Waldorf Grade 2 {Saints & Fables Block}

Celebrating Candlemas on February 2nd

  For our second grade February block we returned to Saints and Fables and Will couldn't have been any happier.  The three part Waldorf method of listening to the story, retelling the story through art and then retelling the story using the written word has been very effective with Will.  He absolutely loves to hear the stories and almost always know exactly what his picture is going to be before I finish.  Some days he works with modeling beeswax too.  He can warm the beeswax to help quiet his fidgety hands while he listens to the story and then he can model one of the animals.  

  I'm still learning about the Waldorf method of storytelling.  As I understand it, it is very important that we let the student come to his own conclusion about the moral of the story.  In order to do this he will need some background information, particularly about how the traditional characteristics attributed to the animals.  For example, a fox is known for being sly or an ant is always busy working.  I found this Waldorf Teacher Resource page very helpful in setting up the stories for Will.  I also did a blackboard drawing for each new fable, although I do not seem to have any pictures of those saved.

  We used most of the fables told in the Waldorf Essentials second grade curriculum and added in a few that Will requested. 

  Here are the fables we covered in February:

The Ant and the Grasshopper

The Tortoise and the Hare

The Vain Jackdaw

The Fox and the Crane

The North Wind and the Sun

  We also learned about four saints in the February block: St. Brigid, St. Patrick, St. Valentine and Joan of Arc.  I had no idea that our American holiday Groundhog Day was the halfway point of winter and is celebrated as Imbolc, Candlesmas, and the feast day of St. Brigid in other parts of the world.  We made woven paper St. Brigid crosses, beeswax candles and let Will tell us all about Brigid.  Aside from St. Patrick being captured by pirates, Will thought the most exciting lesson was about Joan of Arc.  He wanted to draw her while I told the story and I told him he better wait so he knew what she looked like.  "What color are her robes?  Just tell me; they all look the same."  When I replied that she wore a suit of armor I had his full attention for her story!

St. Brigid

Joan of Arc

St. Patrick (and his pirate abductors)

St. Valentine