Waldorf School Second Grade Curriculum

Saints and Animals, Times Tables, Reading, Arts, and Handwork

Feb 26, 2009

The Waldorf second-grade curriculum aims to engage the child's imagination while teaching reading, writing, basic math (especially multiplication tables), music, and arts

Children typically enter second grade in a Waldorf school at about age eight. At this age, children start to become aware of the opposites built into human nature. Humans can be both generous and selfish, brave and cowardly, loud and quiet, naughty and nice.

Saints and Animals Show Children the Dual Nature of Human Beings

The Waldorf second grade curriculum responds to the tensions in human behavior with a year of fables, nature stories, and folktales about two opposing themes:

Helping children begin to learn that they can choose to follow their higher impulses is the underlying spiritual theme of second grade.

Mathematics: Basic Arithmetic, Especially Times Tables

Children start the year by reviewing the qualities of numbers and the four basic math operations: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. They start to explore the concepts of place value and begin learning to carry and borrow. As in first grade, they play math games in morning circle time, learning the times tables with games such as tossing bean bags, clapping, stomping, tapping, counting rhythmically by ones, twos, threes, reciting the times tables backward, and so on. They do mental math exercises and solve word problems. By the end of the year, they will typically have memorized the times tables up to 12 x 12.

Language Arts: Reading and Writing

After learning the letters and words in first grade, the children really start reading in second grade. The reading curriculum retains its strong focus on creating mental pictures for the children by introducing the spoken word first, then writing, with reading as the final step.

The typical learning sequence starts with the teacher telling the class a story such as "Androcles and the Lion" from Aesop’s Fables or the story of Saint Francis of Assisi taming a wolf. Next day, the children act out or retell the story. Then the class works as a group to come up with sentences about the story, which the teacher writes on the board. The children copy the sentences from the board into their blank Main Lesson books. Finally, the children read aloud the sentences they’ve written.

The children also memorize poetry, write it in their Main Lesson books, and read the poems out loud. Toward the end of second grade, the class may break into groups to practice reading from Easy Reader books. Those who still aren’t reading well aren’t pressured to learn faster. Many children only become really comfortable with reading in third grade, when reading practice intensifies.

The class also works on writing. They may learn the lower case letters if they didn’t already cover this in first grade, and begin punctuating their sentences. They often start learning cursive writing.

Foreign Languages: Pronunciation and Games

Waldorf students continue the two foreign languages they began studying in first grade. The focus is still on learning the sounds and proper pronunciation of the language through songs, stories, games, and puppetry.

Music: Pentatonic Flute and Lyre

The children continue regular lessons in the pentatonic flute, which they started learning in first grade. Many classes also play the lyre. Music classes occur several times a week. Singing remains an important part of the curriculum. Second graders sing regularly during morning circle and as part of their class play.

Art and Handwork: Drawing, Watercolor Painting, Knitting, Crocheting

Art is an integral part of every subject in the Waldorf academic curriculum. Second graders draw with beeswax crayons, have regular painting lessons with the Waldorf wet-on-wet watercolor method, where they focus on the interplay of primary colors. They model small sculptures with beeswax during story time, and may do seasonal art projects such as making paper lanterns or tissue paper window transparencies.

Physical Education: Circle Time, Recess, Games

As in first grade, the children typically begin every day with a 30-45 minute circle time that involves moving as a group while singing and reciting poems, verses, and math games. Some circle time exercises focus on integrating the children’s ability to move smoothly across the body’s various midlines: left/right, forward/backward, top/bottom.

They typically have recess twice a day for free play outdoors. They also take regular nature walks to observe the seasonal cycles of the year. Finally, second graders practice eurhythmy, an art of movement developed by Rudolf Steiner which uses gestures and body movements to express the sounds of the spoken language.

The children start playing team games in Games class. The focus is on learning to cooperate, being a good sport, and enjoying the act of movement. Competitive sports are not played at this age in Waldorf schools, and are usually discouraged outside school until the children are older.

Form Drawing: Greater Complexity

Form drawing is a Waldorf technique of drawing geometric shapes to help develop concentration and other helpful qualities in young children. Form drawing lessons in second grade are more complex than the simple lines and curves the children drew in first grade. They may include running and repeated forms that change from one shape to another. These forms are designed to help the children with the flowing movements of cursive writing.

Drama: Play Based on Saints/Animals Curriculum

Each Waldorf class typically performs a play every year. In second grade, the play is usually based on the story of a saint or animal.

Across all subjects, the Waldorf second-grade curriculum is designed to gradually build a child’s academic skills while engaging the young child’s intellect, imagination and body in the joy of learning.

The copyright of the article Waldorf School Second Grade Curriculum in Primary School Curriculum is owned by Christine Mann. Permission to republish Waldorf School Second Grade Curriculum in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.