Elementary School
Grades 1 - 5
A Holistic Approach
Our elementary school curriculum inspires the artistic, creative and imaginative life of the child, while providing a strong foundation for academic studies. We focus on engaging the whole child—head, heart and hands—to add value and relevance to lessons. This helps instill a deep interest in learning. We also take great care with our younger students to honor each stage of childhood by offering shorter school days and encouraging regular outdoor recess, creative play time and movement opportunities. This multidisciplinary, age-appropriate learning environment is intentionally created and imbued with reverence so each child can flourish and become a well-rounded individual while developing their unique potential.
An Elementary
School Day
Students begin each day with some combination of music, movement, math and speech. They use their energetic bodies and prepare their minds for a morning of focused attention. The morning’s main lesson is the substance of the day in which core subjects are presented in three- or four-week blocks for a concentrated, in-depth learning experience.
Teachers present the lessons with carefully crafted stories and images designed to inspire each child’s feelings and imagination. Students work with the material by listening, discussing, playacting, modeling, drawing and writing. This brings language arts, mathematics, history and science to life. After a snack and more time outdoors, children begin their subject lessons, which are also taught in engaging and interdisciplinary ways. Subjects include music, Spanish, eurythmy, handwork, gardening and physical education.
At day’s end, students have spent hours immersed in experiential learning while also savoring the joys of childhood, and with time in outdoor experiences. They go home tired, but joyful, and return eagerly the next day with an inherent curiosity and love of learning.
Middle School at EWS
An exceptional curriculum provides our older students with a well-rounded, classical education and a strong foundation for creative, conceptual and abstract thinking. Experiential learning is still key in these years as we continue to integrate the arts, humanities and sciences to nurture the growing strengths of each child. We set high standards for ourselves and our students. They learn to think critically, create and work hard. Though we engage our students rigorously, it is done within a warm and respectful community which provides a safe place for the transformative experience of early adolescence.
Waldorf teachers emphasize internal motivation and multiple types of intelligence over test results. Our students learn to think creatively, feel empathetically and work actively. They develop resilience and gain respect for themselves and others. As the class grows as a community, students learn how to collaborate, communicate and work with diverse individuals—critical skills for the future.
A Middle School Day
The main lesson begins with subject material that meets the child’s developmental needs in an engaging manner. For example, our seventh graders are immersed in the world of the Renaissance. This time in a student’s life is a great awakening, just as the era was a great awakening for Western civilization. Students will spend their mornings inspired by the likes of Joan of Arc, Leonardo da Vinci, Dante and Newton as they learn chemistry, physiology, linear equations, the Pythagorean theorem, perspective drawing and more.
Sciences in all grades are taught using the Socratic method—calling upon the students to observe, ponder, discuss, and then draw conclusions—all before the law or formula is presented. Music permeates and harmonizes the life of the school through choral music, recorders and orchestral instruments. Spanish and practical arts such as woodwork and handwork continue throughout the grades, and projects become more complex and challenging.
By the end of eighth grade, Eugene Waldorf School graduates are resilient, well-rounded adolescents who are actively interested in the world around them. They are freethinking, compassionate and curious. And they love to learn. Years of problem solving, working with classmates and building self confidence have created a strong foundation for life.
Middle School Math & Science
