Organic Chemistry: Food & Nutrition
updated February 5, 2020
This page has helpful links and LOADS of free resources to help you plan your eighth grade year. Enjoy!
Mission Statement - Consulting Services - Lending Library
Organic Chemistry
for Class 8
Pinterest - Renee Schwartz
My curated collection of visuals! Browse sample main lesson book pages, watercolor paintings, chalkboard drawings, etc. for
Organic Chemistry / Nutrition.
FREE eBooks at the Online Waldorf Library
Excellent resource! Published Waldorf curriculum books provided here in PDF format for you to download, keep, and read... for free!
Sample Lessons and Free Curriculum
Other Helpful Links
Books to Buy
If you already own Eric Fairman's grade 8 Path of Discovery book, you can find his notes for this block on pp. 28-66. If you
prefer to buy his notes for this block on their own, he did publish them as a separate volume. It is called Food, Nutrition, and Health.
As of 04/24/2017, both are available from WaldorfBooks.com, with the Grade 8 book listed at $21.00 and the Nutrition block book listed at $18.00.
I have the Nutrition book
and was originally planning on using it as my primary text.
However, David Mitchell wrote a book called The Wonders of Waldorf Chemistry: Notes from a Teacher's Notebook for grades 7-9,
which I purchased and will be reading as I plan this block.
 
I've recently discovered that the David Mitchell book is available for free at the Online Waldorf
Library, which makes it a compelling choice! The section for eighth grade is pages 108 - 156.
I have also heard the set of Chemistry books by Mikko Bojarsky are excellent; however, I have not yet had a chance to purchase and review them. His book for this block, A Demonstration Manual for Use in the Waldorf School Eighth Grade Chemistry Main Lesson,
is $30.00.
Recorded here is my own personal collection of articles, resources, favorite links, teaching ideas, and lesson plans. It encompasses many years, from the very beginning of my experience studying and learning about Waldorf to the present time. People from all around the world visit my site and recommend it to others. Welcome!
This site records my journey. I hope my honesty is encouraging and helps break down some barriers that may prevent people from trying Waldorf methods. Because this is an ongoing site documenting my curriculum planning and ideas, some materials are more Waldorf-y than others. Please feel free to take what you like and leave the rest.
Trying to choose between them?
Eric Fairman organizes his topics as follows:
MilkHoney
The Plant Kingdom
Photosynthesis
Carbodydrates: Sugar (experiments 1 - 8)
Starch (experiments 9 - 14)
Cellulose (experiments 15 - 16)
Protein (experiments 17 - 19)
Fats and Oils (experiments 20 - 23)
Mineral Salts (he gives the value of each and some foods which contain them)
Calcium Ca - alkaline
Iron Fe - alkaline
Phosphorus P - acid
Iodine I - acid
Fluorine F - acid
Chlorine Cl - acid
Magnesium Mg - alkaline
Sodium Na - alkaline
Vitamins (he gives the value of each and some foods which contain them)
Fat soluble: A, D, E, K
Water soluble: B Complex, C
Water (this section has the most revised/expanded content in the version sold separately)
Herbs (medicinal uses)
Drugs and Addictions
Main Lesson Test (a complete test which you can photocopy and give to your students)
David Mitchell organizes his topics as follows:
First, he has quite a few introductory sections. These are Preface, Developing Scientific Thinking, Creating Wonder in Chemistry,
Teacher's Guidelines, The Process of Learning, Teacher's Scheme, Tasks for the Teacher, Enthusiasm, How to Read Science, Laboratory
Equipment, Safety, Disposal of Chemicals, Prologue to the Chemistry Main Lesson
Eighth Grade Chemistry
Sample Block Outline
Themes in the Eighth Grade
Three Branches of Chemistry
Water
Crystals
Poem by Goethe
Chemicals in a 100-Pound Student
The Metals
Preparation of a Metal from Ore
The Blast Furnace and Industrial Chemistry
Metals in the Earth's Crust
Photosynthesis
Class Reading - Rutherford Platt
The History of Sugar
Test for Sugar
Starch
Test for Starch
Cellulose
Alcohol
Carbon Dioxide Generator
The Production of Hydrogen
Proteins
Oils and Fats
Spelling and Vocabulary
He also concludes his book with Biographies of Selected Scientists, and Chemicals and Supplies.
The Spelling and Vocabulary lists are for a three week block and are divided up as follows:
Week #1
meniscus, condensed, evaporated, pollution, metallurgy, mineral, malleable, ductile, noble metal, bronze, meander,
surface tension, chemical compound, electrical, biochemistry
Week #2
fermentation, alcohol, ethanol, methanol, crucible, dissolve, precipitate, denatured alcohol, carbohydrate, cellulose,
Fehling solution, starch, sugar, glucose, fructose
Week #3
protein, nitrogen, nutrition, photosynthesis, synthetic, legumes, protoplasm, fertilizer, aromatic oil,
crystallization, chlorophyll, pigments, distillation, albumin, esters
Ultimately, as a homeschooler, Eric Fairman's experiments seem more doable (although next year I clearly need to invest in a good quality Chemistry kit) and so I am going to continue with my initial decision to use him as the main text. I also don't want to
spend as much time on the metals as David Mitchell does. He states that this is important to address, if you didn't get to it in 7th grade.
This is probably true, but I want us to spend most of our time focusing on Nutrition.
Poem
"Rain" by Spike Milligan, from Here's a Little Poem
initial connections to this block are: sense of wonder, enthusiasm, childlike exploration, coming up with theories
-- AND -- ultimately, a sense of scarcity, the realization that we don't control our food supply and we are completely dependent on the plants and animals and weather of our earth
 
