First Grade at River Valley

FIRST GRADE: LEARNING WITH HEART

Children possess a natural honesty, curiosity and interest in their world; retaining these innate characteristics, while expanding their intellectual capacity, is the primary goal of Waldorf education.  By using the arts and creativity to immerse children in the learning process, by timing the introduction of material to coincide with the age at which students are able to truly understand and work with the concepts, and by providing a safe, open and trusting environment in which to learn, River Valley Waldorf School builds confident, avid, inspired learners…for life.

For the grade school child, the day begins with Main Lesson—a two hour period of time where a particular topic is studied for a block of three to four weeks. Whether the main lesson is math, language arts, science, geography or history, the academic learning is strengthened by both an artistic and an active/practical component. An interdisciplinary, hands-on approach to learning is fundamental to Waldorf grade schools. 

A Waldorf first grade classroom is an engaging and multi-sensory space. The first grade teacher engages this lively bunch with creativity and activity in all lessons in order to harness all of the creative energies brought by our youngest grade schoolers!

Letters are initially introduced imaginatively through pictures and the groundwork is laid for increasingly complex handwriting skills and drawing with form drawing. Alliterative verses reinforce the sounds and are carefully copied into the student’s first readers together with illustrations. As the school year progresses, fairy tales, folk tales and nature stories are told, recalled, discussed and dramatized—honing memory, comprehension and language skills. Utilizing this whole language approach, augmented by traditional phonics techniques, these tales are also written into lesson books, allowing children learn to read from treasured records of their own writing.

The four basic mathematic processes are personified and introduced through engaging stories: poor Minnie Minus seems to lose everything she puts into her pockets through the holes in the bottoms… Multiplication tables are set to music and sung; they are also clapped and stomped to rhythm as well as being read and written. Engaging the body in memory is an effective tool used in Waldorf education.

In the early grades, science is taught through direct experience: nature observation, the creation of pictorial journals, and classroom discussion.

Specialty Subjects:

First graders are introduced to specialty subjects
with teachers other than their classroom teachers including:

Spanish
Games and Movement
Choral Music
Handwork
Eurythmy
Gardening

Interested in learning more about First Grade at River Valley?
Call Alanna Crivellaro in Admissions at (215) 253-7665 today!

1395 Bridgeton Hill Rd
Upper Black Eddy, PA 18972

610-982-0227

or 610-982-5606

Contact River Valley

River Valley Waldorf School
1395 Bridgeton Hill Rd
Upper Black Eddy, PA 18972
610-982-5606
Contact River Valley

© River Valley Waldorf School