The Elementary Program

Building capacities

Children can grow through schooling. The purpose of teaching in the Waldorf elementary grades is not to "fill" children with knowledge, but to nurture their inherent enthusiasm for learning and guiding them to truly expand their capacities. Thinking is developed from the concrete (doing) toward the abstract (thinking) and the mediator between practical and conceptual learning is feeling. When humans possess the capacity to feel deeply, they can internalize learning, not merely memorize information for the short term. For this reason, the integration of fine arts is critical to academic studies and it is important work for students to express their feelings through drama, story and practice of arts such as music and painting. The capacity of will is increased through completion of age-appropriate physical, artistic and academic tasks at each stage of development.

Integrated Curriculum

Within a classical academic core, subjects are presented in multi-week blocks. Recent research shows that this traditional Waldorf technique is highly effective for in-depth learning. The visual arts, music and movement are integral to all subjects, enriching the learning experience, supporting diverse learning pathways and affirming the value of human expression. Artistic discipline, together with practical work such as gardening and handcrafts such as knitting, develop strength of will and a sense of achievement. Handwork also supports growth through requiring initiative, visualization, determination, recovery from errors, and application of academic facts, particularly maths. Movement in all subjects develops coordination, spatial awareness and a sense of balance, and kinesthetic learning. Physical integration again supports the academic learning process, enabling focus and concentration. The approach to science is direct and hands-on, observational in the elementary grades rather than didactic. As citizens of a diverse world, our students also study world cultures and religions throughout the grades, together with two foreign languages; Spanish and Japanese.

Social Life

Education at TCS is brought by human beings, for human beings. The long-term (usually many-year) relationship between class teacher and class requires commitment to resolve differences, not walk away from them. The guidance of the class teacher affirms the human values of mutual respect, courtesy, cooperation and service. In the wider social world, we strongly support parental protection of children from media influences in early childhood, and individual expression beyond corporate symbols in young adulthood. Our faculty and parents work with the "Social Inclusion approach," which provides a framework for recognizing group dynamics, social roles, and practical means to transcend conventional systems, which foster bully-victim-bystander roles.

Joy in Learning

We find that by engaging the whole child - not only the intellect, but the multiple intelligences - by presenting material always in a developmentally appropriate way, and by celebrating the unique stages of childhood, a remarkable love of learning is engendered. Parents often tell us that their children just love to go to school, and we are delighted to hear it. That is how education should be. All children are honored and all forms of intelligence are promoted, including linguistic (word), logical-mathematical (number/ reasoning), spatial (picture), bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal (people), intrapersonal (self), and naturalistic (nature) intelligences.