Brave and true will I be, 
Each good deed sets me free, 
Each kind word makes me strong, 
I will fight for the right, 
I will conquer the wrong. 
Bring your brand-new boots with buckles bright and brass!  
Bring the brown brick to build the broken bridge! 
CL 
Click your fingers, clap your hands, clip-clop trot the horses; 
Clang the hammer, clash the swords, clatter plates for dinner courses. 
CR 
Crafty old crow caws at a crab  
Crossing a crack a crumb to grab.  
DR  
She drank a drink and dropped a drip,  
It dribbled down her dress. 
It dried and then she dripped some more,  
Her dress is quite a mess. 
FL 
The flimsy flag flips and flaps in flight. 
FR  
I get fresh fruit from my friend Frank on Friday.  
Freckled frog frightens flies frisking fresh and free. 
GL  
Gladys the glow-worm was glum,  
She could not glow in the night?  
She entered the glade 
And magic was made 
So she glittered with glorious light!
GR  
Grab and grip the gruff bear growling GRRR! 
Gracefully greet the great blue sky and the green grass on the land! 
PL 
Please pluck the plums early or late  
And place them on a plain plastic plate. 
PR 
Pretty Priscilla, filled with pride,  
Pushes a pram with her baby inside. 
SK  
Skip with skill  
Or skid and skim your skin! 
SL  
Slow slug  
Slips and slides  
Over the slimy slate. 
SM 
Smart cat smells cream,  
Licks up every drop,  
Small smug smile,  
Now it’s time to stop. 
SP  
There’s a spot on his shirt, a speck of spit,  
Did he spill it as he sprang? 
ST  (This is a verse from a nature story told in Grade 1:)
Look east and west 
For three treasure chests 
Seed in a vest, 
Cocoon at rest, 
Eggs in a nest, 
That’s the best! 
East, west, home is best, 
Nowhere else I come to rest. 
Stop and stand with stick in hand,  
Stare at the stump and stamp, stamp, stamp! 
SW
Swim swan over the sea, 
Swim swan swim 
Swim swan back again 
Well swum swan. 
High in the sky  
The swift birds fly 
Sweeping, swirling by. 
On a pool below  
The sweet swans go 
Swimming slowly to and fro. 
TR 
Trip-trap, trip trap, trotting up the track.
​Trim trick in a truck, driving there and back!

Tactile Activities for Writing Letters

Sticks and Such 
Take a walk with your class and find straight and curved sticks; add yarn pieces. You say  the sound of the letter. The students make the letter with these items. Note: Make sure you say only the pure sound, ‘b’ instead of ‘buh’. 

Body Work 
Have the students use their fingers, hands and bodies (with bodies it is a group activity)  to “write” a letter. 

Modeling Letters 
Give each student a small ball of play dough or plasticine to create a letter. Begin by  having the students rolling the ball into a long, even snake. 

Sand Box 
Put a layer of sand that covers the bottom of strong cardboard box covers or case boxes (medium/large pizza boxes work great–especially those without advertising on the outside). Have the students draw the letter dictated in the sand box.  

Outside Chalk Letters 
Give the students a piece of chalk to write the letters large on the outside concrete area. Make sure that each student squats right in front of their “chalkboard” and only writes  the letter as big as possible in that space. 
​

Masking Tape Letters (for those letters formed by straight lines) 
1. Give students an 8 “ x 10” piece of watercolor paper and some masking tape.  2. Ask them to cut the tape into the right size pieces to form a letter made with just  lines. 
3. Once the taped letter is securely on the page, pass out paint brushes, give them  two colors of paint, and let them paint the paper (including on top of the tape). 4. Once the paint has dried, have them pull off the tape- surprise!  (Note: This teacher allowed students to use as many colors as they wanted. In First  Grade we would recommend limiting it to two.)
​

Painting Letters on Blackboard 
Give students a paint brush dipped in water (the ones you use for painting will work  fine) and have them carefully ‘write’ the letter on the blackboard. Make sure as they  form the letter they are doing so correctly.  

Writing Letters/Words on Partner’s Back 
One student’s back is the ‘slate’ and the other the author. The author writes a letter on  the other’s back and the ‘slate’ student writes the letter on a piece of paper or a slate.  At first have the authors announce in advance whether the letter will be in uppercase or  lowercase. Once students are working with CVC (Consonant-Vowel-Consonant) words  (e.g., hut, box, lap, etc.), they can write a CVC word on the student’s back one letter at a  time. ​​

Grade 1 Language Skills Student Objectives

Aligned with the first grade curriculum as outlined in The Roadmap to Literacy, Waldorf  education’s developmental approach and Common Core Standards 

Speech/Poetry  
1. Demonstrate concentration, attention to narrative sequences, appreciation of  characterizations, visualization of settings and attention to details through  listening to the fairy tales and nature stories. 
2. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and  usage when writing or speaking.  
3. Recite poetry daily, both chorally and individually to improve pronunciation.  The poetry will include classic children’s poetry, seasonal poetry alliterations, and tongue twisters. Arm movements, gesture, and stepping will be  employed. 
4. Enthusiastically engage in the retelling (review) of stories told by the teacher  to develop vocabulary, a feeling for sentence structure, memory (especially  pictorial and sequential memory), pronunciation and enunciation and to  develop social skills such as patient, attentive listening and helping each child  gain confidence in addressing the class. Ways to review include: free  rendering, dramatic re-enactment of stories, retelling.  
5. Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 1  topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups. 6. Participate in a short choral play taken from Main Lesson material. 

