Grades 1-3
Between the ages of six and a half to nine and a half, children transition from a relatively
dreamy and imaginative state, and find themselves gradually becoming more aware of
themselves as individuals. The physical body is the bridge between the outer world and
the child’s dreamy inner life, and so whether we are working in math, literacy, drawing,
or any other area, Rose Rock teachers use movement as the starting point whenever
possible.
Class One
Students who will be six years old by April 1st are eligible to be considered for entry into
the Rose Rock Grade School Program. Applicants are lovingly assessed by an expert
group of teachers using imaginative play-based activities to determine grade school
readiness.
Rising first graders are welcomed into the grades program in the presence of the Rose
Rock community at the Rose Ceremony. This rite of passage is the first of many
meaningful events held to create transformational experiences for both parents and
children during landmark transitions. On this very special day, the children will also meet
their teacher and classmates for what is intended and hoped to be a years-long journey
together.
The first grader learns good habits and the rhythms of the day, week, month and year
through the loving authority of their class teacher. Through the special relationship with
their teacher, they develop a sense of reverence for the world and an enthusiasm for
what the future holds.
The Main Lesson, a daily two-hour class with a topic that changes about once a month,
is designed to meet all of the needs of the growing child. The teacher is permitted the
flexibility to bring the curriculum that will best serve the unique group of children before
her. To this effect, she is tasked with addressing proper development of bodily dexterity
and capacities, social skills, as well as academically-oriented abilities. The subjects of the first grade main lesson include: the introduction of the alphabet, writing with its
companion of reading, numeracy and the four mathematical functions, nature studies,
form drawing, and fairy tales. As with all the grades in the Rose Rock curriculum, oral
recitation and deep listening attention work to enhance memory, build unique and
beautiful inner picture making and understanding, and to build social life.
Class Two
Second graders find themselves on a bridge between two distinct developmental
stages. They are ever so gradually transitioning from viewing the world as a unity, like a
first grader does, to seeing themselves as separate from the environment, as third
graders do. This is expressed in the seven and eight year old by exploring self-centered
mischief at times, and at other times, by expressing true, heart-felt loving sympathy
towards the world and others. These somewhat polar impulses and growing social life is
met by our curriculum by bringing stories that juxtapose the flawed characters from
Aesop’s fables, with stories of saintly folk whose good deeds help them to serve others.
At ages seven and eight, the children are ready to put into working practice skills first
introduced in the first grade. They continue to build and expand word/sound
relationships and knowledge, facility with story elements and meaning making,
automaticity with numeracy and the four operations, as well as growing their dexterity
and sense of rhythm in music, in drawing and painting, and in handwork. Practice is an
important theme for this age group; for, when they are challenged to increase their
capacities under the loving guidance of their teacher, they will firmly set the foundation
already laid, both in academic skills and in habits of study. Both literacy and arithmetic
strengthen markedly, and many students gain a degree of fluency in one or both of
these areas. Artistic and physical abilities are likewise advancing as the children
increase command over their body and senses.
The emphasis for the second grade year includes nurturing significant strides towards
fluency in reading, writing, and arithmetic, deepening nature studies, exploring poetry,
fables and stories about saintly people. In the coming year’s 2nd grade, the addition of
Mandarin to our studies of German helps to build cultural and linguistic connections to
the larger world the 3rd grader will meet.
Class Three
Children between the age of eight and a half to nine and a half years complete a
transition from seeing the world as a unity in which they are immersed, to experiencing
themselves as separate. This change can come with feelings of fear and isolation.
There are characteristic “growing pains”, as well, including: anxiety, a pronounced fear
of death, a suspicion that he or she is adopted, a fear of being alone, physical
symptoms such as headache and stomach ache, and a sense of things not being right
in the world.
The Rose Rock curriculum soothes this often difficult change with robust and inspired
offerings. What helps the child struggling to adjust to an increased individuality is a
commensurately increased awareness of the world in which they must now make
themselves at home. Therefore, building shelters, preparing food, farming, animal
husbandry, and many other primitive skills help students engaged with earthly tasks,
and thereby replace uncertainty about their place in the world with confidence and
ability.
Significant subjects of the third grade main lesson include: farming, shelter building,
measurement, food preparation, completion of the multiplication and addition tables,
and hearing the stories of the Old Testament.