History Location Curriculum Parent Committees Management The Westside Waldorf School offers a rich and comprehensive academic program. Art, poetry, music, movement and drama are integrated into the curriculum at every point of study to enhance the students' understanding of the subject matter. Each day begins with a verse and physical movement to awaken all the senses. Academic subjects (including Language Arts, Math, Science, Literature and History) are then taught in a two hour "main lesson" block in the morning. In the afternoons, specialty instructors teach a range of shorter classes including Music, Japanese, Spanish, Handwork, Woodworking and Eurythmy. As children's capacities change through the years, the curriculum responds.  INFANT /PARENT /TODDLER
Parent Toddler Program Information NURSERY & KINDERGARTEN  Rhythm, repetition and reverence-our "three Rs"-are the core of Waldorf's early childhood program. They help awaken the child's natural curiosity and inspire an appreciation for the world's diverse cultures, arts and the wonders of nature. In a nurturing, home-like environment, Waldorf teachers strive to preserve the innocence and innate wonder of early childhood for the sake of healthy physical, intellectual and emotional development. The emphasis on cultivating the children's intuition and imagination, develops essential tools for later academic learning, wholeness and creativity. The rhythm of the day--stories told by the teacher, finger-knitting, and beeswax modeling--relates directly to the young child's inner life and stages of development. THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL    In first grade, each letter of the alphabet is taught through images discovered in fables, and the quality of numbers is explored, as are counting patterns, with rhythms clapped and stepped. While kindling a lively interest in academic subjects, these multi-sensory methods deepen the child's comprehension and understanding, an insight they carry with them into adulthood. First graders fill their own readers with text and illustrations. By allotting time for such creative and confidence-building work, Waldorf teachers imbue each child with this important message: "What I do is beautiful and of great significance." The foundation of reading and writing is built upon in second grade. The children's sense of right and wrong, which lives so strongly in them at this age, is addressed within the paradigm of animal fables through which ethical dilemmas are explored and resolved. A third grader's endeavor to be self-reliant correlates to the study of shelters, gardening and farming, as well as to her learning to measure lengths, weights and time. Geography, fractions and the rules of grammar speak to the fourth graders' interest in understanding how parts make a whole, and the need to distinguish one's place as an individual in the world. Fifth graders, with their strong sense of order and beauty, along with their growing sense of independence, study the cultures of ancient India, Persia, Egypt and Greece, experiencing these civilizations in an intimate, personal way, while expanding their capacities for flexible thinking. Year five culminates with the enactment of a Greek Pentathlon where fifth grade students from regional Waldorf schools converge to exhibit individual athletic ability, grace and style. THE MIDDLE SCHOOL    Sixth grade includes Mineralogy, Geography, Astronomy and the study of the Roman system of law. Mathematics in this year exposes students to the precision of geometry, serving to reassure them of the beauty and order of the natural world and to deepen their sense of cause and effect, while enhancing their powers of objective reasoning and judgment. Seventh and eighth graders round out their journeys through their main lessons in history which cover the great revolutions of the eighteenth century, apropos of this time in their lives which they spend composing their own personal "declarations of independence."  |