List of Stories
Story #1 - Milk
special guest - doula?
Day 1 (introduce):
use See / Think / Wonder routine & graphic organizer throughout the block
use safety glasses for science experiments throughout the block
 
Turn Milk into Plastic science experiment
something to kick off the main lesson block with a bang!
P.S. it's because of the protein... which kids will realize later in the block
Day 2 (review from yesterday, extend, summarize, add to MLB):
my plan is to start the discussion by reading them Cow by Jules Older --
and they'll be thinking that I'm going to tell them cow milk is a healthy food -- and then turn the conversation around and say,
cow milk is the perfect food for BABY COWS, but we are not baby cows and it's actually not all that good for us
 
"Breastfeeding Benefits" from WomensHealth.gov
breastmilk is best!
to show just how different humans and cows are, we did a MLB page with the four stomachs of a ruminant,
from page 9 of Horns and Antlers by Wilfrid Swancourt Bronson
 
Story #2 - Honey
hexagons / honeycomb geometric drawing in Barbara Dewey's book, figure 11, or
hexagon stencil for background on MLB page
The Bee Book by Jakob Streit
available FREE online from the Online Waldorf Library
chalkboard drawing for the honeybee
another one
and one more
example of a chalkboard drawing & poem
another beautiful example of honeybee art
Day 1 (introduce):
Drawing from the Book of Nature by Dennis Klocek
"The Honeybee" text and illustrations, pp.53-59
 
"The Buzz on the Bees" article, comprehension questions, and graphing activity about Colony Collapse Disorder - for HW
Day 2 (review from yesterday, extend):
work alongside beekeeper from Dayempur Farm
Day 3 (review from yesterday, extend, summarize, add to MLB)
foam brush - paint gold over hexagon / honeycomb stencil for MLB page background
MLB page - list of different honeybees in the hive and their jobs, draw a diagram showing the two stomachs, draw a bee with colored pencils using Dennis Klocek's directions
 
9 Hive Jobs of Honey Bees article by Hobby Farms
Bee Hive Hierarchy and Activities article by Big Island Bees
look at honeybee mouth parts slide under a microscope
from our set of 25 prepared microscope slides
eat some honey straight from the honeycomb!
Science Experiment: Why Does Honey Crystallize? (PDF)
Story #3 - The Plant Kingdom
Story #4 - Photosynthesis
Story #5 - Sugar
sample chalkboard drawing for Sugar
*NEW* January 15, 2019 was the 100 year anniversary of the Great Molasses Flood in Boston.
This might be an interesting connection!
I also love The Great Molasses Flood by Beth Wagner Brust if you have younger children in the house. It is one of my favorite early readers because it's such an unexpected topic!
 
