Public School Institute

Information Materials

The Public School Institute was founded in response to a request from a leading Sacramento educator at a time very much like today when the arts were being removed from public school programs, and hence children's lives because of budget cuts.

Our 2013 session will take place from July 8-19. For more information, please download our flyer.

Kindergarten

This workshop will focus on ways to integrate language arts, number skills, music, storytelling, movement, nature study, and arts and crafts within the curriculum of the developmentally appropriate kindergarten. It will present aspects of the Waldorf approach applicable in public school classrooms.

Teachers will learn to:
• Create a nurturing environment for healthy development of the senses
• Cultivate creative play/activities in the classroom
• Expand their awareness of current educational/brain research that supports the importance of play and the arts as a foundation for creative thinking
• Develop children’s phonemic awareness through nursery rhymes and poetry
• Develop skills in storytelling, puppetry, and drama that enhance crucial language development
• Build strong foundations for later academics, including math and science, that prepare the child to meet state standards
• Joyfully celebrate the seasons with singing games, stories, and a nature table
• Appreciate the deeper meaning and importance of fairytales and stories that cultivate cross-cultural awareness through activities that develop movement, rhythm and skills
• Make simple dolls and puppets, model with beeswax, paint with watercolors, and create seasonal crafts
• Deepen their understanding of the developmental needs of the young child

Grades 1-3 - Grades 4-6 - Grades 7-8

These workshops will demonstrate how teachers can creatively implement an arts-filled, integrated curriculum for grades one through eight, using practices developed in Waldorf education that are applicable in public school classrooms.

Teachers will learn:
• Methods to integrate recitation, storytelling, drama, painting, modeling, movement, and music into the teaching of history, geography, social science, language arts, mathematics, and science
• Innovative, practical ways to develop and strengthen literacy and numeracy
• How to awaken imagination and wonder, enlivening and expanding the breadth of student learning
• How to inspire and motivate students to reach high levels of achievement and meet district and state standards
• How to nurture emotional intelligence, kindness, and responsibility in the classroom through character building activities
• How to deepen and enliven the multicultural aspect of history and language arts through stories, myths, folk tales, and legends of various cultures
• How integrated, arts-filled learning speaks to the developmental needs of all children, including those with special needs, addressing the full spectrum of learning styles
• How an experiential, integrated approach can benefit multilingual classes and English language learn

What institute participants have said…

This institute has given me more insight into child development than any other professional development I've participated in over the past 15 years. It has reinforced that learning is a joyful event and I'm leaving with a renewed sense of the power of teaching. Donna Stottman, Jefferson County Public Schools, Louisville, KY

This was undoubtedly the finest educational experience I have ever had. I felt that so much of my own potential was opened up in areas that I would not have expected.And it was beautiful to see how others as well as myself had the experience of hidden and unexpected talents blossoming and new interests awakening. This is definitely the way we should be teaching. Robert Jamison, Ph.D., Professor of Mathematics, Clemson University

This institute was incredibly valuable. It helped me to redefine not only how I think about children and education, but also how I think about myself. This was such an eye, heart, mind, body, spirit opening and expanding experience. I overcame several blocks and did things I would not have thought I could love so much. Tara Kintz, East Bay Conservation Corps Charter, Oakland, CA

For information, please contact Arline Monks (916) 961-3932 at Rudolf Steiner College.