Kindergarten & First Grade Wildlife Curriculum Block

Waldorf Tie-In for KG: The Waldorf Kindergarten is the bridge between family and school life. The Kindergarten child learns through imitative and creative play in a warm, homelike environment, using cloths and simple natural materials. Activities include watercolor painting, drawing, beeswax modeling, seasonal crafts, sewing and finger knitting. Hearing a fable or fairy tale, acting it out, or seeing a puppet play completes the morning. These activities are intimately connected with the wildlife we study from the fox and crow in the fable or fairy-tale puppet show to the animals the children create with their simple craft activities and the natural tools they gather and use from the environment around them. Just as the children experience that all their needs are met in the Waldorf KG environment they also learn how the wildlife around them has those same needs – the need for air, food, water, housing and space. They naturally observe the differences between their own food, water and space and those of the wildlife around them. The teacher seeks to lead the work of the class in a kind, conscious, loving manner that is worthy of imitation … and the child learns by doing. First Grade Waldorf Tie-In:
The children around about seven years should have the concentration to build their own vivid inner pictures when being told a story, and through such imagery will continue learning in the following years. Fairy tales are told by the teacher then retold and dramatized by members of the class. This cultivates the children’s imagination. Starting with simple artwork the children learn to draw forms, which lead to letters and numbers. Nature stories provide an imaginative introduction to the natural world. These stories provide the basis for drawing, writing and the beginnings of reading and science.