First Grade Booklist
What is the purpose of this list?
Our First Grade Curriculum Overview
contains all my notes on teaching first grade (138 pages). Many books and resources are included! As helpful
as these notes are, however, I realize
that many homeschool families are on a strict budget, and may feel overwhelmed at the number
of books it seems they need to buy. Please
don't get discouraged. You don't have to spend a fortune to do a good job
teaching your child.
Here are 12 books
which, combined with the books
from the Kindergarten Dozen, will give you all the essentials you need to teach first grade.
Many of them also will give
you guidance in future years.
Bear in mind that these booklists assume several things; first, that you have purchased
the books mentioned on the list from the previous grade level, and second, that
you have access to a free public library to augment your curriculum planning. For example,
no collection of Grimm's fairy tales is included in the Kindergarten Dozen. This is something
you can find at your local library. No books on learning to knit are included in the First Grade
Dozen for the same reason. There are also many free
resources online, such as the books by Rudolf Steiner
listed below. Use all the free resources available to you to help
keep costs down! Art & craft supplies and other school materials such as a recorder are not
included in these lists.
I recommend if you are preparing for the next year over the summer, that you buy
4 books each month (Jun/Jul/Aug). If you don't have the Kindy Dozen, this will be 8 books.
Please note: Prices were at the time of writing & are subject to change.
Relevant Articles
The Education of the Child in the Light of Anthroposophy by Rudolf Steiner
The Child's Changing Consciousness as the Basis of Pedagogical Practice by Rudolf Steiner
Learning to Read and Write in Waldorf Schools by William Ward
Find more articles listed on my website under "First Grade".
First GradeContinue to use the books from Kindergarten +
AWSNA Curriculum Chart (large)
grades 1 through 12
Towards Creative Teaching: Working with the Curriculum of Classes 1 through 8 in Steiner Waldorf Schools by Martyn Rawson
and Brien Masters
grades 1 through 8
School As a Journey: The Eight-Year Odyssey of a Waldorf Teacher and His Class by Torin M. Finser
grades 1 through 8
Writing/Reading/Arithmetic
Putting The Heart Back Into Teaching: A Manual for Junior Primary Teachers
by Stanford Maher and Yvonne Bleach. (This book has to be purchased from South Africa but is well worth it!)
grades 1 through 4
Teaching Children Handwriting by Audrey McAllen
L M N O P Alphabet Wall Cards -- Poems by Howard Schrager. Illustrated by Bruce Bischof.
Verses to Support Main Lessons
A Journey Through Time in Verse and Rhyme
by Heather Thomas
grades 1 through 8
Form Drawing
Form Drawing Grades 1 through 4 by Laura Embrey-Stine
and
Ernst Schuberth
grades 1 through 4
Resource Teacher's Developmental Exercise Manual by
Association for a Healing Education
Music
Playing and Teaching the Pentatonic Flute and Pentatonic Recorder
by David Darcy (includes CD)
Games and Sport
Touch the Earth, Gently by Alan Whitehead
grades 1 through 12
Looking Forward: Games, rhymes and exercises to help children develop their learning abilities by
Molly von Heider
grades 1 through 5
$14.50
$13.95
$14.95
$20.00
$19.95
$29.95
$23.10
$11.95
$24.00
Playing and Teaching the Pentatonic Flute and Pentatonic Recorder
(no image available)
$20.00
$18.95
$25.00
Recommended First Grade Books
TOTAL COST approx. $250.00
12 books
You can find many of these books used through Yahoo groups such as waldorfcurriculum-supplies.
Click to join waldorfcurriculum-supplies
Some Notes on Reading Steiner:
The original Waldorf teacher training was brief: it lasted
only two weeks. It was understood by those who attended, however, that
Waldorf education was to be based upon the continuing training or self-education of the teacher,
and that this was only the beginning of that process. His approach is tailored to the
spiritual and physical needs of the children themselves, not to an arbitrary curriculum.
(Some feel,
especially Alan Whitehead of Spiritual
Syllabus that a homeschool education actually comes closer to what Steiner had intended than
even the best Waldorf school! Read his book A
Steiner Homeschool? for more).
If you're curious about the original teacher training and would
like to experience it, three books are involved.
For two weeks, prior to the opening of the first Waldorf school in Stuttgart, Rudolf
Steiner intensively prepared the individuals he had chosen to become the first Waldorf teachers, as follows:
At 9:00 AM he gave the course now translated as The Foundations of Human Experience
(formerly The Study of Man); at 11:00 AM, Practical Advice to Teachers;
and then, after lunch, from 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM, he held the informal discussions published in Discussions with Teachers.
If you wish to embark upon the same path of teacher training as the first Waldorf teachers,
you cannot do better than to read these three books.
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