Grade Three (age 9 - 10)
updated June 27, 2016
Overview of Grade Three Curriculum
The Education of the Child in the Light of Anthroposophy by Rudolf Steiner
The spiritual reasoning behind the Waldorf education method
*NEW* The Child's Changing Consciousness as the Basis of Pedagogical Practice (PDF)
Grade 3 - Hawthorne Valley Waldorf School
The Third Grade Curriculum (PDF)
Alliance for Public Waldorf Education
Grade 3 posts - Schooling from the Heart
Noah and the Flood - a play for 3rd grade by Eugene Schwartz
samples from the Third Grade Curriculum by Live Education!
Live Education! recommends the following books to supplement the third grade curriculum:
The Illustrated Story Bible by Pearl S. Buck
Legends of the Bible by Louis Ginzberg
More Helpful Information
Waldorf Today
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3rd Grade Waldorf Pinterest Page
Queen's Lace
AMAZING collection of Waldorf books available online for FREE
The online Waldorf library has 200+ books converted into PDF ebooks available for download.
A fantastic project of the Research Institute for Waldorf Education.
Morning Verse for Lower Grades
Waldorf Today Gallery of Main Lesson Book Pages - Elementary School
Beautiful and inspiring
Gallery of Chalkboard Drawings in the Waldorf Classroom grades 1 - 8
BLACKBOARD SKETCHING book
By
FREDERICK WHITNEY (1908)
available online for free - with step by step directions and illustrations
Main Lesson Book
pages shared by Christopherus Homeschool Resources
Waldorf Inspirations Gallery (grades 1-8)
Summer Reading Lists
from the San Francisco Waldorf School
Parenting the Nine Year Old
article by Rahima Baldwin Dancy
Main Lesson Blocks
I personally prefer to do three week long main lesson blocks (this is Alan Whitehead's suggestion); however, you can think of a block per month.
That's actually easier!!!! I make things too hard for myself!
This would be eight blocks, two each of the four main subjects (Math, Language, Cultural, Science).
September
October
November
December - break
January
February
March
April
May
There are three Math blocks, typically. These are called the maths of practical life - Baking (time, temperature, weight & volume), Bartering (currency), and Building (linear measurement).
Housebuilding, however, can also be a cultural block, if you study houses around the world. In addition, Old Testament stories can be cultural, or they can be Language. You're summarizing and illustrating the stories, after all.
Plus, a lot of grammar is usually thrown in with OT Stories.
The Old Testament is customary but you can also just as easily do Creation stories from around the world.
In short, you can change things around to be the "subject" you want them to be and spend as much or as little time on them as you want! Three Old Testament stories blocks, or two... Three Maths of Practical Life blocks, or two...
Housebuilding can in Nature Studies / Science if you look at native peoples and their biomes and how where they lived affected their houses and how they met their other fundamental needs such as clothing and transportation...
With all of that, I make the following suggestion:
September - Language - Old Testament Stories
October - Science - Biomes of the World (What is a Biome, Animals, Plants)
November - Mathematics - Baking (Time, Temperature, Weight & Volume)
December - break
January - Cultural - Biomes of the World (Fundamental Needs of Man, Fibers & Clothing)
February - Language - Old Testament Stories
March - Science - Farming & Gardening
April - Mathematics - Bartering (Trade Goods and the Development of Currency)
May - Cultural - Housebuilding (Native American Shelters, Linear Measurement)
You can obviously continue Farming & Gardening and Housebuilding on into the summer!
School Supplies
I like to get my main lesson books from Pamela at Meadowsweet Naturals. We prefer the medium size landscape format with onion skin.
You'll also want watercolor paints, modeling beeswax, and stick beeswax crayons if you don't already have them.
 
 
 
Head / Heart / Hands
There are other topics besides the main lesson, of course. Handwork (continued knitting and crochet; introduce spinning, dyeing, weaving), Foreign Language,
Grammar and Spelling, Form Drawing, Penmanship, Yoga or Sports, Painting, Modeling, Drawing, Mental Math and Multiplication Tables, etc. This is where your daily and weekly rhythms
really matter. It is easy to do the fun and exciting MLB's, but the daily and weekly schedule needs to also include these other subjects.
Basic Sculptural Modeling: Developing the Will By Working with Pure Forms in the First Three Grades
by Hella Loewe
available FREE as a download at the link above - courtesy of the Waldorf Online Library
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