The Lower School curriculum for Grades 1-8 at Summerfield Waldorf is dynamic and diversified. Mastery of the traditional academic disciplines is interwoven with artistic and practical activities to provide a dynamic and engaging educational experience for every student. Unique to Waldorf lower grades is a "looped class" where teacher ideally stays with a class from Grade 1 through Grade 8.
Engaging Head, Heart, Hands, and Land — Grades 1 through 8
Central to Waldorf Education is a recognition of and a respect for the child’s unfolding individuality. The Lower School curriculum is designed to meet the child’s specific developmental needs from the early years through adolescence. Through multi-disciplinary teaching methods such as the use of art, music, movement and recitation in all academic subjects, lesson work is made relevant, which deepens learning and retention.
By using various methods and by taking into account the individual child’s gifts and challenges of each child, Waldorf Education can support children and adolescents in a way that brings their gifts to fruition while, at the same time, helps them cope with their challenges.
In the grade school years, children are led to an exploration of meaning through awakening interest, enthusiasm and love for the subject at hand.
Lower School at a glance
- Grades: 1 through 8 (ages 6–14)
- Class size: 15–20 students per grade
- Class teacher: ideally stays with a class from 1st through 8th grade
- Daily hours, Grade 1: 8:30am – 1:30pm M, T, W, F · 1:00pm early dismissal Thu
- Daily hours, Grades 2–6: 8:30am – 3:10pm M, T, W, F · 1:00pm early dismissal Thu
- Daily hours, Grades 7–8: 8:15am – 3:00pm M–F
- After School Program offered until 5:30pm daily; see Tuition & Fees for the hourly rate.
Grade 1 entry: student must turn 6 years old prior to June 1 of enrollment year.
Curriculum overview
The lower school curriculum is dynamic and diversified, offering humanities, mathematics, science and the arts. Mastery of the traditional academic disciplines is interwoven with artistic and practical activities to provide a dynamic and engaging educational experience for every student. Unique to Waldorf elementary school is the class teacher who ideally stays with a class from 1st through 8th grade.
Our teacher-to-student ratio is high, with a typical lower school class size ranging from 15-20 students per grade (one grade per class).
The rhythm of the day starts with the work that requires intellectual focus and ends with activities that engage the body and hands. First, a 90-minute Main Lesson period which focuses on one subject for 3-4 weeks. This uninterrupted time is led by the class teacher who addresses three areas of child development: social skills, academic capacities and aesthetic sensibility. Each student creates a record of main lesson work in books that are filled with compositions, observations, maps, diagrams and illustrations. These colorful main lesson books are carefully crafted with attention to detail and artistic presentation and become a unique expression of each child’s learning experience.
Snack, recess, and shorter periods follow the main lesson with subjects such as foreign language, English, math, music, painting, handwork, crafts, physical education, eurythmy (a form of movement), and farming/gardening.
Grades 7-8 mark the beginning of an apprenticeship period of education which ends with 10th grade. During these years, students begin to develop the skills necessary for life-long self-education. Arts and crafts sessions four (4) afternoons each week, broken into four-week focus periods, provide an opportunity for students to imagine, design, execute, and review projects in drawing, painting, textiles, woodworking, farming, and metalworking.
Main Lesson — a 3 to 4-week, intensive focus on one academic subject for around two hours in the beginning of their day. Teachers engage students in these two hours using lecture, movement, art, music, recitation, lab work and more to make learning academic subjects relevant and engaging.
Special subjects and topics — Foreign Language (Spanish, German) • Farming • Eurythmy (movement) • Physical Education • Handwork • Drawing • Painting • Music
Curriculum by grade
Jump to a grade: 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8
Grade 1 (Age 6-7)
As children greet their teacher for the first handshake, an eight-year journey begins through childhood and into adolescence. This journey is a time when gaining knowledge of the world must be experienced with one’s whole being, a time when truths clothed in imagination nourish the child’s soul and become seeds for free, independent thinking. The elements of the core curriculum are as follows:
FOCUS: Transition to formal learning, nurturing a love for stories and letters.
