Story Telling

The power of stories is used to bring each subject area to life. The subject matter is chosen to meet the emotional needs of each age. Every grade has a theme for the year. Stories illustrate the lessons and live within the students during a three-day cycle of listening, recalling, and recording.

Hands-on Activities

Each lesson offers opportunities for students to feel and experience the subject themselves. In this way, students connect the lesson on a deeper level. Instead of learning math facts at a desk, students go to the garden to calculate how many rows of seeds may be planted. When learning how early civilizations made cloth, students visit a sheep ranch and learn to spin yarn themselves. These experiences are unforgettable. Hands-on activities are an integral vehicle for reaching the school’s curriculum objectives.

Movement & Circle Activities

One key factor of academic success is a child’s physical development. Each school day includes a number of opportunities for physical and rhythmic activities that strengthen a child’s coordination, movement, and ability to activate their senses. Physical development and movement are intertwined with academic lessons. For example, verses recited in circle time have accompanying movements. Students jump rope to multiplication tables, and practice rhythm stick activities that emphasize movement that crosses the body’s mid-line. Movement strengthens students’ connection to each lesson.

Art Expression

Artistic expression is a part of each day. Music, drawing, painting, sculpting, and handwork are deeply engaging for children. When children are deeply engaged, a sense of creativity flourishes, and their conception of beauty grows. Teachers and students celebrate the uniqueness of each student’s creation and the accomplishment of completing a project. Art and music enrich every subject studied in school.

Block Rotation

The curriculum of each school year is divided into a block schedule consisting of two to four week periods that allow for intense focus on each subject.  Each morning lesson is dedicated to the designated curriculum area (language arts, math, science, etc.) for the duration of the block. When it is time for the next block of the curriculum area, prior blocks are refreshed, reinforced, and taken one step further.  This type of schedule allows the teacher and students to dive deeply into the subject matter.

Main Lesson Recording

Students record and illustrate what they have learned in each subject in main lesson books. Recording is the final step of the learning cycle. In doing so, students reaffirm what has been learned through classroom and hands-on experiences. These books serve as a cumulative record of each child’s progress and are often cherished keepsakes of a student’s beautiful school experience.

Class Plays

Class plays are an important part of the Waldorf curriculum. The plays selected annually relate to the year’s curriculum theme, and parts are distributed with each student’s innate gifts in mind. The short 10-minute skit performed by first grade grows to a complex, multi-scene play by eighth grade. With each production, the class learns to work together - creating their own costumes, backdrops, and learning each part. Students gain confidence as they perform in front of an audience, and the social aspects of a class play strengthen friendships.