For Choice in Education
Class One
Class One
Children in Class One are making the transition from Early Childhood education, with its focus on learning through imitation, practical activities and child-led play, into formal schooling, where there is more need to listen, wait, follow and participate. They learn to become part of a new learning community, building on the learning habits, dispositions and attitudes that have been fostered in kindergarten, and learning new classroom routines and behaviours.
Child development and leitmotif for this class |
| One of the main characteristics of children between the seventh and ninth year [age 6-8] is their desire to learn, without any need to form their own judgements. Memory, imagination, enjoyment of rhythmical repetition and a desire for universal concepts presented in pictorial form, come to the fore at this stage. Children retain a bias towards accepting the authority of the adult world, but this is not now a matter of imitation but of concentrating attention upon major role models; these affect the child largely through the feeling of their words or moral strength of their actions. A child’s inner question to the teacher is: ‘Can you see who I really am?’ and ‘Can you help me encounter the world?’. This determines the teacher’s position and relationship in regard to the child. These basic questions are answered in and through the lessons which aim not only to teach about experiencing the world but also to let the children actually experience the world. The teacher who succeeds in meeting these expectations set by the children will be accepted by them as an authority, something very different to attempting to control children as an authoritarian (adapted from Avison and Rawson, 2014)
Children in Class 1 are making the transition from Early Childhood education, with its focus on learning through imitation, practical activities and child-led play, into formal schooling, where there is more need to listen, wait, follow and participate. They learn to become part of a new learning community, building on the learning habits, dispositions and attitudes that have been fostered in kindergarten, and learning new classroom routines and behaviours. Children are ready and eager to take on the challenge of this new phase of their learning, keen to get started on the exciting adventures of literacy and numeracy. Teachers are ready to meet the children, however ready they are, and seek to integrate them into the learning community. Stories are embodied and the imagination begins to map out interior spaces in a free, dreamy way as a balance to the need to focus on the structuring of numbers, letters, forms, rules. As children gain greater control of their limbs, feet and fingers, they also expand the internal spaces of the imagination, learning to focus their mental imaging. The gesture of Class 1 is one of opening the book of learning and beginning the process of ‘reading’, in the sense of the Old English word, rǣdan - ‘riddling’. Riddling conjures up working pictures of exploring, playing with, engendering curiosity and kindling interest. And the literacies that begin to develop are multi-disciplinary: not just English literacy, but mathematical, social, physical and artistic. |
Curriculum Themes |
Narrative Themes |
| Folktales, tales of wonder and magic, nature tales.
Folktales, tales of wonder and transformation, tales of magic, sometimes called fairy tales, are characterised by the appearance of archetypes, or frequently recurring motifs that have specific narrative functions (e.g. the offer of magic help )and often appear in a specific order (e.g. like three trials) they are impervious to material facts and have their own internal logic and often reflect the cultures in which they were recorded. There are suggestions that many folktale motifs go back to a common proto-European language, but equally they can be the products of contemporary literature. Many such folk tales have a common narrative structure (preparation, complication, transference, struggle , return, recognition), similar to the structures found in myths. |
Musical Themes |
Qualities:
Topics: Songs to accompany activities, counting rhymes, seasonal and nature, fairy tales |
Artistic Themes |
| Simple representation of people and animals in side-profile, lack of perspective and proportion.
