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.
The breadth of the Waldorf School curriculum is only possible through the main lesson system in which 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. Subjects like languages require constant repetition, others like mathematics, English literature and grammar appear both as regular practice periods and as main lessons.
No subject is optional. This is because every subject has a moral as well as an intellectual content. When 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 man's body - in science and in art - he slowly develops an attitude of wonder, reverence and gratitude which leads to a joyous enthusiasm and affirmation of life.
| PRIMARY SCHOOL | ||
| Class 1 | Age 6-7 | |
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ENGLISH: Traditional fairy
tales from world literature told, re-told and dramatised by the class. These stories,
together with poems, provide the main material for writing, development of memory
and imagination. Writing is developed out of movement, painting and drawing, and
reading out of writing and sounds. Each child writes his own first reading books.
Awareness of sounds. Speech formation.
MATHEMATICS:
Rhythmic counting through movement, up to 100. Simple application of the four
operations, from the whole to the parts.
ENVIRONMENT
STUDY: Nature stories and seasonal festivals awaken in the child a more conscious
interest in the world around him. Second and Third
LANGUAGES
: Afrikaans and Xhosa. The child learns through, the spoken word. Games, songs
and poems bring to the ear of the child the rhythm, melody and sound of the language.
Simple conversation stimulated.
ARTS
AND TECHNOLOGY : Singing and playing recorder in the pentatonic scale. Eurythmy.
Drawing of rhythmical forms and balanced patterns to develop judgement, accuracy
and harmony. Water colour painting. Boys and girls learn to knit for well-knit
thinking in later years. Beeswax modelling. PHYSICAL EXERCISES, SENSE TRAINING: Games in the round for social awareness. Exercises and games to develop skills, balance and bodily control.
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| Class 2 | Age7-8 | |
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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 introduced. Awareness of sounds. Speech formation. Poetry. MATHEMATICS : The four operations lead into a wider realm of numbers. Tables learnt by heart. Much mental arithmetic done to develop facility and strengthen memory. ENVIRONMENT STUDY, SECOND and THIRD LANGUAGES, ARTS and TECHNOLOGY, PHYSICAL EXERCISES, SENSE TRAINING: Class 1 work contd.
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Class
3 | Age 8-9 | |
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ENGLISH: Old Testament stories. Simple composition and dictation. The child writes down what he has seen, heard or read. Reading related to main lesson. Introduction of grammar: the sentence, punctuation marks, verb, noun, adjective. Speech formation. Poetry. MATHEMATICS : The four operations applied to simple problems of practical life. Linear -measurement, money, time, 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 and reading. Poetry, speech, rhymes and singing. ARTS AND TECHNOLOGY : Writing of music begun. Recorder playing. Singing. Eurythmy. Painting and drawing. Varied crafts. Crochet, simple sewing. GYMNASTICS : Children begin gymnastics: rhythmical ring games and round dances included.
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Class
4 | Age 9-10 | |
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ENGLISH: Deepening and enrichment of feeling through Norse and Celtic myths and hero tales from world literature. These provide material for writing, reading and dramatising. Descriptive writing and stories. Letter writing. Verb tenses; parts of speech; study of sentence formation. Poetry. MATHEMATICS: Simple fractions. Mass; capacity; story sums. ENVIRONMENT STUDY: Study of the child's immediate environment leads over to history and geography of the neighbourhood. NATURE STUDY: Transition from imaginative treatment of the kingdom of nature to more objective study. Elementary study of man. Characteristic animals discussed in relation to man. SECOND AND THIRD LANGUAGES: Afrikaans and Xhosa continued. Writing and reading of simple prose. ARTS AND TECHNOLOGY: Painting and drawing. Embroidery, including cross stitch and design. Clay modelling. Eurythmy. Theory of music. Recorder playing. Singing in rounds. GYMNASTICS: With and without apparatus.
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Class
5 | Age 10-11 | |
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ENGLISH: Myths and epics of Greece provide the subject matter for telling, reading, writing and drama. Active and passive voice. Direct and indirect speech. All parts of speech. Sentence building. Speech formation. MATHEMATICS: Measurement. Fractions, common and decimal. Artistic introduction to geometry. HISTORY and GEOGRAPHY: History introduced out of mythology. Ancient civilisations: India, Persia, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece. Inter-dependence of the earth and man. South Africa before colonisation and first contacts between different cultures. NATURE STUDY: Elementary plant study. Animal study continued. Gardening. SECOND AND THIRD LANGUAGES : Afrikaans and Xhosa continued. Study of the development of writing through the ages. The Greek alphabet. Simple Greek sayings. ARTS and TECHNOLOGY : Painting and drawing related to main lesson subjects. Theory of music. Recorder playing in parts. Eurythmy. Knitting small articles of clothing. Clay modelling. GYMNASTICS: With and without apparatus.
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Class
6 | Age 11-12 | |
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ENGLISH: Roman myths and legends. Stories from the Middle Ages. Descriptions of different peoples and how they live. Letter writing continued. Description. Phrases and clauses. Speech formation. Poetry. MATHEMATICS : Interest and percentage. Geometry developed out of drawing practised in previous years. HISTORY: Roman history. Influence of the Greco-Roman cultural epoch up to the beginning of the fifteenth century. South Africa: British occupation. GEOGRAPHY: Southern hemisphere: Africa compared with Australia and South America. The night sky. Climate. SCIENCE: Elementary phenomena in acoustics, light and colour. NATURE STUDY: Introduction to rocks and minerals. Animal and plant study continued. Gardening. SECOND AND THIRD LANGUAGES: Afrikaans and Xhosa continued. Origin of English words in Latin. ARTS and TECHNOLOGY: Painting. Soft toys, made to children's patterns developed from their own drawings. Music. Singing. Eurythmy. Woodwork : introduction to handling basic tools in carving simple practical objects. GYMNASTICS : Exercises become more precise and conscious
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Class
7 | Age 12-13 | |
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ENGLISH: Stories of races and folklore provide the material for reading and telling. Reported speech. Forms to express wish, wonder and surprise develop understanding for style and literary expression. Differentiating between one's own and someone else's opinion. Composition and business letters. Speech formation. MATHEMATICS : Discount, profit and loss, area, volume, powers (ratio and proportion). Introduction to algebra. Geometry up to the Theorem of Pythagoras. Introduction of formulae. Perspective drawing. HISTORY: Epoch of discovery and invention. The beginning of modem science from the fifteenth century and with it the beginning of modem civilisation. The great discoverers. South Africa: implication of discovery of gold and diamonds. GEOGRAPHY : Northern hemisphere: Europe, North America, Asia. Economic aspects, cultural conditions. The night sky. PHYSICS : Mechanics: levers, pulleys, machines. Heat, magnetism, electricity. CHEMISTRY: Combustion-elementary examples. Crystallisation. introduction to acid, base, salt. Comparison of sulphur, carbon, phosphorus. Some familiar metals. NATURE STUDY : Main physiological functions of the human body. Nutrition, health, hygiene. Ecology and conservation. Gardening. SECOND AND THIRD LANGUAGES : Afrikaarns and Xhosa continued. Developing a feeling for the character of the language. ARTS and TECHNOLOGY : Painting exercises in layer technique. Perspective in drawing. Music and singing. Eurythmy. Needlework : a simple garment made by hand. Woodcarving: bowls and toys with moving parts. GYMNASTICS : More advanced exercises in control of movement.
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Sport and Extra-Mural Activities
Despite the fact that Michael Oak does not have much in the way of sports facilities, due to the small grounds, we do still manage to engage the children in a range of sporting and cultural activities after school. We see this as an important aspect of each child's development.