First Grade Curriculum Overview

Waldorf schools seek to provide balanced educational experiences that equally engage the “head” or intellectual and imaginative capacities, “heart” or emotional and social capacities, and the “hand” or practical and will-oriented capacity in each child. This is carried out through the careful creation of a curriculum in which academic, creative and practical learning are of equal weight, and in which subjects are introduced in a developmentally appropriate manner that resonates internally with the child’s changing frame of mind. All of this is of utmost importance and consideration when children are introduced to the formal classroom setting of the first grade.

The seventh year of a child’s life is a year of great transition: The child begins to have a stronger spirit of independence in their relationship to parents and enters into the social sphere more readily. Additionally, six and seven-year-old children have a new capacity for memory and directed learning. This is also the year in which children enter the first grade at Waldorf schools to embark on their journey through grade school. Waldorf schools seek to ensure that children entering first grade have a healthy experience of the transition into a formal learning environment. With this in mind, the curriculum of the first grade is brought in a creative and lively way, which inspires a sense of wonder and engages the imaginative capacities of each child.

Students are introduced to the language arts through image-rich fairytales and world folktales. Out of these tales come a study of the shape, sound and quality of each letter in the alphabet. Children learn to read only after they have the ability to write each letter and have learned their sounds. Thus writing and reading are introduced, in that order, through imaginative pictures, which serve to enliven the child’s concrete and practical learning. Also central to the language arts curriculum is the recitation of poetry, play-acting, tongue twisters, rhymes, singing and circle games. One of the fairy or folktales used to introduce the alphabet will later become the group’s class play and will be presented to fellow Brooklyn School children and families near the end of the year.

The numbers and the four mathematical functions are also formally introduced to children in first grade. Stories that characterize and give children a qualitative picture of each function are presented in conjunction with the concrete experience of working with manipulatives. The times tables are introduced through rhythmic games and verses that involve the whole body in the leaning process. This approach affords the children an opportunity to enter into the subject imaginatively, emotionally and concretely with head, heart, and hand.

The science curriculum of the first grade takes the form of nature stories and nature walks, outdoor exploration and gardening. These experiences provide the children with a foundation on which formal study of natural science can be built. They also create a mood of love and reverence for nature that is natural and vital in the young child.

In Waldorf schools, children typically learn two foreign languages. At The Brooklyn School we will introduce first graders to Spanish and an additional foreign language through song, verse, and finger-plays. Emphasis is placed on the sound and cadence of the languages before moving on to grammar and vocabulary in the later grades. Hence the classroom environment is one of full immersion in the language – modeled after the conditions in which children learn their mother tongue.

Music is woven throughout the entire curriculum of the first grade. Student and teacher sing through many tasks of the day. During morning circle time the group sings seasonal songs and learns to play the pentatonic recorder.

Artistic work and expression is also woven throughout the entire curriculum. The children draw pictures that arise out of the stories and themes of the year. There are weekly explorations of color (in combinations of two or three at a time) through watercolor painting. The children also model with beeswax and occasionally with clay. Artistic expression is extended into practical work through the handwork curriculum, in which all children learn to knit and work with wool, both in its raw form and spun form. Handwork and artistic work increases dexterity and affords students the opportunity to develop greater fine-motor skills and hand-eye coordination.

Movement Education is introduced through Games Class and Eurythmy, a form of movement arising out of the philosophy of Rudolf Steiner, the founder of Waldorf Education. Eurythmy provides a movement experience that harmonizes poetry, tone and movement. Games Class is a precursor to Physical Education and introduces the children to group games that enhance their ability to problem solve and work as a whole. It also provides the children with a structure through which they can use and improve gross motor functions, which are vital to healthy learning and development.