Spelling and Vocabulary 
1. Demonstrate understanding of all phonics rules presented imaginatively or  pictorially introduced with movement, story or through recitation work. (These "rules" govern 80% of English words.) Specifically, demonstrate  understanding of these beginning phonics rules: 
a. Short vowel sounds: a, e, i, o, u  
b. Consonant blends such as: sm, gl, str, etc. learning dr and tr last c. Digraphs: sh, ch, wh, th, ng, and oo (both sounds) 
d. *Silent E 
e. *R-controlled vowels  
f. *Soft C and G 
g. Simple compound words (e.g., popcorn) 
*Optional, can wait for 2nd Grade 
2. Spell an untaught word phonetically using a plausible letter for every sound in  the word.  
3. Write a phonetically accurate sentence. 
4. Visualize 3 letters using symbol imagery  
5. Correctly spell the first 20 basic sight words (at a minimum). 
6. Correctly spell regular dictations of letters, CVC words, and short sentences  created by the teacher.
7. Learn basic syllabication through movement (such as through clapping or  stamping). 
8. Develop vocabulary and comprehension through listening to the teacher tell  stories and read aloud classic literature on a daily basis and through active  story review (such as free rendering or factual recall). 
9. Use sentence-level context as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase. 

Reading  
1. Recognize upper case and lower case letters and say their names and sounds. 2. Achieve full phonological awareness (rhyme identification and production,  syllable blending, segmentation, and deletion, phoneme identification,  phoneme isolation (initial and final), phoneme blending, phoneme  segmentation, phoneme deletion, phoneme addition, phoneme substitution). 3. Know the sounds of the short vowels in CVC words and that the remaining  letters are consonants. 
4. Recognize words in context of main lesson bookwork. 
5. Correctly read 75+ high-frequency (sight) words. 
6. Read memorized texts using phonemic awareness to track words.  7. Read simple decodable-text that contains sight words and all phonics rules  taught in 1st Grade. 
8. Actively engage in shared reading activities with purpose and understanding.  9. Independently read books chosen from class library. This may be only “reading” the illustrations for some of the students. 

Writing  
1. Draw and paint straight and curved lines to learn proper letter formation.  2. Perform the manual act of writing comfortably in a legible, well-spaced  manner. 
3. Correctly write upper case and lower case letters shown in written content of  main lesson books. 
4. Copy from the board legibly, seldom omitting words or letters or reversing or  inverting letters. 
5. Demonstrate awareness that letters represent sounds, which we combine to  make words, etc.; that writing is "talking on paper."  
6. Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose writing  pieces in which the student expresses understanding of something she has  heard in Main Lesson or about an experience she has had.  
(informative/explanatory, narrative, and opinion). 
7. Begin learning how to revise by observing teacher’s modeling. 
​
Grammar 
1. Explore grammar through speech, movement and writing exercises.
2. Correctly use inflectional endings: –s for plurals and –ed for past tense.
3. Capitalize the first word in a sentence and the names of people.
4. Use a period at the end of each sentence. 

Favorite Tongue Twisters for Grades 1 - 3

The list begins with a collection of beginning letter alliterative tongue twisters, which we  especially recommend for First Grade! 

B  
A big, black beetle bit a big, black bear. 
A black buzzing bee bit a big brown bear.  
Be brave, Snow White! 
Be bold, Rose Red! 
The bear all burly brown 
Will soon become the bearer 
Of a bright and beauteous crown! 

C 
Careful Katie cooked a crisp and crinkly cabbage, 
Did careful Katie cook a crisp and crinkly cabbage  
If careful Katie cooked a crisp and crinkly cabbage, 
Where’s the crisp and crinkly cabbage careful Katie cooked? 

D 
Dustman daily does his duty. 
From his dingy, dangling dust pans 
He dislodges dirty dust. 

F  
Fifty funny feet follwed the fast fiddler. 
Four fine fresh fish for you. 
I found a fish in a fountain pool 
With fins a fine as a filigree fan. 
Freckled fishes, flirting, flitting 
Flashing fast or floating free 
Flicking filmy fins like feathers 
Feeding from the flowing sea. 
Jack Frost with freezing fingers fast and free 
Flits o’er fields, makes fairies flee 
Fetch the fairy, fences fall, 
Flowers fade, freeze them all. 

