Astronomy
updated April 7, 2022
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 methods. Because this is an ongoing site documenting my curriculum planning 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 sixth grade year. Enjoy!
Mission Statement - Consulting Services - Lending Library
Astronomy
for Class 6
Pinterest - Renee Schwartz
My curated collection of visuals! Browse sample main lesson book pages, watercolor paintings, chalkboard drawings, etc. for
Astronomy.
I've also been thinking, since Waldorf has skewed Eurocentric in the past, about how Oceania could be a World Geography topic in grade 6 and the traditional celestical navigation and explorations of the early Polynesian and Micronesian peoples could be tied in with that grade 6 Astronomy block.
*NEW* Celestial Navigation: Resources for Grade 6 Astronomy & Oceania
blog post - Switzerite
FREE eBooks at the Online Waldorf Library
Excellent resource! Published Waldorf curriculum books provided here in PDF format for you to download, keep, and read... for free!
Sample Lessons and Free Curriculum
Other Helpful Links
Books to Buy
We used the main lesson resource by Charles Kovacs and supplemented it
as indicated below.
Geology and Astronomy
by Charles Kovacs
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 methods. Because this is an ongoing site documenting my curriculum planning and ideas, some materials are more Waldorf-y than others. Please feel free to take what you like and leave the rest.
I am currently teaching this main lesson block, in January-February 2017. Note #1
I ended up adding an extra week to this block so
that we could take our time and focus on really understanding some of the scientific concepts, especially correctly picturing the spatial relationship between
different heavenly bodies. It's nice to teach by way of stories but it isn't always the easiest for grasping such abstract concepts.
Note #2
I've discovered that this block is best taught in the Spring or Summer, after preliminary concepts have been covered in Physics and Geology and Geometry and Business Math, and the warm
weather is also
the nicest for nighttime sky gazing.
List of Stories
Chapters 15 - 17, Kovacs
The Heart and the Sun
The Sun's Daily Movement
The Sun During the Year
have a globe ready for chapter 16
poem to accompany / memorize for start of Astronomy block: "Migration" from Creatures of Earth, Sea, and Sky by
Georgia Heard
 
possible read alouds: The Eskimo Twins or
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
from World According to Biomes Masters PDF (free download)
print length of the rays of the sun sheet (COLOR sun, earth, atmosphere; MEASURE length of the rays of the sun; ANSWER why it is colder at the poles)
follow with Waseca Biomes of the World Mat ($75.00) student hands-on exploration using accompanying cards - have globe handy to refer to political maps
find Tropic of Cancer, Tropic of Capricorn, Equator on biome mat and on globe
- find Arctic Circle and Antarctic Circle on globe
print climate zones sheet (COLOR polar, temperate, tropical zones; LABEL using the vocabulary in the word boxes)
it helps if each student physically holds out his/her arms as if pointing to sunrise location and sunset location and brings them closer together gradually, as if the
days were growing shorter, and then spreads them apart gradually, as if the days were getting longer, while ALSO tipping chin incrementally up and down as necessary
NEW: Cool Way to Tell How Much Light Time is Left in the Day
Chapter 18, Kovacs
The Calendar
The Story of Clocks and Calendars by Betsy Maestro
is a good additional resource
finger knit four pieces, each one yard long, of Paton's Classic Wool Roving Yarn
 
 
 
 
tie them together to make a solar calendar and lay the circle on the classroom floor
1 cm = 1 day
one yard = one season
365 cm = 12 feet = four yards = one year
create a yellow tag (solar calendar) which reads "First Day of Spring" and place it on the start of your Spring color
OR choose a flowered button and sew it on the start of Spring
create a series of blue tags (lunar calendar) which read "First Day of Spring" and show how each time the calendar is calculated
with too few days it gradually cumulatively gets "out of whack" and says it should be the first day of Spring when clearly it is the middle of Winter!
OR use a series of small white buttons and place each one around the outside of the circle, as you discuss how the lunar calendar does not match make one for classroom demonstration or let each student make his/her own or have students work in groups to create their calendar
it is really helpful if children work in partners and one sits as the Sun and one stands in front of the Sun and slowly spins, facing the Sun
for day and facing away for night. see how it looks as though the Sun is rising and setting when really it is the Earth which is spinning
now, spin for day and night while ALSO slowly walking around the finger knitted yarn circle on the floor, saying the name of each season aloud as you enter into it
example of a chalkboard drawing for how the tilt of the earth causes the seasons
MLB illustrations for seasons: divide page into four quadrants and draw a tree in each quadrant, color as appropriate for each season
OR consider this beautiful 'Tree for All Seasons' art idea
Chapter 19, Kovacs
Sundials and Time
Chapter 20, Kovacs
The Circling Stars and the Pole Star
Chapters 21 - 22, Kovacs
The Curvature of the Earth
Longitude and Latitude
for chapter 21, have ready two balls: a small one like a ping pong ball and a large one like a yoga ball
our yoga ball is large and blue and has lines running along it that are perfect for latitude/longitude (chapter 22) -
especially for understanding why giving just one of the measurements isn't enough information
it really helps if you've done coordinate graphing before this (Business Math block) and String, Straight-Edge & Shadow (Geometry
block where sextant and octant are introduced)
in advance, look up the GPS coordinates for where your home/school is located
Lewis and Clark
this was a fun day!
read Bad River Boys: A Meeting of the Lakota Sioux with Lewis and Clark
to the class before introducing Lewis & Clark activities
 