MAIN LESSONS: Fairy tales, introduction to letters (through pictures and stories), numbers, form drawing, nature studies.
SKILLS: Writing, reading, basic arithmetic, artistic expression.
DRAWING: Weekly drawing lessons use images from the fairy tales to teach techniques for drawing basic shapes such as people, houses, trees, etc., using block crayons to draw from out of the color. Lines become color limits, and the blending of colors is a major theme.
PAINTING: The class works mainly with primary colors, experiencing the living quality of each color and its relationship to the others.
MUSIC: Daily children sing in the pentatonic mood of the fifth and play pentatonic flutes.
HANDWORK: The first grade begins the year by creating their own knitting needles through sanding, waxing and polishing. Students learn how to knit and are introduced to the basic skills of casting on and off. They knit squares and learn to shape them into animals by sewing, stuffing, adding tails, ears, etc. Their creativity and powers of decision are being developed for more complicated tasks in later years.
Field Trip: Simple nature walks and farm visits to connect with the natural world.
Grade 2 (Age 7-8)
The children are characterized by an increasing liveliness, and are constantly moving. They can seem to live in extremes: one moment joyfully engaged in an activity, and the next moment a social disruption may turn everything upside down. They become increasingly opinionated, have intense feelings and reactions. The teaching must therefore become more intense, with heightened movements for morning circle such as stamping, marching and galloping; recognizing number patterns through changing rhythms, and engaging the wills of the children with all their youthful energy to put themselves into their limbs and their senses.
FOCUS: Moral development through fables and legends. MAIN LESSONS: Fables, animal stories, stories of saints and heroes, grammar, arithmetic (times tables, place value). SKILLS: Reading fluency, writing full sentences, mental math, cursive writing.
GAMES: The emphasis is on the human voice to initiate movement; for example, one side becomes the sheep and speaks a verse that calls the fox to chase. Students also jump rope, play follow-the-leader, run in geometric patterns, and learn several hand-clapping and string games.
MODELING: The children model with beeswax and clay simple forms that come out of stories that they have been told.
HANDWORK: In second grade, the fundamental knitting skills are reinforced. Following a somewhat rigid pattern of bands, they learn the purl stitch, along with learning to knit and purl in patterned sequence, changing colors, casting on and off, and identifying mistakes and correcting them. Their thinking and awareness are awakened with the changing requirements of this project. Their second project is knitting a doll. With this project, they bring more of their individuality into designing how they want their doll to look, reinforcing the skills of focusing, planning and producing.
Field Trip: Simple nature walks and farm visits to connect with the natural world.
Grade 3 (Age 8-9)
Main Lesson books are introduced. Daily work is done in speech formation through speech exercises, verses and poems. Spelling words are given weekly. The writing of business letters is introduced. Old Testament Stories as beginning history are learned. Composition and Grammar begins. Study of Practical Life (farming, housing and clothing) happens on our farm. Long Division, Time, Weights, Measures and Money in Arithmetic are introduced.
FOCUS Practical life skills and independence (9-year change) MAIN LESSONS: Old Testament stories, farming, house building, measurement, time, and money SKILLS: Grammar, composition, multiplication/division, practical projects (gardening, cooking)
HOUSE-BUILDING: The children learn that the human body is our very first home. They experience how human beings construct houses out of materials they find in the area in which they live. The class studies houses from around the world.
FARMING: The class learns that the earth is a living, breathing being. Weekly, they attend Farm class.
PRACTICAL ACTIVITIES: The children learn to cook and bake, activities which appeal to the warm feeling life at this age, and simple projects of weaving, dyeing carding, and spinning wool are led.
PAINTING AND DRAWING: Basic color exercises are continued in painting, and some first attempts at allowing the form to arise out of the color are begun. Drawing with block crayons continues, with more complicated themes.
MODELING: The class works with beeswax modeling figures connected to the main lesson work and the seasons.
