THE ELEMENTARY YEARS

" Learning is experience. Everything else is just information." - Albert Einstein 


GRADE ONE

While we recognize that each child is unique, there are also shared developmental processes and threads. We often intuitively recognize these as we easily distinguish a two year old from a four year old or a seven year old from a nine year old, regardless of their size. We find that by addressing these themes in our curriculum the children are eagerly engages and yet are free to take from the material and experience those parts which best nurture him in his unique growth. 

The first grader is making her first steps into a bigger, more structured and more demanding world. Therefore, the theme for this grade is the interconnectedness of the world and the wisdom of the many who have gone before.

In keeping with this, the core of the language arts and social studies curricula is fairy tales from around the world. These stories present the child with an imaginative and archetypal map of the process of growing up. Again and again she hears of the challenges, blessings and victories that lie before her. Using these stories children practice letter and sound recognition, writing and early reading skills. This work is taken further in the children's journals. 

The math curriculum begins with an exploration of the qualities of numbers as they exist in nature. It then moves into exploring number relationships through the four processes (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) and simple calculations with these. The children also work with number patterns in visual, movement and conceptual work.

Science focuses on the cycles of nature, in particular the science of seasonal change. Beginning with imaginative stories which describe the natural processes in pictures, the children are led to notice the details of the ever changing world around them. For example, children may hear of the color dancers who come each Spring, tapping the bare branches with their reds and yellows just before the last great painter hides them with her green. As the story continues, children come to see that the reds and yellows of Autumn have been within the leaf since the first of Spring. In this way, children are sparked to notice the subtle, cyclic changes in the plant world, long before they are ready for an analytic study of botany. This story, and the many arts and nature projects connected with it, will provide the living picture to support and enliven their fifth grade science studies of photosynthesis and plant nourishment. At that point they will learn the biological processes that allow us to see the reds and yellows in spring and fall, but only green in the summer; and they will marvel at the fact that they had actively watched this process since first grade. In the same way, each of the stories told heightens the child's awareness and lays the ground for the more conceptual science they will learn in later grades. 

GRADE TWO

The second grader becomes acutely aware of the wonders of social life and is all too ready to play a trick or turn any situation into a game. Therefore, the theme for this grade is the play of relationships. Trickster tales let the child explore her clever and mischievous nature in a safe context. Stories of sages from many cultures and traditions show the child how she can transform the conflicts of the world around her. In these stories, she comes to see how her own inquisitive, mischievous and stubborn nature can become a source of courage and strength to meet the world with compassion. Using these stories, students go further with their reading and writing skills. More phonic and sight word skills are introduced and spelling begins to be stabilized. All of this is further developed through journal writing.

The playful second grader also yearns for order. The mathematics curriculum meets this need with the introduction of place value, carrying and borrowing. Work with the four processes continues with more complex problems. Multiplication tables are learned through rhythmic recitation and clapping games, which fill the social, play needs of this age child. As well, the children begin to work with simple word problems.

The science curriculum continues with the description and exploration of energetic natural phenomena such as hurricanes, earthquakes, floods and volcano's, as well as more ordinary events in the natural world. For example, children may hear of the corn stalks lying flat after a hurricane, and how quickly they can gather the strength to rise back toward the sun. Or they may hear about the forest creatures suddenly on alert, making all kinds of careful preparations for unseen danger, long before the earthquake actually comes. Here again, both these stories and the projects connected with them, lay the groundwork for later study. In fifth grade they will learn how auxins direct the cornstalk to grow back upright. Sixth grade geology will introduce them to the shifting plates of the earth, and so on. In these early years, imaginative pictures and nature projects help the children experience the constant interweaving and interdependence of ecological systems. 

GRADE THREE

The third grade curriculum mirrors the child's striving toward independence. Like many traditional societies we celebrate this eight-year-old transition with a simple rite of passage ceremony. This offers an outer confirmation of the child's inner experience. Creation myths, which tell of this new birth and the challenges of life on earth, form the core of the humanities work. Stories about the Iroquois Sky Woman, the Hopi Spider Woman and the Hebrew Moses are among those that meet the child of this age. An active introduction to grammar is added to the continued work with reading, cursive writing, short compositions and spelling.

In her move toward independence, the third grader is eager to know the world around her and enjoys measuring, comparing and learning how things work. In mathematics this theme is taken up as the student learns to use the many types of measurement in the practical skills of farming, building and cooking. She also practices and utilizes the four processes and borrowing and carrying in this work. Word problems and mental math become very natural and necessary parts of all these practical undertakings.

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