Planning In Spite Of Myself

Well, here I am, planning ahead in spite of myself. (Those of you who know me know that I am always in this quandry... do I plan in advance and then be disappointed that we didn't do it all, or fly by the seat of my pants and know that I'm doing way less than I could and should be.)

Booklist for the Week:

Summer Is... by Charlotte Zolotow

The Nature Corner: Celebrating the Year's Cycle with a Seasonal Tableau by M v Leeuwen

All Year Round by Ann Druitt, et al.

Carnival of the Animals -- I like the version by Barrie Turner (comes with CD)

The Summerfolk by Doris Burn

"I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly"

The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle

Good Earth Art: Environmental Art for Kids by MaryAnn Kohl

Charlotte's Web by E.B. White

Spiders Spin Webs by Yvonne Winer

Cooking Art: Easy Edible Art for Young Children by MaryAnn Kohl

"The Itsy Bitsy Spider"

Be Nice to Spiders by Margaret Bloy Graham

"Little Miss Muffet"


So, there you have it. Two days on Summer and three days on Spiders.

Day One: Read Summer Is..., do a sun print (you can use special paper for this or just place items on regular construction paper), set up the Nature table for Summer, begin the weather tree from All Year Round - page 122

Day Two: Field trip to Calvert Marine Museum, read Carnival of the Animals book, listen to "Aquarium" piece, read The Summerfolk

Day Three: Sing "I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly", read The Very Busy Spider, branch weaving project from Good Earth Art - page 130, begin Charlotte's Web as nighttime read-aloud (Natalie only)

Day Four: Read Spiders Spin Webs, nail board with string project from Montessori curriculum, Sweet Spider Web snack from Cooking Art - page 140, "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" fingerplay

Day Five: Read Be Nice to Spiders, "Little Miss Muffet" puppetry, field trip to The Big Draw at the National Building Museum OR drawing with sidewalk chalk at home


I guess that's my guilt for being questioned about my methodology. :-)
It made me think about how school is going for me and what I want to change. Primarily I realized that, even more than I want to be Waldorf-y, I want to be more organized in advance of teaching. This is actually very logical since you must learn to be organized first and then work on being more in tune with your desired philosophy second. But you can't be a Waldorf teacher if you're in "fly by pantseat" mode. (Unschooler, yes. Waldorf, no.) So if that's the direction I want to head in, I have to kick the laziness out of me. And witness the effects of this introspection! It's good for everyone to be poked with a stick once in a while. Thanks, Robin.

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