Professional development for Waldorf teachers and home school parents. Read all about Summer Series 2024.

Taught remotely in real time, this course offers you an invaluable opportunity to focus entirely on your upcoming third grade school year in five days brimming with presentations, discussions, and practical activities.

Under the guidance of an experienced class teacher, you’ll discover ways to enliven your teaching and how to approach the blocks so that they may meet the third grader in a deep and meaningful way. With the insights of anthroposophy, gleaned through a study of child development focusing specifically on your class’s age group, you will get to know the third grade child in depth as they as they experience the nine-year change.

Along with 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 course will include such key topics for third graders—and their teachers—as:

• Multicultural approaches to the creation stories and the role of Old Testament stories in the third grade curriculum
• Topics in language arts, reading groups, and class plays
• Topics in math
• Third grade approach to science and gardening
• Third grade approach to social studies, class trips and community service
• Third grade morning circle
• Third grade assessment
• Parent work and colleagueship

These subjects will be supported by explorations in art and music, giving you practical tools to take into your school year. In addition, you’ll gain many valuable opportunities for building connections among a community of parallel colleagues from across the country to carry with you throughout 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 foundational background in Waldorf education.

Lead Instructor

Joshua Gartland is on the faculty of The Waldorf School of Atlanta, where he has been a class teacher since 2009. Before joining WSA, he taught at The Waldorf School of Garden City. Prior to becoming a Waldorf teacher, Josh was active in theatre productions, studied and performed as a mime, and was a senior manager of one of the largest yoga facilities in the country. He received a BFA in Theater Performance from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, and his diploma in Waldorf education from Sunbridge College.  Josh enjoys talking, books, playing games, singing, dancing, drawing and, of course, learning.

Last year’s Summer Series Grade Three participants had this to say:

• Joshua Gartland is a masterful educator. I love how many practical examples he gave and how he modeled those examples. He also replied to questions in an earnest and genuine way.
• I loved how the course gave us so many real world tools, while also diving deep into abstract concepts and the talking of inner self work. I really enjoyed the way everything was laid out – the sequence of what was taught, the space that was given for questions and real deep dialogue.
• This course was so helpful in the connections with other teachers and the vast array of resources provided. Joshua was a really great instructor!
• I really appreciated how Joshua presented a wider view point of the curriculum than traditional Waldorf and that we were encouraged to bring multicultural perspectives and de-colonize the curriculum.
• I like how informational this course has been providing us. Joshua’s presence is inspiring to me as a great example of the Waldorf Teacher. He led the group with sincere attitude and knowledgeable tutoring for us which I appreciate the most. It does meet my expectations and I feel secured and comfortable going to my third grade teaching
• Joshua was such an incredible teacher – empathetic, so knowledgeable, warm and sincere, and I honestly would love to have more trainings with him!! 
• I find the thoughtful resources to be very helpful. Also the fact that this is a course specific to online classes makes it feel more like a community.
• Joshua is an amazing instructor. He created connection even through Zoom! He was personal, enough to feel interested in him, but kept straight to the point. He gave us so much meaningful and practical material to use. Many unanswered questions I had, he answered. He was patient, kind and generous. I would definitely take a class with Joshua again.
• I am grateful for Joshua and the other teachers! Their enthusiasm, interest, warmth and professionalism steeped in experience. I was at first hesitant to approach this via Zoom but I was happily surprised at how wonderful the experience was!
• Kelly is very experienced art teacher which benefits us so much for her sharing with us her views and how she did it with her class. I loved that we got to do the chalkboard drawing and she just gave us so many wonderful instructions.
• It exceeded my expectations. I found the depth and breadth of the course incredible, and I feel incredibly fortunate to have had the teachers we did. I appreciate the patience, grace, and encouragement they shared, and how intentional everything felt.
• I found this course to be everything I could ask for and more.

Your course also includes sessions in art with Kelly Beekman and music with Katey Dolezal.

Schedule

This course takes place June 23-28 in a synchronous online classroom. ALL TIMES LISTED ARE EASTERN (NY) TIME ZONE.

Sunday evening
6:15 pm-6:25 pm: Log-in for technical check-in and attendance
6:30 pm-8:15 pm: First session

Monday – Thursday
9:45 am-9:55 am: Log-in for technical check-in and attendance
Sessions run from 10:00 am through 4:45-5:00 pm, with time for breaks and lunch

Friday
9:45 am-9:55 am: Log-in for technical check-in and attendance
Sessions run from 10:00 am through 1:30 pm, with a mid-morning break

NOTE: Most sessions are required in order to receive a certificate of attendance. Others, such as Q&A sessions with your lead instructor and studio time with your art and music instructors, are optional. Complete schedules will be sent two weeks before your course start date, along with a list of materials you will need to procure for use during your course. 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).

Cost 
$615 includes all resource materials, pre-recorded music and movement lessons, yearlong access to your Grade Three Google Classroom and Kelly Beekman’s art portal, and a $55 non-refundable registration fee.

25% discount for:

• Students currently enrolled in a Sunbridge teacher education program
• Sunbridge program graduates
• Payments made in Canadian dollars

Accounts must be in good standing and discounts may not be combined. Qualification for discounts will be verified by Sunbridge staff.  

REGISTER HERE

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.