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This past week, we reviewed various forms we covered throughout the year while I read and told several nature stories.
We didn't do too much MLB drawings of the stories since we were busy putting our forms in our books, but we did do one for a story by Carl Ewald called, "The Dragon-Fly and the Water-Lily". It yielded a lesson about simplicity of life, coupled with the reality that we all end up in the same predicament in the end, no matter what our journey is to get there.
I also read to them a few stories by Clara Dillingham Pierson, Thornton Burgess, and one I made up myself. I tried to pick stories that could be tied into the forms we were reviewing. Donna Simmons has a wonderful "Form Drawing for Beginners" book which has a lovely example of how to do this, pertaining to a king looking for his love and the journey he takes to find her. Here is an informative review on this waldorf book.
Those are just some of the running forms we reviewed this past week from Donna's book. Next week, we'll continue this review block. My sister is also coming into town with her family - yeah! So I should have some fun family photos to share, as well :D
Beautiful learning as always! Enjoy your family visit.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes
So Jen, you did all the forms in the first block of the year (all of them from Donna's book - the section for first grade of course) and then you are reviewing them?
ReplyDeleteHi Catherine! Sorry about the confusion, no we didn't learn all the forms in the first blocks. That would be really overwhelming & exhausting :D, as you'll find out soon enough! Form drawing takes so much concentration.
ReplyDeleteWe started our year with a 2 week block on form drawing block (which I did blog about) and then worked forms into the school year - sometimes on a Friday (which I didn't post about - sorry - I didn't end up putting everything we did into the blog as it's just so time consuming). We also took large chunks of time off of form drawing and then would continue on after a spell. I had ended up short on time after we had a long illness, a 3 week road trip and then took Dec off, except to participate in the festivals, handwork and Advent focus. So if I had been able to follow my original plan, I would have loved to have had several more intense form drawing blocks - maybe 3 or 4 short ones during the entire year. We did a few more that I'll post during the week, along with spirals. We're going to work more form drawing into next year as it really is a huge focus in the early grades. HTH!
Thanks so much, Jen! I wasn't clear about that after reading Donna's book. I sure sounded like a lot of form drawing to do in 2 weeks! But strangely, Donna reserved only one block of form drawing in first grade... What do others do?
ReplyDeleteWell, I think many start with it as a two week block and then will do form drawings once a week on Fridays as it's own subject (or on a weekend if there are younger siblings around and that way, Daddy can watch the youngers ones as form drawing shouldn't be done before Grade 1.)
ReplyDeleteFairman says, "After an initial Form Drawing Main Lesson, time would be allocated in the weekly class timetable for 'Form Drawing' as a subject of its own."
Donna Simmons, in her "Form Drawing for Beginners" book advises this, "(After your 2 week Main Lesson on form drawing)...you can approach the scheduling...in a variety of ways: as a weekly 1/2 hour session; as a block of 1/2 hour lessons three times a week for four weeks; or on a more ad hoc basis, bleinding it in where it seems to fit best."
I think (but don't quote me on this) that A Little Garden Flower curriculum weaves the form drawing into the main lesson container story. So it seems that finding what works for your family is best, just as long as you start out with that 2 week block at the start of Grade 1 :D
And for those who are coming in later, still start at the beginning with form drawing, but you can move at a faster pace, depending on the age and development of your child(ren).
HTH! And sorry for the delayed response - been busy with my sistah! :D
Hugs,
Jen
Jen, thank you so much for this very thourough answer. So, which forms do you do in the first 2 week block then?
ReplyDelete