I am the teacher of the 6th grade class at a Waldorf methods K-8 public school (tuition free). I am these children's main lesson teacher (math, LA, Science, History) as well as recorder teacher, painting teacher and have been since 5th grade and I will stay with them until 8th grade.
Sixth grade is the gateway to pre-adolescence and idealism. The curriculum serves to ground the students, to inspire them to venture out toward the unknown, and to offer an introduction to their quest in life. This year is both an ending and a beginning.
This year there is a big budget crunch, statewide, city wide and within our school. We have supplies cuts and cannot afford to get all the supplies we need. My drawing program needs rulers and compasses.
Form drawing is an activity which has been specially developed in Waldorf schools. Beginning in Class One, the children are shown how all things in the world are made up of straight or curved lines or some combination of the two. The children experience symmetry and balance through doing simple line drawings which they practice, first through some form of movement before using chalk, crayon or pencil. A simple form drawn by the teacher on one side of a 'mirror' is reflected on the other side by the children.
Such an exercise helps the children's spatial orientation and eye hand coordination. These forms develop in complexity as the children grow older.
Other forms include mathematical elements and, drawn freehand, are a precursor to the geometry of later years when instruments and accurate measurement are required.
So, Sixth grade geometry is an ideal place to bring all the years of circle movement, eurythmy, and form drawing into exact constructions, using compass, rulers and right angles. These forms can be treated with all the visual artistry that has been so much a part of the curriculum in drawing and painting.
Now, however, there is the discipline of precision and the use of tools. Whereas in the prior grades geometric shapes had been drawn freehand as artistic exercises, in the sixth grade families of geometric figures are constructed and studied for the numerical laws they embody. These designs are now done with the utmost accuracy.
Thank you so much for helping us to bring this precision for the children.
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