Third Grade

Your third grader will learn:

• Language Arts: Grammar, spelling and cursive writing
• Literature: Multi-cultural creation stories
• Mathematics: Long division, measurement and telling time
• Science: Farming, gardening and house building

Subject classes are an important aspect of Waldorf education in grades 1-8, as they contribute significantly to a child’s growth and development. Third Grade Subject classes include:

• Art: Watercolor painting, clay modeling and drawing with detail
• Handwork: Crocheted ball, hat and puppet
• Music: Recorder, singing
• Physical Education: Folk dances, balance games, gymnastics, jump roping, hula hoops, clapping and cooperative games
• Spanish: Individualized dialogue, vocabulary, writing and reading practice, songs and stories
• String Ensemble: Warm ups for physical balance and awareness, singing for inner ear imagination, galvanizing the concept of sections (violin, viola, cello) and partnerships within that collective

Learn more about our Specialty Subjects

Third graders take their first annual overnight trip with their class to a local farm, which directly connects them to the curriculum.

“Sheep to Shawl” projects are an important part of the 3rd grade experience, and each class will have a unique project of this nature. In collaboration with the class teacher and the handwork program, students get a taste for the origins of food, fibers, and resources that make up our everyday items. They may forage for wild plants that can be used to dye the wool they sheared from a sheep on a farm field trip, then use that dyed wool for a class weaving project. They may harvest food in the fall on one trip, then return a few weeks later to help prepare the ground for winter. In the spring, they may return again to till the soil and prepare for the next planting–witnessing the concept of time (which they also study in third grade) in a multi-faceted and unique way.

Field trips at CLWS are not one-off experiences, but rather opportunities for rich and continued connections with our local growers and farmers, and a chance for students to learn more deeply.