G 
Granny’s grey goose greedily gobbled grain 
In Graham’s gabled grainery.
Goodly Gabriel guards the gate.  
Gleeful goblins gather the gold.  
I am the G, so golden and grand, 
How gladly I'm greeted throughout this great land!  I'm gentle and generous, and good as can be;  
Yes, I am the gallant and glorious G. 

H 
The hare's ear heard ere the hare heeded. 
A hunter went a’hunting, a’hunting for a hare, 
And where he thought the hare would be, 
He found a hairy bear! 

J 
Jolly Jack and joyful Jill 
Are jumping down the jagged hill. 

K 
K is a king, so keen and kind 
Keeping the kingdom for all mankind. 

L 
Lonely lowland llamas, lilt ladylike near lovely lemon liniment. 
Light that lingers long and low 
Makes the lovely colors glow. 
Lovely lazy lizard 
Lipping light laughter 
Loppity, lumpety, lackily lout. 

M 
Mr. Mathew Mathers, 
My math master, 
Munches mashed, marmalade muffins. 
Mutter and Mumble are meddlesome men, 
Making mistakes again and again. 
Merry have we met 
And merry have we been 
Merry let us part  
And merry meet again.

N 
Now the night is nigh its noon, 
Nimble gnomes beneath the moon. 
I need not your needles,  
They’re needless to me 
Bit if my near trousers need new knees 
I then should have need of your needles indeed. 

P 
Pansies purple, poppies red 
Primrose pale with golden head. 
Pretty princess proudly dancing 
Pigeons cooing peacocks prancing. 

Q 
A quiet queen did quack one day 
And the king began to quake 
Quiet my dear, quiet your quack, 
Quit before it’s much too late! 

R 
Round and round the rugged rocks the ragged rascal ran. 
Rustle of leaves and ripple of rain 
Roving of rivers across the plain. 

S 
Six silly sisters selling shiny shoes. 
A skunk sat on a stump and thunk the stump stunk, but the stump thunk the skunk stunk. 

T 
Ten tame tadpoles tucked tightly together in a tall, tall tin. 
A tutor who tooted the flute 
Tried to tutor two tooters to toot 
Said the two to the tooter 
Is it harder to toot 
Or to tutor two tooters to toot?  

V 
Vapours veil the valley vast 
Velvet violets vanish fast.

W 
W is in the water 
Wave and why 
In walk and in walrus 
Ducks waddling by. 
It’s in weather and woo 
The name is not W 
It’s double U. 
Whether the weather be fine  
Or whether the weather be not 
Whether the weather be cold 
Or whether the weather be hot 
We’ll weather the weather  
No matter the weather 
Whether we like it or not. 

Favorites  
Which wrist watches are Swiss wrist watches? Ruby
ugby's baby brother brought her rubber baby  Hey diddle, dinkety, poppety pet.  
Homeward we hie with a happy heart.  

Two diggers digging a ditch 
Down in the dales of Dorset. 

A skunk sat on a stump and thunk the stump stunk, but the stump thunk the skunk stunk.  

I need not your needles  
They’re needless to me 
For needing needles  
Is needless you see. 
But did my neat trousers  
But in need to be kneed 
I then would have need  
Of your needles indeed. 

Little miss munching mouse  
Munches mincemeat  
In my house. 

Lamp, nor light, no longer lit, 
Biting, nibbling bit by bit.

Rumbling in the chimneys 
Rattling at the doors 
Round the roofs and round the roaks
The rude wind roars. 
Raging through the darkness 
Raving through the trees 
Racing off again across 
The great grey seas! 
​

Dreadful dragons dwell in deep, dark dungeons
Down, down, down, 
Down in dungeons deep 
Dwells and dreams a dreadful dragon
Direful to defeat 

Golden in the garden, golden in the glen,
Golden, golden, golden,
October’s come again.
Golden in the hilltops, golden in the sky,
Golden, golden, golden,
October’s passing by. 

​How much wood would a woodchuck chuck If a woodchuck could chuck wood?  
He would chuck, he would, as much as he could,  And chuck as much as a woodchuck would  If a woodchuck could chuck wood.  

Three little ghostesses 
Sitting on postees 
Eating buttered toastesses 
Greasing their fistesses 
Up to their writstees 
Oh, what beastees 
To make such feastesses! 
Tiddelywinks and tiddleywoo, 

Are two little fishes that live in the sea;
They look just alike so everyone things
That Tiddleywoo is Tiddelywinks. 

Did you eever, ever, iver, 
in your leaf, life, loaf 
see the deevil, devil, divel 
Kiss his wefe, wife, wofe? 
No I neever, never, niver 
In my leaf, life, loaf 
Saw the deevil, devil, divel 
Kiss his wefe, wife, wofe?

