Renewal In-Person Sixth Grade
Week 1 — In Person June 28 – Friday, July 3, 2026 Wilton, NH REGISTER NOW Teaching Sixth Grade: Inquiry, Order, and Transformation In-Person with Julia Pellegrino Sixth grade is a year of transformation and discovery. Students enter adolescence with a growing desire to understand the world in practical and logical terms. They are ready to question ideas, seek truth, and explore how order, lawfulness, and cause-and-effect shape the world around them. As teachers, we guide this new consciousness with a curriculum that challenges, inspires, and engages students’ expanding minds. This Renewal Course offers inspiration, practical guidance, and artistic renewal for educators preparing to meet the sixth-grade year with clarity, creativity, and confidence. Participants will engage deeply with the essential elements of sixth-grade teaching, including: History and Cultural Studies Exploring the rise and fall of empires—from Rome to the Islamic Golden Age and Medieval Europe—while investigating themes of law, morality, power, and justice. Students are guided to think critically about historical events and multiple perspectives. Science and Inquiry Hands-on exploration of geology, astronomy, and physics, fostering observation, experimentation, and understanding of natural order and balance in the world. Mathematics and Practical Life Skills Geometry with compass work, business math, and applied problem-solving, supporting both analytical thinking and real-world skills. Geography and Global Awareness Studying the relationships between people and the earth, cultivating intercultural understanding, and expanding students’ awareness of the wider world. Arts, Music, and Projects Integrating artistic work, classroom plays, projects, and field trips to enrich learning, deepen engagement, and foster social-emotional growth. Curriculum Innovation and Inclusivity Exploring ways to adapt curriculum content with attention to diversity, equity, and justice, ensuring lessons are meaningful, inclusive, and relevant for today’s learners. Classroom Life and Social-Emotional Learning Supporting organizational skills, study habits, classroom collaboration, and rites of passage while nurturing independence, confidence, and a sense of community. Teacher Practice and Planning Guidance on year planning, block rotations, classroom management, parent communication, and balancing the demands of teaching with self-care and personal growth. Additional Course Offerings This course also includes Eurythmy with Alexandra Spadea, supporting movement, coordination, and embodied learning appropriate to the middle school years. Participants will engage in Teaching Music and Singing with Meg O’Dell and Artistic Engagement with Narsingh Khalsa, offering meaningful artistic renewal and practical classroom applications.In addition, Teaching Science in Grades 6–8 with Will Minehart provides hands-on, developmentally aligned approaches to physics, chemistry, and earth sciences, supporting adolescent curiosity, critical thinking, and experiential learning. By the end of the course, teachers leave with practical tools, curriculum resources, and renewed inspiration to guide sixth graders through this dynamic and transformative year – fostering critical thinking, responsible action, and meaningful engagement with the world. Julia Pellegrino has been a class teacher at the Upper Valley Waldorf School in Vermont since 2001, completing multiple grade 1–8 cycles. She holds a special interest in curriculum development, with a focus on deepening and enlivening the foundational skills of literacy and numeracy within the Waldorf curriculum. Beyond the classroom, Julia has served as faculty chair, mentor to new teachers, member of pedagogical leadership and advisory groups, and on the board of trustees. Julia received her M.Ed. from Antioch University New England in 1994, with both Waldorf and public school certifications. She continues to learn from experts across diverse educational models, integrating meaningful insights to deepen learning in the Waldorf classroom. Each Renewal Course, Grades 1–8, Includes: Eurythmy with Alexandra Spadea — Offering developmentally appropriate movement experiences that support embodiment, balance, and learning readiness across the grades. Teaching Music and Singing with Meg O’Dell – Practical approaches to cultivate musical life, rhythm, and singing in the classroom. Artistic Engagement with Narsingh Khalsa – Guided artistic practice in drawing, painting, form work, and creative exercises to inspire teaching and inner life development. Teaching Science in Grades 6–8 with Will Minehart – Hands-on, inquiry-based scientific exploration tailored to middle school students’ developmental needs. These offerings provide teachers with practical tools, inspiration, and experiential learning to integrate the arts, rhythm, creativity, and science into classroom practice while supporting their own professional and personal growth. Alexandra Spadea grew up in a Waldorf school in Germany, where her lifelong love of eurythmy began. She trained at the Elena Zuccoli School in Dornach, Switzerland, and graduated from Eurythmy Spring Valley, NY, in 1994 under the directorship of Dorothea Mier. Alexandra taught high school eurythmy at Green Meadow Waldorf School (1994–2000) and has been a member of the Rudolf Steiner School, NYC community since 2009, teaching grades 7–12 and serving as a class advisor. She earned her postgraduate B.A. in Eurythmy Pedagogy in 2015–16. Alexandra Spadea Meg O’Dell loves helping people access their innate capacity for wellness, vitality, and connection. She does this as a somatic coach, supporting individuals and couples in growth, transformation, and healing, and also as a music teacher and vocal mentor. She teaches music at The Bay School, a Waldorf school on the coast of Maine, and leads a large intergenerational all-comers chorus called Misty Mountain Singers. Meg serves as faculty for Antioch University’s Waldorf Teacher Training and CfA’s Waldorf High School Teacher Education Programs. She is a regular instructor for CfA’s the Renewal Courses and introductory Explorations program, and she has taught with LifeWays North America. She received her M.Ed. from Antioch University New England in 2008. Her great joys include spending time with her growing children and visiting the small, misty mountain that rises out of the sea near their home. Meg O’Dell Narsingh Khalsa is a Waldorf educator and artist with a degree in Education from Prescott College and teacher training from Sunbridge Institute. Currently teaching a combined 2nd and 3rd grade class at the Waldorf School of Princeton, Narsingh brings 18 years of experience teaching fine arts to students from 1st through 12th grade. Passionate about creativity, she enjoys making children’s books, developing Waldorf curriculum for homeschoolers and teachers, and engaging in handwork. Outside the classroom, Narsingh loves hiking, yoga, and exploring the beauty of nature. Narsingh Khalsa Will Minehart’s interest in