Every Wednesday our members get to ask Waldorf teacher Diane Power questions about their homeschooling experience, Waldorf education and more. These Q & A sessions are posted on the member blog every week so you have access to all the past Q & A sessions. Become a member of Earthschoolingto get your questions answered personally every week.
Question from Earthschooling Member: In 2nd grade, how do you use readers (both teacher written and published) in a main lesson? Chorale reading? Round Robin? Partner? Repeated readings? My 30 students range from those who are still learning their letter sounds to two at 6th grade reading levels. ANY help, ideas, etc. would be GREATLY appreciated! Thank you! – Michelle C.
Reply from Waldorf Teacher Diane Power: Hi Michele. Honestly, I didn’t use readers in 2nd grade. We had silent reading for 15-20 minutes every afternoon. Fiction and non-fiction books of various reading levels were available in our class library. I made sure there were books for beginners. Toward the end of second grade I paired up the students to read to each other. I worked with the parents asking them to read at night to and with their child at the appropriate level.
In third grade we had a class reader. We read aloud as a skills class in the late morning. A few parent volunteers came in and we broke up into small groups. I took turns in the groups to hear the students read, encouraging everyone with sounding out words, reminding them of phonics rules, discussing vocabulary words, etc. I coached the advanced readers in their speaking skills as they read the text.
Other things you might try: phonics games, rhyming games, consciously using your ML work as reading practice, creating a class reader with the verses they already know by heart, use the class play as reading practice also.
Hope this is helpful!
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