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. Did Peter Piper pick a peck of pickled peppers? If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?  If Peter Piper didn't pick a pack of pickled pepper, who picked a pack of pickled pepper? 

Moses supposes his toeses are roses, 
But Moses supposes erroneously. 
For nobody’s toeses are posies of roses 
As Moses supposes his toeses to be! 

'Midst the mountains' melting snows,  
Murmuring breezes meekly blow;  
But mighty winds among the vales  
Meet mists that move o'er marshes pale. 

A tutor who tooted a flute 
tried to tutor two tooters to toot. 
Said the two to their tutor, 
"Is it harder to toot 
or to tutor two tooters to toot?"  

Swan swam over the sea, 
Swim, swan, swim! 
Swan swam back again 
Well swum, swan! 

Spitting and spewing, 
Splitting and splattering  
Spilling and spoiling 
Is San Souci the sprite. 

On the Bibblibonty hill 
Stands a Bibblibonty house 
In the Bibblibonty house 
Are Bibblibonty people 
The Bibblibonty people 
Have Bibblibonty children 
And the Bibblibonty children 
Take a Bibblibonty sup 
With a Bibblibonty spoon 
From a Bibblibonty cup. 

In September, warm September 
We remember merry May 
But in November and December
We remember Christmas Day.  

Silly Sally swiftly shooed seven silly sheep. The seven silly sheep Silly Sally shooed 
shilly-shallied south. 
"These silly sheep shouldn't sleep in a shack," she said. "Silly sheep should sleep in a shed!"  

buggy bumpers.  

She sells seashells down by the seashore. The shells she sells are surely seashells. 
So if she sells shells on the seashore, 
I'm sure she sells seashore shells.  

Said the flea to the fly in the flue. 
Said the flea. "Oh, what shall we do?" 
Said the fly, "Let us flee!" 
Said the flea, "Let us fly!" 
So they flew through a flaw in the flue.  
A flea and a fly in a flue 
Were imprisoned, so what could they do? Said the fly, "Let us flee." 
Said the flea, "Let us fly." 
So they flew through a flaw in the flue. 

Theophilus Thistle, the successful thistle sifter, sifted a sieve of unsifted thistle. 
If Theophilus Thistle, the successful thistle sifter, sifted a sieve of unsifted thistles, 
how many thistles did Theophilus Thistle sift? 

When a twister a –twisting will twist him a twist, For the twisting his twist, he three times doth intwist; But if one of the twines of the twist do untwist, The twine that untwisteth, untwisteth the twist. 
Untwirling the twine that untwisteth between, He twists, with the twister, the two in a twine; Then twice having twisted the twines of the twine, He twisteth the twine he had twined in twain. 
The twain that, in twining, before in the twine, As twines were intwisted, he now doth untwine; ‘twixt the twain intertwisting a twine more between, He, twirling his twister, makes a twist of the twine. 

Clickbeetle by Mary Ann Hoberman
Click beetle 
Clack Beetle 
Snapjack black beetle 
Glint glitter glare beetle 
Pin it in your hair beetle 
Tack it to your shawl beetle 
Wear it at the ball beetle 
Shine shimmer spark beetle 
Glisten in the dark beetle 
Listen to it crack beetle 
Click beetle 
Clack beetle. 
Water in bottles  
Water in pans 
Water in kettles 
Water in cans, 
It is always the shape 
Of whatever its in  
Bucket or kettle 
Or bottle or tin. 

Where Do These Words Come From? by Charlotte Pomerantz
Hominy, succotash, raccoon, moose. 
Succotash, raccoon, moose, papoose. 
Raccoon, moose, papoose, squash, skunk. 
Moose, papoose, squash, skunk, chipmunk. 
Papoose, squash, skunk, chipmunk, muckamuck. Skunk, chipmunk, muckamuck, woodchuck 

