Third Grade

In arithmetic, the children carry out more complicated operations with the four processes. Imaginative stories still form the basis of these problems. Through rhythmic counting accompanied by accented clapping and movement of the whole body, they learn to count by twos, threes, fours and fives, and can begin learning the multiplication tables. The children learn place value, carrying and borrowing.

Nature study continues in connection with poetry, legends and imaginative descriptions of natural processes.

Painting and modeling give artistic expression to subjects encountered in the main lessons. Handwork projects exemplify an important principle: that the work created by our hands can be useful and functional as well as beautiful. They knit flat forms that are transformed into animals; animals that give so many lessons to them through the year.

Foreign languages (Spanish), and singing and flute lessons continue to be taught in the second grade, with eurythmy leading the children into a more conscious forming of vowels and consonants. Students continue to enjoy games class.

Third Grade

The third grade is often called the turning point of childhood. Every age has its drama, but the nine-year-old is going through a change that is particularly profound; you might hear Waldorf teachers referring to it as "the Crossing Point," "The Watershed," or the "Rubicon". Rudolf Steiner described how the nine-year-old experiences, at a spiritual level, what the three-year-old experienced when first using the word "I." Before the age of nine, the major part of the child's being is not yet incarnated, and instead, it lives within all they perceive. They feel inwardly related to everything, and can identify strongly with all the images presented to them. Now, however, an experience arises of oneself as something independent of everything else. This brings the first suffering of loneliness, but also the first conscious joy of solitude. It brings the first capacity to understand death as a reality. The child may suddenly feel insecure; their relationship with nature, with eternity, with others, and with themselves, has to be reestablished. The poignant image of the "fall from paradise" is not lost on this age child. The third grade curriculum helps the child to meet the world in which they live by developing confidence in basic life skills through practical studies and by strengthening and developing fundamental academic skills.

Bible stories from the Old Testament, and creation stories from indigenous cultures as well asstories about farming, shelters, and clothing from various lands and cultures are the basis of the literature in third grade. The language arts lessons come mainly from these sources, which are shared orally by the teacher and retold in writing by the children; dictated orally by the teacher, 32

or summarized together for their own lesson books. In the third grade, the children are challenged to write, read, and spell with ever improving accuracy. They write their own stories and poetry, as well as retelling those stories they hear in the morning lesson. Work is also done with correct punctuation and the beginning concepts of basic grammar (called more pictorially, “doing, naming, picture words, etc.”). Regular reading classes, spelling activities, and dictation help build language skills.

Math in the third grade is a continuation of the four processes (multiplication, division, addition, subtraction). These are practiced with regular mental math activities in the main lesson as well as in practice periods every week. A consistent effort is made to master the multiplication tables, one through twelve. Long division and multiplication in columns are introduced while borrowing and carrying are strengthened. In addition to this foundational math work there are the studies of time, money, and measurement (linear, dry, liquid, weight) that go hand in hand with the work in practical skills.

The practical skills, including cooking, farming, house-building and making clothing, give a hands-on learning experience, build confidence in one's relationship to life and provide many opportunities to practice both language and math skills. These activities comprise the science curriculum of the third grade. Weather guides the farmer, compost improves the soil, yeast expands the bread and all the necessities of daily life give rise to questions to ponder and problems to be solved.

The third grade takes scenes from the Old Testament, farming, seasonal activities, and others derived from practical studies for experiences in modeling beeswax, plasticine, or clay and in watercolor painting, as well as in the many drawings of their main lesson books.

The form drawing lessons develop in complexity. They include mirrored forms, forms on two axes, inverted forms, and metamorphosed forms echoing shapes in the natural world.

The children continue daily singing of songs related to the curriculum and begin now to sing in rounds. They also begin to learn to read music. This is introduced through imaginative stories and images. The class moves from the pentatonic flute begun in first grade to the soprano recorder or C flute instrument.

The third grade takes a trip every year to a biodynamic farm where they are able to participate fully in many of the things studied through the year. There they garden, build compost piles, cook, weed, shear sheep, plow fields, milk cows, feed the animals, and develop their muscles through strenuous activity. Many third grade classes take day trips to visit a blacksmith, a cheese making company, a mill, a brick maker, or a construction site.

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