The main thrust of the Waldorf Third Grade Curriculum is to meet the needs of the child
going through the 9 year change. This includes stories of Creation and of man struggling
to overcome his baser nature. You do not have to do the Jewish stories; stories
from another culture can be substituted thoughtfully as long as the same age-appropriate themes
are covered.
The Bible contains a tremendous number of stories -- even if you stick to the Old Testament
you'll never be able to fit in every one. So which ones do you do?
Here are some suggestions:
GENESIS
The Creation - Adam and Eve - The Fall from Paradise
The Story of a Beautiful Garden
(Try "Watercolor Painting: Color Experience and Developing Form" Waldorf in the Home DVD,
a workshop by
Kelly Morrow which demonstrates painting the Creation for Days 1, 2, 3.
Also, The Dreamer
by Cynthia Rylant.)
Cain and Abel
The First Baby in the World, and His Brother
Noah and the Flood
The Great Ship That Saved Eight People
(Try Noah's Ark in Paper and Card
by Charlotte Gerlings -- we made
the Ark and filled it with beeswax animal figures.
Also, the Rainbow painting lesson -- #2 -- from How
to Do Wet-on-Wet Watercolor Painting and Teach It to Children by Rauld Russell, available
from Shining Mountain Waldorf School.)
The Tower of Babel
The Tower That Was Never Finished
(Try An English Grammar: The Language before Babel
by Rudolf Schmid for Grammar.)
God Talks to Abram
The Story of a Long Journey
& How Lot's Choice Brought Trouble and Abram's
Choice Brought Blessing
Abram is Named Abraham
The Angel By the Well
The Birth of Isaac - Hagar and Ishmael
The Boy Who Became an Archer
(Abraham is remembered as the father of three great religions -- Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam. Try Abraham's Search for God
by Jacqueline Jules.)
* break *
Jacob and Esau
How Jacob Stole His Brother's Blessing
Jacob is Tricked by Laban
Jacob's Wonderful Dream
Jacob is Named Israel
A Midnight Wrestling Match
Joseph and His Coat of Many Colors
The Rich Man's Son Who Was Sold as a Slave
The Famine in Egypt
From the Prison to the Palace
& How Joseph's Dream Came True
Joseph Tests His Brothers - The Israelites Come to Egypt
A Lost Brother Found
& From the Land of Famine to the Land of Plenty
EXODUS
The Birth of Moses
The Beautiful Baby Who Was Found in a River
(I made a baby Moses doll for my class using the Magic
Cabin Mocha skin color and Black Boucle hair and the directions in Chapter 5 of Making Waldorf Dolls by Maricristin Sealey.)
The Burning Bush
The Voice from the Burning Bush
The Plagues on Egypt
The River that Ran Blood
The Passover - Pharoah Lets the Israelites Go
The Night When a Nation Was Born
The Parting of the Red Sea - Manna From Heaven
How the Sea Became Dry Land, and the Sky
Rained Bread
(Form Drawing: We did the wave running form as a border of our main lesson page on the story of the Water from the Rock.)
The Ten Commandments
The Mountain that Smoked
and the Words That Were Spoken From It
(Try A Mountain of Blintzes
by Barbara Diamond Goldin.)
Aaron and the Golden Calf
How Aaron Made a Golden Calf, and What Became Of It
NUMBERS/DEUTERONOMY
The Death of Moses
How Moses
Looked Upon the Promised Land
(Try The Shadow of a Flying Bird: A Legend from the Kurdistan Jews
by Mordicai Gerstein. We followed this up with mirrored forms in Form Drawing.)
JOSHUA
The Story of Rahab
The Story of a Scarlet Cord
The Walls of Jericho
How the River Jordan Became Dry and the Walls of Jericho
Fell Down
* break *
I & II SAMUEL
Hannah Gives Her Child to God
The Little Boy with a Linen Coat
The Philistines Capture the Ark of the Covenant
How the Idol Fell Down Before the Ark
Samuel: The Last of the Judges
The Last of the Judges
Israel Wants a King
The Tall Man Who Was Chosen
King
& How Saul Saved the Eyes of the Men of Jabesh
Saul Disobeys God
The Brave Young Prince
& Saul's Great Sin and His Great Loss
Samuel Finds David at Jesse's House - David is Chosen
The Shepherd Boy of Bethlehem
David Kills Goliath
The Shepherd Boy's Fight With the Giant
(I made a sling using the directions at slinging.org.
I used a leather piece cut from an old purse -- check the thrift store --
and braided rawhide straps -- check the beads & jewelry section of your craft store.
The most important rule is that the length of the straps equals the distance from your
heart to the fingertips of your left hand with your arm outstretched.
Also, Psalm 23
written by David and illustrated by Barry Moser.)
David Goes Into Hiding from Saul
Where David Found the Giant's Sword
The Last Days of King Saul
How David Spared Saul's Life
& The Last Days of King Saul
David Becomes King
The Shepherd Boy Becomes a King
& The Sound in the Tree-Tops
I & II KINGS
King Solomon's Wisdom
Solomon on David's Throne
& The Wise Young King
(Try "The Wise King and the Little Bee" from Once Upon a Time: Twenty Cheerful Tales to Read and Tell
by
Rose Dobbs. We made two identical bouquet drawings in colored pencil.)
Solomon Sins Against God - The Death of Solomon
The Last Days of Solomon's Reign
& The Breaking Up of a Great Kingdom
King Jeroboam
The King
Who Led Israel to Sin, and the Prophet Who Was Slain by a Lion
King Josiah
The Lost Book Found in the Temple
JONAH
Jonah and the Big Fish
Elisha and the Bow; Jonah and Nineveh
(We wet-felted large flat pieces which were then sewed into a large whale shape. We grated Kiss My Face Olive Oil Soap
in hot water and used slatted bamboo placemats to roll the felt. The body was of the Medium Gray Natural Color Ashford Corriedale Wool Roving
and
Curly Locks of Leicester formed the spout, both from A Child's Dream Come True. A small Jonah figure completed the scene.
I later quilted it onto blue water fabric to be a wall hanging.)
DANIEL
The Babylonian Captivity - Daniel Is Able to Interpret Dreams
The Jewish Captives in the Court of the King
The Fiery Furnace
The Golden
Image and the Fiery Furnace
King Nebuchadnezzar Goes Mad
The Tree
That Was Cut Down and Grew Again
King Belshazzar and the Writing on the Wall
The Writing Upon the Wall
King Darius - Daniel in the Lion's Den
Daniel in the Den of Lions
EZRA
The Israelites are Released From Captivity
A Joyous Journey
The New Temple
The New
Temple on Mount Moriah
How the Old Testament Was Written
The Scribe Who Wrote
the Old Testament
ESTHER
The Story of Esther
The Beautiful Queen of Persia
