First Grade Lang. Arts Question

[faerietwiligh]

We are a little behind - having taken November and December to just be. We are just now beginning part 2 of Letter Introduction and I am not sure how "U" is introduced. We hear the story of the 3 shepherds, then the Wise Woman gives the Prince the star, but I do not see where the letter/sound "U" is used. I hope this is not redundant as I am new to this forum.


We are enjoying the curriculum! Just want to add that during the 1st Math Main Lesson Block where 1-12 are introduced, we supplemented with a book called Thirteen Moons On Turtles Back: A Native American Year of Moons, by Joseph Bruchac and Johathan London. Each moon was introduced with the corresponding number. We then cut out moons from painted pages from when we just used yellow (or red for Strawberry Moon). These were put on a poster and labeled. It was a great activity to link each day of this Block.

Michelle

[Donna]

Dear Michelle,

The way I have laid it out, the letter "u" comes before the shepherds story. If you look on p. 118 - 119 you will see the little story I wrote where the Prince becomes concerned about the bear cubs - he makes a concerned "oooooh" sound. This is the sound for the letter "u". Remember, as I say elsewhere in the Syllabus, these 5 vowels are "heart sounds" - they express emotions. The Waldorf way is not so concerened with the literal sound of each letter - especially when one comes to the vowels. The journey of the Prince is complete when he has learned to have compassion - has found his heart sounds. His final vowel is "I" - a strong, upright "I" sound signifying that he has found himself. He can be the king of the kingdom.

That "I" comes after hearing the Christmas story - but as I say frequently in the syllabus (and elsewhere) one must adjust the stories and schedule to fit ones own circumstances. It is too late in the year for a Christmas story to be meaningful (and, of course, some people will not want to use a Christmas story anyway) - so I would suggest you use some other powerful story. The point is for the child to identify on a soul level with the powerful experience of the Prince - the 6/7 year old child is also finding out what it means to rule his/her kingdom.