Grade One

Grade One Learning Objectives

In Grade One the foundations for literacy and numeracy are laid through the beautiful images and musical sounds of stories. Fairy tales, nature stories, and folk tales from around the world are the basis for the introduction of the four arithmetic processes and the sounds and shapes of letters.

Numbers come alive in a magical way in our Waldorf classroom, and concepts are brought to life with story, song, movement, and repetition. Students use manipulatives, chalkboards, and mental math practice to solve story problems. First Graders learn word sounds and shapes through games and stories. Out of their understanding of word sounds, students begin the process of writing their own stories. First graders learn best through repetition and imitation, and their imaginations are allowed to flourish by listening to and creating stories about words and numbers. 

In Main Lesson, students also sing and play the pentatonic flute with their class teacher. Singing freely in the “mood of the fifth” brings a floating, unfinished quality that is appropriate for the first grader.

Grade One engages the art of the stage through their first class play, which is performed for the grade school community. They form special relationships with students from other classes through intentional mixed-grade play, learning, and mentoring. Each first grade student is paired with a middle school student who companions them in special ways throughout the academic year, such as the beginning of the year Rose Ceremony and unique hand work projects. Together they form a rich and special bond that strengthens interpersonal skills and seeds the need for kindness and patience both within our school community and the rest of the world.

Students have much to accomplish in Grade One: they begin a structured academic curriculum; develop their will and self-discipline; and continue their cultivation of imagination, curiosity, and creativity in the process of learning.

Subject Classes

• Japanese

  Grade One is a year of imitative learning in the target language. Students are fully immersed in the language without translation. They naturally absorb the language by interacting exclusively in it: through conversation and greetings, song, poetry recitations, games, and cultural stories. No writing or grammar is introduced overtly. The focus of the class is on the whole group rather than the individual. Main lesson curriculum and habits are reinforced through the target language.

  Our students have regular opportunities to immerse themselves in Japanese culture because of our location and partnership within the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Washington. 

• Handwork

  The students begin their journey of handwork with simple knitting. The rhythmic and repetitive activity of knitting develops concentration, strengthens small motor skills/hand-eye coordination, and brings a sense of calm and well-being to the student. They also practice basic skills like raising hands, waiting for a turn, and helping others. These skills help develop healthy work and social habits for all the handwork lessons to come. Knitting, which reinforces left and right brain connection and math skills, is introduced as a foundational life-skill that supports future stages of learning and development.

  In the first few weeks of grade school, students transition from the Early Childhood program to Grade One. Finger knitting skills from the Early Childhood program are reviewed and practiced, strengthening the students’ confidence and readiness to learn knitting. Once students have become confident knitters, they are ready to focus on details in their work. Students learn the purl stitch and knit beautiful and functional cases for their wooden pentatonic flutes.

• Movement

  The first grade student is living deep in the world of imagination. All of our activities work to enliven this imagination, using stories and characters to introduce games and to provide students with opportunities to explore new ways of being, finding courage, and helping others. The first grader should take great joy in moving, and class activities will build upon this delight. The beginning of our year will include a great deal of free play as the children become more familiar with one another and the routines of their class. The class will eventually move into more organized forms of play and will include many circle games, games involving chasing, tagging, skipping, jumping, hopping, body geography, hand clapping games, and activities that require a certain degree of listening.

  All students also participate in twice weekly Aikido classes, a Japanese martial art of shugyo: an intense physical and spiritual training to perfect human character and develop true wisdom. First graders receive their first gi; the gi helps to cultivate discipline and respect through its proper care and maintenance. All our movement classes support the students’ emerging social and spatial awareness.

• Environmental Education | Place Based Learning

  Students engage their local bioregion through autumn day field trips to local farms and spring-time visits to the tidal flats of the Salish Sea. They begin to expand their understanding of existing within an interrelated whole—that they too are members of their local ecologies. Students learn about the process of bringing food to table, and begin to learn about the Cedar River through releasing salmon back into our local watershed.