The elementary grades at Sebastopol Charter School are a time of wonder, discovery, and deepening connection. From Grade 1 through Grade 5, students are guided by a class teacher who stays with them year after year, building a strong sense of continuity, trust, and community. Through rich stories, hands-on projects, music, art, and movement, academic subjects are brought to life in a way that engages the whole child, head, heart, and hands. Each year builds upon the last, weaving together imagination and intellect in a curriculum that honors the developmental needs of the growing child.
Subjects are introduced through immersive main lesson blocks, each lasting several weeks and focused on a central theme such as language arts, mathematics, science, or history. Lessons are presented through vivid stories, artistic activities, and practical experiences that awaken curiosity and deepen understanding. Drawing, painting, music, form drawing, handwork, and movement are woven into the school day, allowing children to engage with academic content in a multi-sensory and meaningful way. This integrated approach supports not only intellectual development, but also creativity, resilience, and joy in learning.
Grade 1
First graders are ready to sink their wiggly teeth into school work; to venture out into the world of school and take their place in a class under the loving authority of their teacher, who will be their guide for many years to come. First graders live very much in the realm of the imagination and of feeling.
- Fairy tales and nature stories told, retold, and acted out by children
- Writing, then reading
- Qualities of numbers
- Mathematical operations: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division
- Knitting
- Games/PE
- Singing
- Recorder Playing
Grade 2
Second graders have adapted to the new life of the class. They start to experience the positive and negative aspects of personality, both their own and others. Traditional fables show these positive and negative human traits – honesty and deceit, trust and betrayal, kindness and cruelty – sharply contrasted in the guise of animal characters. The fables give the teacher ample material to address the antics which present themselves in the class. Likewise, legends of good and honorable human beings offer the children pictures of highly developed human behavior.
The class teacher now works to deepen the foundations which have been laid down in first grade: language arts and the ongoing work on writing and reading; arithmetic through the solid acquisition of addition, subtraction and multiplication tables, stories that continue to reveal the world of nature, and provide the basis for the later studies of both science and geography.
- Legends, Fables, and Nature Stories
- Writing and Reading
- Form Drawing
- Arithmetic/Times Tables
- Number Patterns
- Speech and Drama
- Knitting
- Games/PE
- Singing
- Recorder Playing
Grade 3
Third grade is often the year we notice children losing the sense of wonder of young childhood and the powers of innocence and imagination that go with it. They are also growing stronger in their development as individuals. Adults may notice the children becoming more critical and beginning to question and test at home and at school. The magic of young childhood fades and they may feel separated or isolated from their environment, even experiencing boredom for the first time.
The stories of the curriculum serve as a metaphor for the children’s inner experience at this age. During the course of the year this experience of separateness, of being cast out of the garden of childhood, is beautifully addressed by connecting the child with the practical experiences of house-building, farming and gardening.
- Hebrew Stories
- Native American Stories
- Grammar and Composition
- Form Drawing
- Arithmetic
- Weights and Measures
- House Building
- Farming and Gardening
- Crocheting
- Games/PE
- Violin or viola
- Singing
- Recorder Playing
Grade 4
Fourth graders become more self-confident as their perception of the world sharpens, but at the same time their experience of separation from their surroundings can be quite painful. The Norse stories with their slap-stick humor and their deep and subtle themes give the children the strength to face these challenges. Stories with similar moods such as the Kalevala or the stories of native peoples may be used in addition to the Norse myths. The long awaited field trip to Fort Ross is the highlight of the fourth grade year.
For the fourth grade child, the world, once exhibiting a magical wholeness, is breaking apart. This is the appropriate time for introducing fractions. In the zoology block, the children study the relationships that exist between the human and animal kingdoms.
- Local History and Geography
- Animal Studies
- Norse Mythology
- Grammar and Composition
- Speech and Drama
- Form Drawing
- Fractions/Arithmetic
- Singing
- Recorder Playing
- Stringed Instruments/Ensemble Orchestra
- Cross-stitch
- Games/PE
Grade 5
Fifth graders generally have achieved skill levels in basic academic and artistic work that allow them to meet new challenges with enthusiasm and energy. Physically, their bodies move with balance, grace, and agility. The harmony and integration of the child at this age will soon be challenged by the demands of adolescence. The fifth grade curriculum meets this golden age through a balance of academic, artistic, and movement work.
The mythologies of India, Persia, Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Greece are taken up this year. Students study geography and how the landscapes of these places have influenced ancient civilizations. The year culminates with the study of ancient Greece, representing an appreciation for the balance between physical skill and beauty, art and science, earthly life and ideals. In the spring the children participate in a five-event Greek Pentathlon with students from other schools inspired by Waldorf education. This competition involves the discus, javelin, wrestling, long jump, and running, and is held in the same spirit of truth and beauty that the Greeks initiated.
The focus of botany at this age lies in the balance between scientific observation, and an appreciation for the poetic qualities of the plant world’s beauty.
Fifth graders are enthusiastic about learning, eager for new challenges, and capable of hard work and creativity. They stand perfectly balanced at a point in their development that places them at ease in the world, harmonious in themselves and in their environment.
- Mythology, Geography and History of Ancient Civilizations (India, Persia, Egypt, Greece)
- North American Geography
- Freehand Geometric Drawing
- Arithmetic/Decimals/Fractions
- Botany
- Reading, Grammar, Composition
- Singing
- Recorder Playing
- Ensemble Orchestra
- 4-Needle Knitting
- PE/Greek Pentathlon
- Speech and Drama