Painting colour stories and moods. Materials: wax sticks and blocks, thick (Lyra) pencils, coloured chalks, watercolour paints (warm and cool primary colours), beeswax/organic plasticine/clay |
Physical Themes |
| How to be in the body in ways that free up the mind to engage with new complexities and abstractions. body geography, throwing and catching, skipping, string games, coordinating hands and eyes. |
Library |
| I Love My Hair, Natasha Anastasia Tarpley (Little, Brown and Co, 2003)
And Tango Makes Three, Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell (Simon and Schuster, 2012) Eddie’s Garden and How to Make Things Grow, Sarah Garland (Francis Lincoln Children’s Books, 2006) The Lost Words, Robert MacFarlane and Jackie Morris (Hamish Hamilton, 2017) The Garden in the City, Gerda Muller (Puffin, 1991) My Heart Fills with Happiness, Monique Gray Smith and Julie Flett (Orca, 2016) The Snowy Day, Ezra Jack Keats (Puffin, 2019) The Blue House, Phoebe Wahl (Knopf books, 2020) Come All You Little Persons, John Agard and Jessica Courtney Tickle (Faber and Faber, 2017) Say Hello! Rachel Isadora (Putnam, 2010) Mommy’s Khimar, Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow (Simon and Schuster, 2018) Grandma’s Purse, Vanessa Brantley-Newton (Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2018) Wiggles, Stomps, and Squeezes Calm My Jitters Down, Lindsay Rowe Parker (BQB Publishing, 2021) Mr Seahorse, Eric Carle (Puffin, 2004) The Duke Who Outlawed Jelly Beans, Johnny Valentine (Alyson Publications, 2004) The Girl who Thought She Was a Dog, Clare Balding (Puffin, 2018) The Magic Paintbrush, Julia Donaldson (Macmillan, 2017) The Keeping Quilt, Patricia Polacco (Simon and Schuster, 2001) Just a Minute, A Trickster Tale and Counting Book, Yuyi Morales (Chronicle Books, 2016) All Are Welcome, Alexandra Penfold (Bloomsbury, 2019) Your Name is a Song, Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow (Global Publisher Services, 2020) A Home Full of Friends, Peter Bently (Hodder, 2017) The Invisible, Tom Percival (Simon and Schuster, 2021) All the Colours of the Earth, Sheila Hamanaka (Harper Collins, 2010) Joy! Joy! Joy! The Anthem for Black Boys, Nzinga-Christina Reid (Black Diaries Publishing, 2020) Joy! Joy! Joy! The Anthem for Black Girls, Nzinga-Christina Reid (Black Diaries Publishing, 2021) No Mirrors in My Nana’s House, Ysaye Barnwell (Voyager, 2005) 10 Gulab Jamuns, Sandhya Acharya (Mascot, 2017) The Many Colours of Harpreet Singh, Supriya Kelkar (Sterling, 2020) The Ghanaian Goldilocks, Dr Tamara Pizzoli (Love228, 2014) Under my Hijab, Henna Khan (Lee and Low, 2019) What to look for in Spring/Summer/Autumn/Winter, Ladybird Vintage e.g. 1963 Five Creatures, Emily Jenkins (MacMillan, 2005) Champion: The Story of Muhammad Ali, Jim Haskins (Bloomsbury, 2018) Pedagogical Stories The Proudest Blue, Ibtihaj Muhammad (Walker Books, 2020) Born to be Different, John Rigoli and Holly Withers (2018) Benny Doesn’t Like to Be Hugged, Zetta Elliot and Purple Wong (CreateSpace, 2017) Be Kind, Pat Zietlow Miller and Jen Hill (Macmillan, 2020) Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress, Christine Baldacchino (GroundWood Books, 2014) Do You Want to Play?: Making Friends with an Autistic Kid, Daniel Share-Strom (2021) Sensory Seeking Sebastian, Christia DeShields (2021) My Whirling Twirling Motor, Merriam Sarcia Saunders (Magination, 2019) Love is Love, Michael Genhart (Little Pickle Press, 2018) The Big Umbrella, Amy June Bates (Simon and Schuster, 2018) Chrysanthemum, Kevin Henkes (Perfection Learning Corp, 1996) |
Visual and Graphic Arts |
Indicative Content |
| Develop and embed classroom habits that enable the effective, efficient preparation of materials, and quiet, contemplative working.
