Children’s Center
Through the first seven years of life young children want to be part of every real activity the grownups do. The children joyfully imitate our daily work of sweeping, gardening, washing, cooking, and beautifying our environment. The Waldorf kindergarten teacher involves the children in activities in which the teacher is the model for the child, in meaningful movements and purposeful use of language. In this atmosphere of beauty and rhythm, the teacher works to cultivate the healthy development of the child.
Curriculum
Movement Circle: Centered on a seasonal theme, the movement circle is a teacher-directed group activity. It includes music, movement, verses, songs, fingerplays, and circle games.
Free Play Time: Children are free to select activities. Teachers offer support and guidance as needed. During this important part of the day the children are afforded the opportunity to use his or her imagination, develop social skills, discover and try new ideas.
Daily and Weekly Activity: Children engage in a broad range of artistic and work activities selected by the teacher. Cooking, baking, painting, sewing, are part of a daily and weekly schedule.
Clean-up Time: Children and teachers work together to return things to their proper place. Group clean-up time is an important part of maintaining a healthy rhythm, teaching responsibility and cooperation.
Story Time: Nature stories, folk tales, fairy tales, and other fine literature are selected to stimulate the imagination, and are told in the oral tradition.
Snack Time: The school provides a healthy and nutritious morning snack and the children help with the task of preparing it. The snack is an important part of the rhythm of each day.
Outdoor Play: Our daily schedule includes outdoor play as an opportunity for the children to develop, test and enjoy their physical and social skills.
Children are active learners
Our curriculum provides hands-on learning. In our programs, children are given many opportunities for creative expression, dramatic play and artistic representation. In addition, teachers and children engage in real-life activities such as baking, gardening, sewing, building, repairing, and cleaning. Through real and purposeful work children learn concepts in a concrete way, practice motor skills, gain self-confidence, build language and develop social skills.
Children learn through imitation
Children learn about the world through their senses, by watching and listening to the adults in their lives and then imitating them. The Waldorf curriculum strives to provide models that are meaningful and, therefore, a Waldorf kindergarten teacher is seen cooking, painting, sewing and building. Children willingly participate in all these activities. Language is also learned through imitation with stories, songs and verses carefully selected for their literary value and social content. Our goal is to bring wholesome sensory experiences that present ideas and actions worthy of imitation. Fine literature, folk tales, nature stories, simple songs and live music are preferred to the overly stimulating sensory images and questionable values that are so common in the media.
The best toys are open-ended
A toy is defined as any object that a child uses in his “play.” Almost any object can be a toy. Logs, wooden blocks, colorful cloths, capes, shells, pinecones, stones and natural, and other gifts from nature provide perfect open-ended toys which can be used in many ways. The child is not hampered or limited by what the toy can do. An open-ended toy engages a child’s imagination because the child decides what the object will be. The objects and toys found in the classroom are carefully selected for their play value, durability, and sensory appeal to the child.
Young children learn through play
Play is an important part of the Waldorf curriculum. It is not just a break from real “work.” It is accurate to think of play as the “work” of children. A child learns social skills, language skills, and motor skills through play. When building, a child is experimenting with principles of science and mathematics such as balance, weight, shapes, measurements and observation. These hands-on experiences form a foundation for later academic study in science and math. Through play, children are actively engaged in learning about their world and developing their skills.
Sun Class and Star Class
The Sun and Star Classes are our mixed-age early childhood classes for children between the ages of 3 and 6-years old. The children must be potty-trained. Children in the Sun and Star Classes attend for 3 or 5 days a week. You may enroll your child for the morning activities only, the morning activities plus lunchtime, or the full-day program which also includes an afternoon nap and free play. Before Care and After Care are available.
Hours of Operation
Half Day 8:30 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
Half Day & Lunchtime 8:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Full Day 8:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Before Care 8:00 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.
After Care 3:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.