How to Plan Literacy Skills Practice Sessions

In this fourth interview in our series of four, I had the opportunity to talk again with Janet Langley, one of the authors of The Roadmap to Literacy: A Guide to Teaching Language Arts in Waldorf Grades 1-3. This time, we talk about concrete ideas for planning literacy skills practice sessions for homeschoolers.

Janet is a former Waldorf class teacher and she wrote The Roadmap to Literacy book with Jennifer Militzer-Kopperl, a private remedial educator who works with Waldorf students. They are both accredited Waldorf teachers.

You can get a copy of the book at Janet’s website, Waldorf Inspirations. Be sure to visit the site for many wonderful (free) ideas and resources for early childhood and each grade, 1-8.

In this conversation, Janet and I talk about how we go about planning literacy skills practice sessions after main lessons to support the skills of reading, writing, and language fluency.

How to Plan Literacy Skills Practice Sessions

Here are some highlights from our conversation:

Practice sessions can be as short as 15-20 minutes.
Keep practice playful!
Keep the skills development going by planning literacy skills practice sessions to do during a math block.

Janet is one of the founders of the super helpful website, Waldorf Inspirations, which is where you can buy The Roadmap to Literacy book!

Many of the forms referred to in the book are found on the Waldorf Inspirations website. Including the three we are talking about in this interview.

Visit the Waldorf Inspirations website and click on Grades > 2nd Grade > 2nd Grade Planning. Then you will see where you can download the 2nd Grade Block Rotation. This is the first form we look at in this interview – it shows a list of suggested Main Lesson Blocks and Practice Blocks for the entire year.

Next, we look at one week of a practice block. Remember, these are shorter lessons done after you’ve finished your main lesson for the day. To find those forms, go to the Waldorf Inspirations website and click on The Roadmap to Literacy tab at the top and scroll down. You will find Teacher Planning Forms Grades 1-3 at the bottom of the page. The two you want for this conversation are Blank Block Plan Forms: Practice Blocks and Example Block Plan for Practice Block.

Be sure to have a look around on the Waldorf Inspirations website. There are so many other ideas by grade for movement, subjects, games and more. From early childhood through 8th grade!

This interview is the fourth in a series of four interviews with Janet to help you understand how literacy develops and how the Waldorf approach can support each child’s development.

You can get a copy of the book at Janet’s website, Waldorf Inspirations. Please note that if you are outside the United States, you can now get your copy as a print-on-demand book to save you the huge expense of shipping.