Waldorf Curriculum

Last week I had the opportunity to visit the Waldorf curriculum model!!  I choose to visit Four Winds Waldorf School in Warrenville, Illinois.   As I entered the building I was warmly greeted by the Director of the school!  She was at the door greeting every student, their parents and siblings as they entered the school.  I knew I was in a special place immediately because she knew EVERY name!   I was told to meet the three/four year old class on the playground.  Again, I was warmly greeted by the teacher on the playground and observed as she greeted and shook every child and their parents hand!  This was their way of taking attendance.   

This is one of two protected benches where the teachers sat to greet the students. 

After the children greeted the teacher, they ran onto the playground and played with friends.  The children spent about a half hour playing with each other.  Many played in the sand, some stood by a tree (playing with sticks) and others climbed trees.  There were no disciplinary issues while I observed.  One young many picked up a large, long board with a pointy end on it.  He spent the entire time “writing” in the same with the pointed end of the board.  He played near some girls, but never disturbed them.  It struck me how this behavior would have been immediately stopped in a regular classroom.  Here it was assumed that the child would be responsible and he was! 

 The school is located on 5 acres with one large grassy area surrounded by small hills and the other side is all wooded forest.  Children spend ½ hour as they arrive and ½ hour as they leave provided the weather is good.  As I observed, many of the older grades spent time outside also.  One commented that they were just going for a walk on a beautiful day.  Again, not an occurrence in a regular school!  Within the woods, there were several “creations” such as this located in the forest!  It was obvious that the children were allowed to work in the woods to learn about the properties of materials.

All the materials within the classrooms were natural – there was much wood, stone, yarn, fabric, ribbon, silk throughout the school.  It was arranged aesthetically and was very attractive to the children!  This is a picture of the classroom which is decorated to create a homelike environment.  There are lamps, sofas, soft chairs, plants in each classroom.  A kitchen is in every room so that the teachers’ work is open for the children to view.  The other interesting thing is that no disposables are used because of their focus on the environment.  Each child has a cloth place-mat and napkin, a glass drinking cup, a ceramic dish and a metal utensil.  Children even had fabric aprons to use. 

The children spent a great deal of their time in free play, both inside and outside.  The children spent time preparing food for their snack and doing art projects.    Part of the Waldorf philosophy is that play creates the foundation for future learning.  During my visit, I did not observe any academics being taught to the children.  My first reaction to that was that enough was not being done with the children for them to learn.  But after reflecting....I realized the children were learning about how to get along with each other!!  This is one of children's areas of development - SOCIAL!  These children were all well adjusted.  They said good-bye to their parents and ran off to play.  They had great attention spans during indoor and outdoor play times.  Hmmm....another area of children's development - EMOTIONAL!!  They were running up and down hills, slithering under tables, climbing trees, digging holes and many other activities which were allowing them to develop - PHYSICALLY!!!  Here, I am the proponent of play, the one who touts that we must teach to ALL areas of development, not just cognitive and I was uncomfortable watching children PLAY!  Cognitively, these children were very articulate and had natural curiosity about everything they saw - types of birds, planets, plants, songs, animals and on and on.  This curriculum brought me back to the natural aspects of teaching and learning.

I felt so relaxed and so at peace during my visit.  The children played freely, adults conversed with children and among themselves.  It felt like a home.  Children worked, adults worked and IT worked at this school.