Middle Grades Program

Middle Grades Curriculums

“The earth needs regenerative agriculture. It needs stewards—people who will care for the forests, fields, waterways, and all those who call them home —for the next generation and all those who follow.”

Biodynamic Farming-Camphill Association (a Rudolf Steiner initiative)

We’re excited to announce our renewed middle grades program where experiential learning and the wonder found in biodynamic farming principles frame the curriculum. Our young adults will spend quality time outdoors being educated by the natural world while absorbing the important lessons that can only be learned by listening to nature’s wise secrets. Biodynamic farming, started by Rudolf Steiner, works with the living soil’s inherent fertility to create a rich and thriving environment for animals and plants to develop to their potential. At Sanderling Waldorf School, we strive to cultivate this fertile ground for young minds to grow, learn and fully prosper. Middle schoolers will be prepared for the modern world by learning through the lens of their own experiences cultivating their confidence and truest sense of self. We are so elated to present this powerful middle school program that speaks to the hearts of our children during this pivotal moment in time. This program will hold and challenge young minds to be forces of their own making in a dynamic world that needs them the most.

Grade 6

The curriculum of the sixth grade offers support and nourishment for the adolescent child experiencing their twelve-year-change by offering students examples of order created from chaos and harmony from disharmony. Observation is emphasized as a balance to the natural pull of asserting one’s own judgment and opinion. As the sixth grader experiences this inner pull of asserting their own opinion, preference, judgment and expectation of the world, the curriculum meets these pulls with the force of new challenges to their thinking.

Curriculum:

Grade 7

The seventh grade signals a very important change in the development of the child. Externally, the body is usually in the throes of puberty while, internally, the new force of intellect is born.

The curriculum appropriately mirrors this development with the theme of the Renaissance. The pre-adolescent is somewhat conflicted, wanting to be accepted by the group while, at the same time, desiring to be recognized as an individual. These students, much like their Renaissance counterparts, want to break free from traditional restraints and to explore and discover life on their own. The curriculum integration continues to reinforce the moral responsibility that comes with individual freedom through the biographies of individuals whose adventures and challenges parallel the yearnings present in the students.

In the spirit of the Renaissance, the year is often begun with perspective drawing. The laws of perspective drawing were indicative of an evolutionary step in human development: the ability to look outside oneself and begin to interpret the laws of nature. The students begin by drawing freehand and then eventually with the aid of tools. Students complete a variety of exercises that demonstrate their mastery of vanishing points, converging lines, interpolation and extrapolation and creating the illusion of a three-dimensional space on a two dimensional paper.

Curriculum:

Grade 8

Eighth grade is the culminating year in our school and it’s seen as a crowning year. The students are further into adolescence and are met with a curriculum which nourishes their growing curiosity, competence and thinking while supporting the challenges and wonders they may be experiencing as individuals.

The eighth grade curriculum is designed to help students understand the modern world: from history to science to literature, the aim is to help 13 and 14 year-olds feel at home in the present world as their individualities continue to emerge. They become familiar with the world through history, literature, geography and science, and achieve a level of expertise in various skills that allows them to walk into the world with confidence. They’ll usually have regained the emotional balance they had lost in the sixth or seventh grade, and will end the eighth grade year filled with gratitude for the past eight years and enthusiasm for the coming challenges of high school.

Eighth grade projects are a significant part of the eighth grade experience, commencing in August and culminating in spring. Students receive the requirements for their projects at the end of seventh grade and each is allowed to choose their topic with teacher oversight. As part of the project, students are required to seek, secure and work with a mentor who is experienced within the area of their topic. The project consists of three parts: a written research paper, an oral presentation and the creation of a physical product. Examples of these projects include building a Tesla Coil, making a guitar, directing a play, writing and performing a monologue and creating a work of art.

The culminating experience for eighth graders is the eighth grade class trip. Students and chaperons typically travel for one week, with a wide range of experiences, depending upon the class and often including a service project.

Curriculum:

THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK - Presented by the 8th Grade

(Note: the audio comes on after about one minute)