Grade 1 through 6

Between the ages of seven and fourteen, children understand the world through their feelings. During these years, the teacher must be an artist - transforming intellectual facts into great imaginative pictures, deeply felt experiences and all-engaging activities. The curriculum is structured around the main lesson - a concentrated daily two-hour session in which one subject is dealt with for three or four weeks at a time.

The subjects for these main lesson blocks are set out in a well-structured curriculum that meets the inner need of the child at each step of his or her development. The later morning lessons are devoted to French and English, arithmetic, social studies or science, as the curriculum unfolds. The lessons requiring the greatest degree of physical and artistic activity, such as painting, modelling, handwork, and physical education, are scheduled in the afternoon, when children are generally more restless and active.

The development and exercise of the basic skills of writing, reading and arithmetic is a gradual process during the first three grades. The aim is to establish basic abilities in these areas by the end of grade three, recognizing that children differ widely in the maturation process necessary for competence in these subjects.

Unique to the Waldorf approach in the elementary school is the child's relationship with the class teacher. While a class does meet a variety of teachers, ideally the class teacher is responsible for teaching the core curriculum to the same class of children from Grade One to Grade Eight. Among many other advantages, this long-term relationship with the child enables the class teacher to teach the whole child, according to his/her needs, at each level of development.