A Year in the Life: Ambient Math Wins the Race to the Top!
Day 240
For one year, 365 days, this blog will address the Common Core Standards from the perspective of creating an alternate, ambient learning environment for math. Ambient is defined as “existing or present on all sides, an all-encompassing atmosphere.”
And ambient music is defined as: “Quiet and relaxing with melodies that repeat many times. Why ambient? A math teaching style that’s whole and all encompassing, with themes that repeat many times through the years, is most likely to be effective and successful.
Farewell to Grade 3! This pivotal time is marked by many new things as the 9 year old takes the first real steps out of childhood. Consolation is found in the Creation stories by learning how many before us felt these same pangs of separation as they left their gardens, their innocence, behind.
Competence is nurtured and built through the many practical tools utilized in learning how to count time, measure objects and quantities, grow, cook, and preserve food, build shelters, craft beautiful, useful things, sing, play, recite by heart, and o yes, the three r’s as well. Here are some colorful images from all of these treasured disciplines, captioned with their sources.
FARMING: From the Michael Mount Waldorf School, Johannesburg, South Africa
SHELTERS: From the Toronto Waldorf School
TIME: A chalkboard drawing of the Dorothy Harrer verse from Heirloom Seasons
MEASUREMENT: From Boyceview Home School
SPANISH/FARMING: From the Waldorf School of Atlanta
CREATION STORIES/WATERCOLOR PAINTING: From Syrendell
FORM DRAWING: From waldorfteachers.com
HANDWORK: From the Waldorf School of Atlanta
MATH: From the Emerson Waldorf School
My Grade 3 Class: Oakland Steiner Waldorf School, Troy, MI
Farewell to Grade 3! Knowledge ensues in an environment dedicated to imaginative, creative knowing, where student and teacher alike surrender to the ensuing of knowledge as a worthy goal. Tune in tomorrow as we move on to Grade 4!