Elementary Curriculum
At Waldorf School of Pittsburgh, Elementary School encompasses Grades 1 through 5. During these fundamental years, the child’s intellectual curiosity is met with an imaginative, artistic, and stimulating curriculum that grows and expands each year as the child develops and matures.
Curriculum Overview
Our Elementary Program curriculum approaches learning as a process that evolves over time, rather than as a means to an end. The curriculum is viewed in a spiral, a subject is introduced to a student at a point in time, and is circled back upon within the year, and subsequent years, to add layers of complexity and understanding of a topic. Each year, the content of the curriculum mirrors the students’ inner lives so they can be guided through their challenges and triumphs. By taking an intentional, holistic approach to academics that engages both imagination and will, our lower grades fosters deep learning while growing compassionate classroom communities. The diversity of the curriculum empowers students to build an acceptance of a variety of viewpoints, religions, cultures, and lifestyles.
Students work with a two-hour main lesson block for their core instruction. Blocks rotate every three to four weeks, allowing students to immerse themselves in a topic and explore it in depth. Classes are hands-on with students creating their own lesson books, and artistic activities such as watercolor painting, form drawing, beeswax modeling, and clay sculpting are woven into the daily rhythm. Storytelling fosters a foundation in imagination that strengthens students' abilities in independent thinking, drawing conclusions, and comprehending the world around them.
The rest of the day builds upon the academic topics of the main lesson and includes subjects taught by specialty teachers: Handwork, Movement (PE), Music, Spanish, and Woodwork. Our lessons are designed to alternate between activities that are physically active and those that are inwardly thoughtful.
Our Elementary Program use the Roadmap to Literacy curriculum that merges Waldorf education principles with modern research on the science of reading to build foundational skills.
Using the Making Math Meaningful curriculum and the work of Jamie York, mathematics is taught in a multidisciplinary manner through an experiential and hands-on approach that prioritizes conceptual understanding over rote memorization. Our goal is to develop a child who is self-determined and prepared to take responsibility for their world.
Curriculum by Grade
First Grade:
One Whole Class
Overview
First grade is a time of awakening to many wonders. This year is a bridge from early childhood programs to formal academics, which are introduced through storytelling, games, movement, and art. Folk and fairy tales from around the world replicate the dreamy feeling of early childhood as students foster their imaginations and curiosity to lay the foundation for a lifetime of learning. The students and teacher work together to form a socially cohesive group.
Lesson Blocks
Language Arts is introduced through stories, pictures, and form drawing, awakening students to the feeling connected with each letter and sound. Through instruction based in imagination and movement, fundamentals are woven naturally into daily lessons, with speech and literacy nurtured through oral recitation, poetry, and storytelling. Writing develops as children move from forming letter symbols to writing full words and simple sentences, which in turn builds foundational reading skills as students connect these symbols directly to their corresponding sounds.
In mathematics, students actively engage with the quality of numbers. Once numbers are familiar, students are challenged to manipulate and search for relationships among them. Math fundamentals begin with an exploration of Arabic and Roman numerals, place value, and the qualitative nature of numbers. The four mathematical processes—addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division—are brought to life with human-like personalities and qualities. Students build patterning and strong number sense through skip counting by 2s, 3s, 5s, and 10s using rhythmic movement, recitation, and mental arithmetic.
Handwork, Movement, Music, and World Language
In handwork, students make their own needles and learn to knit with natural materials to craft functional objects like scarves or flute bags. Movement is practiced through cooperative circle and singing games. Musically, children play the pentatonic recorder and work on songs in the pentatonic scale while studying beat and rhythm. Students learn Spanish taught by ear through the imitation of songs, games, poems, and plays.
Second Grade:
From Form to Solid Foundation
Overview
Second grade retains early childhood innocence while children test boundaries and become aware of the duality in human nature. Fables portray the struggles of tricky behaviors and offer consequences to actions. Stories of courageous people provide balance to the self-serving characters of fables. Students experience examples of people who have overcome great obstacles and sacrificed for the greater good.
Lesson Blocks
Language Arts deepen reading instruction through phonics rules, letter blends, and word families that arise organically out of stories. Fundamentals of oral recitation, poetry, writing, reading, and spelling are woven throughout daily lessons. Grammar is introduced with liveliness and humor by acting out stories where students experience the contrast between doing words (verbs), naming words (nouns), and describing words (adjectives), while continuing form drawing and building creative writing skills.
In mathematics, students actively expand their understanding of number sequences, relationships, and place value. Students carry out more complicated operations with the four mathematical processes—such as regrouping and multi-digit math—with imaginative stories continuing to form the basis of these problems. Through rhythmic counting, clapping, and movement of the whole body, students memorize multiplication tables, build mental arithmetic skills, and establish daily math fact practice.
Handwork, Movement, Music, and World Language
In handwork, students deepen their knitting skills—learning to purl, increase, and decrease—as they follow patterns to create animal puppets. Movement is practiced through circle and singing games, jump rope, hopscotch, and rhythmic movement games. Musically, children play pentatonic recorder songs to accompany fables, and build coordination through movement, breathing, and rhythm activities. Students expand their Spanish vocabulary with a focus on pronunciation, increased conversational ability, and cultural appreciation through holidays and customs.
