The Lower School (Ages 7 to 14) in Steiner Waldorf education
In their seventh year the children enter Class 1. Here they meet their Class Teacher who, ideally, will stay with them for the next eight years. This continuity of Class Teacher for the main part of each day helps to foster a sense of security in the children. For the teacher it brings a deeper understanding of the needs of the individual child, as well as an additional teaching challenge and an impetus to inner renewal.
At this age and indeed for the next seven years, the children live very strongly in their feeling life. While they can learn readily what appeals to their artistic sense, it is more helpful to their later intellectual development if they do not work with purely abstract concepts at this stage.
Memory is, therefore, developed especially through the sense of rhythm, and a strong foundation is given through content being presented, not intellectually, but in a vivid, pictorial way.
All main subjects such as English, Maths, History, Geography, Physics, Chemistry, etc., are studied in depth in block periods of 3-4 weeks in the Main Lesson, which begins each day. The curriculum is structured so that children receive what they need at each stage of their development. For example, in Class 8 (age 13-14) when the children are in puberty and very conscious of physical changes, basic physiology is taught.
The Lower School curriculum
Class One
There is a rhythm to the day, week and year, and festivals are important. Teaching is pictorial and imaginative, the aim being to stimulate the intellect through activity, rhythm and imagination. Time is spent laying down good habits of classroom life and work, cultivating reverence for nature, respect for others and learning to connect with and care for the children's environment.
Writing is introduced using pictures, rhymes and stories, and practised with form drawing and movement. Reading begins with the children's own written work and familiar songs and poems. Listening and speaking skills are also practised, with nature stories and fairy tales from around the world. Number work is begun, again with pictures, rhymes and stories. The four processes are introduced and a start is made on learning times tables.
Class Two
Stories from the lives of saints, legends and fables are the primary literary base for writing, speaking and reading. Cursive writing is begun, and composition is introduced, which aids spelling. Reading skills continue to develop, working with word families, vowels and diphthongs, moving from familiar to new texts. Maths work builds with mental practice and longer exercises, moving on to larger numbers, number bonds, odd and even numbers, columns and carrying over. Geometrical form drawing is begun. Nature stories help the children to understand the cycles of nature, reinforced by walks.
Class Three
The focus is on practical activities, especially farming, gardening and building, and includes a building project. There are several trips in connection with these topics.
Stories are from the Old Testament, including Genesis. The children begin to write full sentences from stories and activities, explore nouns, verbs, adjectives and punctuation, and move on to descriptive and creative writing. In maths, practice of all 12 tables continues; long multiplication and long division are introduced, money handling and change, and various forms of measurement – linear, liquids, solids and temporal.
Class Four
The main lessons provide opportunities for more independent work, including individual project work.
Mythology is now introduced, especially the Norse myths, and in form drawing Celtic knot work in particular is explored.
In English, grammar work covers the tenses and parts of speech; in maths, fractions are introduced, using all four processes; measurements and area work is continued.
There are main lesson blocks on local geography, and local history, beginning with the school grounds and leading on to trips exploring the area.
Other main lesson blocks on "Human and Animal" explore the form and functions of the human being, leading to an understanding of the animal world, followed by more detailed study of some animals.
Class Five
This year is a pivotal point between childhood and puberty, where the children generally attain a level of inner and outer balance and harmony.
Mythology begins with the early civilisations of India, Persia, Babylonia and Egypt, moving on to classical ancient Greek history, the year culminates in a trip to the national Steiner school Olympic Games. Games lessons include preparation for this.
Geography becomes regional, with a study of the British Isles, and nature study takes the form of botany.
English work develops with direct speech, converting from active to passive voice, punctuation. In maths, compass geometry is introduced, as is the decimal system.
Class Six
The curriculum calls on pupils' emergent intellectual faculties and deductive, logical, analytical and critical faculties begin to be required. Physics lessons introduce optics, sonics and thermodynamics, and there is a geology block. History focuses on the Roman Empire, with its practical, organised and legislative aspects, and Roman Britain, leading to a field trip to Hadrian's Wall.
The Fall of the Roman Empire, the rise of Christianity, Saxon and Danish invasions of Britain and the arrival of William the Conqueror. Geography now extends to European physical and human geography. In English lessons, the conditional is taught, and there are regular dictations and comprehension exercises, whilst science and history blocks introduce report writing. In maths, percentages, profit and loss, simple interest and proportion and ratio are covered; there is a business maths block, and geometry lessons introduce the use of the protractor.
Class Seven
Curriculum themes this year mirror the pupils' outer exploration of the world and their inner journey. English lessons move to the descriptions of the inner feelings of wish, wonder and surprise; the children write business letters and compositions on many different subjects, and revise the grammatical forms of direct and indirect speech. They also study a work of fiction together.
History explores the Middle Ages and the transition from feudalism to the Renaissance, and the Age of Discovery with the great voyages of the 15th to the 17th centuries. Astronomy and studies of the night sky link with the voyages of discovery, and geography continues this by moving to World Geography. This includes focussing on one continent and looking at the cultural, material and economic conditions of human societies. Graphs and algebra are introduced in maths, whilst continuing to build on geometry. Science continues with mechanics and inorganic chemistry and combustion. Human biology features this year, with an emphasis on health and hygiene and an examination of our breathing, circulation and digestion. The children also receive some sex education this year.
Class Eight
In this final year with the class teacher, each pupil has to work independently on a substantial project of their own choosing, and the Class 8 play is considered a major event in the school calendar. English lessons continue with sentence analysis, literature study, creative writing and narrative and descriptive prose. Maths is more complex arithmetic using roots and powers, compound interest and surface areas and volumes and the five basic Platonic solids are calculated and constructed, whilst algebra continues with the theory of equations, introducing more variables. Physics covers magnetism, electricity, and electromagnetism. Organic chemistry studies substances which build up the human body whilst biology examines proportion in the human body, the skeleton, muscles and the human eye and ear. Meteorology is introduced with an overview of global weather systems and the study of cloud formations, rain and wind.
History lessons this year cover the major trends in the development of Western culture from the 17th Century to the present, examining in particular revolutionary periods, including the English Reformation and Civil War and the revolutions in America, France and Russia. Biographies of inventors, industrialists and social reformers are an on-going feature in these lessons.
In addition to the Main Lesson, regular practice lessons are given in English, Maths, German and French. Practical subjects such as farming, building and gardening are experienced and there are lessons in woodwork, modelling, handwork, painting, drawing and eurythmy.
Music and Drama play an important part in school life and classes regularly perform plays. Singing and lyre and recorder playing form an integral part of the Main Lesson in the younger classes, leading to the formation of class orchestras.
Class outings take place in connection with the Main Lesson subjects being taught; for example, during the farming Main Lesson, the children visit a local farm. Longer residential field trips are frequently used to support Main Lessons.
