A peek into Waldorf 1st Grade

Mind you, the "peeks" I offer are either taken from something I've learned from parent meetings or directly from what the kid tells me. The following is a song she asked me to transcribe for her. She asked me to do this probably in October of last year when they were learning their vowels.

Now, there are a myriad of reasons why I love Waldorf education, but one that always touches my heart is how they infuse reverence and/or respect for earth into everything. From their stories to the blessings that they share before mealtimes to their lessons. Case in point, the below is a song that the children learned and it supported the learning of their vowels:

On the Earth I love to stand

Strength from stones I've taken

Striding boldly o'er the land

Fearless and unshaken..A A AAAA A AAAA (long A)

And in water, silvery waves

Gladly do I revel

from the fishes I can learn up and down

 to travel...E E EEEE E EEEE (long E)

Upwards to the light I look

where the sun shines brightly

And with rainbow colors clear

paint the flowers lightly...I I IIII I IIII (Long I)

In the air I love to jump

oh that I were flying

like a bird with outspread wings

o'er the hilltops flying...O O OOOO O OOOO (long O)

Gratefully your gifts I hold

In my heart's deep shrine

Earth and water air and light

Brothers, sisters mine...U U UUUU U UUUU (long U)

That is just beautiful. The melody of the song is also very beautiful. Wish I could share it with you. Maybe I will figure out how to add a music file to this post.

But do you see how this is a wonderful way to help support young children in learning their vowels? A beautiful song which each stanza ends with the repetition of the vowel.

This fully supports their learning at this age because children can easily memorize songs. It's truly incredible the amount of songs that they learn every year!

And they have sweet sayings to remember when two letters sit together and one is silent. Like, "kn" When K and N go walking, K lets N do all the talking.

And I was just listening to a lecture that Stephen Spitalny gave and learned that the frontal lobe which carries out higher mental processes like thinking, decision making and planning, doesn't develop until about age 11 or 12. And doesn't fully mature until in our 20's! So...in my opinion, force feeding our children at too young an age just can't be good for them. Plus, there's that whole problem of burnout. But that is a whole other subject altogether.