Drawing (see also Form Drawing themes, and Maths ARLOs for Shape, Space and Measure) Children should draw with wax blocks and stick crayons. The Blocks are used primarily akin to how one would employ a paint brush, IE to provide a foreground, simple buildings, a group of trees, but children should also have the opportunity to draw with chalk, chunky pencils (Lyra Ferby) etc. Guided drawing The teacher draws or crayons in large format, on a large sheet of paper pinned to the board. They demonstrate techniques such as using different sides of the block crayon for different effects. Drawings can start with a flat ‘earth’ at the bottom of the page, without a background of hills or mountains. Animals should be drawn from a side view, as frontal views or angles are too difficult and confusing. The teacher should keep their drawings at the same level of development as the children’s so that it does not feel out of the reach of the children’s skills. Free drawing Children should be offered plenty of opportunity to draw freely on a given theme, drawn from stories and folk tales and/or real or imagined events. It is useful for children to have a ‘drawing book’ (A4 or A3 size) so that a child’s development across the year can be clearly seen. Line drawing is a developmental process that children need to freely experience as a way of interacting with the world. It is natural for children to narrate this kind of free expression as they draw. Guided and free drawing can be combined; the teacher begins a picture, and the children finish it in their own way. Children should often have the opportunity to admire and respect each other’s work. Painting Early in the year, the teacher tells colour stories, where the colours themselves become characters in the story. These lead into an exploration of mood and the colour in the world around you, where children observe the teacher demonstrating techniques matched to an image from a familiar story. The atmosphere of story themes drawn from main lesson content, seasonal activities and festivals is represented in the colours used, creating colour stories (i.e. a ‘radiant’ yellow, a ‘gentle’ blue). Painting with watercolours on both damp and dry paper. Creating secondary colours from primary. Modelling Modelling can be done with clay, wax, or appropriate modelling material, e.g. plant-based or beeswax plasticine. Working not by adding bits and pieces, but by working with a given amount of material as a whole lump that can be changed and shaped. Simple exercises to familiarise children with the material (e.g. create a sphere or a pyramid). Develop a picture of what is to be modelled through verbal description, or even asking children to act out the mood or form they are about to model. Describing what has been modelled (own work and work of others) through accurate observation and description of ‘what is happening’. E.g. is the form resting, swelling, reaching etc. Free modelling is also recommended, where children can create what and as they wish (although the teacher may wish to have a ‘rule’ that the modelling material should be able to be reclaimed!) |
Pedagogical Reasoning |
| Drawing
For a six- to eight-year-old free drawing is an expression of inner feelings and sensations and drawings can give insight into a child’s developmental stage. More structured drawing activities can build children’s skills. Listening to stories engages children’s imagination and encourages them to create mental images of what they hear, with each child representing the words in their own unique way. Drawing brings balance to the focused act of careful writing. Illustrations bring the children’s written words to life; each piece of work becomes a meaningful whole, where intellectual and artistic meet. Painting Painting lessons begin with colours and their interplay, without representational forms. Instead, colours become representative of moods, emotions and atmospheres. The structure or assignment given by the teacher prevents the painting becoming a purely sensory activity, but instead one of ‘colour stories’. Modelling Modelling is developed from the interplay of the hands, which together form an inner space. The hand feels the surfaces, becoming a kind of organ of perception and formation; in the process of modelling itself, the senses of form, movement and touch are especially active. The underlying principle is that it is a metamorphosis of form, working particularly with the formative forces that are at work within the nature of the developing child. |
Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation |
| Black crayons and pencils must be made available so that children can accurately represent themselves, their families and their communities. All images should be inclusive of a range of people, taking into consideration: gender and family stereotypes, skin and hair colour/type, disability and age. |
Suggested ARLOs |
| Creative and Aesthetic, |
Handwork: Looping |
Indicative Content |
| Project:
