top of page

Curriculum Overview

Below is a brief outline of what is covered in each grade.  This may vary slightly from year to year.  At the beginning of each school year, class teachers provide details of the planned lesson block rotation.  French Language is introduced in Grade One and is taught through all grades.

Grade One

  • Pictorial, experimental, and phonetic introduction to letters.

  • The qualities of numbers, counting to 100, Roman and Arabic numerals, and introduction to the four processes.

  • Mental arithmetic through experience

  • Form drawing as preparation for writing and later geometry

  • Speech, drama and recall

  • Fairy and folk tales and nature stories

  • Making needles and beginning to knit

  • Singing and introduction to recorder

  • Nature study

  • Painting, Beeswax Modelling, Crayon Drawing

IMG_990CBF510D65-1.jpeg

Grade Two

  • Introduction to reading and grammar

  • Fables from around the world, saints stories

  • Arithmetic with larger numbers, place value

  • Form drawing: running forms leading to cursive writing

  • Nature study

  • Singing and recorder

  • Crochet and knitting

  • Painting and modelling

Grade Three

  • Study of practical life: farming and gardening, housebuilding, fibres and clothing, trade and the development of currency

  • Reading, spelling, writing original compositions, cursive writing

  • Grammar, punctuation, structured word inquiry, and parts of speech

  • Arithmetic: higher multiplication tables, time, temperature, weight and volume, linear measurement, and money

  • Spinning and weaving

  • Cultural Studies: Hebrew myths and Jewish festivals

  • Drama and painting

  • Singing in rounds and playing recorder

  • Sports

IMG_7677.HEIC

Grade Four

  • Norse mythology and sagas, tall tales

  • Tenses and grammar

  • Composition of personal narrative, letter writing

  • Local history, geography, and map making, landforms and water features

  • Mi’kmaq history, stories and ways of knowing

  • Comparative study of zoology and the human being

  • Introduction to fractions

  • Form drawing celtic knots

  • Singing two-part songs, recorder

  • Embroidery, Cross Stitch, and Sewing

  • Painting

  • Sports

Grade Five

  • Study of Ancient Cultures and Civilizations

  • India, Persia, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece

  • North American geography and biomes

  • Composition with reports and self-expressed opinion

  • Grammar, spelling, reading

  • Decimals, ratio and proportion, freehand geometry

  • Botany

  • Four-needle knitting, woodworking

  • Singing, recorder and orchestra

  • Pentathalon

  • Painting

IMG_2956_edited.jpg

Grade Six

  • The transition from ancient to modern history

  • Greek history, the decline of Greece, the rise and fall of Rome, and the effects of these cultures on civilization up through the Middle Ages

  • World Geography (continents, oceans, flags of the world)

  • Geology, Mineralogy, Physics (acoustic, magnetism, optics and heat), Astronomy

  • Composition, grammar, spelling, biographies

  • Business math, interest, percentage, formulas, graphing, geometric drawing with tools

  • Embroidery of slippers, stuffed animals, puppets, dolls and clothes for dolls

  • Woodworking, Painting

  • Singing and Orchestra

  • Reading, writing, and grammar

  • Sports

Grade Seven

  • Speech and drama - romantic poetry,  lyrical ballads, tragedy

  • Creative Writing – Wish Wonder Surprise

  • European History - the Renaissance through Reformation and the Age of Exploration

  • World Geography, African Biomes

  • Physics (mechanics), physiology, inorganic chemistry, combustion, nutrition

  • Negative integers, deriving Pi, geometry, business math, algebra, ratios, square and cube roots

  • Dollmaking, felting, embroidery, woodworking, carving,

  • Perspective drawing, veil painting, black and white shadow studies, clay modelling, painting

  • Singing and Orchestra

  • Sports

charcoal.jpg

Grade Eight

  • History - the Industrial Revolution to the present day

  • Geography as related to World Economics

  • World Religions

  • Physics (Acoustics, Thermodynamics, Mechanics, Electricity and Magnetism, Hydraulics, Aerodynamics), Meteorology, Ecology, Organic Chemistry, Physiology

  • Geometry, measurement of surfaces and volume, practical applications of arithmetic, algebra, and geometry, graphing

  • Singing and Orchestra, Elizabethan Music, American Music, Symphonic Form

  • Machine Sewing, Darning, Artistic Hand-Sewing Projects and Embroidery, Soapstone Carvings, Carpentry

  • Poems with contrasting moods, Short Stories, famous speeches, Shakesperean Drama

  • Persuasive Writing, Essays

  • Painting: highlights and shadows in portraits and landscapes

  • Sports

Grade Nine

​

  • The Hero’s Journey- study of story structure and archetypes

  • Rational Numbers, Powers and Exponents, Similarity and Transformations

  • Square Roots and Surface Area, Linear Relations/Graphing, Polynomials, Algebra, Euclidean Geometry, Probability and Statistics

  • Essay Skills, Novel Study, Memoirs, Short Stories, Parts of Speech, Composition

  • Reproduction/Cell Theory, Atoms and Elements, The Periodic Table, Electricity, Geology, Organic Chemistry, Ocean Sciences

  • Modern History WWI and WWII, History through Art History, Canadian History

  • Introduction to forms of government, the Canadian Government, Business laws, citizenship

  • Handwork and Practical Arts: Spinning, Weaving, Basket weaving, Blacksmithing, Woodworking, Bicycle repair, gardening, natural building projects, beekeeping.

  • Leadership/Volunteer work

IMG_7913_edited.jpg

Grade Nine Independent Projects

​

Each year the students in the graduating class take on independent projects as the culmination of their educational experience. It is an opportunity for the students to have a truly independent learning experience based on their individual interests and inspirations.

Students combine the academic, artistic, and intellectual capacities fostered by their Waldorf education to research, develop, and present a project of their choosing. The maturity and self-motivation required to accomplish such a project is a prerequisite for moving on to secondary school.

 

The independent project requires the students to find a mentor, research their topic, complete the work, and share this experience with an audience.

They spend many hours, above and beyond their regular academic school work, developing their independent projects over the course of the school year.

bottom of page