II. Philosophy of the School
Table of Contents
IV. Organization of the School
Overview
Pine Hill has two kindergarten classrooms where young children can be free to unfold their imaginations through play and where there are many practical activities for them to imitate. In this nurturing, homelike environment children have the opportunity to develop and grow as they approach the threshold of the elementary grades. Please refer to the Kindergarten Handbook for more information.
Steiner emphasized the importance of the child having the same teacher during all or most of the elementary school years. This ongoing relationship can provide stability and security for the child and gives the teacher the opportunity to know the children in his or her class more deeply and to serve their specific needs. It also enables the teacher to form a growing relationship with each family.
As the children develop and change, so must the teacher change the approach used in the classroom and learn a considerable amount in teaching through the grades. This requires a great deal of inner flexibility and a broad understanding of the curriculum. For this reason, and because some teachers simply feel more comfortable teaching younger or older children, it is not required that a teacher remain with his or her class for the eight grades. At Pine Hill, we ask for at least a three-year commitment from our new teachers.
A central feature of every Waldorf school is the Main Lesson which occurs from 8 to 10 o'clock each morning. During this period, each class concentrates on one particular subject for a "block" of three to four weeks. That subject is then set aside for a time and another one taken up. This allows the class to keep a single focus and to go deeply into a subject for a time. Alternating subjects in this way gives a healthy rhythm to the process of learning.
The class teacher teaches all the main lesson blocks to his class from grades one through five. In grades six through eight at Pine Hill, English and math blocks are taught by a specialist teacher, while in most cases the class teacher continues to teach all the other subjects.
Math and English require regular practice each week through the whole year. In the daily schedule, a period is set aside for these subjects after the main lesson. For instance, while new concepts in math will be presented in a main lesson block on math, the class will continue to practice what they have learned in that block in a practice period which occurs later in the day on a regular basis through the year. In the lower grades this practice period is called the "extra main" period and is dedicated to on- going math and English practice and to finishing work from other main lesson subjects. In the middle school, the "extra main" is largely replaced by regular math and English periods taught by the specialist teacher.
There are a number of other specialist teachers in a Waldorf school who teach kindergarten, foreign languages, handwork, woodwork, eurythmy, music, and gym. With the exception of the kindergarten, these subjects are taught one, two or three times a week following the main lesson. Your child's class teacher will share with you the weekly schedule at the beginning of each school year.
Waldorf schools include two modern foreign languages from different language groups in the curriculum. Our program presently includes French and German. Beginning in grades one and two, the children experience the foreign culture through songs, verses, stories and games. Gradually the written language and its grammar are introduced, culminating in reading, writing and conversation in the middle school years.
Singing is a part of every school day. Starting with simple melodies in the early grades, the children progress to learning rounds and songs with two or more parts. The main lesson teacher leads this daily activity and also introduces the children to the recorder beginning in the first grade.
Each class has a music period with the music teacher once or twice a week. The classes sing, play and listen to music of different kinds. Music notation is taught, beginning in third grade. The seventh and eighth grades sing together in the middle school chorus.
In fourth grade every child is introduced to the violin, viola or cello in group lessons provided by the school. After fourth grade, all children are encouraged to continue with their instrument of choice (strings or winds) and private lessons are available at school. Sixth, seventh and eighth graders have the opportunity to play in the school orchestra on the recommendation of their private teacher. Band is also taught if there are enough participants and appropriate instrumentation.
Teachers available for private lessons are announced each August by the music teacher in a letter sent to parents of fifth through eighth graders.
The class teacher gives regular instruction in drawing and water color painting through the grades. In the early grades painting is non-representative; children are immersed in the experience of the different colors and learn the quality of each. Beginning in fourth grade, painting lessons are often related to the subject being taught in the main lesson. Clay modelling, veil painting, drawing with charcoal and pastels and other art forms are also a part of art lessons through the middle grades.
Form drawing is taught in grades one through five as part of the main lesson or in a period of its own. Forms of various kinds are drawn, beginning with straight and curved lines in first grade. This is the foundation for the child learning to print and write. By third grade the forms become quite complicated and help to develop the child's spatial orientation and sense of balance and proportion. In fifth grade, with this experience behind them, the children practice free hand geometry.