Sample Handwriting Paper Template
​How the First Letter Was Written (Story)
​Morning Verse for Lower Grades
Waldorf Today Gallery of Main Lesson Book Pages - Elementary School 
Gallery of Chalkboard Drawings in the Waldorf Classroom
BLACKBOARD SKETCHING book By FREDERICK WHITNEY (1908) 
How To Create, Tell, and Recall a Story
Main Lesson Book pages
Waldorf Inspirations Gallery
Samples of chalkboard drawings and main lesson book pages for many blocks
First Grade Readiness - Resources, Insights and Tools for Waldorf Educators 
From Kindergarten into the Grades
Waldorf Science Newsletter
Science Curriculum in the Waldorf School Grades 1-8 overview / one page handout, page 14 has the same for High School Grades 9-12 Summary of Math Skills for Grades 1 through 8
A Grades 1 through 8 Math Curriculum Overview 
Novalis Press
The Waldorf School Curriculum - Grade 1Block Rotations Grades 1 - 8
Chemistry Reader
​How to Bind a Main Lesson Book
Movement for Childhood
Basic Sculptural Modeling: Developing the Will By Working with Pure Forms in the First Three Grades 
Misc. Additional Resources
Grade 1 posts
String Games
"The Four Seasons" Story, "Gingerbread Man" Song, "Where Have All the Colors Gone?" Song, plus Autumn Crafts
Great Fairy Tales for First Grade
Waiting Until the Change of Teeth
Signs of First Grade Readiness 
Signs of First Grade Readiness
First Grade Readiness - Resources, Insights and Tools for Waldorf Educators
Teaching Our Children to Read, Write, and Spell: A Developmental Approach Looking at the Relationship of Children's Foundational Neurological Pathways to their Higher Capacities for Learning
Fairy Tale Notes
Four Ways to Connect with Storytelling
The Four Processes: Waldorf Math
Form Drawing Resources
First Grade: Capital Letters
FREE Resources - Arts & Handwork
How to clean block beeswax crayons​Stockmar Beeswax Block Crayons - 8 Assorted Waldorf Colors in Tin 
Aura Cacia Essential Oil, Brightening Sweet Orange - 2 fl. oz.
Discover Waldorf Education: Writing and Reading, part 1
Discover Waldorf Education: Writing and Reading, part 2
First Grade story notes from The Parenting Passageway
The Four Temperaments
Games Children Play: How Games and Sport Help Children Develop
Learning to Knit
Picture Books featuring Knitting, Spinning, Weaving, Yarn
Suggested Course of Study for First Grade
When Should My Child Begin Music Lessons?
Books for First Grade
Rainbow Bridge ceremony
ECOlogical Calendar
The Online Curriculum Project: Early Childhood
The Shepherd and the Mouse: A Felting Tale for Autumn 
Spontaneous Stories 
Butterfly and Turtle Simple Puppets and Poetry 
A Story Poem for Spring and Felt Flower Tutorial 
Live Education!
Fairy Tales and Storytelling
Writing the First Reader
Beginning with the Primal Colors of Yellow and Blue
The Letter B
Introduction to Multiplication
Castle Ramparts
Marching in a Ring
Extending Indigenous Cultures Throughout The American Waldorf Curriculum
Waldorf Teacher Resources
Form Drawing 
Music 
Movement 
Math 
Language 
Stories 
Circle 
Verses 
Class Play 
Parent Information 
Classroom Management 
Blackboard Drawings 
Painting 
Remedial 
Curriculum Overview
The Greatest Treasure
A Child's Dream Come True
The Red Bird
The Blue Fairy Book
The Red Fairy Book
The Horrendous Hullabaloo
Spiders Spin Webs
The Very Busy Spider
Be Nice to Spiders 
Charlotte's Web
Slate Board Set
Form Drawing in the Waldorf School
Mirror examples
Sample form drawing pages
Knitting is More Important than Homework
Form Drawing
Watercolor Painting
Handwork
Capital Letters
First Grade Curriculum Overview
First Grade Booklist
Kindergarten Booklist​

Suggestions for First Grade Teaching:  Introducing Vowels 
​

Rudolf Steiner shared with the first Waldorf teachers that the vowels should be  introduced in a very different manner than the consonants. The consonants come out of  the physical world whereas the vowels come out of our soul life and should be  introduced through the gesture of feelings not objects. Because of this Waldorf teachers  often refer to vowels as “the singing letters.” This description is very appropriate  because the vowels are actually the letters that carry the sounds of the consonants out  into the world. With this understanding, here are suggestions for how to introduce the  long and short sounds of a vowel. 

Day One's lesson is an introduction to the “singing” and “feeling” nature of vowels.  This initial lesson focuses on the qualities of vowels and their phonemes, not the actual  letter names or graphemes connected to them.  
The following lesson is an example of a three day teaching rhythm that includes the  introduction of the letter A (upper and lower case) and its long and short phonemes  (sounds).  
When using a story to introduce A, you could either use a fairy tale that you embellish  with long and short A object words or create a story of your own. For example the story  could be about a boy named Adrian who lives in an apple orchard next to an abbey in  the Alps. You could include images such as:  
Long A: acorns, an aging tree or character, angel, apron, aches and pains, acre Short A: animals, amber, aspen tree, acts of kindness, aunt/ant  
If feasible, decide in the summer on the anchor word (that begins with the short sound  of the vowel letter) that you will use in your story so that you can include it in your  alphabet display. Make this anchor word one of the key elements in the story (e.g.,  many teachers use apple as an easily identifiable image for the short sound of A). 
The following contains some narratives to give you an idea how these lessons might be  worded for the students.

