CLASS FOUR
The theme-story of the Class Four year is Norse Mythology. These stories, that are always so well received by successive Class Fours contain within them the very things children are grappling with at this stage - the battle between light and darkness, extremes of cold and heat, how to meet challenges and preserve what is beautiful and good.
Studies of nature take in the fascinating variety of the animal kingdom. At this age children's love of animals and natural phenomena is easily aroused and engaged. The fables and stories of Class and Three are now left behind and the animal kingdom is presented as a factual study, so that the child learns to appreciate the perceptible forms of creatures whose developed bodies enable them to function in many wonderful, specialised ways. Here a distinction is made with human beings whose 'unspecialised' hands, for example, provide the freedom for artistic, creative and practical use.
Class Fours approach Geography through a study from their immediate environment further into the wider world. They learn to connect with this ever-widening world through feelings and their newly developed sense of accurate observation.
Grammar moves from the more pictorial presentations of Class Two and Three into the more - dealing with a basic analysis of parts of speech and tenses. Number work, now called mathematics, introduces fractions while the crossing of the mid line which awakens and supports the child's unfolding consciousness is finally consolidated and strengthened by the weaving patterns in Form Drawing, the cross-stitch work in Handwork and the movements in Eurythmy and Bothmer Gym.
Class Four
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The theme-story of the Class Four year is Norse Mythology. These stories, that are always so well received by successive Class Fours contain within them the very things children are grappling with at this stage - the battle between light and darkness, extremes of cold and heat, how to meet challenges and preserve what is beautiful and good.
Class Five
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Typically the child in Class Five is experiencing a warm loving and balanced time. This is truly the heart of childhood. The growing child who at first is strongly directed by adults (educators and parents in the partnership of education) is slowly becoming more independent.
Class Six
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The Class Six child is approaching twelve years of age. Physically this stage is characterized by a period of growth, and they become awkward and heavy as their limbs begin the lengthening process. There is a more consciously thoughtful involvement with both their inner and outer world, and opportunities for discussion often arise as they query and challenge. The time is now ripe for ordering and formalizing, for the imaginative solving of real problems and for establishing a balance between aesthetic appreciation and technical, scientific precision.
Class Seven
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In Class Seven the children have come to their final year in primary school and also their final year with their class teacher. The learners are approaching an important crossroad: the end of childhood and the beginning of adolescence. They have spent six years developing and structuring their inner faculties: they have practiced clear thinking, worked creatively, and learnt to acknowledge and express their feelings and to care for and communicate with one another.