HANDWORK: The third grade children are introduced to the crochet hook and they learn to create many practical items. Their main project is to create a hat for themselves. Knowing how to create the form without a pattern develops a sense of confidence in the material world. The Third Grade is also introduced to the practical arts of spinning and dyeing.
Field Trips: Trips to farms or homesteads, reinforcing their study of farming, shelters, and practical life skills.
“During the ninth year, the child takes a deep breath and draws itself out of the world in which they were united and goes into an inner soul space within the physical body. The world becomes an object, as the sense of Self grows stronger. The age of the dream is passing, and a new age that will one day culminate in the attainment of full waking consciousness begins to dawn. The Third Grade curriculum has a more realistic, practical quality than the first two grades.”
— Rudolf Steiner
Grade 4 (Age 9-10)
For the Fourth Grade child, the inner and outer worlds are no longer one. The child experiences these worlds as torn apart. Self-consciousness becomes stronger, and the soul life becomes more inward and independent. The task of the teacher and parent is to lead the child into a world that is filled with beauty and meaning.
FOCUS: Expanding independence and understanding the world. MAIN LESSONS: Norse mythology, local geography, fractions, zoology SKILLS: Composition writing, long division, mapmaking, artistic expression
FORM DRAWING: The main work of the year comes out of drawing Celtic designs, which adds the more difficult aspect of weaving the lines wherever they cross.
MODELING: This year, the class is introduced to working with clay in the creation of different animal forms using themes from Main Lessons.
HANDWORK: The Fourth Grade begins the year by weaving a small pouch from the plant-dyed wool they created in third grade. Their main project is a cross-stitch, with mirroring picture designs. Cross-stitch requires projective thinking, as the children imagine the needle underneath their work and move it to the proper placement. They are met with the challenge of precision, as well as choosing colors that please them.
SPECIAL SUBJECTS:
Spanish: Choral Recitation of Poems, Songs, California’s Hispanic Heritage, Beginning Grammar Music: Singing, Music Theory, Diatonic Flute; Instrumental Music: Violin; Handwork: Cross-stitch
FARMING: Animal Care- Duck, Rabbits, Chickens and Cows
Circus: Unicycling, Gymnastics
Painting: Techniques, Animals, Landscapes
Field Trips: Local geography trips, often including visits to rivers, mountains, or historical sites.
Grade 5 (Age 10-11)
Graceful movement and balance. The step is still light, the joy still natural. New capacities of thought are awakening, yet the children are still immersed in an intrinsic sense of beauty and order. Music and poetry speak to the nobility that lives in eleven-year olds, while the great battles of Troy, Marathon and Thermopylae in Greece awaken their interest in adventure and their love of action. The students readily identify with the heroes’ quests: the struggles and trials of Heracles, and the adventures of Perseus, and the story of Atalanta, a young woman who grows up to become the fastest runner in the world, and learns that part of being human is to change and forgive.
FOCUS: Balance between childhood and preadolescence. MAIN LESSONS: Ancient civilizations (India, Egypt, Greece), botany, decimals, Greek athletics (Pentathlon). SKILLS: Essay writing, critical thinking, geography, geometry.
PAINTING AND DRAWING: In painting, many themes are taken from the main lesson work with an emphasis on strength and lightness of color. Shaded drawing is done with stick crayon and pencil.
FORM DRAWING: The drawing of complicated Celtic designs with the element of weaving is continued. The drawing of Greek shields and some Greek designs in perspective is also introduced. A few steps are taken into the realm of geometry, which will formally begin in Sixth Grade.
SPATIAL DYNAMICS: The “Heavy/Light” or “Wide/Thin” Bothmer Gymnastics exercise brings a strong rhythm through its dramatic quality that plays with the forces of gravity and levity. Much work is done with the Greek exercises: discus, javelin, wrestling, running and long jump. They are all done for the glory of the gods of Olympus with beauty, speed, grace and strength. Several Waldorf schools gather for the Pentathlon, a competitive display of the Greek exercises learned in Fifth Grade. Gymnastics and tumbling continue in Class Five. Each child learns to fall, tumble, and do cartwheels and handstands. Many perform in the Circus Waldissima.