Eurythmy is a form of movement developed by Rudolf Steiner. It has become a well known dance form, on a par with ballet, on the stages of Europe. Children take eurythmy once or twice a week from first grade on. Speech eurythmy makes visible the formative gestures of vowel and consonant sounds; tone eurythmy makes visible the elements of music - for example, pitch, interval, major and minor. Eurythmic gestures and movements allow children to develop balance, spatial coordination, fluidity and grace. In the later grades, it gives them a way to understand the formative powers at work in language and music and to express in archetypal gestures a wide range of feelings.
Each class learns handwork from the first grade on to strengthen the child's will and develop fine motor skills and the related brain functions which are the foundation for thinking. Handwork skills taught through the grades include: knitting, purling, crocheting, spinning and simple weaving, cross-stitch, four needle knitting, doll making, hand sewing and machine sewing.
Woodwork begins in the fourth grade. It has the same effect on the child described above for handwork. Projects include carving wooden utensils, bowls, boxes, ships, lamps and clocks. Stone carving and stained glass work are also included in the seventh and eighth grades.
Games appropriate to the age of the child are taught in grades one through four at least two afternoons a week. In fifth grade the class practices the five Greek exercises (running, long jump, wrestling, discus and javelin) in preparation for the fifth grade Olympics, in which several Waldorf schools participate. From sixth grade on, the classes play soccer, basketball, volleyball and softball during gym classes held twice a week.
Pine Hill accepts students with a wide range of capacities which fall within the normal range. We cannot provide support for children with serious remedial needs. We do provide limited supplementary services for children recommended by the class teacher and Child Care Mandate Group.
The supplementary services provided by the school may include:
Pine Hill welcomes families from a wide range of religious and philosophical backgrounds. We celebrate Michaelmas, Christmas and Easter which are Christian festivals. Teachers also celebrate some of the Jewish festivals, especially in third grade in connection with the stories of the Old Testament, and they tell stories from various religious traditions each year. In the elementary grades, we seek to instill in the children a sense of reverence for the world and the wisdom and beauty apparent in its formation.
We celebrate the traditional Christian festival of Michaelmas at the end of September. This festival honors Saint Michael, an archangel mentioned in the Bible, Apocrypha and Koran. He appears as a protector of mankind, inspiring courage and strength. In traditional icons he is pictured in the act of subduing a dragon, which represents the dark side of human nature: greed, selfishness, and apathy.
For children, this image of good overcoming evil is very important. As Michaelmas approaches, they hear stories in school about the brave hero who subdues the dragon with his sword of light. On the day itself, this scene is acted out on the stage by the seventh grade in a morning assembly, followed by a march with shields and banners around the field, the planting of bulbs for the spring, an outdoor picnic with food provided by parents, and a series of games and events which test the children's strength and skill.
Teachers and their classes look forward to sharing some of their daily work with parents at the annual Thanksgiving Assembly. Presentations of poems, skits, music, and eurythmy provide a lively glimpse of activities going on in each grade.
Students bring a wrapped gift of food (canned or homemade) to be shared with needy families in the area. All families and friends of the school are welcome to attend.
During the Advent season approaching Christmas, three short morning assemblies are held on Mondays with carol singing and a story on a Christmas theme from the animal, plant and mineral kingdoms told by the 4th, 5th and 6th grade teachers. Kindergarten children attend an Advent Garden on a Sunday in early December. On December 6th, St. Nicholas Day, that generous soul pays a quick and mysterious visit to each classroom where he leaves a gift for the children and some words of encouragement concerning their good and bad deeds. On the 12th of December, Santa Lucia Day, the second graders, all dressed in white and led by an 8th grade girl with a wreath of candles on her head, visit each class with songs and a cookie for everyone.
Just before Christmas vacation, the school celebrates the holiday in various ways, sometimes with an all school pageant, sometimes a Festival of Lights, sometimes a medieval Christmas play.
Easter is the festival of death, rebirth and the return of spring. In the classrooms, colored eggs, flats of fresh green wheat grass, flowers and stories of new life in nature are shared.
Pine Hill families are invited to participate in this annual High Mowing fund raising event which begins with Morris Dancing by the high school students followed by a fair with children's games, food, the sale of crafts and a silent auction. A full dinner is served at the end of the day, and a play is performed for guests in the evening.
The school requests that during our assemblies no flash photographs be taken and no camcorders used except with prior approval by the Administrator.
II. Philosophy of the School
Table of Contents
IV. Organization of the School