Revised 8/10/12

I will be teaching Grade 1 and Grade 5 next year. You can find my plans, lists and resources – such as they are – in the pages in this category. From these notes, I have formed my Grade 1 Layout. As we progress through the year, I will be posting our experiences with the individual blocks. Please see the pages in this category as a gathering place of my ideas and such. I will not be doing everything – probably not half!

Because my posts (here, here, here, here) on my in-progress planning are slightly stream of consciousness, I will attempt to list the steps I have taken so far. First I try to get an overview of both grades, then an overview of specific subjects (language arts, math, science). After this big picture planning is done, I will get specific with individual blocks. I hope this provides a better idea of my process.

1. Listened to grade overview audios by Donna Simmons (Christopherus) and Melisa Nielsen (Waldorf Essentials).
2. Read through Christopherus Homeschooling Overview. Marked sections relevant to next year.
3. Listened to grade overview audios again, this time taking notes.
4. Began Form Drawing Workshop included in Thinking, Feeling, Willing program (Waldorf Essentials).
5. Read through Christopherus Living Language twice. Marked appropriate sections for next year.
6. Checked out books from the library related to Ancient Mythologies. Looking through them.
7. Read Christopherus Nature Stories to Natural Science. Marked appropriate sections for next year.
8. Read Christopherus Grade 1 Syllabus. Getting more detailed in planning the blocks for Jude.
9. Listened to Howard Schrader’s interview on the 2012 Global Waldorf Expo. So inspiring!!!
10. Read Eric Fairman’s Path of Discovery Volume 1.
11. Ordered a couple of books for upcoming blocks from waldorfbooks.com.
12. Rearranging, de-cluttering, organizing the schoolroom with an eye toward teaching 2 main lessons.
13. Read Joyful Movement by Donna Simmons.
14. Filling out monthly pages with ideas for verses, movement, poetry, read-alouds, etc.
15. Going back through the resources that I marked up and plugging the information into our monthly blocks.
16. Listened to Melisa Nielsen’s planning intensive audio.
17. Streamlining my plans and trying to work on daily rhythm for the fall.
18. Planning daily lessons for Grade 1. My goal is to finish this before I leave for Taproot on August 2. Wish me luck!
19. Mission accomplished! Grade 1 planning finished!
20. Attended Taproot Teacher Training. Concentrated on Grade 5.
21. Planning daily lessons for Grade 5.