Featured Article: A Glimpse Into Waldorf-Inspired School 4th Grade

2-6-2009

By Sarah Akerson

Fourth grade began the year learning about early life in this particular place. Our state geography block taught us about the first people, or Native Americans, as well as the second wave of people, which included missionaries, conquistadors, trappers and miners. The importance of archaeology in understanding geographic and social history was learned first hand, when the students rooted through Ms. Akerson's recycling bin, or remains, to see what they could learn about her.

Throughout our geography block we read Brighty of the Grand Canyon and then hiked the original Bright Angel Trail on our camping trip near the canyon. There was much talk of our burro buddy as we hiked the trail, with one child saying, "I wonder if we'll see Brighty's spirit on the trail?" Our camping trip also included sightings of elk, condor and great horned sheep.

Fourth grade has also been steeped in Norse Myths, descriptive writing, the tenses, fractions and zoology. In zoology, students became skillful at closely observing animals' forms and relating them to the animals' special functions. One day we had Hammy the Hamster and Ruby, a Maltese, in the classroom; the students were delighted with our guests and eagerly became focused naturalists. The fourth grade will be visiting the Phoenix Zoo the last week in February, where we will receive a tour and a workshop that discuss Arizona habitats and animal adaptation in the desert.

Thank you, Desert Star Community, for supporting and contributing towards these fourth grade experiences!

Left: "Odin" Right: "Thor"
Teachings of the Norse gods.

Chalk drawings on 4th grade classroom chalkboard by Sarah Akerson.

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