The Lower School

Students between the ages of seven and fourteen are especially inspired by their feelings. Drawn to beauty, with a vivid life of the imagination and a readiness to learn, children of this age respond most powerfully to an integrated curriculum that engages their feelings, enlivens their thinking and nourishes their imagination. In response to these developmental needs, the Green Meadow lower school curriculum weaves a strong element of imagination and emotional engagement into every academic and specialty subject. By connecting the children’s personal experience with their education, a deeper understanding of the subject matter results, and seeds are set for future creative and active thinking. A unique element in the Green Meadow Lower School is the class teacher, who remains with his or her class for several years, often accompanying the students from first through eighth grade. This continuity gives the teacher an intimate understanding of each child, allowing deeper understanding of his or her academic, physical and moral growth. In addition to the main lessons (math, science, language arts, history) taught by the class teacher, the lower school curriculum is enriched by teachers who specialize in foreign languages, movement, gardening, art, handwork, and instrumental and choral music. In forming the bridge from the middle school grades to the high school, English and math are taught by high school faculty in grades 6, 7 and 8. An artistic element woven throughout the entire lower school curriculum serves to uniquely link academic classes with one another and with all specialty subjects, providing a truly integrated education.

The universal imagery of first grade fairy tales gradually gives way to the reality of ideas and relationships. The second grade story curriculum of the fables and animal stories and the saints and other righteous people reflects the dichotomy arising in the second grader. It is in third grade that children begin to be aware of themselves as separate from the world, battling for their own identity; that awakening is mirrored in the stories of the Old Testament. By fourth grade, as students become more awake to the world around them, they learn about Norse mythology with its stories of the weaving of the fates and the diminishing of the power of the gods. Fifth graders who are in the golden days of childhood experience the glories of ancient cultures, culminating in the history of Greece with its culture of beauty and balance. In sixth grade the students, awakening to the world of laws, study the Roman Empire. In seventh grade students move through the Middle Ages to the blossoming of the Renaissance, and by eighth grade, they explore the history of revolutions and reformations as well as the biographies of the men and women who started them, crowning their lower school experience of story and history with the history of modern times.

Contact the Admissions Office for more information.

First Grade Curriculum

First grade forms a bridge between kindergarten and the lower school. The universal imagery of first grade fairy tales gradually gives way to the reality of ideas and relationships. Fairy tales and legends provide the context out of which the language arts and arithmetic learning grow. The dreamy days of early childhood give way to a growing consciousness of the world. The first grade work lays the foundation not only for the child’s future work, but also for bodily growth, physical health, and moral development. Working through the progression of story to movement, to picture, to letter, the children slowly learn the alphabet; in addition, students copy out poetry which they have learned by heart, experiencing the outer picture of sound and meaning which they have already possessed as inner content. The adventure of writing and reading has begun. The approach to numbers concentrates on the child’s natural experience of the numbers realm, the qualitative approach. The artistic work, such as form drawing, painting, beeswax modeling, eurythmy, recorder playing, handwork, singing, drama, and recitation, are all incorporated into the curriculum. It is also in first grade that the students are introduced to Spanish and German, which are both taught orally.

For more information about the first grade, contact the Admissions Office.

First Grade Teacher

Second Grade Curriculum

Second grade continues to emphasize education as a formative activity. Reflecting a dichotomy of consciousness which is appearing in the second grade children who are beginning to experience a quality of separateness and of identity, the curriculum is based on the contrasting elements of the human condition. The children hear biographies of holy people who, in overcoming their weaknesses, have been able to serve others. The curriculum balances the biographies with animal fables and stories which represent exaggerated human qualities as revealed through the errors the animals have made. Writing, more of an extension of drawing in first grade, stands on its own in second. Children learn lower case letters and write and read longer sentences. They use readers. As far as number work is concerned, the children develop facility with the processes of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, which they learned in first grade. Emphasis is placed on the relationship among the processes, always through problems which reflect life activities. The curriculum of the special subjects, from foreign language to recorder playing, from games to form drawing, reflects the need for symmetry and balancing or mirroring activities. For example, in the handwork class, the children incorporate the knitting they learned in first grade into a similar but mirrored activity of pearling, and then graduate to crocheting.

