Sophia Institute online Art of Teaching Waldorf Program

Art of Teaching Waldorf Grade 8

Additional Resources

Morning Verse for Upper Grades 
by Rudolf Steiner

FREE Examples of Chalkboard Drawings and Main Lesson Book Pages 
Beautiful and inspiring

• How to Bind a Main Lesson BookWaldorf Today Gallery of Main Lesson Book Pages - Middle School
  Gallery of Chalkboard Drawings in the Waldorf Classroom
  Waldorf Inspirations Gallery
  browse through my collection of Pinterest Boards with samples of chalkboard drawings and main lesson book pages for many blocks
  Waldorf Science Newsletter 
  • page 13 of Vol.1 has a Science Curriculum in the Waldorf School Grades 1-8 overview / one page handout, page 14 has the same for High School Grades 9-12

What's Taught?
The AWSNA Curriculum Chart is an INVALUABLE resource 
Highly recommended, inexpensive, concise format, yet detailed and thorough -- and it's only $8.00! If you plan on homeschooling with Waldorf, you need to get this.

The Waldorf School Curriculum - Grade 8 
Block Rotations and Course Descriptions by Eugene Schwartz
Grade 8 Content from Waldorf Teacher Resources 
Physics: Hydraulics and PressurePhysics: Electromagnetism

• Organic Chemistry: Carbohydrates
  Organic Chemistry: Protein
  Organic Chemistry: Fat
  Short Story
  Class Play: Fiddler on the Roof
  Independent Study Projects

Samples from the Eighth Grade Curriculum by Live Education!

• The Louisiana Purchase from American History in the 19th CenturyThe Factory City from Revolutionaries and Romantics: European History
  Plot Development from The Art of the Short Story with Charcoal Drawing
  The Chemistry of the Limestone Cycle from Chemistry
  A Few Facts About American Nutrition from Hygeia: Nutrition and Physiology
  Criticisms of Marxism from World History
  Benjamin Franklin from Early American History: Natives, Colonists, and Revolutionaries
  Chinese Buddhism and the Silk Road: Bodhidharma Comes from the West from China Ancient and Modern: Geography, History, and Culture
  Finland from European Geography
  Work, Power, and Energy from Physics II: Electricity, Magnetism, Mechanics, Acoustics, Optics
  Cartesian Coordinates from Introduction to Algebra
  Excerpts and Sample Lessons from The Sentence Sounds a Melody: Grammar for the Upper Grades
• Language blocks: Beowulf; Literary Criticism / Short Story; Shakespeare (Romeo & Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing, sonnets)Mathematics blocks: grade 6 String, Straight-Edge & Shadow; grade 6 Business Math (Fractions, Decimals, Percents, Graphing); Geometry
  Cultural blocks: grade 7 Renaissance, Reformation & Age of Exploration; World Geography; U.S. History / Government
  Science blocks: Human Physiology (two blocks); Physics
• Color Coding - how we organize our daily record keeping / plan books
• Hands, Heart, Head - how we organize our daily school schedule
• Plan Book Pictures - pictures of my planner and my daughters' plan book pages 
  A picture is worth a thousand words!
• Misc. Additional Resources
• Momo and the Thieves of Time: A Play by William Ward 
  available as a FREE download from the Online Waldorf Library
• Middle School Math Booklist
• Summer Reading Lists 
  from the San Francisco Waldorf School
• BLACKBOARD SKETCHING book By FREDERICK WHITNEY (1908) 
  available online for free - with step by step directions and illustrations
• look into requirements for homeschoolers who want to enter History Fair and/or Science Fair projects in your state

Main Lesson Blocks - Specific Resources
Literature

• Poems and Speech Exercises for Grades VII and VIII 
  by Promethean Press
• The Art and Science of Teaching Composition 
  by Dorit WinterAVAILABLE FREE as a download from the Online Waldorf Library
• Wish, Wonder and Surprise: An Anthology for Creative Writing in Grades Seven and Eight 
  by Eugene Schwartz - currently out of print
• Why We Must Run With Scissors: Voice Lesson in Persuasive Writing 
  by Barry Lane & Gretchen Bernabei
• Reviving The Essay: How To Teach Structure Without Formula 
  by Gretchen Bernabei
• Breaking Down the Skills Needed to Write a Research Paper
• *NEW* Language Arts: Writing Practice Test (PDF) 
  traditional assessment to judge high school readiness - includes answer key and rubric 
  tests writing skills as well as skills involved in revising written materials
• A Crazy Approach to Teen Writing 
  blog post by Laura Randazzo

Mathematics

• Middle School Math booklistRaw Egg on Your Head / Probability

Food, Nutrion & Health - Organic Chemistry

• Food, Nutrition, and Health Grade 8 Block Lesson Resource 
  by Eric Fairman

Chemistry

• Chemistry for Waldorf Middle Schools - Grades Seven and Eight
  A Compendium of Phenomenological Experiments - Teachers Reference Book 
  by Robert Sonner
• Chemistry Reader

Physics

• Middle School Physics page

Meteorology 

• Highly recommended: three books by Eric Sloane
  Eric Sloane's Weather Book
  Eric Sloane's Book of Storms: Hurricanes, Twisters and Squalls
  Look at the Sky... and Tell the Weather
• "We are to bring the children to the present day. The last day of eighth grade history should end with that day's morning newspaper. A tall order!"Dorit Winter, from p.90 of her contributing essay, "The Chariot of Michael," in And Who Shall Teach the Teachers, available to download for FREE at the Online Waldorf Library
• Teaching History Volume 2: The Middle Ages - from the Renaissance to the Second World War 
  by Roy Wilkinson (grades 6-8)
• Biographies for 8th Grade History: Twenty Remarkable Men and Women 
  by Susan Cook 
  available FREE as a download at the link above - courtesy of the Waldorf Online Library
• Student Declaration of Independence lesson from Teachers Pay Teachers (free)
• Teaching History through Biography in Grade 8 
  article by the San Francisco Waldorf Grade School
• This Country of Ours: The Story of the United States 
  by Henrietta Elizabeth Marshall 
• The Age of Revolution 
  by Charles Kovacs
• Mill 
  by David Macaulay
• All Sail Set: A Romance of the Flying Cloud 
  by Armstrong Sperry 
  recommended by Nancy Parsons as "a great accompanying novel for the Waldorf history block covering the Industrial Revolution, ages 12-13"
• Another great historical fiction choice for the Industrial Revolution is January 1905 by Katharine Boling
• poem "The Riveter" by Mabel Watts 
  p.90 of The Random House Book of Poetry for Children

General Resouces
Literature & Composition 

• Teaching English 
  by Roy Wilkinson (grades 1-8)
• Teaching History: Suggested Themes for the Curriculum in Waldorf Schools 
  by Christoph Lindenberg (grades 5-12)
• Famous Speeches 
  blog post
• Painting and Drawing in Waldorf Schools: Classes 1-8 
  by Thomas Wildgruber
• Learning About the World Through Modeling: Sculptural Ideas for School and Home 
  by Arthur Auer (grades 1-8)
• Creative Pathways: Activities that Strengthen the Child's Cognitive Forces 
  by Elizabeth Auer (grades 1-8)AVAILABLE FREE as a download from the Online Waldorf Library

Class Plays 

• Hawthorne Valley Harvest: A Collection of Plays for the Elementary Grades 
  compiled by William Ward