Learning Together Through Grades 1-5
Grade school marks a thoroughfare between the early childhood experience of exploratory play and the more advanced academics and service of the middle school years. The heart of Bright Water Waldorf School’s grade school curriculum consists of multidisciplinary studies: world mythology, foundational math skills, environmental education, world language, geography, visual arts, and practical arts (cooking, gardening, small scale engineering, handwork, woodwork, and fiber arts).
Scholastic, social, and emotional learning break ground in these early grades. We recognize and work with a variety of learning styles and neurodiverse students. Through visual, aural, kinesthetic, and intra-class learning, every student’s way of engaging with content and information is met. We believe that in addition to academic learning, students need support in developing holistic emotional and social skills. Students engage in weekly Class Councils and mixed-aged learning and playing. This supports the development of the life-long skill of being an honorable member of a community.
Artistic activities permeate every facet of students’ learning, feeding their imaginations as they experience the deep tapestries of history through stories and fables. Academic foundations are built through lessons and activities that align with the child’s emerging intellect, character, and body awareness.
Every day begins with a two-hour lesson, which is called the Main Lesson. Main Lesson teaching runs on a block schedule, wherein children deepen their learning on a specific and singular subject, using a variety of methods and materials. Main Lesson books, in which they write and illustrate their learning, become beautiful works of art. Subject classes - world language, handwork, movement, and music are integrated into every day.
Bright Water Waldorf School’s children and main lesson teachers develop a special bond as they progress through the grades. Through the method of classroom looping, teachers may accompany their class for two or more years. This class continuity builds a teacher’s nuanced understanding of each child and creates lasting peer relationships in each class.
The grade school curriculum immerses students in image, sound, and movement. Their gradual emergence into academics is often born out of movement-based learning, such as rhythmic activities for math and coordination development. This strengthens imaginative powers at every level.
The curriculum is multicultural; students study the mythologies of the world. The history of humanity as it unfolds through time is at the core of the curriculum. Both in the classroom as well as through festivals, students learn to recognize the relationships between a culture’s archetypes and their arts and sciences, music, and handcrafts. This develops a curiosity and interest in other cultures, cultivating an understanding and appreciation of our role within the global community.
As students continue to grow in their personal and academic development, there is an emerging appetite for study while still holding a sense of wonder. The ten year old is toe to toe with new ideas, concepts, and challenges. Students continue to use a block schedule in which one subject is taught daily in a morning Main Lesson. This style of block teaching allows the teacher to approach the subject creatively and intensively from different viewpoints and with varied methods and materials. Students are engaging mythic archetypes that mirror aspects of their own formation. There is a cosmo-local orientation from global myths as well as a sense of the local world and geography.
For a more in depth look at the curriculum: Grade 3 Grade 4 Grade 5
