1st - 5th Grade
Starting in 1st grade, students have a classroom teacher who ideally will teach the same class all the way through 8th grade. The bond created between students and their teacher is one of trust, love, and deep understanding. Under the parent-like supervision of the teacher, students feel safe to gently begin to expand their knowledge in a way unique to Waldorf education. Students also form close bonds with one another, and after years of learning and growing side by side often feel that their classmates are more like siblings.
Students enter 1st grade mentally prepared to engage with their new academic studies in a safe, approachable environment. The strong daily rhythm established in kindergarten continues through these years, with more subject variety being added in each year. Math, language arts, history, science, and more are taught during the main lesson block in the first few hours of each day. Our teachers use a uniquely Waldorf approach to teaching these subjects, through a dynamic combination of lecture, movement, art, story telling, singing, and recitation.
In addition to the movement used to aid in teaching within the classroom, students also have two recess breaks each day, and Eurythmy and Movement classes throughout the week. We understand that children have vast stores of physical energy, and that an engaged mind begins with an engaged body.
The 1st grade - 5th grade years have so many fun, interesting, and unique curriculum aspects to them. For example, 3rd graders have a weekly cooking lesson, a farm and garden learning block, and a shelter building learning block, while 5th graders participate in the Pentathlon. As always, our curriculum is rooted in the belief that subjects should be taught at a developmentally appropriate age, and that teaching should be done through the head, heart, and hands.
