Third Grade
updated October 26, 2019

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.

A Peek into the Classroom

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

Waldorf/Steiner Main Lessons and Main Lesson Blocks VERY helpful article
from the Sophia Institute Online Waldorf Teacher Training program

• The Main Lesson - Principles and Features
• The Main Lesson - Structure
• The Main Lesson - Rhythm
• The Main Lesson - Planning a Main Lesson Block
• Sample Template for Waldorf/Steiner Main Lesson Block

samples from the Third Grade Curriculum by Live Education!

Painting the Six Days of Creation from Genesis
from Hebrew Myths and Culture - Creation and Patriarchs

Learning to Write Hebrew in Five Lessons
from Hebrew Myths and Culture - Prophets and Kings

Humanity's Shelters
from Humanity on Earth - Shelter, Clothing, Farming

Sundial
from Time, Weight, Measure and Money - The Math of Practical Life

The Third Year Student and the Dragon
from Myths and Culture of Akkad and Sumer

Writing Letters
from Literature, Grammar, Spelling, and Word Families

General Waldorf Resources

The Education of the Child in the Light of Anthroposophy
article by Rudolf Steiner

How To Create, Tell, and Recall a Story

Four Ways to Connect with Storytelling
blog post - Simplicity Parenting

Overview of Childhood Characteristics - includes the four temperaments
article by David Mitchell

Blackboard Sketching book by Frederick Whitney (1908)
available online for free - with step by step directions and illustrations

How to Bind a Main Lesson Book

Main Lesson Book pages shared by Christopherus Homeschool Resources

browse through my collection of Pinterest Boards
with chalkboard drawings and main lesson book pages for many main lesson blocks

Movement for Childhood - wonderful site!

Waldorf Today Newsletter
very interesting & free weekly newsletter sent via email each Monday

Block Rotations Grades 1 - 8 (PDF)
by Jamie York

Summary of Math Skills for Grades 1 through 8 (PDF)
by Jamie York

A Grades 1 through 8 Math Curriculum Overview (PDF)
by Jamie York

Word Problems in Grades 1 through 8 (PDF)
by Jamie York

Waldorf Science Newsletter - issues available in PDF format
page 13 of Vol.1 has a Science Curriculum in the Waldorf School Grades 1-8 overview / one page handout, and page 14 has the same for the Waldorf High School Grades 9-12

When Should My Child Begin Music Lessons?
article by Sarah Baldwin

The Spiritual Gifts of Handwork
blog post - Knitting with Children

"Foundations of Waldorf Education" Series Notes
FREE links to all 25 volumes in this series of educational writings by Rudolf Steiner

DO NOT MISS The Online Waldorf Library's tremendous selection of Waldorf education books converted into PDFs and available for FREE download! You can literally save $1000's of dollars!

Curriculum Planning

• Grade 3 Content from Waldorf Teacher Resources
  An unbelievable resource with FREE main lesson pages and lesson plans (called "gems")
  Form Drawing
  Music
  Movement
  Circle
  Math
  Language
  Stories
  Verses
  Old Testament
  Painting
  Class Play
  Main Lesson Pages
  Blackboard Drawings
  Measurement
  Time
  Money
  Shelters
  Fiber Arts
  Cooking and Food
  Remedial
  Parent Information
  Curriculum Overview
  Foreign Language
• The AWSNA Curriculum Chart is an INVALUABLE resource
  Highly recommended, inexpensive, concise format, yet detailed and thorough -- and it's only $8.00! If you plan on homeschooling with Waldorf, you need to get this.

  

• Read My Blog - to follow our homeschool journey day by day...

Visit the Links to the Left - for my notes about each main lesson block I've taught...

Check out Additional Lesson Planning Notes below:

• Color Coding - how we organize our daily record keeping / plan books
• Hands, Heart, Head - how we organize our daily school schedule

• Plan Book Pictures - pictures of my planner and my daughters' plan book pages
  A picture is worth a thousand words!

