This week we will be starting new material with a language arts block of Old Testament Stories. We will continue to work with stories from the Old Testament throughout the year as Grant moves through the "Nine Year Change". I will not present these stories in a religious context, but in a historical context. They are stories about the Hebrew people, and the trials they went through and overcame. You may be wondering why Old Testament stories? The following from a Third Grade Waldorf Teacher's Manual will give a brief explanation:
Grade 3 children often feel quite misplaced and long to belong somewhere. Thus it is very appropriate to tell them the Story of Creation; how human beings were created by God and placed on earth where they could make a home for themselves.
"What has changed in the growth of Grade 3 children? Physically they are taller and broader; filling out, becoming more muscular and stronger. But inwardly a complete transformation of their feeling life is taking place.
No longer at ease in the security of their oneness with those around them, they are experiencing a separation between themselves and the rest of the world. Brothers, sisters, even parents and friends seem strange and distant.
The Old Testament, from the ancient Hebrew tradition, begins with God creating light in the darkness through the sound and power of His voice. Then He separates heaven and earth. In the same way, Grade 3 children are awakening to the duality of life on earth: they begin to notice the amazing world around them – not only what is beautiful, but also what is ugly, and they become aware of what they like and do not like.
Through the Creation Story the children unconsciously sense how they fit into the family of creation: how human beings are made in the likeness of God, with consciousness, intelligence, speech, love and creativity.
Rudolf Steiner (The founder of Waldorf Education) chose the Old Testament stories of the Hebrew tradition to "illustrate the sense of separation that the children experience as they go through the crisis of the ninth year. Thus the children identify with the feelings of loss, fear, bewilderment and struggle that the various Hebrew heroes and heroines went through. Many of them experienced being completely uprooted and forced to leave their homes and to establish a new life in a strange country.
However, at no time are these stories told in order to promote a particular religion. On the contrary, they illustrate the challenges that every human being has to go through in his or her development. Thus the stories speak for themselves and demonstrate the ability of each hero to hear and follow the guidance from within. This shows the children the need for self-reliance."
This is also an age when children need the presence of a strong authoritative figure. During the time of the nine year change, they will seriously test the waters, and question your every move. They may be more distant, they may want to be close to you, they may be bossy, or overly critical, they may demonstrate all of these behaviors at different times.
"Similarly the stories of the Hebrews show God as a strong authoritative figure who demands obedience from his followers. This guiding presence of God is a reassuring factor in the stories of the Hebrews. No matter where they go, they are assisted and protected provided they obey His commands."
These stories meet the children where they are, and really speak to them.
Now, back to our week....
Every morning we started with outside play time, and a walk. Once we got into the school room we started with a blessing, then circle time with the girls, French lesson, penny whistle lesson, a daily activity for Grant, math review, and we also started working on memorizing the spelling of the 100 most common words. I did this by drawing a word out of a jar, asking Grant to spell it, and then use it in a sentence. We worked on this everyday.
On Monday, Grant went to work modeling a pyramid with both of his hands in front of him. He found this really challenging again this week, and kept wanting to make a flat triangle. I think I will give him another week of doing it in front before having him try it behind his back.
We also reviewed math by rolling our three wooden dice which gave him 2 numbers and a process sign. We also reviewed the times tables by singing the times tables songs.
Grant also practiced his form drawing, and we will be working on it all week.
Next, Grant and I talked about the Hebrew people of the Old Testament, and a little about the Jewish people of today, and the Torah. I showed Grant a photo of a Torah scroll, and an example of Hebrew letters.
Afterward, I read Grant the story of Michael defeating Lucifer and throwing him out of heaven from this book:
(I will be using it, and the other two books by the same author, for all of our Old Testament stories.)
Once I finished the story, Grant and I drew a picture from it in our main lesson books.
Mom's Picture
Grant's Picture
Grant also copied these Bible verses:
I also read Johanna the next two pages of Lono. She is now joined by Maoto Mangrove and some clickety-clack crabs. We drew a picture of her:
Grant wanted to draw his own version of Lono,
and Julia was up to her upside down drawing again.
On Tuesday, Grant gave the ball twirling another shot, and next week I will start having him say a memorized verse while he has all the balls in motion.
I have also been teaching him the letter names of the notes he is playing on the penny whistle, and he began "reading" the music just by looking at the letter names of the notes. He is looking forward to learning the staff and being able to read the notes without the letters written out.
We also reviewed math by rolling dice again. This time Grant used dice with larger numbers, and sometimes even rolled four dice, so he would have to add two together first to get the two numbers to use in the equation.
Afterward, I told Grant the stories of the First and Second Days of Creation, and then we did a wet-on-wet watercolor painting for both of them.
Day 1 - "Let There Be Light."
Mom's Painting
Grant's Painting
Day 2 - "Let us create the air!" and separate the water above from the water below.
Mom's Painting
Grant's Painting
I also told Johanna the next two pages of Lono. She was very excited to hear Lono finally got some flowers!
On Wednesday, Grant retold the stories from Tuesday, and we came up with a summary, which he copied. We also began reviewing parts of speech, and I had Grant underline all the verbs.
Afterward, I read Grant the stories of Day 3 and Day 4 of Creation, and we painted from those stories.
Day 3 - "Let green plants be created!"
Mom's Painting
Grant's Painting
Day 4 - The creation of the sun, moon and stars
Mom's Painting
Grant's Painting
I also read the next two pages of Lono to Johanna, and her and I painted a picture of Lono.
Johanna's Painting of Lono
Julia also wanted to paint a picture:
On Thursday, we reviewed math by playing a "grasshopper math game". I put down the numbers 1-15 on the floor and asked Grant to count backwards, and do simple addition and subtraction problems, jumping to the numbers each time he said one. This was a great game for Grant as it got him up and moving around. Next week, I'm going to add more numbers, and make it a little harder.
Grant also finally felt comfortable copying this form drawing into his book. This one was challenging for him, and I think he was very happy to be done with it. :)
Grant also retold me the stories from Wednesday, and we summarized them, and he copied the summary. He also underlined the verbs again.
When he was done with that, I read him the Days 5,6 and 7 Creation stories, and we painted about days 5 and 6.
Day 5 - "Fishes in the water, take on life!"
"Birds, fly and jubilate in the air!"
Mom's Painting
Grant's Painting
Day 6 - "Earth, your land shall be alive with animals of every kind!" and "Let us create man!"
Mom's Painting
Grant's Painting
This past week was like a wet-on-wet-watercolor painting marathon! I think know we did more painting in one week then we did in all of second grade. I like that it gave Grant and I a lot of practice, as this is one skill I would like for us to work on more so we can improve our painting skills.
I also had Grant read the girls this little book about Fall.
On Friday, we continued our review of verbs, and I had Grant read this book:
And, as always, we had many four-legged furry friends joining us in the school room.
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