Knit useful objects in knit stitch. R. Steiner discussed two different types of knitting and indicated the one that uses both hands equally be employed. The local style or the teacher’s method is often used. Suggested items (stitch indication offered to show how initially very few stitches are worked – number of stitches in projects increases as pupils’ knitting becomes more accurate and rhythmic):
Hand Sewing: Children sew up their knitted items. Sewing together with running stitch – e.g. the lining of a pipe/recorder case. Teacher shares a story at the end of the lesson which is related to the day’s work that has already been tidied away. This allows children to listen actively and which builds a connection between the physical work experience and sensory experience while also signposting the next lesson. |
Pedagogical Reasoning |
| ”When we teach a child to knit or to make something (...) the things he makes must have purpose and meaning--we are then working upon the spirit of the child.”--Rudolf Steiner The schooling of the lower senses (touch, life, movement, balance) through the physical movement of knitting enables children to overcome behaviours that are non-conducive to learning. Both hands are working together. |
Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation |
| Stock a variety of skin tones for knitting
Consider the history and content of rhymes, stories, songs: All songs, stories and images should be inclusive of a range of people, taking into consideration: gender and family stereotypes, skin and hair colour/type, disability and age. Stories and songs should be taken from a range of cultures around the world. Storytelling- include characters from various cultures and traditions |
Suggested ARLOs |
| Creative and Aesthetic, Handwork |
Narrative Material |
Indicative Content |
| Folktales, tales of wonder and magic, nature tales. Teachers bring more complex folktales and tales of magical worlds, with multiple plots and significant development over time and through experience, with the intervention of magic beings and the interwoven nature of human, animal, plant, physical and spiritual worlds. |
Pedagogical Reasoning |
| Stories focus on archetypal personalities (people who represent human qualities) and archetypal life experiences of change and transformation. Children encounter the narrative structure of crisis and resolution, and the idea that people can work through crises when they arise. They experience the beginnings of layered meaning in text, where people, places and things have simple moral values (e.g. good and evil). The emotion in the stories is mediated by the fantastical worlds in which they are set, allowing children to access them without distress. |
Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation |
| Folktales from around the world.
Heroes, heroines, princes, princesses, and all other characters have a range of skin colours and hair types. Stories which challenge gender stereotypes, e.g. inclusion of stories with strong female characters. Stories which include different family structures. All songs, stories and images should be inclusive of a range of people, taking into consideration: gender and family stereotypes, skin and hair colour/type, disability and age. |
Suggested ARLOs |
| Literacy, History, Visual and Graphic Art (Drawing) |
Stories of spellings and sounds |
Indicative Content |
| Introduction of letter shapes through stories and pictures. A story is told, and into the story appears an element where the shape of the letter grows out of the picture, for example M emerges from a mountain, or B emerges from a bear. The capital letter is introduced first, but immediately followed by the lower case. Children begin by writing letters, words and sentences from the stories. |
Pedagogical Reasoning |
| The first steps in literacy follow a form drawing main lesson, where hand-eye coordination and the manual manipulation and control of drawing and writing implements is developed. The artistic narrative approach engages the attention and imagination of the child. The emergence of the letters softens the link between the abstract image and the phonic value - there is no inherent link between M and mountain, B and bear - the focus is on the form of the letter and the sound it represents.
From this starting point, children’s phonic knowledge is developed in a systematic way through the teaching of writing and reading. |
Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation |
| All songs, stories and images should be inclusive of a range of people, taking into consideration: gender and family stereotypes, skin and hair colour/type, disability and age. Stories and songs should be taken from a range of cultures around the world. |
Suggested ARLOs |
| Literacy, Visual and Graphic Art |
Opening the Book of Number |
Indicative Content |
| The maths Main Lesson begins with Quality of Number. Through stories, the children are guided toward recognising that numbers and mathematics are all around us. The children are encouraged to discover for themselves ‘ones’ (one sun, one earth, each, unique individual) then ‘twos’ all the way to ‘twelves’.
