Professional development for Waldorf teachers and homeschool parents
This course offers you an invaluable opportunity to focus entirely on your upcoming third grade school year in five full days brimming with discussions, presentations, practical activities, 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 third grade child in depth as they experience the nine-year change. Under the guidance of a master class teacher, you’ll discover ways to enliven your teaching and learn how to approach the blocks so that they may meet the third grader in a deep and meaningful 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 course will be chock-full of such key third grade topics as:
• Finding, crafting, and telling stories of the Hebrew Bible
• Developing literacy
• Expanding arithmetic skills
• Teaching time and measurement
• Ways of approaching farming and house-building
These subjects will be supported by explorations in art, movement, 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.
Handouts relevant to your week will be provided to you upon your arrival on campus. 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
David French is currently a class teacher at Great Barrington Rudolf Steiner School. An experienced grades teacher, including teaching two third grade classes, David taught at the Charlottesville Waldorf School from 2005-2008 and completed a full cycle of teaching at the Eugene Waldorf School before moving to Massachusetts. He is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Colorado, Boulder, with a bachelor of arts in psychology, and also holds an MS degree in clinical psychology from the University of Oregon, where he specialized in children and families. David, who was a graduate teaching and research fellow at the University of Oregon from 2013-17, earned his certificate in Waldorf grades teaching in 2005 from the Waldorf Teacher Education Program in Eugene, Oregon, and served as an adjunct teacher at that program from 2013-17. His interests include hiking, backpacking, canoeing, gardening, and music.
Your course also includes music with Patti Regan of Great Barrington Rudolf Steiner School, painting with Brigitte Bley-Swinston of Green Meadow Waldorf School, and movement with Will Crane.
Related Recommendations
As a grades teacher, you may also be interested in The Power of Traditional Country Dancing in Grades 1-8 or Working with Parents. Each of these weekend workshops begins Friday evening immediately following the conclusion of your grades course and runs through Sunday afternoon.
Course Schedule
Sunday, July 14: Optional campus tour: 5:30-6pm; registration: 6-7pm; orientation and your first class: 7-9pm
Monday, July 15-Thursday, July 18: Classes begin each day between 8-8:30am and run through 5:30-6pm, with time for lunch and short mid-morning and mid-afternoon breaks.
Friday, July 19: Classes begin 8-8:30am and end between 12-1pm, with a mid-morning break.
Cost
$860 includes all materials and non-refundable $75 registration fee
Three Discount Options (Choose One! Discounts may not be combined.)
1. Friends and Family (Personal Discount): Currently enrolled Sunbridge program students receive a 30% discount and Sunbridge program graduates receive a 15% discount off one or more registrations. Discount instructions will appear on your registration form after you answer questions about your Sunbridge background in the Participant Profile section. Accounts must be in good standing.
2. Take Two and Save (Personal Discount): 10% discounts on subsequent registrations (of equal or lesser value) will automatically appear on your registration form when selecting more than one title. (Exception: Waldorf Weekend, which offers an $85 discount when selected as a subsequent registration.)
3. Send More/Save More (School Discount): Schools paying for five or more registrations will receive discounts in increasing amounts.
Make 5 registrations, receive 5% off the total cost
Make 6 registrations, receive 6% off the total cost
Make 7 registrations, receive 7% off the total cost
Make 8 registrations, receive 8% off the total cost
Make 9 registrations, receive 9% off the total cost
Make 10 or more registrations, receive 10% off the total cost
NOTE: When choosing this option, please be sure to check off “Invoice my School” on your registration form. To qualify for the Send More/Save More discount, registrations must be made by July 14.
Questions?
Please contact our summer office at [email protected] or 845-425-0055 x20
Sunbridge reserves the right to make faculty substitutions when necessary. See registration form for refund policy.