Little Bluestem Homeschool Co-op
2018-2019

This was the main lesson block plan for our combined 3rd/4th grades

September - Local History & Geography

October - Spelling & Grammar (Structured Word Inquiry, Montessori Grammar symbols)

November - Maths of Practical Life (Time, Temperature, Mass & Volume)

December - Class Play (Great Artists: "The Fantastic Art Show")

January - Zoology I

February - Tall Tales (Local Industry)

March - Fibers & Clothing

April - Maths of Practical Life (Currency)

May - Zoology II

Little Bluestem Homeschool Co-op
2019-2020

This is the main lesson block plan for our combined 3rd/4th grades

September - Landforms & Water Features

October - Grammar (Structured Word Inquiry, advanced Montessori Grammar symbols)

November - Fractions

December - Class Play (Hawaiian Mythology)

January - Norse Mythology I

February - Farming & Gardening

March - Personal Narratives

April - Linear Measurement & Coordinate Graphing

May - Norse Mythology II

Resources & Recommendations Specific to Third Grade

• The Online Curriculum Project: Grade Three
• 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
• Grade 3 Training Manual FREE PDF
  WRITTEN FOR THE EAST AFRICAN WALDORF TEACHER DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM BY CATHERINE VAN ALPHEN & PETER VAN ALPHEN
• Extending Indigenous Cultures Throughout The American Waldorf Curriculum

Amazing free books from the Waldorf Online Library:

• 25 Plays by David Mitchell
  very helpful for Old Testament Stories - my Sunday School class always put on a play each year using books such as this for our scripts
• An English Grammar: The Language Before Babel by Rudolf Schmid
  also for the Old Testament block, which is when Grammar is introduced (Adam named all the animals... nouns)
• And There Was Light by Jakob Streit
  also for the Old Testament block, a wonderful book, the first in his series of three, with retellings of the OT Stories
• Commentary on the Old Testament Stories by Roy Wilkinson
• Misc. Additional Resources

Out of the Garden and into the Desert:
The Nine-Year Change Through the Stories of the Third Grade Curriculum


Encountering the Self:
Transformation & Destiny in the Ninth Year




• Summer Reading Lists
  from the San Francisco Waldorf School
• five math games
• Grade 3 posts - Schooling from the Heart
• Noah and the Flood - a play for 3rd grade by Eugene Schwartz
• Suggested Course of Study for Third Grade by Waldorf Curriculum
• Parenting the Nine Year Old from Waldorf in the Home
• *NEW* The Nine Year Change
  blog post from Momma Skyla
• *NEW* While philosophically I disagree with a lot of the political links on this website, the resource list for week 8 contains many suggestions for print resources that go extremely well with the Waldorf Third Grade curriculum, including making fire, shelter building, handmade baskets, simple pottery, cordage, foraging, stone tools, and tanning hides.
• Books for Third Grade from the Baldwin Project
• The Spring 1977 Issue of the Waldorf Clearing House Newsletter focused on 3rd grade
• Waldorf Third Grade Student Reading List
>How Montessori Teaches Grammar
blog post - Switzerite

For the Money block (in Maths of Practical Life)
"Smart" from Where the Sidewalk Ends: Poems and Drawings by Shel Silverstein





related posts from Renee's blog

• Creating a Calendar / Keepsake Art Project



• Notes on Homemade Calendar Activity



• 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

Class Plays

• List of Pedagogical Plays by Arthus M. Pittis
  useful for homeschool groups or Waldorf schools - contact him to purchase scripts

The following is exclusive content:

• Native American Legends
• Bartering: Trade Goods & The Development of Currency
• Old Testament Stories

Share your ideas!

Community Bulletin Board is a unique feature at Waldorf Curriculum where people can make notes about things they would like to remember for the future. If you like the idea of never losing your teaching ideas again, submit them to the website and we'll keep track of them for you! (I can't even count the number of teaching notebooks and small pieces of paper I have lost -- the site is much more manageable). Simply join our Group; if you're already a Waldorf Curriculum member, contact me to submit your ideas.

• Handwork:
  Teaching Kids about Fibers and Spinning

Some of my favorite weaving projects which don't require a loom:

• In the Art Room: Tree Weaving with Third Grade
  from Cassie Stephens
• Woven Finger-Knitting Hula-Hoop Rug DIY
  from Flax and Twine
• giant grapevine arch with bench for sitting in on the playground
  from Wildflower Farm
• woven hideout
  from Kids Weaving: Projects for Kids of All Ages by Sarah Swett

  

Is there a subject you're having a hard time finding resources for? Please contact the Yahoo Group for suggestions from our members or consider hiring a consultant.