Children will then begin to use manipulatives to develop and strengthen their sense of number. Fingers and toes can be used to learn regrouping and for recognising a number as a unity. This leads to the opportunity to record using numeral systems recognisably derived from the human body as reckoner, e.g. Roman Numerals, Chinese Rods Numerals, Mayan Numerals. This then progresses to the more abstract and familiar Arabic numerals. Rhythmical counting, the synchronisation of speech and step, will lay the groundwork for the learning of tables in Class 2. With a strong foundational sense of number, the four processes can be introduced. The symbols can be introduced through a story, which brings an imaginative picture of each of the processes, sharing (/), collecting (+), grouping (x) and finding the difference (-) The story, however, should be based on practical, tangible, day to day activities that involve number, for example a farm, a shop or a family. Once the children have a sound grasp of number facts up to 10 and beyond mental arithmetic can be practised. A number line can be introduced to facilitate working with numbers of all sizes, and as a tool for calculating. |
Pedagogical Reasoning |
| The emphasis in the mathematical teaching method is on ‘guided discovery’, in preference to what may be termed ‘open-ended exploration’. The method focuses on providing a teacher led content aimed at developing individual ways of thinking and techniques. The content and presentation of material is founded on imaginative / practical situations. The emphasis is on approaching mathematical phenomena in an experiential way. Opportunities are sought to work with the practical application of mathematical principles and phenomena to enable the child to have a feeling for the quality and magnitude of different numbers and to develop their number sense. Stories bring an imaginative but relatable and practical picture of each of the processes. The experience of problem solving and finding more than one path to a solution engages the imagination and encourages flexibility in thinking. |
Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation |
| Numerical counting systems based on the body as reckoner, from around the world. Any personification of processes and characters in stories should be inclusive of a range of skin colours, hair textures etc and should disrupt stereotypes (e.g. female farmer). |
Suggested ARLOs |
| Maths |
The Straight Line and the Curve |
Indicative Content |
| Drawing and modelling of forms, starting with the simplest building blocks in all drawing – the straight line and the curve. Gradually explore how these can be drawn, limited, combined, varied, rotated and developed to create patterns, page borders and representations of natural forms. Work towards introducing spirals.
Materials most suited to allowing children to experience the flow of form drawing, allowing the movement to come from the shoulder are: anti-dust chalk, sand trays, paint, chunky pencils (e.g. Lyra Ferby). Wax blocks or crayons can be used with care, if the room is warm enough for the crayon to flow across the page. |
Pedagogical Reasoning |
| Linearity is an archetypal quality as old as humanity related to orality, expressing directional movement in space and time. Walking, talking (storylines, songlines) and drawing are all linear. Children need the opportunity for free linear drawing, rather than drawing from observation or imagination because the dynamic movements are embodied and not yet filled with mental content. Form drawing or dynamic drawing is an activity that transforms bodily movement in space into inner movement in ways that transposes the external orientation into inner orientation, weaving the three dimensions (up/down, right/left and behind /in front) into a dynamic relationship between point and periphery, centre and circumference. It is a creative process, free hand requiring control and sense of proportion that builds on archetypal forms, point, line, surface and volume. |
Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation |
| The primal differentiation: one and the other; both equally valid, no value judgement |
Suggested ARLOs |
| Maths (Shape, Space and Measure), Visual and Graphic Art (form drawing) |
Modern Foreign Languages - Everyday orality |
Indicative Content |
| Familiar and classroom activities in the target language, with lots of repetition. |
Pedagogical Reasoning |
| Languages are learned using a natural approach that models the way children learn their mother tongue, adjusted to take into account their age. This means that the lessons remain in the realm of orality for the first three years so that the children have a solid basis in the language before literacy is introduced. The teaching takes place entirely in the target language so children can learn through participation in learning situations they basically understand though shared intentionality, the teacher modelling the activity and emulation. |
Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation |
| All songs, stories and images should be inclusive of a range of people, taking into consideration: gender and family stereotypes, skin and hair colour/type, disability and age. |
Suggested ARLOs |
| Modern Foreign Languages |
Home Surroundings: stories of the local environment. |
Indicative Content |
| Stories based on aspects of the local environment, whether natural or man-made, are told and recalled. These might include a particular tree, flower or building and the weather, climate and seasons. Children spend time outdoors in the local environment. |
Pedagogical Reasoning |
| Stories are used to lay a foundation of living connection to the environment through imagination and experience, creating ‘threads of feeling’ between the children and the world in which they live. The stories should illustrate the inter-relatedness of the living world and the innate wholeness of all creation. This will form the foundation of science, history and geography in a way which allows the children to see the world as something of which they are a part, creating a visceral relationship rather than one which is digital, virtual or ‘museum-like’.
