Professional development for Waldorf teachers and home school parents. Read Summer Series 2023 details here.
This course offers you an invaluable opportunity to focus entirely on your upcoming fourth 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 fourth grader in a deep and meaningful way. With the insights of anthroposophy, gleaned through a look at child development focusing specifically on your class’s age group, you will get to know the fourth grade child in depth as they step into a more objective relationship to learning.
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 fourth graders—and their teachers—as:
- Topics in language arts, reading groups, and class plays
- Multicultural approaches to mapmaking/geography and the role of Norse mythology in the fourth grade curriculum
- Topics in math
- Fourth grade approach to zoology and gardening
- Fourth grade approach to geography and local/state history
- Fourth grade morning circle
- Fourth grade assessment
- Parent work and colleagueship
These subjects will be supported by explorations in art, music, and movement, 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 foundational background in Waldorf education.
Lead Instructor
Melissa McIntyre currently teaches grade four at Susquehanna Waldorf School where she has been on the faculty since 2003. Melissa has served her school as grades department chair, pedagogical chair, Leadership Council member and Council rep to the Board of Trustees, and as an AWSNA delegate. In addition to her 20 years on the SWS faculty, Melissa’s extensive teaching experience also includes serving as an elementary and middle school teacher for public schools in Florida and Idaho, and teaching at Department of Defense schools in Germany and at Sylvan Learning Centers in Florida and Pennsylvania. Melissa earned her BA in elementary education and art history from Rollins College and her MEd degree from the University of Central Florida. We are happy to welcome her to Sunbridge.
Last year’s Summer Series Grade Four participants had this to say:
- As a rank beginner, I found all of the information practical and helpful. Such an abundance!
- I was extremely satisfied with the course material and instruction. All the instructors were very thorough and engaging.
- The highlights were the class discussions and the time each instructor took to answer and address each question or comment made by each student. It felt enriching and full of wisdom.
- Really appreciate amount of content available in the online classroom. Art portion and the music content exceeded my expectations.
- The instructors had many wonderful insights and great warmth.
- With the amount of time and material covered this price is excellent. The ability to return to the material until May of next year is wonderful and greatly appreciated.
- I (had) heard extraordinary things about Sunbridge and how clear and thorough each instructor is when teaching the course. I saw this to be true taking the course this week. Wonderful pace and material review has left me feeling even more confident taking on 4th grade.
Your course also includes sessions in art with Kelly Beekman, music with Adam Petersen, and movement and games with Charlie Orphanides.
Schedule
This course takes place July 2-7 in a synchronous online classroom.
ALL TIMES LISTED BELOW ARE EASTERN (NY) TIME ZONE
Sunday evening: 6:15 pm-6:30 pm: Log in for technical check-in and attendance. First session starts promptly at 6:30 with “The Gesture of the Fourth Grade,” and ends at 8:15. New teachers especially are encouraged to remain for a Q&A with your lead instructor from 8:30-9:00.
Monday-Thursday: Instruction takes place between 10 am and 5 pm (excluding breaks). We also encourage you to attend our elective music studio (5:15-6:15 Wednesday) and roundtable discussion with faculty (7:15-8:15 Thursday).
Friday: Instruction and wrap-up takes place from 10-2:30 (excluding breaks). We also encourage you to attend our elective art studio from 2:45-3:45.
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
$635 includes all resource materials, pre-recorded music and movement lessons, yearlong access to your Grade Four Google Classroom and Kelly Beekman’s art portal, and a $60 non-refundable registration fee.
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.
Available Discounts
- Volume: $60 off each registration for schools sending 2 or more participants
- Alumni/CAD: 25% off for Sunbridge teacher education program graduates OR for payments made in Canadian dollars
- Current Students: 50% off for current Sunbridge teacher education students
Discounts may not be combined. Qualification for discounts will be verified by Sunbridge staff.
Paid registrations must be received by Thursday, June 29.
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.