Second grade writing, which is virtually an extension of drawing in grade one, now stands on its own; numbers, whose qualitative aspect is stressed in grade one, now are recognized as quantities, extending in space and time. The world of fairy tales, although not completely absent, now makes way for the lives of the saints or righteous people - biographies of men and women with an historical verity - and fables. If the circle is a picture of first grade, whole and unified, each part sustaining the rest, the second grade may be seen as two parallel lines. For the child is no longer carried by the dreamy sense of security in all that encircles him, but begins to experience a delicate quality of “apartness,” of “identity.” At this age, a child may become critical, displaying a tendency to squabble endlessly, or feel persecuted by “everybody,” bereft of friends. The fables point out the foibles suddenly appearing all over; the saints’ legends calm, console and reassure.

For more information about the second grade, contact the Admissions Office.

Second Grade Teacher

Third Grade Curriculum

The third grade curriculum reflects the child’s new capacity for looking at the self and the other, the subject and the object. For the first time grammar and spelling are formally introduced. The Old Testament stories which are presented mirror the children’s own journey from Paradise to earth. The children also learn about house building and farming which have the same theme of stepping firmly onto the earth. The arithmetic curriculum continues to build on the work with the four processes. The children are capable of concentration exercises which include counting, stepping backwards and forwards, and clapping. They learn linear and weight measurement with money and time, stimulated by their study of ancient times. In painting there is an exploration of the relationship among the colors. Form drawing focuses on symmetry and on forms which metamorphose. Singing, recorder playing and games are a part of the day as well. In eurythmy there is an emphasis on arm and foot gestures coordinating with musical rhythms, modulations in volume. The foreign languages teach body geography, the days of the week, the months of the year, and time telling. The children learn to play a violin, viola or cello. In handwork more complicated projects in knitting and crocheting are introduced, with an emphasis on symmetry. In the course of this year, the children study subjects, usually in blocks of three to four weeks each. Script writing, using form drawing as the basis, teaches children the basic forms of cursive writing. Great stress is placed on the simplicity, clarity, and above all, the beauty of written work. Rather than learn one letter at a time, all the letters are presented in the context of written words. From the beginning, meaningful sentences and poems are the context.

For more information about the third grade, contact the Admissions Office.

Third Grade Teacher

Fourth Grade Curriculum

In fourth grade the children begin the study of geography with what is close at hand, first the immediate area and then the Hudson Valley. They learn to represent three-dimensional space on a map. In arithmetic they study factors, abundant and deficient numbers and amicable numbers. Fractions serve as the transition from arithmetic to mathematics where the work is both conceptual and experiential. Stories from the Norse myths mirror the children’s inclination to be extroverted. They learn about how despite the power of the gods, the twilight of the gods occurs. In form drawing they learn knotted and braided forms, many based on Norse and Celtic models. In painting they learn to paint on dry paper. Studying grammar they learn to express time by mastering tenses, the four types of sentences, punctuation and lettering writing. Reading practice continues in small groups to cultivate word attack skills, vocabulary development and reading comprehension. Zoology is the first formal science block in the curriculum, now that the ten-year-old has a sense of the inner self and the outer work to the extent that the study of science is meaningful. The focus is on the animal world and its relationship to the human being, thus teaching the children what lives within them. In the realm of music the class stringed orchestra is working hard, and singing and recorder playing continue. In handwork the children learn the cross stitch and elements of design.

For more information about the fourth grade, contact the Admissions Office.

Fourth Grade Teacher

Fifth Grade Curriculum

In fifth grade the children learn geography of the North American continent, concentrating on cultural as well as physical geography. In so doing, the culture of the native Americans is studied. In mathematics they learn factoring, find averages and work with decimals. They work on word problems and situations involving the measurement of time, linear and volumetric measures and the measurement of weight. In science the students study botany; there is an emphasis on learning what can be experienced through the senses. The approach appropriate to this age group is synthetic rather than analytic which will come later. In language arts the study of grammar intensifies with review and then phases, direct and indirect objects and compound verb tenses. Word families are emphasized in the reading activities. The study of ancient history encompasses the cultures of Chaldea, Egypt and Greece approached through the mythologies of the great people. The architecture, sculpture and poetic achievements of ancient people are also presented. The biographies of Buddha, Pythagoras, Socrates, Pericles and Alexander the Great are central to the study. Through their study of ancient cultures, the children experience the roots of western culture. In form drawing, in addition to a continuation of braided forms, the students also draw geometrical forms seen on Egyptian and Greek artifacts as well as triangles and hexagons. Painting, singing, recorder playing, foreign language study, and both eurythmy and physical education seek to engage the active fifth grader.

