Finally our math book is finished! We are so blessed to have it come together so quickly. We wanted to put together a book that kept the spirit of math at the center of each lesson, striving to keep it alive for your child and managable for you. You'll notice there are many topics covered in the first three years and then it seems like things taper off - that is only true on the outside, while on the inside the children are honing skills in grades four and up that they received the foundation for in grades one through three. The transformation of children as they learn these concepts is amazing, even on tough days! I wish I learned math with this much care!
The book encompasses grades 1-5, has main lessons for all the main lesson blocks suggested by AWSNA to be covered for each year. The companion materials include practice problems for grades 4-5 to draw your daily practice work from and includes the answers.
The book is $38.50 for the hard copy and $25 for the ebook. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Introduction and how to best use this book
History of Waldorf schools and anthroposophy
Chapter 1: Waldorf math: the nature of “whole to parts”
Chapter 2: Waldorf math through the grades
Chapter 3: Math Main lesson blocks
- Grade 1
- Teaching numbers and Roman numerals
- Number qualities
- The four processes
Grade 2
- Time
- Times tables, four process review and number patterns
- Money
Grade 3
- Linear measurement
- Dry measure and liquid measure
- Square numbers, cubed numbers, prime numbers, perimeter and area
- Place value, carrying and borrowing
Grade 4
- Long multiplication, long division, averaging, factoring
- Basic fractions
Grade 5
- Fractions, mixed numbers, reciprocals
- Decimals and the metric system
Closing remarks
Appendix
Sample from Chapter 1:
By now, if you are not well versed in Steiner’s work, you are probably wondering what on earth this “whole to parts” business is! The best way to describe it in short is like this:
While 3 X 4 are 12, 12 is more than 3 X 4. 12 is 6 X 2, 2 X 6, 4 X 3, 12 X 1, 6 + 6, and so on.
So how is that translated practically for a child? Well, it starts far earlier in the work we do and in how we speak to them when they are younger, but practically you can ask a child the open ended question of “what is 12?” and allow many answers because there are many answers, allowing them to see the big picture of all that 12 really is, rather than only giving them a small representation of 12 and then telling them later “and by the way, XYZ is also 12.” Discovering numbers for a child is an experience that comes very much from their core of how they understand the world around them. They see the family as a whole, they rarely see just Mom, or just Dad when they are young (before 7 years) and so to bring them only pieces goes very much against how they see the world.
Steiner says in Teaching Arithmetic:
“The living thing is always a whole and must be presented as a whole first of all. It is wrong for children to have to put together a whole out of its parts, when they should be taught to look first at the whole and then divide this whole into its parts; get them first to look at the whole and then divide it and split it up, this is the right path to a living conception.”
Sample from grade 1:
Now you may look at this lesson and notice it isn’t whole to parts! You might be saying “Melisa, you told me that Steiner says it has to be whole to parts!” No worries! We worked from the whole (48) down to the parts with yesterday’s work, but today we are dealing with Plus, by his very nature he is a greedy little synthesizer! He adds to his materialism constantly, he is a perfect example of what Steiner meant. Balance today’s work out with whole to parts practice tomorrow! Some further writing for today might be to write the names associated with Plus. He is also known as Addition, but usually only his mother calls him that (“Plus Addition get in here!”) Point out that when Plus adds things together they are called “sums.” You don’t have to worry too much about making them memorize it just yet, I do like to make colorful signs for the school room space, using recycled water color paintings for backgrounds and writing different “rules” as we come across them. It does help to have them write it too.
When Plus adds things together they are called sums.
Sample from grade 3, liquid measure:
Today you will start on liquid measure. (If you are using our grade 3 book then this section of lessons falls in April for our lesson plans.) Some of this lesson may have come up while you were baking so now you’ll be able to give it some depth. If you know anyone that owns a cow or dairy farm that will allow you to come for a visit, this would be a good time! If visiting a farm isn’t possible then you will have to use your imagination.
First have your child make a chart in their lesson book for liquid measure (I am using a
US
liquid measurements.) A chalkboard drawing idea could be a cow in a pasture. There is a really sad picture of a cow that I made on the companion CD (I hope yours is better!)
Some fun and interesting cow facts to go with your math and farming:
The average cow gives 90 cups of milk a day! How many gallons is that?
A cow must drink 2 gallons of water for every gallon of milk produced. How many cups of water does the cow need to drink?
Not all female cows can produce milk, they have to be a mama first!
So back to our farmer, he’s thirsty after installing those new stalls and he wants a glass of milk! His wife has milked the cow for the first time and has a beautiful bucket of fresh raw milk. She hands the farmer a pint to drink and the children each a cup to drink. How much of the gallon is left for her to make butter?
Sample from grade 4, factoring:
Today’s lesson will teach prime factoring – before the lesson it would be a good idea to review prime numbers and also to spend time reviewing cubed and squared numbers. Prime factoring is really whole to parts at its very best! You take a number and break it down into its prime factors. It is fun and easy to do factoring when you use the method described below.
Some other numbers to try:
36 which factors into 2 x 2 x 3 x 3
72 which factors into 2 x 2 x 2 x 3 x 3
These can be fun and easy, just make up numbers and work them out together, it will be an interesting way to find new primes too!