HANDWORK: The Fifth Grade children return to knitting, something most of them did in First and Second Grade. They knit socks for themselves, now using four needles. With the intricate shaping of the heel (involving mathematical progressions), it is a yearlong project. This project requires a good measure of perseverance, concentration, and patience.
Field Trips: A “Greek Olympics” event, supporting their studies of Ancient Greece and physical education.
Grade 6 (Age 11-12)
Imaginative thinking, which is characteristic of early childhood, begins to undergo a metamorphosis from which will emerge the ability to form abstract concepts. This thinking that has ripened from a healthy imagination is a “warm and mobile thinking.” Thought is imagination’s child. The ability to form abstract concepts is normally born in the late pre-adolescent period. Whereas in the Fifth Grade year, the child seemed to move with grace, lightness and agility, now movement becomes heavier, angular, and loses rhythm. The human spirit begins to penetrate the organism as far as the muscle and skeleton.
Only in Grades Six, Seven and Eight can all aspects of life and science that depend on mechanical laws be rightly presented. At this stage, when the soul-spirit being connects itself to the mechanism of the bony system and to abstraction of thought, a whole realm of new subjects and new ways of observing the world can be introduced to the class.
FOCUS: Strengthening reasoning and independence. MAIN LESSONS: Roman history, medieval times, astronomy, physics, geology, business math. SKILLS: Debate, geometry, grammar, scientific inquiry.
SPATIAL DYNAMICS: At the age of 12, the inner soul-life pushes through to the muscles. What was formerly done in a playful mood can now be taken up with precision and regular practice. The children learn the Bothmer Gymnastic exercise called “The Triangle.” They do rod exercises and rod fencing. They prepare for the Medieval Games by running, jousting, jumping, and throwing the javelin at a target, archery, and obstacle courses. Team sports such as basketball and volleyball are introduced, and many other games are played, including soccer, softball, and kickball. Basketball, volleyball, and cross-country teams are formed for an after-school sports league.
WOODWORK: Carving projects may include spatulas or spoons. Gouges, rasps, knives, scrapers and sandpaper are used to finish the project. Discussions focus on learning to gauge thickness, smoothness, shape, and texture; efficient and safe use of tools.
HANDWORK: The Sixth Graders are given the task of making a three-dimensional animal. This develops and requires new abilities, from drawing to imaginative picturing of how a three dimensional creation can be formed from cloth. They are working, for the first time, at looking at the parts towards the whole. There is much careful attention to detail every step of the way, including hand-sewing techniques.
Field Trips: Geology field trips, medieval history tours, and physics-related excursions.
Grade 7 (Age 12-13)
Two gestures characterize the student of Seventh Grade: an outer, active interest and curiosity, and a dynamic inner questioning. An appetite for knowledge of world phenomena mingles with a budding capacity for reflection and the first prompting of self-reflection. In this picture of emerging forces, the physical changes that accompany maturation and the capacities for conceiving new ideas and new life begin to manifest more clearly. The seventh grade curriculum themes mirror the pupils’ outer exploration of the world and their own inner journey. Main Lessons can provide themes for watercolor painting, but the wet-on-wet method is no longer the main focus of art. More freedom in illustrating Main Lesson Books and the use of calligraphy pens give the students more responsibility for beauty and detail in their Main Lesson
FOCUS: Exploration and discovery (Renaissance mindset)
MAIN LESSONS: Renaissance, Age of Exploration, physics, chemistry, human physiology, algebra SKILLS: Research, essay writing, independent thinking
ART: In weekly art lessons, as well as in Main Lesson, the seventh graders draw, paint and clay-model to strengthen their developing observation skills. The students model their own hand in clay, study sketches by the great artists of the Renaissance, and try their hand in creating portraits of the Renaissance artists in pencil, watercolor and/or pastel. Main Lessons can provide themes for watercolor painting, but the wet-on- wet method is no longer the main focus of art.
