Week 2 — Online
July 6 - Friday, July 10, 2026
From your own chosen location
Preparing for Fifth Grade
Online with Jen Kershaw
Fifth grade is a time of harmony, confidence, and expanding curiosity. Students stand solidly in themselves—often described as having “feet on the ground and eyes to the heavens”—ready to meet the world with openness and enthusiasm. They are increasingly aware of the beauty, order, and diversity of the world around them and eager to explore it with fresh eyes and growing independence.
This pivotal year offers a sense of balance between imagination and emerging intellect. The fifth-grade curriculum meets students at this moment with breadth, beauty, and depth—supporting intellectual awakening, artistic expression, and healthy social development.
Why Fifth Grade Is Special
Fifth graders are tran
sitioning from primarily imaginative learning toward a more conscious, observational understanding of the world. They delight in discovery and begin to connect their inner lives to the broader human story. This developmental moment is often experienced as a golden year—one of grace, curiosity, and increased capacity for meaningful academic and social engagement.
Through history, science, mathematics, geography, and the arts, the curriculum offers students a sense of wholeness and harmony while gently preparing them for the more complex challenges of the upper grades.
What This Course Covers
This Renewal Course prepares educators to meet the unique developmental needs of fifth graders with clarity, creativity, and confidence.
Curriculum Highlights
- History: Ancient cultures and civilizations, explored through themes of diversity, balance, and human striving, helping students see themselves reflected in humanity’s shared story.
- Geography: An expansion from local studies to the landscapes, biomes, and Indigenous cultures of North America, deepening students’ connection to place and land.
- Science: Botany studies that explore the living gestures of the plant world and its relationship to the animal and human realms.
- Mathematics: A transition from form drawing to freehand geometry, alongside decimals and practical math presented with clarity and wonder.
- The Arts: Painting, modeling, drawing, and handcrafts woven throughout the curriculum to support creativity, balance, and healthy social dynamics.
Beyond the Curriculum
- How the fifth-grade curriculum reflects child development and anthroposophical foundations
- Practical approaches to classroom management, parent collaboration, and community building
- Strategies for meeting diverse learning needs while maintaining joy, inclusion, and rhythm in the classroom
What You’ll Take Away
- A deeper understanding of fifth-grade development and curriculum purpose
- Practical lesson ideas, artistic activities, and block-planning insights including materials and resources to inspire your planning throughout the year
- Tools for cultivating a harmonious and inclusive classroom culture
- Renewed inspiration and confidence for teaching this expansive year
Who Should Attend
This course is designed for classroom teachers, homeschooling parents, online educators, and anyone preparing to teach fifth grade within a Waldorf-inspired framework. Both new and experienced teachers will find valuable resources, collegial exchange, and practical guidance.
Fifth grade is a year of balance, beauty, and exploration. As students grow more grounded in themselves and their world, teachers have the opportunity to guide them with a curriculum that inspires curiosity, nurtures connection, and invites wonder. This course equips you with the resources, strategies, and inspiration to create an engaging and meaningful fifth-grade experience.
Additional Course Offerings
This course also includes Teaching Music and Singing with Meg O’Dell, offering practical and developmentally appropriate ways to bring rhythm, song, and musical life into the classroom, and Artistic Engagement with Narsingh Khalsa, providing rich artistic experiences that deepen creative practice, pedagogical insight, and inner renewal.
Join us for a week of collaboration, creativity, and practical preparation as you prepare to lead your fifth graders with confidence, enthusiasm, and joy.
Jen Kershaw earned her B.A. in Acting/Theater Performance from the University of South Florida, a Masters of Science in Education from Wheelock College in Boston, Massachusetts, and a Waldorf Teaching Certificate from Antioch University New England. In the theater world, she performed with Metro Theater Company from St. Louis, Missouri, performing and teaching workshops across the United States. Jen has been teaching in classrooms for twenty – five years, first as an artist educator, then as a middle school math and history teacher, and finally as a Waldorf class teacher. For the past six years, Jen has been a member of the adjunct faculty at Antioch University New England, where she has taught classes in Math, Language Arts, and Drama. A class teacher at heart, in 2011, she joined the faculty at High Mowing School as a class teacher and with her special education degree has also served as the Educational Support Coordinator for the past seven years. In 2018, Jen completed the eight-year journey as a class teacher and recently finished seventh grade with her second class.
Included with all Online Renewal Courses:
Music and Singing
with Meg O’Dell
Leading Artistic Engagement
with Narsingh Khalsa
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.
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.
Community Gatherings Online
For all Renewal Participants, Monday, July 6 – Friday, July 10, 2026, 11:30-12:30 ET.
Daily Keynote
with Sarah Nelson and Rubeena Sandhu
Principles Into Practice: A five-part keynote series designed to bridge the depth of Waldorf pedagogy with the realities of daily teaching, leading, and learning. Each morning will also include Community Singing with Meg O’Dell, inviting us to begin the day together in song—strengthening connection, enlivening our hearts, and creating a shared rhythm that carries us into the learning.