Gandhi
10:00am – 3:00pm Fridays
Gandhi / Ages 6 - 8
Scroll down to view more detailed class descriptions for our 6-7 age group.
Main Lesson Teacher: Taylor Bell
Students join us on Fridays from 10:00am to 3:00pm for a Waldorf-inspired schedule that includes: Main Lesson, Yoga/Mindfulness, Lunch, and Handwork.
Fairy tales are told by the teacher, then retold and dramatized by members of the class. This cultivates the children’s imagination and mental capacities. Starting with simple artwork, the children learn to draw forms, which lead to letters and numbers. The four basic mathematics processes are introduced: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Nature stories provide an imaginative introduction to the natural world. These stories provide the basis for drawing, writing, and the beginnings of reading and science. Our class play is a cross-curricular opportunity for strong rhyming songs, speech exercises, choral recitations, and dramatic imaginative play.
This class is Waldorf-based and developmentally appropriate, using various Waldorf curricula as selected by the teacher. In this year, the children get their first formal experiences of forms, sounds, and sequencing of letters and numerals by using pictures, rhymes, and stories. These are recognized and memorized through lots of practice involving movement, verses, drawing, and writing.
MAIN LESSON- Main lessons will be centered on fairy tale themes. Storytelling, art activities, practice with writing, grammar, spelling, poetry, and sharing with the class may all be infused into this time. Additional main lesson activities are outlined below.
Circle Time- The teacher will lead the class through movement games, songs, math exercises, and poetry recitation.
Art- There will be a focus on artistic activities that encourage the child’s natural sense of beauty and color.
Form Drawing- is an exercise in which students practice a freehand drawing of a form or figure. For example, students may practice drawing spirals in the air, on paper, with the right hand and left hand, and sometimes with their toes! Form drawing is believed to help develop the fine motor skills as a preparation and support for writing. It strengthens hand-eye coordination, and form drawing also works in the other direction — the movement of the hand also educates the brain. Form drawing is also a form of art and gets more and more complex as the child ages thereby developing the aesthetic sense. It also teaches thinking but in a non-intellectual way; it trains the intelligence to be flexible, able to follow and understand a complicated line of thought.
Outdoor and Play Times- These activities will be incorporated into the day so that students have a natural balance of active play time and time to quietly focus.
YOGA/MINDFULNESS- This class begins with an alignment-based yoga practice to build strength, mobility, and body awareness. We then take those physical skills to our mental and emotional lives. We learn skills to help us regulate emotions, navigate fear, increase self-compassion and self-confidence, and strengthen our relationships.
HANDWORK- Students will work with an experienced handwork teacher to cultivate patience, focus and perseverance all while strengthening their fine motor skills and self-confidence. Examples of handwork include hand sewing, weaving and finger knitting.
WALDORF FESTIVALS
Our students spend time preparing for Waldorf festivals and holidays. These are special times to learn about and celebrate. This will be times for storytelling, art, crafting, literature, poetry, song, and excitement. Examples of festivals or seasonal days include Martinmas, Michaelmas, Christmas, Candlemas, St. Nicholas Day, May Day, and more. We will work on crafts and art projects to further enhance your family celebrations at home. We will not focus on the religious aspects at school, but encourage you make it your own at home however works best for your family. These special festivals are integral to the rhythm of life and passing of the seasons. In celebrating seasonal holidays, the goal is to develop in the child (and adult) a sense of the rhythm of the seasons and the passage of time, and a sense that there is something bigger than himself.
“The original idea of any sacred festival is to make the human being look upward from his dependence on earthly things to those things that transcend the Earth.” – Rudolf Steiner
Even more than that, though, we take these moments as opportunities to show gratitude both for the time we’ve been granted together, and anticipation of the gifts of time that lies ahead.
Waldorf Answers explains our focus on festivals further:
“Seasonal festivals serve to connect humanity with the rhythms of nature and of the cosmos. The festivals originated in ancient cultures, yet have been adapted over time. To join the seasonal moods of the year, in a festive way, benefits the inner life of the soul. Celebrating is an art. There is joy in the anticipation, the preparation, the celebration itself, and the memories.”