Third Grade:
Becoming a Steward of the Earth — Awakening to Self and Surroundings
Overview
Third grade brings a greater independence and curiosity as children explore their role in the world. Leaving the "paradise" of early childhood, students begin to realize their separateness from their surroundings, encountering concepts of good and evil while navigating moments of loneliness and self-doubt. To support them through this burgeoning self-awareness, the curriculum offers practical experiences—such as studying farming, cooking, and house building—that foster self-reliance and confidence. Creation stories from cultures around the world, including Hebrew and Indigenous traditions, mirror this inner shift and provide a grounded context for their growing self-awareness.
Lesson Blocks
Language Arts deepens as students transition to cursive writing, compose structured paragraphs and dictations, and explore creative writing. Core literacy skills expand through the study of spelling, grammar, punctuation, and parts of speech. In mathematics, practical applications come alive through linear measurement, time, weight, money, and volume, while solidifying the four arithmetic operations with larger numbers and fluent multiplication tables.
Blocks expand beyond reading and math to include practical studies such as farming, fibers and shelters. The interrelationships of animal, mineral, plant, and human life are explored through the role of the farmer. Planting and harvesting vegetables, preparing foods, and experiencing the cycles of nature all bring a sense of wonder and delight. Stories of Indigenous peoples are told as students study shelters, emphasizing different times and climates and giving students an understanding of humans’ creativity in using tools and materials.
Handwork, Movement, Music, and World Language
In handwork, students develop practical, tactile skills through crocheting and weaving, creating functional items like potholders and hats. Movement classes continue with circle and singing games while introducing ring, line, work, and ball-tossing games. Musically, students explore tonality through octave work in song and recorder and make the exciting transition to a string instrument (violin, viola, or cello). Spanish instruction continues with an emphasis on the alphabet, as well as beginning reading and writing.
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Fourth Grade:
Celebrating the Earth — Hearing the Voices of our Elders, Reclaiming the Sacred
Overview
Fourth grade brings a new level of emotional self-awareness. Children become more independent and recognize the separation between themselves and the surrounding world. Reflecting this development, their reasoning becomes more objective. In many ways, this is a turning point, forming basic attitudes that will be carried through life.
Lesson Blocks
The fourth grade curriculum supports the new level of children's maturity. Stories from Norse, Celtic, and Finnish mythologies impart a knowledge of the gifts and risks of free will. Students study the human being as mirrored in the animal kingdom. They paint, sketch, dramatize, and write descriptions of animals in an imaginative and artistic introduction to the study of nature and science. History is combined with geography to give a sense of the interrelated nature of space, time, culture, and the individual.
By fourth grade, students possess the solid academic skills needed to participate in more complex and independent projects. Language Arts deepens as composition, creative writing, grammar, and spelling work together to build strong literacy, while oral recitation, poetry, and drama foster articulate, confident expression. In mathematics, conceptual and practical learning expand as students learn to manipulate fractions, work with weights and measurements, and master beginning long division, number sequences and relationships, factoring, and prime numbers.
Handwork, Movement, Music, and World Language
In handwork, student refine precision through cross-stitch and embroidery to create functional pincushions and handwork bags. Movement classes focus on dynamic spatial coordination and rhythm through energetic running, jumping, and throwing games, as well as folk and square dancing. Musically, students continue their string instruments while learning to read notation, explore harmony, and distinguish major and minor thirds. Spanish instruction introduces simple reading, writing, and basic grammar, transitioning students from communal speaking toward confident individual expression.
Fifth Grade:
The Golden Age — Feet Upon the Ground, Gaze Toward the Heavens
Overview
Fifth grade marks a balancing point between childhood and adolescence. Children find a time of harmony and grace and become comfortable with themselves and their relationship with the world.
Lesson Blocks
History opens with a formal study of Ancient Civilizations—Mesopotamia, India, Persia, Egypt, China, and Greece—reflecting the students' expanding inner awareness, while North American geography explores physical landscapes and human connections to regional resources and industry. In science, students study botany through careful observation and report writing.
Language Arts expands into formal research, advanced grammar and vocabulary, deeper literary analysis, and oral presentations as students develop greater independence and critical thinking. Mathematics deepens numerical reasoning through operations with fractions and decimals, place value into the billions, and freehand geometry.
Handwork, Music, Movement, World Language, and Woodworking
In handwork, students learn to knit with four needles to create socks, while woodworking introduces safe hand-tool techniques to craft small wooden toys. Movement classes balance team games like kickball and softball with rhythmic exercises and traditional Greek sports—including javelin, discus, and shot put. Musically, students deepen their ensemble skills through chorus, mastering vocal technique, three-part singing, major and minor rounds, and extended range on their instruments. Spanish instruction progresses to simple text, short descriptive speaking, and asking and answering detailed questions in complete sentences.
Special Events and Class Trips
Students train for an interscholastic Greek Pentathlon, where grace, beauty, form, and sportsmanship are lauded alongside individual achievements in speed and accuracy.
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