It is in the grade school years that the child's world begins to open up beyond themselves and their immediate circle. This is middle childhood, the ages of about seven to fourteen, the second stage of development. It is during these years that children leave the realm of learning mainly through imitation. Instead it is that which speaks to the imagination, and is deeply experienced, which is learned and remembered.
Thus the teacher's task is to transform all that the child needs to know about the world into the language of imagination, a language that is as accurate and as responsible to reality as intellectual analysis is in the adult. The world of nature, words, numbers, history and science are readily taken in when presented in this way. In first grade the four arithmetical operations are presented not as dry theoretical facts, but introduced as characters in a drama that is then acted out. Seventh graders awakening into puberty learn about the Renaissance and Reformation, a time when many a dauntless quest into the unknown was made.
Textbooks are rarely used. Instead, lessons are taught through rich stories and conversations. Students then create their own textbooks, known as main lesson books, which become written and artistic records of what they have experienced in class and learned in each subject.
The Waldorf philosophy recognizes a basic need in elementary-aged children for genuine authority rooted in love and respect. This need of authority leads to one of the most distinctive features of Waldorf education, the class teacher who ideally advances with the students from first through eighth grade. The class teacher presents the main academic subjects, coordinates with the special subject teachers, and provides the link between home and school, thereby carefully nurturing each child's potential.
Up until about the sixth grade the child's progress is monitored not by way of tests and report cards. Instead teachers have an ongoing dialogue with their students and meet regularly with parents to talk about the children's progress. In this way strong community is developed, with parents and teachers working together to support the children's education. At the end of each year the teachers write a thorough evaluation of each child, which is shared with the children's families.
The morning begins with the Main Lesson, followed by an outdoor recess and then special subject classes. Time after lunch is devoted to the fine and practical arts. Thus the day starts with work that requires intellectual focus and ends with the more physical activites that engage the body and hands.
Unique to Waldorf, the history curriculum mirrors the developmental stages of the child. Sixth graders, for instance, who are beginning to experience the inner turmoil of puberty and are looking for a sense of justice, lawfulness, and order spend several months studying the rise and fall of the Roman civilization and the reemergence of ...
Letters are learned in the same way they originated in the course of human history. Humans perceived, then pictured, and out of the pictures they abstracted signs and symbols. First graders hear stories, draw pictures, and discover the letter in the gesture of the picture. Throughout grade school children do much written and oral....
Science begins with nature study, including observation and field experience in the early grades. First, Second, and Third graders develop an intuitive and reverential respect for the Earth as they spend time outside throughout the seasons playing, gardening, composting, and simply being in nature. Classes then move to more....
Though the subject matter is similar to what is taught in other schools, in Waldorf Schools the approach is different. In grades one through five math lessons developed by the class teacher are used, rather than standard textbooks. Then in grades six through eight, individual math textbooks are introduced to prepare the students for the...
All Waldorf teachers are trained storytellers and, over time, their students become storytellers too. Instruction in the elementary grades is primarily oral and often is accompanied with plentiful visual images on the chalkboard. The children recite and retell the stories and curriculum instruction they hear in class. The first real....
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The Waldorf approach to language instruction is based on the common-sense idea that children should learn a foreign language the same way they learn their own. In the early grades they hear it, sing it, and play games with it the way children at home would. Gradually they come to understand the new language, to perform plays....
In a Waldorf school the arts are an integral part of the curriculum. The arts support the development of the growing emotional core of each child by engaging the feeling life. All students learn to paint and draw, sculpt, sing and play the recorder. In addition the children learn to play a stringed instrument and read music, generally....
The practical arts, handcrafts and woodwork balance and complement the student's academic and artistic work. By learning to knit, crochet, sew and work with wood and clay, students develop manual dexterity, coordination, patience and problem solving as well as an appreciation for natural materials, a feeling for color, form....
In Waldorf education the body receives as much attention as the mind. From the earliest grades, where children may learn to recite their times tables while jumping rope, movement informs every aspect of the curriculum. In the early years kindergarten teachers introduce movement through imitation of daily activities, circle games....
Annual class trips, integrated with the curriculum, begin in the third grade. These trips enrich the children's learning experience tremendously. The third grade class trip takes the children to a working farm where they observe and participate in the work of raising plants and tending animals. Seventh graders may head to the Grand Canyon....
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The Waldorf tradition includes the celebration of many festivals. They are an integral part of the life of the community, offering opportunities for people to join together in common experience and feeling. Festivals are celebrated throughout the world, uniting whole communities. The ones celebrated at our school are linked to inspiring....