In April we switched back from math to language arts with a lesson block focusing on the Jataka Tales from India. These are animals fables in the Buddhist tradition (the main character in each story is supposed to be an incarnation of Buddha), and we found them to be wonderful, gentle stories with great morals. We used Marsha Johnson's Magical Jataka Tales e-book available from www.magicofwaldorf.com.
At the beginning of the month, we went to a homeschool day sponsored by a nearby state park. (Well, if you define "nearby" as a 1.5 hour drive away...) Recreation Management students at Penn State put this on, and they did a fantastic job.
The description of the event advertised fossil-finding. Dallin was sure these would be fake fossils planted there for the kids to find, but they were real.
Birdwatching was another of the activities.
Back at home, the weather began to warm up, and we could often have school outside. This did wonders for all our spirits after a long, bleak winter.
The story of The Monkey and the Mango Tree:
Handwork for The Rabbit in the Moon
The story of The Golden Mallard:
For recall of this story, I allowed Sariah to do a "free rendering". I had never done this before; I had always assigned a project to demonstrate recall of the story. But after this experience, I will use "free rendering" regularly. I told Sariah she could do or make anything she wanted to show what she remembered about The Golden Mallard. Without taking any time to ponder, she immediately told me she wanted to make a pinata, which she did. I bought some treats to put in it, and after dinner we broke it open.
Sariah made these clay figures and acted out another story that we did (it was about a turtle; I can't remember what it was called and am too lazy to go look it up).
Miscellaneous activities:
We've been reading Little House on the Prairie, and one morning Sariah decided to build her own log cabin. I love that we live in the woods, and she can do just that.
She wanted to learn cursive, so we started with that, but she lost interest quickly. We'll pick it up with more determination in the fall.
Handwork came along steadily. We knit every day just before she reads out loud to me. She says it helps her focus on reading.
Language Arts skills:
This month we focused on some basic grammar, mostly "doing words" (verbs). I used Dorothy Harrer's English Manual for this lesson idea. First I had Sariah draw a self-portrait that included a plant and an animal. Of course, she drew a horse. Then I had her write all the things she could do with each part of her body, and write the word "I" above her head. We made short sentences: "I knit. I scream", etc.
On a subsequent day, we came back to the plant in the picture. We made sentences telling what plants can do, writing each type of word in a different color. Naming words were blue, doing words red, etc. We'll keep these colors throughout the next few years of grammar.
Lastly, she came up with sentences about each member of our family, telling what each person does, and then circled the doing words.
Word families:
The language arts focus on second grade in Waldorf education is writing and reading, particularly the teaching of word families. It took me a good part of the year to learn how to do this most effectively with Sariah's specific needs in mind. Sariah has ADHD and it can be hard to keep her attention. Any school activity that she deems "boring" will quickly become pointless. I found that the most effective way to work on the phonics skills taught through word families was with a multi-pronged approach: 1) something visual, 2) a story, 3) an alliterative verse using the sound in question, and 4) games. Once I started making up a story and using a picture that incorporated the letters of each blend, her retention skyrocketed. I found that the East African Waldorf Teacher Training program's literacy manual for grades 1 and 2 had the best approach. The e-book from this program even includes several stories, picture ideas, and many little poems and verses that we were able to use.
Drawings for the two "ow" sounds: the top one includes words such as clown, crown, etc. I made up a story to go with it. The bottom one incorporated the poem which begins, "The sun says 'I glow', the river says 'I flow'," etc.
I made up my own story showing how the letters "ph" make the "f" sound. It was something about a prince and his horse stopping to help a fish that was out of the water, just like the letters "ph" help "f" make it's sound.
This story and picture for the "th" sound were right out of the East African training manual.
My own creation: the Jester can't make the king laugh until the golden goose helps by flying in and landing on his head, just like "g" sometimes helps "j" make it's sound.
This illustrated a verse from the training manual, it was for the "ight" sound, something about brothers fighting in the night under the light.
I put alot of time into this and feel it was a really successful way to help her reading skills progress. We will do more in grade 3.
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