Grade School News

By the end of the 8 grade journey to high school, Waldorf students will have visited all the continents of the world. Starting with local geography in the 4th grade, and moving to United States geography in the 5th, students will traverse the continents of the world in the final three grades according to cultural and historical threads that link the continents to the historical journey the students are also making.

In the 7th grade, the voyages of the great 15th and 16th century sea-farers in search of the Spice Islands are a core historical topic. It is illuminating to predate these new ways of travel, by going back to the 13th century, and visiting the countries that lie along the silk route, the ancient land route from Europe to China and the Far East.

The 7th grade heard excerpts from one of the world’s greatest travel writers and adventurers, and read a students’ account of his book, Marco Polo –The Travels as they followed his 13th century journey from Istanbul, Turkey to Beijing, China, with detours into Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan and back by sea route through the Spice Islands. The class also visited Russia learning of its vastness and rich culture.

Tibet, the ‘roof of the world’ and its spiritual culture came next and it was amazing to see how so many great rivers from the Ganges to the Yangtze flow down from its snow fields and glaciers and sustain most of Asia.

When first teaching the geography of Asia in the early 1980’s, China was still a secretive and hidden world. Today, as we all know, its role has utterly changed, yet its history and amazing accomplishments live on from 4000 BC to the present, including the only human artifact visible from space -the Great Wall of China. As the students heard and saw, it is also a land of amazing wildlife and beauty.

Along our journey, the plants and animals of different countries were integral to each country studied. The students loved to hear about exotic and unusual creatures such as the two humped camels from Mongolia, the Siberian tiger, yaks in Tibet, the giant pandas of China, and Marco Polo’s discovery of the unicorn as a creature with very thick legs that liked the mud. As cultural enrichment, music from Russia, China, and Japan was learned and played in our daily recorder ensemble. We also learned a Russian troika dance, to be incorporated into our class play, to be performed in March 2012.

Michael Preston -7th Grade teacher