The Curriculum of the Steiner School - Class 7

Notes and Lesson Plans

Mycology
updated October 2, 2023


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.

This page has helpful links and LOADS of free resources to help you plan your seventh grade year. Enjoy!



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Mycology
for Class 7



Rationale

I'm starting to feel compelled to create an optional Microbiology block, and I feel 7th grade is a good place to put this since the topic of Microbes and the origins of life is ALL Chemistry, and Microbes are essential to understanding the Human Body as well. You could put Microbes in this year and move all of Human Anatomy & Physiology in grade 8, or you could include Microbiology with Chemistry.

In the Montessori curriculum, this is a combination of the First Great Lesson and the very first part of the Second Great Lesson: The Coming of Life. In order to understand what we know, or suspect, about how life began, you have to know about the beginnings of the Universe.

Note: If we go with the theory that there are Five Kingdoms of Life, and we do the Microbes in grade 7, the Plants in grade 5/6, and the Animals in grade 4, Fungi never gets any time. I think that's why most people lump it in with plants. A fungus is NOT a plant, and I think that our lumping it as such just makes things confusing. When you look at the Tree of Life, there's some confusion about Fungi... did it branch off of plants early or did it branch off of animals early. A Fungus on a cellular level has things in common with both. So, I think it makes the most sense to put it in the Microbes study, since it goes with the questions of Origins of Life and it requires some more sophisticated understandings.



At this point, this block is still in the planning stages and I'm looking for a place to put all of my ideas. I originally had a Microbiology & Mycology shared webpage, but since I'll be doing Mycology as a Science Club topic -- just to get my feet wet in it -- this year, I want to give it a dedicated page for notes.


Sample Lessons and Free Curriculum


Research & Articles


Other Helpful Links


Science Club Brainstorm

Right now in the classroom, we are doing Plant Care (a broccoli plant that Zac started from a seed) and Animal Care (the pet rabbit, Chia, and a dozen fertilized chicken eggs in an incubator!).

It would be so interesting to do the mushroom growing kit alongside these two, while we are talking where Fungi fit in the Tree of Life. Are they closer to the Plant Kingdom or the Animal Kingdom? Who branched off from whom? Incubating baby chicks... if mushrooms really are closer to animals than they are to plants, you would expect some similarities but side-by-side you'd see how far apart they are from one another in life cycle, physical form, and abilities!

I'd also like to do a new graphic organizer (we focused on T charts and K-W-L charts for Weather) and do a massive communal Concept Web! It would be so fun to see it grow, and it would echo the look of mycelium. It would be fun to see if they figured that out! We could have it completely cover a wall in the living room and send tendrils out everywhere!

On our last day of school, May 19, if there are activities we haven't gotten to yet in Science Club, we could also have a Fungi Fun Day!


Science Club Notes - April & May 2023




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