These include online activities which I don't usually do... but we enjoyed as a special treat. I've
listed them in chronological order as we used them.
start with this very helpful background teacher information to print,
including selections from the journals
of Lewis and Clark and a large number of maps (PDF)
courtesy of The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
and print this teacher guide including student activities (and answer keys) (PDF)
as well as
links to additional resources, but be aware that their recommended links don't always work
courtesy of Columbia Gorge Discovery Center and Museum Distance Education
We used the Columbia Gorge PDF above to guide our activities but they didn't number the pages of it, which makes sharing my notes difficult. I highly recommend
printing it all and then numbering the pages (there are 20) before you begin!
- pp.1 - 2
teacher guide
present, discuss, review movement of sun from chapter one of Kovacs, tip chin up and down incrementally
- read President Jefferson's Instructions to Meriwether Lewis (pp.14-16 of Huntington Library PDF) and Selections
from the Journals of Lewis and Clark (pp.17-19 of Huntington Library PDF)
- "Take Careful Observations" and "Check Your Understanding"
complete
activity online at Columbia Gorge website we are using the 6 concluding 'Questions for Practice and Analysis' tomorrow to help guide the MLB summary - and the map on page 30 of the Huntington
Library PDF as the illustration
('additional activity' links on website below these questions do not work! - use my notes below)
- pp.18 - 20
"The Long and Short of Longitude" activity
go straight to PBS Nova's website for the "Find Your Longitude" activity,
then answer questions for #2 on page 18, answer key is also in the PDF, pp.19-20
Discovering Lewis & Clark: Careful Observations site accompanies question
#3 on page 18,
tiny errors when winding and resetting the chronometer add up... make analogy to the line of little white buttons outside the solar calendar finger knitted
circle and how a small error can continue to compound
- pp.9 - 10
"Using Latitude and Longitude to Map the Lewis and Clark Trail" activity
we used a laminated map of the U.S. and a dry erase marker
"Oh, that makes sense because it lands right on Sioux Falls," he comments,
thinking back to the book Bad River Boys
- p.11
end with kinesthetic "Simon Says" globe aerobics activity on page 11
more teaching notes from the Columbia Gorge Discover Center and Museum Distance Education:
they also have a Classroom Navigation Kit which you can borrow, which includes a working sextant, an artificial horizon, a nautical compass, and directions
they also suggest learning how to use a handheld GPS unit
or visiting a car dealer to show how the GPS unit installed in a new car works
example of a Sacagawea chalkboard drawing
Chapters 24 - 26, Kovacs
The Stars and Sirius
The Daily Movement of Stars and Sun
The Zodiac and Precession of the Equinox
Chapters 27 - 28, Kovacs
The Cosmic or Platonic Year
The Seven Classical Planets
Chapters 29 - 30, Kovacs
The Moon
Tides and Other Lunar Influences
why there are craters on the moon - fun and easy demonstration
here is an example of a phases of the moon chalkboard drawing
best explanation I've found for how the phases of the moon work
phases of the moon activities:
paint eight foam craft balls 1/2 black and 1/2 white like this basketball
paint a larger foam craft ball in blues and greens to be the earth
allow them to dry (paint them in the morning)
arrange the group of balls to match the phases of the moon diagram and explain the diagram
the phases of the moon happen because of the amount of sunlight reflected by the moon, which is altered by the movement of the moon around the earth, but
the light of the sun and the shadow of the sun falls in the same way every time -
clarify the sun's shadow - "it's like there's a lamp on this side of the earth but on the other side of the earth there's no lamp"
photocopy Kovacs diagram on p.108 and have students use a straight edge and draw a line, then color in the dark side of the moon (which he doesn't show... he only shows the sun's shadow)
to further clarify how much reflected sunlight is showing at each phase
THEN make the phases of the moon (what we see from Earth) with Oreos, keeping the black intact
and just removing cream each time (the moon is always there... it's just the amount of reflected sunlight that changes) and then happily eat them!
then add a two page spread to MLB with lunar and solar eclipses on the left and the phases of the moon on the right, arranging all of the celestial bodies in the same orientation each time
(sun at the top of the page, earth in the middle, moon moving around the earth)
further clarify things by marking on your lunar eclipse diagram that it happens at the FULL moon and marking on your solar eclipse diagram that it happens at the NEW moon
another sweet book to introduce the tides is >When I Go to the Moon by Claudia Lewis
on February 10, 2017, when we started this chapter, there was a penumbral lunar eclipse so we watched that - great connection!
Chapter 34, Kovacs
Ptolemy
Remaining chapters are biographies from a FREE book available online at The Baldwin Project (www.mainlesson.com)
called Stories of the Great Scientists by Charles R. Gibson.
Chapter 5, Gibson
Copernicus and His Famous Theory (1473-1543): Nocolas Copernik
- Better Known to Us as Copernicus
Chapter 6, Gibson
Tycho Brahe (1546-1601): Astrologer, Alchemist, and Medical Quack,
But a Most Distinguished Astronomer
Chapter 7, Gibson
Johann Kepler (1571-1630): From Pot-Boy in a Tavern to Imperial
Mathematician and Astronomer
Chapters 8-9, Gibson
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642): The Man Who Made Us Believe that the Earth Goes Round the Sun
Galileo Before the Dreaded Inquisition
Chapter 10, Gibson &
Chapter 39, Kovacs
A Glimpse of Galileo's Private Life
Through the Telescope
Peter Sis wrote an excellent book about Galileo called Starry Messenger. It was named a Caldecott Honor for its illustrations.
 
sample chalkboard drawing for a quote from Galileo
we used this as the front cover for our MLB
finish adding astronomer biographies to MLB
present heavenly body reports
More Favorite Books & Resources:
My blog posts from teaching this topic in Science Club in 2019:
My blog posts from teaching this topic as a main lesson in 2017:
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