Curriculum

"Our highest endeavor must he to develop free human beings who are able of themselves to impart purpose and direction to their lives. The need for imagination, a sense of truth and a feeling of responsibility - these three forces are the very nerve of education." - Rudolf Steiner

"Just as a sack of flour will retain any impressions you make upon it, so too does the little child retain impressions, not because your child is curious but because you yourself are really one with the child and make impressions as you would do with your fingers on a sack of flour" - Rudolf Steiner

We have a mixed age group kindergarten serving children between 3 years to 6 years. By doing this the class naturally becomes like a family with the younger children emulating the older ones and the older ones instinctively providing loving help and care to the younger ones.

Till the age of 6-7yrs, children learn best through imitation i.e. through their senses and through activity. It is important that these children are kept in a setting which is calm and soothing and provides them with a sense of security. At Kalpavruksha the organic look of the classroom fulfills the child's inner need to be close to nature and provides a peaceful and relaxed environment. Learning then becomes a joyful experience and not merely the acquisition of knowledge.

The Steiner curriculum which is followed by the school addresses these issues and is based on the tri-fold approach of catering to the Head, the Heart and the Hands of the child. It stimulates the mind with a full spectrum of both academic and non-academic subjects and nurtures healthy emotional development by conveying information experientially as well as academically. It teaches the child to revere his hands through a broad range of artistic and physical activities.

As a result learning becomes an engaging voyage of discovery, both of the world and of oneself.

PreSchool / Nursery

The Waldorf curriculum emphasizes imaginative play, art and creative activities, music, storytelling, authentic handwork, and honoring the rhythms of the seasons and of life. The preschool years are recognized to be a special time in the development of the child.

The literacy-rich, play-based early childhood program provides children the opportunity to play and work and explore their world in an unhurried environment. The main emphasis is placed on developing imagination and creative thinking skills, rather than early exposure to academic content. Daily circle time includes movement, poetry and singing. Teachers tell nature stories and folk and fairy tales from around the world. Children experience artistic activities such as watercolor painting, drawing, beeswax modeling, music and movement. Other activities may include gardening, food preparation ,cooking ,baking and sewing. Through the example of the teacher, the students develop social skills and reverence for the world around them.

Waldorf Kindergarten

A Waldorf kindergarten program provides a foundation that nurtures the body, mind, and soul of the growing child. Through creating a healthy program – based on imaginative play, artistic activity, simple crafts, language, verse, song, puppetry, fairy tales, and storytelling – the school fosters the development of the whole child: physically, emotionally, intellectually, culturally, and spiritually.

The kindergarten program is non-academic. At this age, a child’s understanding of the world resides fully in his or her body, and it is through this physicality that the child apprehends the world. The child’s energies are naturally taken up largely by physical growth. In free play and through fantasy, the small child transforms the content of his or her experiences into the substance of his or her own self. To divert a child’s formative energies from this important work in the early years, is to take from developing children the endurance and strength they will need in adult life. When a child’s energies are diverted in the formative years, they are prevented from being able to develop endurance and strength in the adult years. Premature, abstract demands upon the intellect, sharp criticism, undue excitement –- for instance, from visual and electronic media –- and over stimulation of the senses rob children of their native physical resources.

Given such a view, the teacher’s task is to create a learning environment worthy of a small child’s essential being – through warmth, clarity, rhythm, and harmony of the world inside the classroom. The kindergarten teachers strive to create a warm, protective environment, rhythmically repetitive and secure, in which a child can slowly make the transition from home to school. Here the teachers respond to the developing child in three important ways. First, they engage themselves in domestic, practical, and artistic activities that the children can readily imitate (for example, baking, painting, and handcrafts). Second, the teachers nurture the children’s power of imagination by telling carefully selected stories; and third, they help the children to experience their lives more deeply by encouraging free play.

Typical Day in Kindergarten Classroom

The day starts with the teacher lovingly welcoming each child and commencing the 'morning circle'. The teachers along with the children stand together in a ring and lead them into songs and movement games thoughtfully synchronized with the seasons and local festivals. The sheer joy that the child experiences is coupled with much greater, far reaching benefits. Hand and foot co-ordination, eye and hand co-ordination, a sense of rhythm, tonal awareness and a whole variety of intelligences are cultivated through this activity, making learning so pleasant that it is hard to tell it is taking place. As the children in this age group are more into 'doing' they are encouraged to get involved in activities like modeling with beeswax, painting, cooking, gardening and handwork. Play time is a very important part of the day wherein they not only develop their limbs and social skills but also their imagination providing fuel for creativity in later life. Through songs, nursery rhymes and fairy tales they are nourished by the beauty of language.