Day One 
Introduction of the singing/feeling nature of the vowel letters  
The following two teacher presentations are excerpts from The Roadmap to Literacy.  Choose one or the other to introduce the vowels' special quality. 
Discovering the Singing Nature of Vowels 
An effective and entertaining way to introduce the singing nature of vowels is to speak to your class without them. Say, “Gd mrnng frst grd. Hw r y? M lkng frwrd t ths d.” (Be forewarned, your students might think you have lost your mind!) 
After repeating this phrase one more time to more giggles and confused looks, explain that you had just said, “Good morning, First Grade. How are you? I am looking forward to this day.” However, you had said those words without including some very special letters— the singing letters or the vowel letters A, E, I, O, and U. Without these five special vowel 
letters, language would sound rather awkward and certainly strange! 
Next, have some fun saying the students’ names without vowels. Say a student’s name without any vowel sounds and see if the students can discover whose name it is. After students identify the name, be sure to put the “singing vowel sounds” back in. (e.g., Smnth becomes Samantha.) 
Through this activity, the students begin to understand that these vowels are needed for language to be beautiful and for it to sound right. 
Discovering the Feeling Nature of Vowels 
Another introductory activity is to explore the feeling nature of the vowel sounds.  (e.g, /ō/ (as in oak), /oo/ in boot), /aw/ (as in saw), etc. 
When you introduce the vowels through emotions, first, make a vowel sound and really exaggerate the feeling. Have the students repeat it back. This step is crucial because the emotion in the vowel sound is the emotion experienced by the speaker, not the listener. Have a short discussion about how this sound makes the students feel when they say it or  
what it reminds them of. At the end of this activity, tell your students that all of these feeling sounds are called vowel-sounds. 
Note: During these initial introductions, do not teach the vowel letters with their vowel sounds. (This approach works for languages like German where each vowel only makes  one sound, but English has numerous ways to form long vowel sounds, so it is best not  to assign a particular letter to a ‘feeling’.) Instead, keep the introduction auditory. Focus on the singing and feeling nature of vowels. The sound/symbol relationships  will be taught on subsequent days. 

Story 
After the above introductions, tell the story that will provide you with the images that  you will use to introduce A

Bookwork 
Follow the story by leading the students in a drawing of a scene from the story that  features several images that begin with both short A and long A (e.g., a boy picking up  apples under an apple tree with an abbey in the background.) 

Extension Activity 
If you would like your students to have a further experience of the inward/feeling  gesture of the vowel letters, you might want to consider extending this into a painting  exercise. You could explore what color or colors you think express the soul gesture of a  particular vowel sound and then lead them in a painting using that color (or colors).  There is an entire psychology dedicated to the emotions various colors evoke. You  might find investigating this of interest. Check for information on the internet or in  Anthroposophical literature.  

Day Two 
Story Review  
Review the story with the students. Each time one of the image words for A (e.g.,  Adrian, abbey, Alps, apples, etc.) comes up in the review, write it on the board using a  lowercase a (unless it is a proper noun). Make two columns, one for the long a  examples, one for short a. 

Vowel A Lesson: Part One 
Ask the students to look at all of the words on the board. Can they see something that  each word shares? Since this is the first letter in your alphabet display, they will easily  identify it.  
Ask students to listen to each word as you pronounce the words in the long A column.  Did they notice anything? If they heard that the letter A “said its name,” then you can  acknowledge this and skip over the next step. Ask the class to listen to the word Adrian then ask them what sound the “A” makes.  Hopefully they will say the long A sound. “That’s right! In the word Adrian the sound  of the letter A is its name: A. All of the words in this column begin with the sound of the  letter’s name, A.” Say each word for the student to hear the sound. 
Then move to the second column once more pointing out the initial letter A and asking  students to listen as you say each word. Then ask if they could hear the difference the  sound A makes in the first column and the sound it makes in the second column. If not,  help them by having them say apron and apple. Have them watch your mouth as you  say each word slightly exaggerating the long and short A sounds.  
Once you have established that in one column A “says its name” and in the other  column A makes its sound: /ă/, go into the following lesson on the two sounds of the  vowels. 

Vowel A Lesson: Part Two 
Say, “We know that these special singing letters, the vowels A, E, I, O and U bring beauty and  feeling to our language. Without them our language would sound strange, as we heard  yesterday. These letters, just like the consonants, can be written in both uppercase and lowercase  letters (adult and child, whatever term you use). But, unlike the consonant letters of B with its  single sound of /b/ and H with its single sound of (ask them for the /h/ sound) vowel letters can  speak more than one language."  
As an aside, at this point in the curriculum, you most likely have not introduced the  two sounds of G and C or the subtleties found in X, etc. Those come later. 
Continue your presentations, "Just like you can say “hello” in both English and Spanish  (“hola”), vowel letters can also speak two languages. A vowel letter does this by saying its name  or saying its sound. For example, both Adam and Amy (write names on board) begin with the  vowel letter A, but Adam’s A makes what sound? And Amy’s A makes what sound? That’s right, Adam’s A says the letter A’s sound and Amy’s A says the letter A’s name. We will find  out that all five vowel letter’s speak in two languages. Who else in our class has a first name that  begins with the letter A?"  
Have Allison and Andrew determine whether their A says its name or its sound.  Remember each time you introduce a vowel, refer to any students whose names begin  with that letter as an example. If you have a student whose name begins with the broad  A sound (i.e. Aubrey) just let the students know that “A” sometimes borrows the short  O sound of /o/, but you’ll tell them more about the /o/ sound later. 

