Introduction
The teacher is challenged to enliven classroom activities with movement, colour, poetry and living imagery. In the lessons there is a balance between listening, speaking and doing, between humour and seriousness, taking in, transforming and giving out.
A pillar of the Waldorf School curriculum is the main lesson. One content subject at a time is taught every day in depth for a period of 3 or 4 weeks. The rest of the timetable follows a regular rhythmic pattern. Core subjects such as mathematics, English literature and grammar appear both in main lesson blocks and ongoing practice periods. Subjects like languages require constant repetition.
In primary school no subject is optional. Each subject has a moral as well as an intellectual content. When taught as an integrated whole, a child is led to comprehend the marvels of the plant world, the wisdom in zoology, the order that reigns in the starry sky, in the body of the human being, in science and in art. The goal is for the child to develop an attitude of wonder, fascination, reverence and gratitude which leads to a joyous enthusiasm and affirmation of life.
The sections below address the specific class curricula:
Classes and Curriculum
Overview of the 7-8 year-old child
Grade 2 is the time of virtue. It is the bridge between the beginnings of formal learning to becoming aware of self; between the wholeness and fairy tale world of Grade 1 and the transformation of soul that takes place in Grade 3. There are two aspects alive in children of this age – they still have their angelic qualities of early children and need a worthy role model to imitate, but they are also awakening to the earthly qualities represented by the animal kingdom. The polarity between the saints and the animals, as revealed in the stories, lives in these children.
During this year the children show enjoyment in their own abilities. They begin to write and read their own little stories after energetically stepping out the sounds in various rhythms and enacting them in little plays. They revel in playing with numbers and counting whatever they can. They are open and trusting and ready to participate positively in all aspects of their learning environment.
Physical, emotional, spiritual
Children in Grade 2 have not yet made a clear distinction between ‘me’ and ‘the outside world’. The children incorporate events and experiences according to their own world picture. Concepts are best assimilated when they are mobile, imaginative and pictorial.
During this year the initial experiences of Grade 1 are deepened and enriched, the new skills from the previous year are practiced and developed. But now the children are more aware of what happens around them and are more confident and exuberant – the terrible twos? The mood of wholeness experienced in Grade 1 differentiates into contrasts – a tempting awareness of the mischievous, both in themselves and their classmates, balanced with a more conscious, ‘down to earth’ feeling for a ‘higher’ more spiritual element.
Rhythmical memory is at its strongest in these early school years and the Grade 2 child learns poems, rhymes and times tables easily through a real enjoyment of rhythmical repetition, often combined with stepping out various rhythms.
Curriculum
In Grade 1 the fairy tale reigns supreme. But the children are ‘coming down to earth’ and are connecting more and more to the physical world around them. In Grade 2 they begin to need a more human element in their stories and the individual’s relation with nature. There are two kinds of stories which do this. The first is the fable in which animals not only speak and enjoy human powers as they do in fairy tales, but they personify a particular human quality, virtue or vice. Fables poke fun at weaknesses of one-sided temperaments. These stories are found in the folk tales of nations all over the world and the temperament of the characters generally agree; sly fox or jackal; greedy wolf or hyena; powerful, slow bear; quick, sanguine, naughty trickster of a rabbit; steady but not stupid tortoise; powerful and easily-angered lion; wise, aloof and majestic elephant. As a balance, Grade 2s also work with stories and legends of great and good Saints who show the human qualities of love and wisdom (St Frances, St Christopher, St Jerome).These holy people live in such sympathy with nature that they communicate with an authority over the elements and over the animals.
These stories form the basis not only for reading and writing, but for arithmetic as well, where simple story sums can be used to introduce and practice the four operations.
Movement has an important part to play, and allied to movement are acting and speech where the actual sounds of words are more important than the sense. In Grade 2 the emphasis is on phonics – how spoken sounds are encoded by particular letters or letter groups.
Curriculum Overview
ENGLISH: Fables, animal stories and legends of saints from world literature told, re-told and acted, written and read. Nature lore. The child is led over to small letters, then to cursive writing. Children’s own writing provides most of the reading. First readers are introduced. Awareness of sounds. Speech formation. Poetry.
MATHEMATICS: The four operations lead into a wider realm of numbers. Tables are learnt by heart. A great deal of mental arithmetic is done to develop facilities and strengthen memory.
ENVIRONMENT STUDY, SECOND and THIRD LANGUAGES, ARTS and TECHNOLOGY, PHYSICAL EXERCISES, SENSE TRAINING: work continued from Grade 1.
At Home
We recommend that parents take steps to protect and defend the Grade 2 child’s own fantasy life from the unceasing assaults of various forms of media and electronic entertainment, television, and commercialism – the amorality and intellectualism of our times. This is best done by allowing plenty of time to be spent in free, creative play with sand, water, wood, fabric – a whole assortment of various and natural materials. Encourage your child to observe, experiment and explore without time limits or an overloaded extramural schedule.
Take an interest in your child’s reading. We teach reading through the active movement of writing. Ask your child to give you rhyming words with short vowel sounds (‘which animal can fly and it rhymes with cat and flat?’; ‘Which body part rhymes with sand?’ etc.) We learn many rhyming verses in class – these help with things like sound recognition, pronunciation and memory development. Some children are already truly reading ‘chapter books’. Some pretend to do this and others are not even remotely interested yet. Reading will come to your child at the time and pace that she or he is ready for it. However, you can continue the gentle encouragement of starting to read by the three steps: read to your child, read with your child and let them read to you.
