Fifth Grade
updated July 10, 2024
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.
Class Five in Waldorf Education
Mission Statement - Consulting Services - Lending Library
Notes on Schedule of Main Lesson Blocks
Everyone does it differently, and you don't have to think of the main lesson topics as "subjects" because many of them are interdisciplinary.
I labeled them to the left but it is a bit arbitrary.
However,
I find it helpful to give them rough categories so that I can be sure we are balanced in the kinds of thinking we practice throughout the school year.
Each discipline has different habits of mind, and I like to rotate between them. Alan Whitehead suggests this, although he suggests using three-week long blocks. We do a nine month school
year with month-long blocks: two blocks of each subject plus a class play each year.
You could combine 5th grade Fractions with Freehand Geometric Drawing, or have them as two
separate blocks. Formal geometry tools are not introduced until grade 6. You could also do 5th grade
Fractions as part of the Decimal Fractions block.
I couldn't find a Language Arts focus for grade 5 so I chose Friendly Letters. Business letters
are done in grade 6. Also, Friendly Letters seemed like the next step after Personal Narratives.
I chose
to do a block on the U.S. Presidents to complement our block on U.S. Geography because 2020 was
an election year. I moved Greek Mythology to next year in order
to fit this in. A block on U.S. Presidents could also be done in grade 8.
You can combine the first four Ancient Mythologies for this school year into one block (Charles Kovacs
does this), but I personally like to give
lots of time to Egypt.
Perhaps you might consider an order like this...
Decimal Fractions; United States Geography; Ancient Mythology (India, Persia, Mesopotamia); Composition (Friendly
Letters); Botany I; Ancient Mythology (Egypt); Freehand Geometry; Botany II; Ancient Mythology (Greece)
A Peek into the Classroom
Morning Verse for Upper Grades
Gallery of Chalkboard Drawings in the Waldorf Classroom grades 1 - 8
Waldorf/Steiner Main Lessons and Main Lesson Blocks VERY helpful article
from the Sophia Institute Online Waldorf Teacher Training program
- The Main Lesson - Principles and Features
- The Main Lesson - Structure
- The Main Lesson - Rhythm
- The Main Lesson - Planning a Main Lesson Block
- Sample Template for Waldorf/Steiner Main Lesson Block
samples from the Fifth Grade Curriculum by Live Education!
General Waldorf Resources
The Education of the Child in the Light of
Anthroposophy
article by Rudolf Steiner
How To Create, Tell, and Recall a Story
Four Ways to Connect with Storytelling
blog post - Simplicity Parenting
Overview of Childhood Characteristics - includes the four temperaments
article by David Mitchell
Blackboard Sketching book
by
Frederick Whitney (1908)
available online for free - with step by step directions and illustrations
How to Bind a Main Lesson Book
Main Lesson Book
pages shared by Christopherus Homeschool Resources
browse through my collection of Pinterest Boards
with chalkboard drawings and main lesson book pages for many main lesson blocks
Movement for Childhood - wonderful site!
Waldorf Today Newsletter
very interesting & free weekly newsletter sent via email each Monday
Block Rotations Grades 1 - 8 (PDF)
by Jamie York
Summary of Math Skills for Grades 1 through 8 (PDF)
by Jamie York
A Grades 1 through 8 Math Curriculum Overview (PDF)
by Jamie York
Word Problems in Grades 1 through 8 (PDF)
by Jamie York
Jamie York has a BUNCH of free resources on his site including sample math MLB pages for grades 1-11,
and lesson plans and assessments for grades 1-5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12.
Waldorf Science Newsletter - issues available in PDF format
page 13 of Vol.1 has a Science Curriculum in the Waldorf School Grades 1-8 overview / one page handout, and
page 14 has
the same for the Waldorf High School Grades 9-12
World Geography and Waldorf Education
blog post - Switzerite
When Should My Child Begin Music Lessons?
article by Sarah Baldwin
The Spiritual Gifts of Handwork
blog post - Knitting with Children
"Foundations of Waldorf Education" Series Notes
FREE links to all 25 volumes in this series of educational writings by Rudolf Steiner
DO NOT MISS The Online Waldorf Library's tremendous selection of Waldorf education books
converted into PDFs and available for FREE download! You can literally save $1000's of dollars!
Curriculum Planning
Little Bluestem Homeschool Co-op
2020-2021
This was the main lesson block plan for our fifth grade class:
September - Decimal Fractions
October - U.S. Presidents (Election Day on November 3)
November - Ancient Mythology: India, Persia, Mesopotamia
December - Class Play with 2nd graders (Puppetry of Aesop's Fables)
January - Botany: Herbal Medicines
February - Freehand Geometric Drawing
March - U.S. States
April - Ancient Mythology: Ancient Egypt
May - Botany: Planting a Tallgrass Prairie
Resources & Recommendations Specific to Fifth Grade
Literature
Composition
Botany
Geometry
Mathematics
Ancient India, Persia, Mesopotamia
Ancient Phoenicia
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Greece
North American Geography (or your home continent)
study of biomes
Waseca materials are THE BEST for this in my opinion
an introduction to the biomes with curriculum - elementary (includes free downloads)
Wooden Biome Puzzles -- as well as many other materials, such as early readers:
Africa
Antarctica
Asia
Australia
Europe
North America
South America
The LEAST EXPENSIVE way to have these maps would be to spend $25 and get the complete set of control charts
they are double sided and you could photocopy the uncolored side and have your child color it in, use them to inspire MLB pages, and/or
wouldn't it be spectacular to transfer them to graph paper and cross-stitch a biome map of your continent?
their canvas biome map of the world is beautiful and we used it for so many things when I had one in the classroom! to me, this is worth buying again as a homeschooler
General Resouces
Literature & Composition
History
Handwork
Drawing, Painting, Modeling
Class Plays
Is there a subject you're having a hard time finding resources for? Please
contact the Yahoo Group for suggestions from our members or consider
hiring a consultant.
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is called "The Greek Olympics" and details how to set this event up, what games to play, and how to play them.
Holding a Greek Olympics is traditional at the end of
the year in Grade 5 of Waldorf schools.
to create small embroidery projects. She is copying the patterns in the size shown, cutting the pieces out of pure wool felt (no need for hemming), and embroidering pretty
details. 
