There is nothing like a good historical novel for conveying the feeling of a particular era. When you find historical fiction that is also age-appropriate, you simply have to grab the opportunity to have your students read. There are a few books like this that I’ve assigned to my sixth graders.

The first is the book that my current students are reading right now — The Eagle by Rosemary Sutcliffe. This book does such a great job of giving an inside glimpse at the life of the Roman legions. The book takes place in Roman-occupied Britain and it tells the story of Marcus, a Roman centurion who is retired because of an injury. In the book Marcus searches Britain for the eagle belonging to his father’s legion, attempting to solve the mystery of the lost ninth legion. The book does such a great job of bringing the vocabulary and customs of the Roman military that when I spoke about them in class I could rest assured that the students already had a nice frame of reference. It is technically rated at a grade seven level, so it is a little challenging for my students, but I usually consider that a good thing.

My students’ second reader of the year will be The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Pierce. This is a great book to go along with the second Roman History block. It tells the story of Jesus as his following is developing from the perspective of a young boy in Jerusalem. It is a powerful book that tells the story of Jesus from a historical perspective in a way that is thought-provoking and interesting. The reading level is just perfect, too.

Crispin, The Cross of Lead by Avi is a great book for conveying the feeling of the Middle Ages. Though it is a great book, it is written at a pretty simple reading level. For this reason it would meet some students perfectly but for others it could be too simple. If you are not already familiar with Avi’s work he is a great author to turn to when you’re looking for a good read.

There are more and more options for readers out there. Post your own recommendations in the comments.

I’m knee-deep in preparation for sixth grade these days and our first block of the year is scheduled to be Rocks and Minerals, or Mineralogy. Last time I taught this block it ended up being one of my favorites of the entire middle school. Who knew that rocks could be so interesting? This time I’ve found even more fantastic resources for teaching the block.

Earth’s Dynamic Systems by Kenneth Hamblin and others — This is an updated version of an old college textbook that I found during a book sale at our local library. I got it for super cheap and a quick search on Amazon showed that purchasing an older version there is just as affordable. Because it is a college level book, the depth of the material is way above the kids’ heads, but I found it really valuable to have the background information in my head. I always feel like I need to have an understanding of the larger picture in order to be able to present the information to the children and be able to answer their questions.

All About Rocks and Minerals by Anne Terry White — A colleague suggested this book to me and I quickly went to Amazon and ordered it. It is long out of print, but it is really fantastic. Often these older books are the ones that do the best job of relating concepts in an imaginative way, and that is definitely true for this book. It tells the stories of historical geologists and the theories that they came up with to explain the formation of different rock forms. I love using biographies with my students as they so instantly bring the concepts and ideas to life. This book takes much of the material that is presented in a dry way in Physical Geology and transforms it into a form that is accessible and interesting to children. The style and voice of the writer actually reminds me quite a lot of one of my favorite Waldorf authors — Charles Kovacs.

Geology and Astronomy by Charles Kovacs — Though I’ve never used this book (it hadn’t been published when I taught this block last) I can wholeheartedly recommend everything that Charles Kovacs has written. His books give the Waldorf teacher a number one, primary resource for the block. So many of his books can be used to directly teach the block. You can look at his list of chapters and just fill in your lesson planner. I will say, though, that teaching this way is not particularly inspired and it is always better to enliven the material and make it your own, but it is quite handy to have a solid resource that you know you can depend on.

The last resource that is an essential for this block is Roadside Geology. There is an edition of Roadside Geology for every state and it will give you all of the local information you need to know about your particular area. Though it is important to teach the universal concepts (the rock cycle, the different types of rocks and minerals) it is also important to address the geological features that are relevant to your area. When you go out exploring with your students you’re going to want to be able to identify the most common rocks that you find together and this book will help you do that.

The last thing you’re going to want to have to teach this block is a good classroom collection of rocks and minerals. This set I found on Amazon is a really good one. The rocks are labelled with numbers so that you can look at the legend to identify them. This system of numbering is really good for creating rock identification quizzes. I think students of this age really appreciate having tests and quizzes so they can see and prove for themselves how much they have learned and a rock identification quiz is particularly satisfying.

This is the exact set I used with my last class and it was just perfect because it includes both rocks and minerals.

One warning, though, resist the temptation to pull out this set right at the beginning of the block. It is far better to start with rocks that you find in the world around you and then move to the set (which is pretty disconnected from the natural world) later.

I’ve been working hard on putting together grade five curriculum guides for my blog at A Waldorf Journey. I’ve just finished the guide for the Fifth Grade Ancient Civilizations blocks. This one is packed with examples of student work (so it takes a bit to download) and it gives a lot of information. I’ve also added it to the Grade Five Bundle for people who want to get all of my curriculum support.

Also, I’m so excited to have come across a great resource for sixth grade!

One of the things in my preparation that I’ve been giving a lot of thought to is how to tell the story of the life of Jesus. Though I live in an area where families would likely be pretty supportive of their children learning about Jesus at school, there is so much out there about him that I want to think carefully about the perspective of him that I present to my students.

I was so glad, then, to find that Deepak Chopra, who wrote my favorite biography of Buddha, has also written a biography of Jesus.

Though I’m just sitting down with it tonight, if his telling of the story of Buddha is any indication, this is going to be a wonderful book. I loved that Buddha was written like historical fiction. Chopra made Buddha completely come alive and I’m sure he’s going to do the same for Jesus in this book.

I can’t wait to get reading!

Around this time of year I’m right in the thick of planning for next year, which for me is sixth grade. I always like to start with preparing the history curriculum because it really sets the tone for the year. For sixth grade, this means Rome and Middle Ages.

My first look is always at “The Big Yellow Book,” which is my number one Waldorf curriculum guide. It can probably be found elsewhere for cheaper, but Amazon was the handiest link I could come up with.

After looking there, I turn to my favorite little history book, A Little History of the World by E.H. Gombrich. This is, without a doubt, my favorite history book. It is absolutely fantastic if you want to be able to read something quickly and very reader friendly to really understand the sweep of human history and how all of the events relate to each other. I can’t imagine teaching history without it. It also has sweet little illustrations and Gombrich has a nice conversational style that I really appreciate. Even better, because I couldn’t find my own well-worn copy (must’ve loaned it out) I recently discovered that A Little History of the World is available for the Kindle!

Finally, I just ordered Ancient Rome by Charles Kovacs. Kovacs has been my go-to guy for so much of my teaching, I can’t imagine not consulting his book on Rome.

If there is one book that has been referred to most on the various online Waldorf resources I try to keep up with it is Rhythms of Learning by Roberto Trostli.

Trostli wrote the Waldorf science bible called Physics is Fun — a book that I am very familiar with — so though I haven’t read Rhythms of Learning myself, based on the recommendations of others and my familiarity with Trostli’s other work, I have no qualms recommending it.

From the book description:

In each chapter, Trostli explains Steiner’s concepts and describes how they work in the contemporary Waldorf classroom. We learn how the teacher-child relationship and the Waldorf school curriculum changes as the students progress from kindergarten through high-school. This book will serve as an excellent resource for parents who want to understand how their child is learning. Parents will be better prepared to discuss their child’s education with teachers, and teachers will find it a valuable reference source and communication tool.

Definitely a must-have resource.