First Grade
In first grade we build upon the rhythms established in the kindergarten, extending to a full day of joyful learning imbued with wonder, creativity, music and movement.
Topics introduced in first grade include:
- Pictorial and phonetic introduction to the letters of the alphabet
- reading from writing
- rhythmic poems
- speech exercises
- form drawing of curves, straight lines and patterns
- qualities of numbers and elements of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division
- counting, Roman numerals
- fairytales
- foreign language
- songs, games, and poems
- pentatonic recorder
- seasonal songs
- wet-on-wet painting using the three primary colors
- knitting using two needles
- beeswax modeling using scenes from fairy tales and simple figures
- the wonder of nature through simple observation
- nature studies from stories in an imaginative manner
- circle games
MEET THE TEACHER
Daniel Nicholas
Daniel Nicholas is a native of upstate New York and graduated from Eastern University near Philadelphia in 2011 with a degree in philosophy. His teaching career began in 2012 at the college level, both in administration and in the classroom, and since then he has taught in two states, working with students from seemingly every age and background, from retired veterans in Medford to the college prep academies of the affluent suburbs of Dallas, TX to the urban public schools of the greater Austin area. He first learned about Steiner-Waldorf education as parent of a preschooler, and since then his diverse and wide-ranging educational background has stoked an abiding interest in human development, motivating him to begin pursuing his M. Ed. in Waldorf Education through Antioch University- New England in Spring 2020. He was thrilled to be putting roots back down in his beautiful adopted home of the Pacific Northwest by taking on the role of class teacher at Madrone Trail in fall 2021!
