Third Grade
Independence and Experience
Practical arts and hands-on projects are the cornerstone of the Third Grade curriculum, connecting with the 8- and 9-year-old’s growing understanding of themselves and their place in the world around them. Over the course of the school year, students learn through engaging in real-world projects, like planting and harvesting vegetables in the school garden, building model shelters from diverse parts of the world to better understand global cultures and how humans adapt to their environment, and learning to take measurements and use money in math class.
While Third Graders work extensively with their hands, they simultaneously deepen their skills in literacy, mathematics, and executive functioning in the classroom, learning to write more complex compositions in language arts, tackling concepts like time in math class, and taking on more detailed and challenging work in form drawing and art.
Third Graders at San Francisco Waldorf School learn:
- Math: Higher multiplication tables; weight; measure; length; volume; money; time; structural design
- Literature & Grammar: Elements of grammar (nouns, verbs, adjectives); cursive writing; punctuation; compositions; stories of the ancient Hebrew people
- Practical Arts: Gardening; cooking and baking foods from the harvest; crafting with natural fibers including dyeing and weaving; building structures
- Science: Gardening classes and nature studies (local ecosystems)
- Gardening: Weekly gardening class in our school garden
- Music: Singing; recorder
- Physical Education: Cooperative games and movement activities
- Eurythmy: Movement to music and poetry
- Art: Continuing form drawing; painting; beeswax modeling
- World Languages: Spanish and Mandarin (songs, plays, poetry, conversations)
- Handwork: Crocheting (pattern and placement recognition, finger dexterity)
- History & Social Studies: Study of practical life (farming, house building, clothing, and cooking), local history
- Theater: Annual class play based on main lesson story curriculum
Daily Schedule (Grades 1-3)
8:30 am-2:30 pm, Monday-Wednesday, Friday
8:30am-2pm, Thursday
The Grades After School program begins immediately following dismissal and runs until 5:30pm daily.