We currently have space in Grade 4 and offer rolling admissions to parents interested in a mid-year transfer. Email Chris at admissions@meadowbrookschool.com to learn more.
The Grade Four Class Teacher
Grade 4 Visits a Cranberry Bog
In a Waldorf school, the class teacher “loops” with the children meaning the class teacher remains with same class year to year. The class teacher is responsible for teaching many subjects including math, language arts, science, and fine arts. Specialty subjects, such as movement, foreign languages, handwork and strings are taught by other, specialized teachers.
Our Grade 4 class teacher is Judie Sky. Judie has been a teacher at Meadowbrook in many capacities for over 25 years. She has graduated two eighth grade classes and with a master’s degree in outdoor education and a deep commitment to the environment, she is loving her outdoor classroom space.
Judie says she chooses to spend her time teaching in a Waldorf setting because, “I get to encounter lovely, magnificent students on a daily basis as they unfold their abilities to acquire capacities. I get to help guide them and sometimes tweak the direction that they are going. Waldorf Education allows me the freedom to work as an artist in teaching.”
The Grade Four Curriculum
Having navigated the nine-year change of third grade, but not yet entered puberty, fourth graders take steps to broaden their independence and deepen their understanding of the world around them. The child is now ready to explore the idea that the world can be a complicated place, with many gray areas. The Waldorf curriculum supports the child of this age with a study of Norse mythology and Native American legends. These rich stories speak of both creation and destruction, and bring characters that are nuanced, exhibiting both talents and flaws.
Grade 4 norse myth illustration
Children are also encouraged to literally step out into the world with many field trips. The local geography of Rhode Island is explored with class hikes to local points of interest (or destinations). This year, Rhode Island history is experienced both in the classroom through biography, and outside the classroom with trips to Rhode Island historical sites. Children often write about field trip experiences in journal entries, reports, poems, and other compositions.
Fourth graders start to see themselves in a new way and begin to understand their individual part in relation to the whole class. This new idea of being “part of a whole” is supported through the curriculum with the study of fractions. Once this concept is understood, the rules of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of fractions are introduced.
Homework generally begins in fourth grade, when the children are ready to take up this task for themselves. Stringed instruments are also introduced this year, and each child learns to play violin, viola, or cello. The chosen instrument is played through eighth grade. In addition to daily works in the arts including painting, drawing, singing, and recorder, every child participates in weekly classes in German, strings, movement, handwork, nature walks and seasonal outdoor projects.