Five Ways Waldorf Education Will Help Your Child Succeed

by providing an extraordinary learning experience.

1. Movement and Outdoor Education

Time in nature is built into every student’s daily, weekly, and yearly rhythms. Outdoor Education begins in Preschool and Kindergarten with daily outdoor play and walks to the local duck pond. The younger child experiences a sense of “place” in our uniquely-developed Kinderyard with its veggie gardens, dry river bed, large sand pit, fruiting trees, and open spaces.  In the lower grades, outdoor education activities include skating, tobogganing and hiking. Beginning in Grade 4, classes venture into their geographical surroundings for cross country skiing or rock climbing.

Physical fitness builds self-confidence and self-esteem, laying the foundation for a happy, healthy, and fulfilling life. As children progress through the grades, they grow into conscious awareness and control of their bodies. Cooperative games are played to develop their social skills that serve them well for the rest of their lives. As a member of the Independent Schools’ Athletic Association, all Middle School students are invited to participate in seven team sports. There are no try-outs or cuts; our program is based on participation and skill development.

2. Hands-on Creative Learning

The arts — music, drawing, painting, and drama — are interwoven throughout our curriculum. Every child attends music classes twice a week beginning in Grade 1. Though not an art school, the creation of beautiful work is part of each student’s day. Math, science, history, literature, and geography are experienced through art, movement, and story, which allows for a deep and rich understanding of the material.

Practical arts are an integral part of our programming. Handwork which includes sewing, knitting, felting, and embroidery is taught in Grades 1 to 5. Handwork teaches children to carry through with a task, a practice that is essential to the development of thinking. Beginning in Grade 6, students move into working with wood, metal, and leather in their practical arts classes.

3. Unwired / Low-tech Classrooms

The Waldorf learning experience is hands-on. There are no “textbooks” in the first through fifth grades. Children learn from lecture and observation and develop “main lesson books”, workbooks in which they create to record their experiences and learnings. Computers are introduced to the older grades as a learning tool.

In Early Childhood, priority is given to experiencing life and nature through all their senses, and the use of their imagination. As a school, we could be described as “techno-sensible”, first allowing time to cultivate a student’s ability to develop their capacities to calculate, analyze, and connect with others.

4. Dedicated Teachers

It is the goal of the Waldorf teacher to cultivate a sense of wonder and to inspire children to view the world, even in its most basic form, as magnificent – prompting each student to embrace life with enthusiasm, initiative, and purpose. These aims are met through an education that is rich with meaningful sense experiences, classical academics, and artistic beauty in all subject matters.

Waldorf teachers are well trained professionals, continuously developing their skills in teaching practices, student learning styles, and how the world around us affects student learning. 

5. Engaged Learners

Calgary Waldorf creates opportunity for deep learning; meeting the child where they are in their development. From play-based kindergarten which fosters imagination to year-long independent projects in Grade 8, we offer an engaging, enlivened and balanced curriculum.

It is not just what the child learns in facts and concepts that measure success, but the care, effort and thoughtfulness embedded in the learning processes that bring value and meaning to the child’s experiences. A child that sees and feels the “why” behind a lesson is naturally more interested and inspired to learn.

There are many other ways the Calgary Waldorf School offers more than a traditional school. We invite you to attend one of our upcoming School Tours or Contact Us for more information.