Day 1 (introduce):
Think Before You Drink display
set out an assortment of packaged drinks including "healthy" and "unhealthy" options, and ask students to
arrange them from most sugar to least sugar without reading the nutrition labels... then read the labels
and rearrange as needed... then create a display with stacks of sugar cubes (one Domino's sugar cube dot = 2.5 g)
 
read The History of Sugar on page 141 - 143 of
David Mitchell's book
Sugar Detectives activity (print pages 2 and 4)
for this you will need an assortment of cereal boxes
I had students write as a fraction (B over A) before converting to a percent
Day 2 (review from yesterday, extend, summarize, add to MLB):
taste raw sugar vs. processed granulated sugar
 
experiment #2 from Eric Fairman (Combustion of Refined Sugar)
make candy! or Crystallized Ginger and Syrup
(watch sugar go through all of the stages; The Cold Water Candy Test)
Story #6 - Starch
make your own liquid laundry starch
just cornstarch, water, and essential oils (optional)
how to make a yarn ball centerpiece (the right way!)
pros and cons of biodegradable packing peanuts - melt some in hot water!
more fun with starch: Oobleck, making tapioca pudding, popping popcorn, video of popcorn popping in ultra-slow motion
Day 1 (introduce):
Test for Starch experiments on p.147 (uses an eyedropper and iodine, which is POISONOUS so please use CAUTION)
and starch story on p.145 of
David Mitchell's book
he suggests using turnip, corn, carrot, potato
you also need salt-free crackers (we couldn't find any so we used Triscuit Hint of Salt)
FREE Mr Yuk Stickers from the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin
Day 2 (review from yesterday, extend, summarize, add to MLB):
read "white bread / wheat bread" portion of Fairman story for Starch
experiment #10 a + b from Eric Fairman (Identifying the Qualities of Starch)
experiment #11 from Eric Fairman (Boiling of Starch)
experiment #14 from Eric Fairman (Starch into Sugar with Saliva)
look up chemical formula for starch: C6 H10 O5
wooden test tube rack
Pyrex test tubes
test tube clamp
glass bottles with eyedropper dispenser (amber or cobalt blue)
 
 
Day 3 (baking):
read All in Just One Cookie by Susan Goodman... and bake chocolate chip cookies!
 
*NEW* Harmless Flour is an Incredibly Explosive Substance
article and science experiment
Story #7 - Cellulose
Story #8 - Protein (Albumen)
Story #9 - Fats and Oils
Story #10 - Mineral Salts
Calcium Ca - alkaline
Iron Fe - alkaline
Phosphorus P - acid
Iodine I - acid
Fluorine F - acid
Chlorine Cl - acid
Magnesium Mg - alkaline
Sodium Na - alkaline
Story #11 - Vitamins
Fat soluble: A, D, E, K
Water soluble: B Complex, C
Story #12 - Water
water story on page 112 of David Mitchell's book
We did "Water" on the last day of school, so it wasn't as academic as it could have been!
Here are some fun ideas for this topic (besides running through the sprinkler):
Here are some more serious / academic possibilities for this topic:
We do not need to include Medicinal Herbs in this block because the children in our homeschool co-op have a Medicinal Herbs class every week with the master herbalist at Dayempur Farm.
I am also not going to include Drugs & Addictions in this block. We are using it as the culmination of our school year and that's not exactly the note I want to end on!
If you're interested, David Mitchell does have a discussion of Smoking on pages 95-96 of his book and Alcohol on page 150.
My Blog Posts from Teaching This Topic
My Blog Posts from Teaching This Topic (a second time)
|