For more information about the fifth grade, contact the Admissions Office.

Fifth Grade Teacher

Sixth Grade Curriculum

The sixth grade history curriculum begins with a recapitulation of the mythical stage of history, the examination of Rome’s divine origins. The study then turns to figures of flesh and blood, and events whose monuments still stand in our own age. This is appropriate, for the sixth grader now stands like an ancient Roman, solidly on the earth, and craves facts and their relationship to one another. History is studied as chronology; making a time line in relation to the expansion and contraction of the Roman Empire and the ever-changing map of Europe helps the children understand history in relation to space. The history curriculum extends from early Roman history to the fall of the Roman Empire and the unfolding of European civilization in the Middle Ages. This year, using draftsman’s pencils, the children draw geometric forms with instruments which provide an external image of the eye and the arm: T-square, straightedge and compass. In science the students study the heavens and the earth, mineralogy and astronomy; they also study acoustics and optics, which is their introduction to laboratory science. Some teachers include an introduction to thermodynamics and electricity and magnetism which will be developed further in the next two years. In math they study graphs, business math and concepts of economics such as interest, taxation and profit and loss. In geography they study cultures as well as physical geography, sometimes of Europe, sometimes of South America. The class begins woodworking and gardening, and continue handwork, where they make dolls and stuffed animals which they have designed themselves. The foreign languages, physical education, eurythmy, and music curricula continue as well.

For more information about the sixth grade, contact the Admissions Office.

Sixth Grade Teacher

Seventh Grade Curriculum

The historical period known as the Renaissance forms the leitmotif for the work in seventh grade; it is appropriate to begin with the study of the basic laws of perspective drawing first formulated at the dawn of the Renaissance. As they master the technicalities of vanishing points, converging lines, interpolation and extrapolation the students gain the ability to create the illusion of three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional sheet of paper. The history curriculum stretches from the late Middle Ages to the twilight of the Renaissance. Algebra begins with the study of positive and negative numbers and moves into the laws of balance that underlie problems with equations. Work with exponents is also be introduced. As the possibility of creative activity awakens in the students’ souls, they begin “creative writing.” Through prose and poetry the students look at three states of soul, expressed as “Wish,” “Wonder,” and “Surprise.” The study of human physiology, presented from the vantage point of health and hygiene, concentrates on the human digestive system, the respiratory and circulatory systems, as well as the eye and the ear. In geography the study centers on the countries studied in history, including descriptions of the physical, economic, cultural conditions of the land and peoples. Some teachers choose a particular continent for the focus. Most important is that the students receive a view of the whole earth. Mechanics is the topic in physics, which allows them to apply algebra to discover its underlying laws. In chemistry they study principles of combustion, the salt process, as well as acids and bases, especially in relation to foods. Singing, orchestra, handwork, clay, gardening, woodworking, recorder playing, eurythmy, physical education, drawing and painting as well as the study of Spanish and German continue throughout the year.

For more information about the seventh grade, contact the Admissions Office.

Seventh Grade Teacher

Eighth Grade Curriculum

The history curriculum begins with the French Revolution, the American Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, the Reformation and proceeds to modern times, allowing the students to see how their world has come into being. The study of geography includes a look at world geography and a concentration on Asia and Africa. Geometry includes the spiral, the Golden Mean, Euclidean geometry and Platonic solids. Math work focuses on the metric system; working with both the metric and the American system of measurement, formulae for measuring volume and the study of quadratic equations. The focus of study is the human muscular system, the human skeletal system and two sensory organs, the eye and the ear. Grammar study involves an ongoing review of all aspects of grammar; work with subordinate (dependent) and independent clauses; the use of pronouns, with a special stress on pronouns as subjects and objects and the proper use of indefinite pronouns; verbals - infinitives, participles and gerunds. Through laboratory demonstrations and classroom discussions, the students study the role of carbohydrates (sugars and starches), oils, fats and proteins in outer nature and in human nourishment. Meteorology builds an understanding of weather. Eighth grade physics involves hydraulics and pneumatics, electricity and magnetism. Singing, orchestra, handwork, clay, gardening, woodworking, recorder playing, eurythmy, physical education, drawing and painting, as well as the study of Spanish or German, continue throughout the eighth grade.

For more information about the eighth grade, contact the Admissions Office.

Eighth Grade Teacher