Grade School

The curriculum of the Waldorf grade school is rich and diversified, offering humanities, mathematics, science and the arts. Mastery of the traditional academic disciplines is interwoven with artistic and practical activities to provide a rich and varied educational experience for every student.

Each morning begins with the Main Lesson, lasting for two hours and taught by the class teacher. During this uninterrupted time the class teacher leads the students in a rhythmic component of the lesson, then presents the current academic subject, which the children question and discuss. The teacher engages the students with a variety of approaches: scientific, literary, historical and artistic. Each student creates a record of main lesson work in books that are filled with compositions, observations, maps, diagrams and illustrations. These colourful Main Lesson books are carefully crafted with attention to detail and artistic presentation. They are a unique and vital element of Waldorf education.

A recess and shorter periods follow the Main Lesson with subjects such as French, choral and instrumental music, handwork, wood work, clay modelling, form-drawing, painting, movement education, eurythmy (form of movement), and gardening/farming. Thus, the rhythm of the day alternates between the work that requires intellectual focus and physical activities that engage the body and hands.

The following is a brief summary of the language arts, mathematics and science curriculum presented in Main Lesson, grade by grade.

The Waldorf Curriculum For Grades 1-8

GRADE I Fairy tales, folk tales and nature stories, pictorial introduction to letters; preparation for reading through writing; qualities of numbers; introduction of the four operations in arithmetic GRADE III Old Testament stories; composition and grammar; study of practical life (farming, housing and clothing); time, weights, measures and money in arithmetic. GRADE V Ancient history and mythology from India, Persia, and Egypt; Greek mythology and history; Canadian geography related to vegetation and agriculture; botany; decimals. GRADE VII The Age of Discovery; Renaissance history; physics – electricity and magnetism; elementary chemistry; human physiology (health and nutrition); algebra; geometry; business math (profit/loss).

GRADE II Legends and fables; stories of saints and heroes; continued work in writing, reading and arithmetic; introduction of cursive writing. GRADE IV Norse mythology and sagas; local geography and map-making; local history; study of the animal kingdom; fractions and decimal fractions. GRADE VI Roman and Medieval history; astronomy; geology; physics (sound, light); beginning algebra; geometry, and geometric drawing; business math (interest percentage), ratio and proportion. GRADE VIII Modern history; world geography; Industrial Revolution, French and American Revolutions, physiology (human skeleton); physics; algebra; geometry; elementary chemistry; meteorology; epic and dramatic poetry.