HANDWORK: The Seventh Grade learns the ancient technique of felt making. This tactile process is fun and fairly simple, relying on wool, water, soap and will power to produce a textile. As with many textiles, felt making is historically a group activity. Some students pair up and felt their partner’s slipper onto their partner’s foot. Projects are rolled into rattan blinds and pummeled with hands or feet, and special techniques are employed to shape the work. Slippers, hats, bags and balls are made and later may be embellished with embroidery.
SPORTS: Students are eligible to join the Basketball, Volleyball, Cross-Country teams. They learn teamwork, drive/motivation, how to internalize and resolve the concept of disappointment, hand-eye coordination, agility, and a sense of personal growth and reward as their skills progress within a given sport.
Field Trips: Renaissance-inspired trips, such as visits to museums and historical sites.
Grade 8 (Age 13-14)
Class Eight, like the final note of the octave, comes around again to the beginning of the scale – yet transformed. The overarching theme, this year, is that students find their connection to the whole world and, through that process, come to know themselves. Students are encouraged to take greater responsibility for their learning and given the opportunity for self-discovery. Teachers strive to awaken the light of thinking as students cross the threshold from childhood to young adulthood.
FOCUS: Preparing for high school, connecting history to modern times. MAIN LESSONS: Revolutions (Industrial, American, French), modern history, physics, organic chemistry, geometry. SKILLS: Research projects, advanced math, science experiments, critical analysis.
CLAY: After a brief review and practice of relief, the students are led into transforming a sphere into the five platonic solids. Anatomical studies are sometimes preceded by careful observations and drawings, leading to the sculpting of life-sized bones. In their arts block, students are guided in the formation of horse and rider.
BASKETRY: Eighth Graders learn the basic parts of a basket – ribs, frame, and handle – in order to skillfully and artistically make a small simple basket. They are introduced to a number of materials, both store-bought and gathered from nature, to learn to shape their basket through the weaving of these various materials. Once a basket is completed, the students can expand to different styles, shapes, forms and patterns, using more natural materials, which are harder to control.
WOODWORK: The class makes a three-legged stool. Students choose dimensions to suit the intended purpose, such as a bedside table, a chair for a young child, or a seat for an adult. The seat is cut roughly to shape, and then it is carved with a mallet and a gouge. Knowing the direction of the grain and learning to understand when grain must be cut with, against, or diagonal to the grain is explored. The mortise is cut with a drill and bit. Green logs are split to form rough billets, shaped with a chisel and hammer, refined with a draw-knife, and smoothed with a scraper and sandpaper. The tenons are cut with a special bit, split with a saw, and fitted with a wooden wedge. The parts are assembled and marked so that the position of each leg provides the greatest balance and support for the joint; the angle of each leg must support the aesthetic balance of the whole. The parts are glued, and the stool is sanded and waxed.
HANDWORK: Textiles in the Eighth Grade is the culmination of 8 years of handwork instruction begun in First Grade. It distinguishes itself from previous years by utilizing the sewing machine as an important tool. This complements their study of the Industrial Revolution in the history block. Up until this time, the students have used their own hands as their primary tools during handwork periods. In preparation for a larger project, the students learn all the features of the machine, as well as how to sew a basic straight stitch. Projects may include costumes for their own play, tote bags or pajama pants. They discover that the sewing machine is one of many useful tools, part of a more complex process drawing on many aspects of the entire handwork curriculum.
Field Trips: A culminating trip, often including outdoor adventures, cultural experiences, or service-learning projects
About field trips
Waldorf Education emphasizes experiential learning, and field trips are an essential part of their curriculum. Each grade level takes specific field trips that align with the developmental stage of the students and the subjects they are studying. These trips are designed to deepen their learning through real-world experiences. These trips provide hands-on learning, foster independence, and strengthen the class community. The structure is intentional, supporting both academic subjects and students’ social-emotional development at each stage.
