The
Chennai
Waldorf School

Revealing Strength, Courage & Adventure!

Fourth graders become more self-confident as their perceptions of the world sharpen, broadening the child’s perspective and showing a world of endless, exciting possibilities. The fourth grader has an adventurous spirit, that is full of curiosity, and is eager to explore new capacities for learning and creativity.

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In Grade Four, children begin to form their personality in response to their experience of the world, consciously choosing those qualities that will become a part of their characters. The telling of Norse myths and sagas strongly echoes this element of conscious choice in a manner that poetically focuses on strength and boldness, demonstrating dramatic consequences and deeds of courage. The curriculum for Grade Four focuses on:

 

 

1. LANGUAGE ARTS:

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•  Writing

•  Reading

•  Spelling

•  Grammar (Parts of Speech, Kinds of sentences, Contractions & Punctuation)

•  Speech Formation/Dramatics

•  Personal Letter Writing

•  Composition

In composition, simple narration of the child's own real experiences continues into a more in-depth study of English grammar. Paragraph and short story writing focus on clarity and descriptiveness.

 

2. LITERATURE - NORSE MYTHOLOGY:

Fourth graders immerse themselves in a rousing study of Norse Mythology. These timeless stories of powerful yet fallible gods offer plenty of adventure, pathos and humour. Through their study of the myths, fourth graders begin to understand themselves and their behaviours in new ways. For example, Loki’s mischievous appeal offers considerable opportunity to examine impulsivity and its consequences.

 

3. MATHAMETICS:

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•  Fractions

•  Long Division

•  Long Multiplication

•  Metric Measures

•  Prime Numbers

•  Square Numbers

•  Graph

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The world, once exhibiting a magical wholeness, is now seen by the fourth graders as broken into many parts. This is the appropriate time for studying fractions. Fractions are introduced with concrete objects to demonstrate truths before forming mental concepts. Fraction work continues with adding, subtracting, multiplying dividing, expanding and reducing.

 

4. SCIENCE:

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•  Zoology

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The study the animal kingdom affords the children an opportunity to study the relationships that exist between human and animals.

 

•  Four Elements

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An essential component of this block is a spirit of play and experimentation. It gives the child an experience of what the block is building a foundation for the later work (Physics and Chemistry). It also helps the child develop essential scientific skills such as the power of observation and need to experiment and try things out from different angles.

 

5. SOCIAL SCIENCE:

Geography:

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•  Local Geography

•  Map Making

•  Geography of Tamil Nadu & India

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Simple map making is introduced focusing on travel routes, home and school.

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History:

 

•  Ancient Southern Dynasties

•  Maurya Dynasties

 

6. LANGUAGES: 

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(Tamil, Sanskrit, Hindi & French)
Kids recite verses, work on speech exercises, poems, and singing in all languages (Tamil, Sanskrit, Hindi and French). Kids always hear and work with the story and vocabulary before encountering the written word. They are introduced in a more formal way to grammar in Sanskrit. Kids did a story booklet as well as letter writing in Sanskrit. Thirukurral & Aathichudi recitation is an important activity in Tamil. Kids are encouraged not only to read story books in Tamil but also to write compositions in Tamil. More focus is always given only for spoken in Hindi and French but they start reading the story books in both the languages. Frequently, simple dialogue in the target language also takes place.

 

7. FORM DRAWING:

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•  Celtic Knots

•  Geometrical pattern

•  Braiding

•  Shield pattern

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8. HEALTH & SAFETY:

Separate schedule is set aside for Health & Safety for it is obviously a very important subject. Topics
include:

•  Knowing names, address and phone numbers

•  Basic hygiene

•  Traffic awareness

•  Safety around animals

•  Stranger danger

•  Healthy eating habits

•  Respect towards others

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9. SPECIALITY SUBJECTS:

The Waldorf method of education, through the arts, awakens imagination and creative powers, bringing vitality and wholeness to learning. No other educational movement gives such a central role to the arts as does Waldorf education.

 

 

 VISUAL ARTS:

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•  Watercolour painting

•  Drawing

•  Pottery

•  Class play

 

 FINE ARTS:

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•  Recorder

•  Classical dance

•  Classical vocal

•  Performing arts

•  Violin

 

 HANDWORK:

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•  Felting

•  Quilling

•  Sewing

•  Knitting

•  Origami

•  Macrame

 

 PHYSICAL EDUCATION:

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•  ATB (Awareness Through The Body)

•  Cooperative games and sports

•  Gymnastics

•  Yoga

•  Pranayama

•  Tai-chi

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AKSHAR gives lots of importance to the traditional games of Tamil Nadu and KOLAM is also taught to the kids.