An Ocean Alphabet
updated March 21, 2023
Recorded here is my own personal collection of articles, resources, favorite links, teaching ideas, and lesson plans. It encompasses many years, from the very beginning of my experience studying and learning about Waldorf to the present time. People from all around the world visit my site and recommend it to others. Welcome!
This site records my journey. I hope my honesty is encouraging and helps break down some barriers that may prevent people from trying Waldorf ideas. Because this is an ongoing site documenting my curriculum experiences and ideas, some materials are more Waldorf-y than others. Please feel free to take what you like and leave the rest.
This page has helpful links and LOADS of free resources to help you plan your first grade year. Enjoy!
Mission Statement - Consulting Services - Lending Library
Capital Letters
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Lesson Block Planning: Capital Letters
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How Waldorf Teaches Capital Letters
important new blog post
includes rationale plus Week One & Week Two lesson notes (2019)
 
Capital Letters: Week Three
Capital Letters: Week Four & Week Five
SWI Investigation of < sloth >
A Peek into the Classroom... Part I
A Peek into the Classroom... Part II
Shopping List for Capital Letters Block
Books Written in ALL CAPS
Games & Activities in ALL CAPS!
Rationale
There is a LOT of information about the Capital Letters block in general on my
Capital Letters page.
This page is devoted to one specific project, the development of An Ocean Alphabet.
I'm working right now with a homeschool family and a 7 year old who is somewhat curious -- but overall very reluctant -- about school.
The family has asked me to support them by teaching her this main lesson block over Zoom.
I have had ideas for an Ocean Alphabet fluttering around in my mind for a while now,
but I'd like to collect them all in one place. I feel like this would be a good "hook" for her.
Some of these ideas are for a more romantic idea of the sea (mermaids, pirates) and
some are for a more non-fiction oriented child (glass squid, squat lobster, viperfish).
This page will record my brainstorming, as well as my actual teaching notes as we go along.
If you have any contributions to share, please feel completely free to email me!
Brainstorm
A - Murray's Abyssal Angler Fish
Weird Sea Creatures by Eric Hoyt, p.9
B - Hummingbird Bobtail Squid
Cute as an Axolotl by Jess Keating
B - Boat
illustration in The Wise Enchanter by Shelley Davidow
C - White Phantom Crab
Spineless: Portraits of Marine Invertebrates by Susan Middleton, p.40
C - Crescent Moon
to go with Turtle and Follow the Moon Home
D - Dumbo Octopus
https://nautiluslive.org/video/2015/08/21/shy-dumbo-octopus-hides-inside-its-own-tentacles
E - Candy Corn Nudibranch Eggs
Spineless: Portraits of Marine Invertebrates by Susan Middleton, p.37
F - Flag
to go with Ocean and ships from around the world, look up different country flags or use
the nautical signal flags from Ocean Anatomy by Julia Rothman, pp.194-195
G - Deep-sea Glass Squid
Scary Creatures of the Deep by Jim Pipe, p.15
G - Gun
if you are doing pirates and a treasure map for the letter X, this would be a good one and the illustration in Anno's Alphabet is of a popgun
H - Handshake
Otis and Will Discover the Deep: The Record-Setting Dive of the Bathysphere by Barb Rosenstock
I - Icicle
illustration in Curious George Learns the Alphabet by H.A. Rey
I - Ice Cream Cone Worm
Spineless: Portraits of Marine Invertebrates by Susan Middleton, p.128
J - Jellyfish
use existing jellyfish idea, watercolors and chalk pastels, jellyfish poem
J is for Jellyfish blog post
K - Kelp
Over and Under the Waves by Kate Messner
L - Squat Lobster
Weird Sea Creatures by Eric Hoyt, p.57
M - Mantis Shrimp Larva
Weird Sea Creatures by Eric Hoyt, p.60
M - Mermaid
two mermaid tails side by side
N - Net
use existing net idea, piece of mesh onion bag over aluminum foil fish
N - Narwhal
wonderful image at https://factanimal.com/narwhals/
O - Ocean
looking out at the water through a porthole
O - Otter
use existing sea otter idea, potato printing, A Lot of Otters by Barbara Helen Berger
O - Benthic Octopus
Weird Sea Creatures by Eric Hoyt, p.54
P - Pom-pom Crab
Cute as an Axolotl by Jess Keating
How to Make Fork Pom Poms video
Q - Questions
the only thing I can think of for this letter is to do it last, draw the Q in the middle of a two page spread, and scribe for your child
all of the questions they still have about life in the ocean... because there is a lot that scientists still don't know!!!
R - River
Where the River Begins by Thomas Locker
S - Sea Snake
could be used as first knitting project and to transition into the subject
How to Finger Knit a Snake video (2- and 4-finger knitting)
S - Stars
to go with Wave and celestial navigation
S - Seal
Dog-of-the-Sea-Waves: The Hawaiian Monk Seal by James Rumford
S - Seahorse
Mister Seahorse by Eric Carle, tissue paper collage
S - Snipe Eel
Weird Sea Creatures by Eric Hoyt, p.28
S - Giant Fleshy Scale Worm
Spineless: Portraits of Marine Invertebrates by Susan Middleton, p.4
T - Loggerhead Sea Turtle
wonderful image at https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/155639810/large.jpg
U - Underground
use existing underground idea, Leo Lionni book, garden eels live under the ocean floor
The Strange Life of Garden Eels video
V - Vent
Scary Creatures of the Deep by Jim Pipe, p.25
V - Viperfish
Scary Creatures of the Deep by Jim Pipe, p.7
W - Wave
W - Wavy Clio
Weird Sea Creatures by Eric Hoyt, p.10
X - X-ray Fish
X - X marks the spot on a pirate's treasure map
When You're a Pirate Dog and Other Pirate Poems by Eric Ode
Y - Yeti Crab
wonderful image at https://factanimal.com/yeti-crab/
Z - Zombie Worm
Gross as a Snot Otter by Jess Keating
illustration with three parts: plume, trunk, root
Z - Zigzag of lightning
to go with River and the thunderstorm on their camping trip
Notes from Teaching This Block in March 2023
Day One - P is for Pom-pom Crab
Day Two - Y is for Yeti Crab
read yeti crab information on page 14 of Weird Sea Creatures by Erich Hoyt, look at picture and
read facts from https://factanimal.com/yeti-crab/, make yeti crab illustration by drawing the body
and then embellishing with finger knitted fuzzy claws (I suggest finger knitting a very long piece of
eyelash yarn and then finger knitting the
finger knitted piece to create even more volume)
if you had a really big flat button, you could also have that be the crab's body and create a 3-D collage with the button and fuzzy claws
(we are doing ours in a shadow box painted charcoal)
Yellow, Yarn, Yeti
the body of the crab is the straight line of the Y and the two claws are the diagonal lines
 