Vowel A Lesson: Part Three (focus: sounds of A) 
Have students look around the room for items that begin with either the long A or short  A sound. Have them place the short A items in one area and the long A items in  another. Follow this with having them say the name of each item and see whether the  item is properly placed.  

Bookwork 
Paint the letter upper case A on a piece of water color paper that is small enough to be  glued into their main lesson books. We had the students paint the paper one color  during the last painting class, then paint the letter on the dry ‘painted’ paper in a  different color. Remind them that since this is the ‘adult’ or upper case letter, they  always begin in the heavens and draw down, as well as move left to right.  

Day Three 
Review: Phonemes (sounds) 
Review the long and short sounds of A with this activity:  
Tell the students to stand up if word begins with short A sound and sit down if long A  name/sound: animals, antlers, angel, apple, ant, apron, ax, alligator, Avery, avocado, ape,  astronaut, etc. Be sure to avoid using words that have the broad A sound (/aw/) or R controlled A words like arm.
 
Review: Graphemes (physical letters) 
Review how the upper case A is written. Have students turn to their desk partners and  form an A with their bodies, make an A with ‘clay noodles, etc. 
Introduce the lower case A and how it is written. Tell the students that it is one of the  “renegades” that looks nothing like its parent. Have students learn how to first draw  the downward line beginning at the middle guide line and then retrace its steps almost  to the top of the line before drawing its curve. Let them practice it through movement  and artistic activities. 

Handwriting 
Guide students in writing the upper and lower case A on paper with writing guide  lines. By now forming letters is pretty routine and they have been looking at Aa as the  first letter in the alphabet display all year. These new graphemes shouldn’t be too hard  to write, other than A and a do not resemble each other at all. Remind them that the  lower case A looks something like an apple. Write a sentence on the board that comes from the story (e.g., Adrian picked apples at the  Angel Abbey). Ask one of your strong readers to read it. Have a student come up and  underline every time the letter A begins a word. Now read the sentence again stopping  at each word that begins with an A and have them determine whether the A is long or  short. Underline long with blue and short with red (or whatever colors you wish to  use). 
Finish up with letter A by having students copy the “story sentence.” Have students use  lined paper to be placed in their main lesson book next to the picture they drew  yesterday. Ask what is special about how we write the first letter of a sentence  (capitalize) and what do we always put at the end? (period)  
The following is an alternate way to introduce vowels once the first one has been  brought in the manner above. 

Teaching a Vowel through Memory Reading a Poem 
Before you introduce the letter, write or find a poem or tongue twister that features the  chosen vowel.  
First teach the poem to your students until they have it memorized. Then have the  students memory read the poem from the board as you point to each word. If following  the curriculum laid out in The Roadmap to Literacy, they will have been doing this type of  reading since the beginning of school.  
Let them know that today they will be learning about the singing letter or vowel, I.  Write both upper and lower case I on the board. 
Once the students know what letters to look for (I,i), have them come up and underline  each time the vowel letter I or i shows up in a word in the poem. Then have them  memory read the poem again, only more slowly. Each time you come to a word with an  underlined I in it, have them say the word and determine whether the I says its name /ī/ (kite) and is long or says its sound /ĭ/ (kit) and is short. 
The first time you come to a word with the short /ĭ/ sound in it, help them hear the //ĭ/ sound that I makes. Continue through the poem identifying which sound the I is  making in each applicable word. A follow up activity would be for you to handwrite the poem and then make enough  copies (on a copier!) for each student. Have your students go through their copy of the  poem and underline the words with a long I sound in them in blue and the words with  a short I sound in them in red. 
Note: If writing or selecting a poem to use as a vehicle for introducing a vowel (I, for  example), keep in mind that it will be easier, at first, if each word contains only one I.  Dig would be fine, but not iris or civil. Also, be sure to maximize this experience by  using the poem to identify other letters and sight words you have taught your class. 

