Writing

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 composition work begins in second grade with "talking on paper". Often the students and teacher together write what is known as a class composition. The teacher writes a topic sentence on the chalkboard, and the class adds sentences and edits as a group.

Up through sixth grade, students practice their writing skills individually by rewriting what they hear in class. They may also compose simple letters and family histories. In the middle grades, they begin learning how to write a traditional research paper with a bibliography. By seventh and eight grades, students are perfecting their individual writing skills in preparation for high school.