Teaching Waldorf in the Early Grades: An Interview with Renata Welker (Part 2)
We are excited to share with you the second part of our interview with our Grade 2/3 Teacher, Renata Welker. Renata goes into depth about various aspects of our Waldorf early grades curriculum and shares insights from her long experience as a teacher.
What is Waldorf Main Lesson, and What Does it Look Like in the Early Grades?
Students spend the first two hours of the day in what Waldorf schools refer to as the Main Lesson. This long morning lesson, where the focus is on one subject for a block of time spanning 3-4 weeks, affords the teacher time to enter each subject in depth and approach it in a variety of ways, enlivening subject matter with poetry, painting, modeling, and drama.
Waldorf Main Lesson Books: Students as Authors
Waldorf students record content of each subject of study, presented during the Main Lesson, in a Main Lesson book. The books serve as both learning tools and documentation of what has been learned. The students take great pride in writing and illustrating their books, gaining practice in handwriting, grammar, art, and composition along the way.
Learning in and Through Art and Beauty: Creating an Emotional Connection to Academic Material
Children learn best when they can engage their imaginations with the academic content. We surround our students with stories that inspire their own imaginative thinking, and we teach them artistic techniques that allow them to express, process, and interpret their knowledge through drawings, paintings, and modeling.
Fostering an Empowering Environment for Students
The teacher works explicitly and carefully to welcome the children in and help them to connect to one another and to learning. Waldorf education endeavors to foster and nurture politeness and courtesy among the children in the classroom and on the playground.
We recognize that social conflict is a normal part of human growth, which must be guided rather than avoided. We work to help children learn how to resolve conflicts and come to a greater understanding of oneself and others.
We hope you enjoyed listening to Renata speak about the early grades curriculum. Stay tuned for the final part of the interview where she will talk about social emotional development, music, theater, world languages and more!