June 26-July 1
Landing on the Earth with Both Feet ~ Preparing for Grade 4
With Kevin Kilb
The rich curriculum of fourth grade offers many opportunities to excite and stimulate the growing hearts and minds of students of this age. We will explore the often humorous, conflict-filled world of Norse Mythology and the Vikings through story and artistic renderings. The animal kingdom is a favorite among these children, and we will explore our human attributes alongside the abilities and habits of the wide world of animals.
Local geography gives us an opportunity to explore the physical and historical landscapes of our own neighborhood. Here we include the importance of Indigenous people and cultures, and how we can share their stories and life ways as part of geography.
Fractions, reading comprehension, and English grammar are the building blocks needed for advancing academic skills, and we will discuss resources and lesson plans on these topics as well. Artistic inspirations and projects will be shared to support all of the fourth grade topics. We will discuss our relationships with parents, parent meetings, and student connections with us and with their peers. We will cover block rotations and projects––working with a wide range of intellectual needs and abilities––and how to manage the enormous task of being a teacher with economic use of precious time.
We will discuss the children’s newly developing ways of applying thinking skills through comparing and contrasting, classification, finding patterns and transformation or metamorphosis between polarities. In addition, we will explore how the teacher can characterize subject matter before defining it and how we allow the children to use conclusions and judgments to arrive at clarified concepts.
Kevin Kilb, a class teacher at the Hawthorne Valley Waldorf School for twenty years, is currently teaching the fourth grade in his third cycle. During a sabbatical year, he taught English at the Waldorf school in Karlsruhe, Germany. He initially came to anthroposophy through agriculture and began his career as a community organizer in rural Iowa. A native of New York, Kevin has been active in local theater and has traveled widely to prepare for various blocks. He holds a B.S. in Management from Boston College, Waldorf Elementary Certification from Sunbridge Institute, and an M.Ed. from SUNY Empire State College.