Overview of the 8-9 year-old child
The keyword for this age and stage of development is ‘the Rubicon’ – a term used by Rudolf Steiner to describe the transition that the 9 year-old children go through. For the children there is no going back. This is an essential process where they begin to discover their individuality and ways of interacting with the world. Little is said of this important rite of passage in conventional literature but it is important that this stage of development is recognised and understood by both the teachers and by the children’s parents. Like all transitions, it can be a painful ‘birthing’ process. The children start to leave behind the blissful, carefree early childhood and enter their middle childhood.
Physical, emotional, spiritual
At this stage the children become far more aware of both the outer world and their own inner world and this can come with vulnerability and insecurity. It can manifest physically as tummy and headaches, sleep problems, or as emotional problems. Many a parent has voiced their concern to the class teacher about their child’s feelings of their separateness from the world (I am lonely because no one will play with me), irrational fears (a previously secure child may suddenly not want to have playdates or sleep over at a friend’s house), or a dread of losing a loved one (“Who will look after me if mom or dad dies?”) As a teacher, it can be a challenging year, where a class of ‘angels’ begins to see the trusted teacher without the rose-coloured spectacles of previous years. The teacher’s authority will be (and should be) questioned and we are no longer seen to be the font of all knowledge and wisdom. In spite of these negative aspects, this period must be seen in a positive light, for the children emerge with a new-found independence and much personal growth. We have seen many a shy child find their voice and really begin to shine in class. Some little ‘Napoleons’ begin to see that there are other children in the class who have their own ideas and wishes.
Curriculum
The stories from the Old Testament are the ‘meat and bones’ of this year. No longer is it appropriate to cocoon the children. Many of the stories deal with issues of authority and freedom and really bring the children to an awareness of the harsher realities of life. In the very first Main Lesson, the children hear about the story of Adam and Eve’s banishment from Eden. This particular story has a profound impact at this particular time. It perfectly reflects the turmoil that the children find themselves in. Gone is the perfect Garden of Eden, where everything was supplied for them. Now they are ‘on Earth’ (perhaps with quite a bump) and need to find their own way in the world, ‘through the sweat of their brows.’
The children do a great deal of sweating! This is certainly one of the most practical years at school and the children spend a great deal of time outside. Like Adam and Eve, they learn about farming and how we must be the caretakers of the Earth. In this throw- away society, we also try to bring in the subject of recycling at this stage, if not before. Many children are avid ‘Greenies’ and it is wonderful to empower them and to give them hope for the future. They also make their own compost heap and experience amazement when they stick their hands in to find it ‘cooking’ and later to see the rich, worm-filled humus. Like all good farmers, they realise that their plants need much care and that watering and weeding need to happen on a daily basis.
Another very practical lesson is the craft lesson. The children are taught to crochet and they have hands-on experience of making baskets, making simple clay pots and firing them, weaving, spinning, making paper and much more. This makes them much more aware and appreciative of the crafts they see in their homes.
House Building is another firm favourite (both with parents and children alike), for at Michael Oak it has become a tradition that the children are given the project of making a model of a house of their choice. The parents are allowed to give some assistance and many have said how much they enjoyed working together with their child. The project is preceded in class by an in-depth look at the different ways people build their homes around the world, depending upon local resources. With luck, the class also has the chance to build something real and useful out of bricks (like the wall around the vegetable garden), or to do cobbing with straw and clay.
In English, the children begin to see the parts and not just the whole. Sentences are punctuated and can be broken up into nouns, verbs, adjectives. and maybe even adverbs. By now their reading is usually well-established and they enjoy reading from graded readers. Another Michael Oak tradition beloved by us teachers is having parents come in to help children read individually. By now the children are able to make their own summaries of stories they have heard and they also love to make up their own stories and poems. Their spelling can be just as ‘creative’ as their stories at this stage but it generally improves steadily with the regular spelling practice and their increased reading capacity.
Many of the Maths Main Lessons center on the practical use of measurement. These dovetail nicely with the other lessons. We can measure the height of our beans, see how many litres of water we use a day to water the plants, see the mass of our biggest pumpkin etc. We also look at time – from the seasons and best times to plant different crops, to the actual telling of the time on an analogue clock. We also learn about money. Sometimes a class has so many seedlings that they can be sold at a school market. Like proper shopkeepers, the children have to work out the cost and give change. With the proceeds new garden tools can be bought – and all from the fruits of one packet of seeds and real teamwork! Such experiences are very valuable in a young child’s life.
Curriculum Overview
ENGLISH: Old Testament stories. Simple composition and dictation. The child writes down what he or she has seen, heard or read. Reading related to the main lessons as well as following a graded reading scheme. Introduction of grammar: the sentence, simple punctuation marks and basic parts of speech: verb, noun, adjective. Speech formation. Poetry.
MATHEMATICS: The four operations applied to simple problems of everyday practical life. Linear-measurement, money, time and mass.
ENVIRONMENT STUDY: Study of farming and house-building through stories, outings and practical activities. Experience of practical life fostered through learning about and performing basic human occupations.
SECOND AND THIRD LANGUAGES : Afrikaans and Xhosa continued. First writing, reading and vocabulary building. Poetry, speech, rhymes and singing.
ARTS AND TECHNOLOGY : Writing of music begins. Recorder playing continues. Singing in parts. Eurythmy. Painting and drawing. Varied crafts. Crochet, simple sewing.
GYMNASTICS: Children begin gymnastics: rhythmical ring games and round dances included.
At Home
With this being a time of transition in the child’s life, support from home is of great importance. In Grade 3 the ‘The Rubicon Year’ needs to be a discussion topic for the first parents’ evening. Parents’ understanding of the situation and acceptance of the child’s new-found striving for independence goes a long way to creating an easy transition for the child. This is a year where it is imperative that there is mutual sharing between parents and teachers. One of the ideal opportunities for this happens during the individual verbal reports that are set up mid-year. Here, in the intimacy of the one-to-one report back, a two-way dialogue can be very revealing and helpful to both home and school.