Waldorf Inspirations

The Waldorf Inspirations Blog

Hi Everyone! Welcome to Waldorf Inspirations first ever blog. Our plan is to use this venue to share timely teaching ideas and news of upcoming workshops that we are either giving or think you should know about. We are also excited to share some of your teaching ideas when sent our way via our website email address. We hope you enjoy this new aspect of our website. Thanks for letting us share our inspirations with you, Janet and Patti

Blog #9: It’s Time to Create Something New – Our Teaching Literacy to Waldorf Grades 1-3 Workshops Are Going Online!

Every week I receive the Steiner Books Sunday Letter from Kathy Donchak. As part of her weekly letter, Kathy shares a short anthroposophical podcast (https://steinerbooks.org/sunday-letter-podcast ). Although I have appreciated each podcast, I found her April 23rd podcast with Dr. Lakshmi Prasanna especially relevant for this time. In this podcast,...

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Blog #8: Learning Games and Activities to Do at Home During the Quarantine

As one of the student support teachers at the Waldorf School on the Roaring Fork, I can feel the collective energy that all of us Waldorf teachers are creating right now as we think about how to bring our rich, "real world" curriculum to our students and their parents through virtual means.

If you are like me, figuring out how to channel the creativity we use for our school lessons into this new circumstance, is a bit daunting. My overarching theme to this challenge is to remember how to meet the children where they are developmentally. To do this we need to ask the question, "How do children learn best?" to know how to proceed.

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Blog #7: How to Engage Parent Support In and Out of the Classroom

This blog is for Kindergarten-Grade 8 class teachers. Create a Viable System to Effectively Encourage and Engage Parents' Help In and Out of the Classroom ​Being a Waldorf teacher has its joys and its challenges. Certainly, one of the challenges is the amount of time it takes to prepare our lessons, stay on top of our classroom organization, a...

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Blog #6: Build Your Class Community the Week Before School Starts!

 photo from: http://www.babysitting.academy/the-9-step-guide-to-camping-with-kids/ Dear Class Teachers, Have you noticed that for those students in your class who have not seen each other all summer the first day of school is much more about social interactions among peers than it is about the curriculum? The energy and excitement that su...

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Blog #5: Summer Planning Ideas for Class Teachers

We've come to that point in the summer when it's time to plan your coming year. But where do you begin? One of the first things you want to do is to create your block rotation. Our greatest teacher, Experience, and our mentors and colleagues have given us a number of excellent ideas for developing a yearly plan that supports a healthy academic...

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Blog #4: Change Things Up!

movement-figures-cropped

This post is for grades 1-8. Your Students Need Integrated Movement Throughout the Day Are your students getting "spring fever?" Are you feeling a bit stale? Well we have an idea for you – add more integrated movement into your lessons! Waldorf teachers know that when we want our students to learn a new concept or skill the best approach is to enga...

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Blog #3: The Gift of Student Challenge Books

Fraction challenge

Blog #3 is for Grades 3-8 Class Teachers

How can you especially give your gifted students a challenge so that they keep actively engaged in their learning? Challenge Books!  

In every class there are always those students who finish their assignments accurately and proficiently prior to the rest of the class. Of course, you first have to verify if they have completed the assignment correctly and that they used the quality of skill (handwriting and/or artistic presentation) that you requested. But then what?  

We found that beginning in 3rd grade challenge books can provide an answer. These books are a collection of brainteasers and curriculum exercises that can be copied and made into booklets. These exercises don't teach new skills, but rather give these students the opportunity to use those skills they have already been developing in new ways thus we promote that you give these challenge books to each student in the class.  

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Blog # 2: Say “Yes!” to Curriculum Evenings

pati_janet

Janet Langley & Patti Connolly

Blog #2 is for grades 3-8 class teachers.

Say "Yes!" to Curriculum Evenings

One of the main reasons a family chooses to enroll their child in a Waldorf school is that they love what they see happening in the classroom when they come for a visit. They are impressed with the creative presentations of the lessons, how music and speech are woven into the day, and the quality and beauty of the students' work. It is the continued renewal of this "Yes!" experience that Curriculum Evenings provide. Curriculum Evenings are quite a different experience than the usual Waldorf school parent meetings; they are opportunities for the students as a community to share their education with their parents in real time.

We recommend that you host a Curriculum Evening 1-2 times per year and that they occur right after the due date of a major project or at the end of a main lesson block so that the students' latest work can be displayed and/or shared and appreciated. These evenings may be an added event on an already full personal agenda, but the good will and support that they engender is worth every second!
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Blog #1: 'Tis the Season for the Class Play

rehersal

Rehearsal

 Blog #1 is for grades 1-8 class teachers.

'Tis the Season for the Class Play

Each time we talk with Waldorf alumni students about their school experience, it doesn't take long for the conversation to come around to their animated, joyful descriptions of their annual class plays. We love listening to them recount this scene or that scene, or the time that so-and-so forgot her lines and so-and-so stepped in. These deep, important reminiscences always inspire us to support class teachers in any way we can to take on the leadership of such an endeavor. We want their students to also experience the rich creative and social processes that class plays can provide. 

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