Lower School

1st Grade

Children come to 1st Grade full of curiosity and are met by teachers who foster the skills necessary to learn, work, and play in an atmosphere of warmth and reverence. Around the age of seven, children reach a milestone as they make the transition to the middle years of childhood or the second seven-year period of development.

1ST GRADE CURRICULUM

2nd Grade

The curriculum and experiences in the 2nd Grade year build on the foundation of 1st Grade. Students transition from the experience of one and the whole to duality and comparison. The children enter 2nd Grade with an established relationship with their class teacher.

2ND GRADE CURRICULUM

3rd Grade

The 3rd Grade curriculum speaks to the consciousness of the child who is turning nine. As this age, the child becomes more self-aware, and there can be a new sense of distance from the joys of early childhood. There might be questions about many things, some of them quite profound. The Waldorf curriculum is meant to reassure, nurture, and help the child move ahead with confidence through this significant threshold.

3RD GRADE CURRICULUM

4th Grade

4th Grade marks a clear change in the work the students do and what is expected of them. The habits and skills that have been developed are now put to use in tackling new and varied subjects. Animals are studied in such a way that the children must use their capacities for discernment to recognize and describe the unique qualities of each animal. The children also begin to explore their own environment, making maps and learning about the rich culture and ecosystems that exist in North Carolina.

4TH GRADE CURRICULUM

5th Grade

At ten or eleven years old, the 5th Grader can be seen as standing on a fulcrum or a see-saw. One minute they can be looking back, acting like 2nd Graders, playing imaginative games or singing songs they learned years earlier, then the next minute they are acting like moody teenagers, trying on all the vivaciousness and attitudes they have observed in older students. Children start to look at what is coming in the teen years and wonder how they will handle the changes they are beginning to experience in themselves. It is a time for reflection, solidifying foundations and exploring how cultures of the world have grappled with the questions of existence. How did we get here? How should we behave towards the world and each other? How should one conduct themselves honorably? How does one find purpose in life? What happens when we die?

5TH GRADE CURRICULUM