Grade 1 Science and Language Study

My latest chalkboard drawing: The Seasons Meets Spanish Language Study

I decided to do a science block for the next coming weeks, as the springtime seems to be finally (!!) coming into play here in Southern Maine. Now that we can finally get outside more regularly, we find ourselves spending several hours outdoors each day lately. 

a 3-way "sword" battle

We're observing right now that the grass is starting to green up in some spots and that some neighbors even have some flowers, such as crocus, blooming in their yards. We'll be making close observations as the spring blossoms more and more, and making notes in our nature journals of our observations.

We already finished our "nature stories" block (Old Mother West Wind stories) and so now it's time to move into more keen observations of the world around us. Naturally, I'll still tell animal stories to go along with what we are observing to keep with the pedagogy of Waldorf education that states that the seven year old still relates to nature through stories, particularly animal stories.

The seasons (as depicted above in my chalk drawing) will also have stories to describe the characteristics of each season. One set of stories I'll be telling is that of a family of squirrels, and what they do during each season of the year. The squirrels will meet a Spanish squirrel named Ardilla (the Spanish word for squirrel). She will explain the Spanish word for each season to the family of squirrels.

The reason I am including some Spanish vocabulary is because in many Waldorf schools, it is common for students to start learning a second language starting very young. I studied quite a bit of Spanish in college (it was part of my double major), and so I have a particular bias as well towards having kids at least be familiar with some vocabulary of a second language.  If anyone is considering including a second language into their first or second grade curriculum, I would suggest a goal of about 30 words to start. That would include things like: family member names (mother, father, sister, brother, aunt, uncle, grandparents, niece/nephew, cousin), seasons, basic greetings (good morning/afternoon/evening), a handful of names of animals (cat, dog, mouse, bird, etc), perhaps a few foods/drinks, etc. 

If you did a solid block of a second language, you could easily cover 30 words into a 3-week block (that's only 10 words a week). I would recommend, however, that you try to revisit these vocabulary words again every few months as a refresher and/or try to use them in conversation regularly.

This weekend is Easter, and in our home we'll be having a traditional egg hunt, followed by a brunch of ham, potatoes, carrots and brussels sprouts and garlic bread. Our day will be very simple and relaxed, as money is very tight this year so we'll be staying close to home and keeping our celebrations low-key.

Whatever your plans are for this weekend, may you feel the energy of new beginnings!