 
Day Three - C is for White Phantom Crab
read white phantom crab information on page 230 and look at picture on page 40 of
Spineless: Portraits of Marine Invertebrates, the Backbone of Life by Susan Middleton, draw white phantom
crab with glue on dark paper and label it C for Curvy Crab
squeezing liquid glue with your hands is nice because it allows you to feel those curvy swoops of the carapace and the claws; the little girl I was working with
remotely used a glue
gun with gold glue and it was very striking! the Elmer's glue will dry clear giving a "phantom" effect
Carapace, Claw, Curvy, Crab
the curvy crab claw is the C
 
 
Day Four - G is for Deep-sea Glass Squid
read deep-sea glass squid information on page 15 of Scary Creatures of the Deep by Jim Pipe, draw capital G
on tracing paper and cut it out to look like a bubble-shaped glass squid with a tentacle curving down, attach to dark paper, add
googly eyes for a Googly-eyed Glass Squid
glue shows through tracing paper and can ruin the effect, so I attached my squid to the dark paper with just two dots of glue placed behind the googly eyes
Googly-eyed, Glass
the body of the squid is the large curved line of the G and the tentacle is the small line
Day Five - B is for Hummingbird Bobtail Squid
read hummingbird bobtail squid information in Cute as an Axolotl by Jess Keating, draw beautifully colored
hummingbird bobtail
squid, draw two squid eyeballs bulging above the line of the sand (making a sideways B) in one corner of the illustration to demonstrate
how it hides
Beautiful, Bulging, Bobtail
the sandy ocean floor is the straight line of the B and the two bulging eyeballs are the curves
Day Six - D is for Dumbo Octopus
Day Seven - O is for Benthic Octopus
Day Eight - N is for Net
look at N is for Net illustration from LMNOP laminated wall cards, make aluminum foil fish
(scissors, aluminum foil, sharpies, onion or potato mesh bag), cut the mesh bag
to form an N (or drape it to form an N)
and lay it over the top of the fish
https://www.fun-stuff-to-do.com/easy-crafts-for-kids-4.html
the net forms the three straight lines of the N
Day Nine - T is for Turtle
Day Ten - T is for Turtle, cont.
Day Eleven - K is for Kelp
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