The children thrive in the rhythmic repetition of daily, weekly and seasonal activities and learn to love work through meaningful tasks. The beauty, logic and purpose of what they experience creates a feeling for order and harmony. As they grow, their imagination and natural sense of wonder, nurtured in these early years, will foster inquisitiveness and a desire to learn and understand.

Class 1 to Class 6

The heart of the Waldorf philosophy is the belief that education is an artistic process. Whether the subject is arithmetic or history or physics, it must speak to the child’s experience. To educate the whole child, the heart and will must be engaged, as well as the mind.

Children move into the second phase of childhood at age six or seven. The intellect of the primary school student is no longer restricted by the physically oriented learning mode of the very young. New energy is available, and a vivid life of feelings and emotion emerges. The children can begin to grasp inner meanings and relationships and are now ready to be guided by a teacher into formal learning. In Waldorf curriculum students are not expected to compete or have any assessments but their performance or achievement speaks more of their abilities. And skills developed according to their development age. And while it is important to nurture the new intellectual abilities, we must continue to foster the imagination as the child moves through the primary school. Therefore, all subjects –- mathematics and social studies, language arts and science, music, and foreign languages –- are taught imaginatively and artistically, to engage the children’s feelings as well as their intellects.

The narrative content of the curriculum is intended to mirror the child’s awakening consciousness. The children’s need to find themselves in the stories — of harmony broken and re-established, of moral and idealistic struggle, of good versus evil, and of challenge to authority – is addressed through the presentation of multicultural stories, biographies from around the world, and oral essays. In these years, the curriculum also emphasizes the thorough integration of all subjects rather than segregated study.

In all Waldorf schools, the arts are always an integral part of the curriculum. All students learn to paint and draw, and to work with clay, stone, and metal as they progress through the primary years. They also learn to sing, play the recorder, read music, and to play an orchestral instrument. The practical arts, handcrafts and woodwork, which balance the students’ academic and artistic work, are also requirements in a Waldorf school. While occasional learning activities are sent home to be experienced together with parents, and a commitment to daily reading is encouraged, regular homework is not given until the third class, reflecting our belief that young children should spend time in constructive playing and resting, to be ready for the day ahead.

A Typical Day in The Grade Classes

The day again starts with morning circle with songs, rhymes etc. albeit with more age-appropriate challenging elements like mental maths, tongue twisters. This is followed by the 'Main Lesson' where the child is engaged in a lively two hour long period focusing on one subject. It is generally a 3-4 week thematic block integrating the arts, sciences and humanities and then new subjects are taken up. These longer, more concentrated periods of study help in understanding and absorption of the concepts and is a highlight of the curriculum. The topics covered in the main lesson are recorded by the children in their books with great emphasis to detailed and artistic presentation. The teacher duly guides them in this with creative chalk board drawings and learning becomes an enriching experience.

Language Curriculum

Grade 1

हिंदी और मराठी मौखिक सीखते है| ऋतु अनुसार गीत, त्योहार गीत, जानवर– पंछी गीत, इन सब के साथ हिंदी मराठी बोलना सीखते है| कहानी के माध्यम से नये शब्द – वाक्य सीखते है| १ से ५० अंक मौखिक सीखते है|

Grade 2

हिंदी वर्णमाला की पहचान कहानी के माध्यम से की जाती है| कहानी , गीत,खेल के माध्यम से नये शब्द- वाक्य सीखते है| १ से ८० मौखिक और १ से १० अंक लिखना सीखते है|

Grade 3

Grade 4

किसी भी विषय पर चर्चा करने से विद्यार्थी नये शब्द का इस्तेमाल करना सीखते है| इस कक्षा से कहानी पढना और लिखने की शुरुवात होती है| विद्यार्थी कहानी तैयार करते है| विद्यार्थी पहेलियाँ बनाते है और सुलझाते है| कहानी के पात्र विद्यार्थी प्रस्तुत करते है| १०१ से २०० अंक मराठी - हिंदी पढना और लिखना सीखते है| व्याकरण में नाम, सर्वनाम,काल, समानार्थी शब्द, तुकबंदी वाले शब्द सीखते है|