Grade 1 Language Skills Practice Period Structure

SKILLS PRACTICE (15-20 min.) 
Lead students in activities (see below) that allow them to practice: Letters of the alphabet,  phonemic awareness, symbol imagery, phonics rules, sight words 

INTRODUCTION AND/OR REVIEW (10-15 min.) 
Introduce and/or review: Phonemic awareness skills, new sight words, and a new Phonics  rules when most students are in Phonemic Awareness Phase 

BOOKWORK (15 min) 
Alternate between Kid Writing and Memory Reading  

ACTIVITIES  
Dictation  
Correct letter formation from sky to earth and left to right (for all upper case and many lower  case letters), once you have taught short vowels dictate three letter words with short vowels  and then short sentences) 
Gross Motor Activities  
1. Magic Square: create big 3x3 grid on blacktop with vowel or vowel combination  inside and consonants on outside. Each child is given a word to jump, then spell own  word. 
2. Hopscotch: write letters in grid and students go through 1 by 1 to say sounds. 3. Clapping: while spelling sight words. 
Phonological and Phonemic Awareness Activities (see attached page) 
Worksheets: Teacher-generated worksheets that pertain to what you are working on. 

​Teaching from the Image or Metaphorical Speech 

Once you have decided on the subject of the lesson, begin to identify  the image or metaphor that you will use to introduce the concept.  These serve as an “anchor” and provide the students with a context  for the new information. An example of this “metaphorical” teaching  can be found with the 1st grade story, “Why C has two voices”. 

When C was born, it looked around and realized that all of the sounds  were taken, so it went to the Mayor of Letter Village and asked what  it should do. After pondering a bit, the Mayor said, “Go out tonight  when the other letters are sleeping and find a sound you would like to  use. I’m sure the letter you choose will be glad to share, for it would  be an honor to have its sound chosen.” 

So that night, C, along with its friend G, quietly tiptoed about the  village listening at the windows of the various letters. Since each  letter lightly snored using its sound, the sounds were easy to identify.  The M snored with a “mmmmmmm”, the L with a “lllllll” and so forth.  

The next morning C, accompanied by his friend G, returned to the  Mayor’s office and reported the results of his midnight research. “I  have a dilemma Mr. Mayor,” said C, “I really like the strength of the  sound of K – kkkkk, and yet sometimes I don’t feel strong and active,  but rather quiet and gentle, like S and its sound – sssss.”  
“I tell you what,” said the Mayor, “since you don’t actually have a  sound of your own, if it is okay with them, you can use both the K and  the S sound as fits your mood.” 

Delighted with that solution, C hurried over to K and S and asked if it  would be okay to use their sounds. Honored to be chosen over all of  the other letter sounds, both K and S agreed. And since that day, the  letter C has spoken with either a KKKK or a SSSS sound, depending on  its mood.” (Note: this story could be continued on a similar vein with G wanting a soft sound too and being allowed to use JJJJ.) 

The 44 Sounds of the English Language

The 5 Short Vowel Sounds 
short -a- in an, ask, after  
short -e- in ten, hen, lend  
short -i- in it, igloo, icky  
short -o- in stop, lop, hop  
short -u- in umbrella, pup  

The 6 Long Vowel Sounds  
long -a- in cake, lake  
long -e- in street, feet  
long -i- in bite, ice  
long -o- in boat, snow  
long -u- (yoo) in ruler, unicycle  
long -oo- in flew, blue, true  

The R-Controlled Vowel Sounds  
-ur- in herd, dirt, and blurt  
-ar- in lark, dark  
-or- in fort, port, stork  

The 18 Consonant Sounds 
x, c and q are missing as they are found in other sounds. (The C sound is  found in the k sounds and in the s sound in words like circle, cycle, ceiling  and camp. The Q sound is found in 'kw' words like backwards. The X sound is  also found in ks words like bricks.) 
-b- in bed, bag 
-k- in calf and kiss 
-d- in dot  
-f- in fair 
-g- in goat 
-h- in hat  
-j- in job 
-l- in log  
-m- in mop 
-n- in napkin  
-p- in pot 
-r- in rain 
-s- in sat 
-t- in top 
-v- in violin 
-w- in wagon 
-y- in yard 
-z- in zipline  

The Blends 
Blends are 2 or 3 consonantal letters that when combined form a new sound.  The blended sounds are:  
-bl- in blossom and blast 
-cl- in cloud and clasp  -fl- in flew and flea  
-gl- in glare and glad  
-pl- in plot and plaid  
-br- in bread and breakfast  -cr- in cringe and crunch  -dr- in drizzle and dry  -fr- in friend and frog  -gr- in groan and grant  -pr- in praise and prune  -tr- in track and trail  -sk- in skill and skunk  -sl- in slates and slow  -sp- in sponge and spare  -st- in step and store  -sw- in swat and sweat  -spr- in sprite and sprang  -str- in strip and stripe  

The 7 Digraph Sounds  -ch- in chop and lunch  -sh- in sharp and bush 
-th- in thing and thank  
-th- in this  
-wh- in where and why  
-ng- in bring  
-nk- in pink  

The Other Special Sounds Includes Dipthongs (from the Greek for “two  tones”)  
-oi- in soil and ploy  
-ow- in jowl and out  
short -oo- in hook and bull  
-aw- in gnaw and haul  
-zh- in vision, station