Through rich direct and narrative experiences the teacher gently draws children’s attention to the local environment and cultivates noticing and recalling. Children are participative observers and interpret what they see holistically and imaginatively with a self-referring inner logic which is the soil from which mature thinking will grow. |
Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation |
| Stories and direct experiences are inclusive of a wide range of aspects of the local environment, including all cultures which are represented there.
Stories challenge gender stereotypes and show a range of family structures, for example where plants and animals are anthropomorphised. |
Suggested ARLOs |
| Social Science, Literacy, Geography, Science and Technology |
Sustainable Living: Hearth and Home |
Indicative Content |
| The teacher(s) and children work together to establish a home base in a natural area, with a place for a fire and somewhere to sit – the hearth. Physical and social rules and boundaries are established, e.g. the permitted limits of exploration, expectations of behaviour and a reflective plenary activity to finish the session. The teacher works to awaken the children’s curiosity about their local natural environment through walking, spending time in nature, dedicating time to free play, craft activities and tracking seasonal changes. Children will learn about the birds and animals that live in or visit the site, and the trees and plants that grow in the environment. Craft activities will be offered with an expectation (but not an insistence) that children take part, and extension activities for those who want or need them. Children will be taught how to take care of tools and use them appropriately and safely, and how to build a fire and be safe around it. Connections between indoor and outdoor learning will be made through preparation (e.g. introducing children to tools and assessing how they can be used safely; telling stories and talking about the activities they will be doing and environment that they will be working in) and through reflection (e.g. recalling their experiences; painting, drawing and writing about what they have done and experienced). From this home base, expeditions to other local areas of interest can be undertaken.
Incidental discussions provide opportunities for accurate naming of parts of the body and the senses. |
Pedagogical Reasoning |
| Mirroring the transition to more formal learning in the classroom, outdoor education moves from free exploration and imitation in the kindergarten to the establishing of an outdoor learning community with rules and structures. The physical boundary of the kindergarten garden shifts to less tangible boundaries of time and space. Free play still plays a vital role in meeting the children’s need to ‘breathe out’, and in strengthening their bodies and supporting their physical development. Children become familiar with the details of their local, natural environment. They are participative observers and interpret what they see holistically and imaginatively with a self-referring inner logic which is the soil from which mature thinking will grow. |
Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation |
| Cultivating respect for all plants and animals (even stinging nettles, brambles and weeds, insects and other less familiar creatures) is an important precondition for social and cultural diversity.
All songs, stories and images should be inclusive of a range of people, taking into consideration: gender and family stereotypes, skin and hair colour/type, disability and age. |
Suggested ARLOs |
| Science and Technology, Geography |
Media Education |
Indicative Content |
| Children’s attention should be drawn to the design of the pages of their books (particularly main lesson books), ensuring that these are created in an attractive, orderly and balanced way. As literacy skills develop, children should have access to a rich and varied class and (where possible) school library, with a wide range of books in different styles and formats (fiction, non-fiction, picture books etc). Singing should be a daily activity (see musical themes for the year), and children will learn a simple musical instrument, such as a recorder or Choroi flute. Children will explore primary and secondary colours through the medium of watercolour paint, and the creation of images with crayons and coloured pencils, including in form drawing. Practical technological competence and understanding are developed through handwork and tool use, e.g. in the outdoor curriculum. Children are given strategies to use and trusted people to contact if they feel sad, uncomfortable, embarrassed or upset about things they see or hear, even if those things are online. |
Pedagogical Reasoning |
