|
|
|
|
Kindergarten Curriculum Overview The kindergarten curriculum is centered in the seasons of the year and the festivals that illuminate them. From this framework, a program is developed which allows the child to live in an environment where rhythm, repetition, and ritual can be the foundation for healthy imitation. In the kindergarten, all is done to enhance the child’s natural creative forces, as these forces will later transform into the faculty of true thinking.
Free play This is perhaps the most important time of the day, a time when children enter into creative relationships and have the opportunity to join together in their own imitation of life. A child’s work is his/her play. Circle time Songs, games, and finger plays which reflect the current season of the year are brought together in a rhythmic way. Rhymes and games from the rich heritage of human folklore are also used with pentatonic music and songs. Painting Watercolor painting is done once a week. We seek to give the child an experience of color using the wet-on-wet watercolor technique. Baking Once a week, the children bake the kindergarten daily snack. We sing and bake bread or perhaps something appropriate for the season: cinnamon rolls, gingerbread, muffins, “mice” or “dragons”! Beeswax Beeswax encourages warm formative forces to extend into the modeling fingers as the child warms and softens and then models with this natural substance. Handwork Crafts are always beautiful and functional. The children may sew, work with wood, dip candles, or finger crochet. Fairy tales The stories used are drawn from a variety of cultures and are stories which depict common human confrontations encountered as man strives for a true experience of life. Children receive the fairy tale in story form, by play-acting, or through a marionette play. The kindergarten parallels a home environment and is a celebration of life designed to instill reverence, awe, and a sense for beauty.
Examples from a Waldorf Kindergarten
RHYTHM OF THE DAY 8:30-9:30 Creative play/cooking/daily activity (Out) 9:30-9:45 Clean up 9:45-10:05 Circle, songs, movement, and games (In) 10:05-10:15 Wash Hands 10:15-10:45 Snack 10:45-11:15 Outside/Play Inside/Clean up (Out) 11:15-11:30 Come inside 11:30-11:45 Story (In) 11:45-12:00 Closing
RHYTHM OF THE WEEK Monday Purple Ironing Rice Painting Tuesday Red Woodworking/ Grinding Oats Story or Play & Draw Wednesday Yellow Sewing/Chopping Fruit or Vegetable Walk Thursday Orange Clean & Make Bread Corn Story or Play & Beeswax Friday Green Wash & Butter Bread Wheat Play & Draw
RHYTHM OF THE YEAR October Harvest November Lantern Walk December Festival of Lights January Candle making February Valentines March Spring Tea April April Tide May May Day |
|
Send email to
webmaster@pineforestschool.com with
questions or comments about this web site.
|
