NOTE: This course is nearing or at capacity. Our registration form will indicate if it has sold out.  If so, we encourage you to sign up on our waiting list.

This course will be taught remotely in real-time. Details here. 

Professional development for Waldorf teachers and home school parents

This course offers you an invaluable opportunity to focus entirely on your upcoming fifth grade school year in five days brimming with discussions, presentations, and the arts.

With the insights of anthroposophy, gleaned through a daily look at child development focusing on your class’s age group, you will get to know the fifth grade child in depth as they stand on the balancing point between childhood and adolescence. Under the guidance of a master class teacher, you’ll discover how to enliven your teaching and how to approach the blocks so that they may meet the fifth grader in a meaningful and lively way. There will be time and space to consider and hone your skills in such practical matters as main lesson books, block planning, projects and activities, and classroom management.

Your week will be chock-full of key fifth grade topics such as:

• The teaching of ancient cultures, including Greek history and mythology
• Teaching free-hand geometrical drawing
• Developing language skills in reading and writing
• Expanding the reach of geography to encompass all of North America
• Bringing the plant kingdom to life through botany studies
• Building on fractions skills toward the discovery of the decimal fraction

These subjects will be supported by explorations in art and music, giving you practical tools to take into your school year.

In addition to inspiration and guidance which will support your teaching throughout the year, you’ll gain many invaluable opportunities for building connections among a community of parallel colleagues from across the country, to carry with you into your teaching.

Grade-specific resource materials useful for your year, including poems, songs, stories, and main lesson book ideas, will be provided to you electronically.

NOTE: This course is taught with the expectation that you have a background in Waldorf education.

Lead Instructor

Leslie Lew is a class teacher at the Housatonic Valley Waldorf School where she has worked as a class teacher since 2003. Leslie, who has taught 5th grade three times, graduated an HVWS 8th grade class in 2015 and is presently teaching 7th grade. Before moving to Connecticut and joining HVWS, Leslie lived in Israel, spending four years working in the children’s house on a kibbutz, working as an English and handwork teacher at the Adam Waldorf School in Jerusalem, completing her studies in elementary education at the Kibbutzim College of Education, and completing her Waldorf training in 1999 at the David Yellin College of Education. In her free time, Leslie enjoys spending time with her family (including her three children who are all HVWS graduates), reading, gardening, and traveling.

Leslie said this to us about her upcoming course: “I am inspired and excited to present the 5th grade curriculum this summer as it opens up vast content in history, geography, and botany. We will discuss and explore paths in which 5th grade teachers will find more diverse voices and perspectives for teaching this grade, especially for the study of Ancient Cultures.”

Summer Series 2021 participants left us these evaluations of Leslie:

• I found this course to be extremely informative and enlightening. Leslie Lew was an exceptional instructor. Her knowledge, her compassion and her wonderful wit were just what I needed to grasp the scope of my curriculum for next year. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the teachers who were in my class. I am so proud to be a part of this group! I have been teaching for 22 years and I have never met a more dedicated group of educators. Overall, it was a fantastic week!
• Leslie came very prepared and has shared tons of resources.
• There was ample content and methodology support, as well as connections made that will support me well through the year!
• Leslie was excellent!! She was not only informative, clear, and organized, but warm, open, and so responsive to questions and to explore alternative ideas.
• This course exceeded my expectations! I loved how the material was presented in a way that left so much room for us to customize our own plans, the discussions & small group work that allowed attendees to get to know & inspire each other, and the amazing depth of the support – both in the daily presentations and via all the documents in Google Classroom.
• Words can’t adequately express my gratitude for Leslie’s instruction this week. She provided us with a wealth of knowledge and presented it in such an outstanding manner. She was prepared for class each day, answered questions fully, and created a refreshing mood. 
• The solid organization of the course and the content were exceptional. Leslie had a perfect balance of drive, clarity, structure, allowance of explorative discussion and generosity of spirit. It went far beyond my expectations and the highlight for me was the community feel and the vast amount of information made available on Google Classroom for the whole year!

Your course also includes art sessions with Kelly Beekman and music with Jeff Spade.

Schedule

This course takes place July 10-15 in a synchronous online classroom

Sunday evening: 7-7:30pm technical check-in; first session starts promptly at 7:30 and ends at 9
Monday-Thursday: 4.5 hours of formal instruction delivered between 10-4:30
Friday morning: Last session runs 10-12
ALL TIMES LISTED ARE EASTERN (NY) TIME ZONE

NOTE: Participants should be prepared to work on course-related assignments outside of their regularly scheduled instructional sessions (including some that may be assigned in advance), as well as to be available to attend (optional) late afternoon and/or evening instructor-led discussions.

Cost
$600 includes all resource materials, yearlong access to Kelly Beekman’s art portal and your Sunbridge Grade Five Google Classroom, and a $60 non-refundable deposit. See main summer page for discount options.

NOTE: Participants will be expected to procure some materials to use during their course. A materials list will be sent three weeks in advance of your course start date.

Questions?
Please contact Barbara Vitale, admissions and summer coordinator, at [email protected] or 845-425-0055 x20

Sunbridge reserves the right to make faculty substitutions when necessary. See registration form for refund policy.