| Analogue processes help children understand things in the truest sense of the word. Once they are acquainted with analogue technologies and their potentials, the basis is created for them to be able to judge how and when digital techniques can be used sensibly, based on their own experience. Mastering the medium of writing forms the basis of all media competence. Reading is the basic and key qualification that develops and promotes media competence in general. Understanding the construction of images and music provide children with a basis for later judgement(s) of media. Alongside this practical competence is a focus on the development of dispositions and social and emotional skills which support children to later develop self control and regulate their use of media, and to treat people in the digital realm with respect and understanding. This can be followed through the PSHE/RSE curriculum, and the development of imagination and empathy as enhanced capacities through long term curriculum intent. In modern life, regardless of a school’s policy on media use at home, children will have direct and indirect exposure to media through family and friends. Potentially disturbing or dangerous content, or even seemingly harmless images leave an impression on the young child. Children need to be confident that they have safe spaces in which to discuss their feelings about whatever they may have seen or been exposed to. |
Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation |
| All images should be inclusive of a range of people, taking into consideration: gender and family stereotypes, skin and hair colour/type, disability and age. |
Suggested ARLOs |
| Technology, RSE, PSHE |
Spiritual, religious, ethical and moral education |
Indicative Content |
| Nature stories that reflect the changing seasons and where objects can interact, folk and fairy tales, simple creation stories. Experiencing worlds where security and peacefulness are tested, refined and rewarded. Stories that touch on issues of life such as death, wickedness, goodness, bravery, fear. |
Pedagogical Reasoning |
| Children are becoming a socially cohesive group who care for and listen to each other and the environment. Strong images are internalised and generalised into concepts. The class is learning to be with another teacher and are realising a sense of belonging – in being part of a bigger community. |
Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation |
| Stories selected from all cultures – actively seek alternatives to traditional Eurocentric tales. Inclusion of characters and protagonists of diverse gender and sex.
All songs, stories and images should be inclusive of a range of people, taking into consideration: gender and family stereotypes, skin and hair colour/type, disability and age. |
Suggested ARLOs |
| SMSC |
Under development!
Physical Education |
Indicative Content |
| The class |
Pedagogical Reasoning |
Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation |
| All |
Suggested ARLOs |
| Physical |
Under development!
Music |
Indicative Content |
| The class teachers sing with the children at certain times throughout the day. These songs are always in unison and usually pentatonic. Material is seasonal and contextual - ie used to punctuate different activities during the day such as tidying away etc. Action songs help to make singing a whole body experience in thinking, feeling and willing. Simple recorders are also introduced, focusing on basic coordination, dexterity, imitation and breathing. |
Pedagogical Reasoning |
Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation |
| All songs, stories and images should be inclusive of a range of people, taking into consideration: gender and family stereotypes, skin and hair colour/type, disability and age. Stories and music should be taken from a range of cultures around the world. |
Suggested ARLOs |
| Creative and Aesthetic, Technology |
Under development!
Eurythmy |
Indicative Content |
Class 1 starts with the realm of the Fairy Tale World. Through stories, verses, poems and songs, using the eurythmy gestures for the sounds of speech, the living nature of these sounds is deeply experienced by the class 1 child, and thus strengthening the overall life forces of the child. Through stories and short music pieces all aspects of the eurythmy curriculum can be brought to the children in a contextual way. Their inherent capacity for imitation is slowly replaced with the ability of inner visualisation. This imagination is the first stage of learning. Class 1 is bound together as a unity (‘we’), contained within the circle (the golden sun) and movements are mostly based on the circle with orientation towards the centre. Seasonal festivals can be used to introduce Music eurythmy. Simple tunes are listened to, and the children experience the rise and fall of pitch and the element of rhythm. Through these different elements, the class 1 child is able to experience what lives within his/her own being:
|
Pedagogical Reasoning |
Considerations for Decolonisation/Contextualisation |
| Music, stories and images should be inclusive of a range of people, taking into consideration: gender and family stereotypes, skin and hair colour/type, disability and age. Stories and music should be taken from a range of cultures around the world. |
Suggested ARLOs |
| Physical Education, Creative and Aesthetic |
Based on Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship® Ltd indicative curriculum for Steiner Waldorf Schools, The Art of Teaching