Curriculum
Kindergarten
The Village School Kindergarten Program integrates social and academic skills through teacher organized and directed activities. Throughout the year children build on their entry level skills in order to be well-prepared for first grade. The Village School’s program expects notable growth by the end of the school year which results in acquisition of the following capabilities in order to be ready for first grade:
Personal Responsibilities
-put personal belongings away, and help put group belongings away
-complete chore or cleanup task that takes five to ten minutes independently
-follow daily routine independently
Group Respect
-become quiet when signaled, within five-ten seconds
-be respectful of other people’s physical space
-remain on task or focused for about ten to thirty minutes, when provided with something interesting to do or listen to
-cooperate with teacher in circle activities for a minimum of five to fifteen minutes
-stay seated during activities or meals for fifteen to thirty minutes
-take turns when speaking, allow others turns independently
-keep hands on own person, when reminded once
Academic
-recite alphabet/letter recognition
-capability of writing name
-capability of reciting phone number and up to thirty songs or verses
-basic color and shape recognition
-paint one solid page
-have a working knowledge of basic activities provided at school
First Grade
Achieve mastery of main lesson work pertaining to Fairy tales, folk tales and nature stories, introduction to literacy, letter formation, phonics, the writing process, story writing, poetry writing, letter writing, punctuation and capitalization, qualities of the numbers, introduction to the four processes in arithmetic, fact families, measurement, time, money, place value, charts/graphs, problem solving, skip counting and lower multiplication tables, pattern recognition, simple plane geometric figures, science topics may include (but not be limited to) insects, life cycle of the butterfly, plant studies, soil investigations, liquids, animal studies, and dinosaurs.
Second Grade
Legends and myths of helpers of humanity, animal fables, folk tales from North America and other continents, some North American native legends; literacy blocks would continue to build on the work completed in grade 1: story, poetry, journal, and letter writing, drafts and the process of writing, the elements of a story (setting, plot, characters, theme); cursive writing is introduced through dynamic form drawing; continued work with the four processes in mathematics and word problems, place value, number patterns and relationships, measurement, data gathering and analysis, plane and solid geometric figures. Science topics may include bees, bubbles, insect and animal habitats, and schoolyard ecology.
Third Grade
Creation stories from around the world are first introduced here; agriculture study; human habitats and house building; community process and participation; clothing and culture; literacy blocks incorporating grammar and language mechanics are taught and practiced in the context of modes of writing, parts of speech, topic sentences and paragraph structure; mathematics will include higher multiplication tables and measurement, common fractions and decimals, time and money, redistributing (carrying and borrowing), number patterns, prime numbers, geometry and problem solving; science topics may include soils, grains, agriculture, carbon, nitrogen and water cycles, liquid explorations, aquatic habitats and, beach ecology.
Fourth Grade
North American history as seen through the viewpoint of Oregon and its development from the time of its indigenous people; local geography and map making (starting from immediate surroundings, and working up to neighborhoods, city, county, state and region); Norse and Finnish mythology and sagas; age appropriate literacy work includes letter writing, verb tenses, abbreviations, personal pronouns, poetry and alliteration; math work will include reviewing arithmetic operations, times tables, story problems, long division, averages, fractions, simple factoring, perimeter, area, and volume; science topics may include study of the animal kingdom, crime lab chemistry and fingerprinting, simple electrical circuits, and space technology.
Fifth Grade
Ancient history and myths from ancient India, to ancient Persia, Mesopotamia, Egypt, up to ancient Greece, the lives and legends of Rama and Sita, Buddah, Zarathustra, Gilgamesh, Khufu, Plato, Aristotle, Achilles, Odesseus, and Alexander the Great; continued development of writing skills with attention to focus, voice, organization, mechanics and the modes; geography of North America with reference to vegetation, topography, agriculture, and economics; math blocks include decimal fractions, fractions, mixed numerals, ratios and proportion, the metric system, geometry, estimation, data collection and analysis using number lines bar and line graphs; science topics may include botany and plant studies, simple machines, dissolving rates, crime lab chemistry. Participation in the Greek Games.
Sixth Grade
Roman and medieval history (including the fall of Troy, founding of Rome, the Republic, the Empire, advent of Christianity, the Crusades, the rise of Islam); ancient African kingdoms of Mali and Timbuktu; geometric drawing; astronomy; geology and mineralogy; European and Middle Eastern geography; physics (sound, light, heat, magnetism and electricity); age appropriate language arts including writing for various purposes and debates; math work includes pre-algebra, geometry, business math (percentages, interest, discount, etc.), review and strengthen ratio and proportion.
Seventh Grade
Middle Ages, age of exploration, the Renaissance and Reformation; Arthurian Legends and the age of chivalry; Asian, African and South American geography and cultural history; age appropriate language arts including various forms of writing; physics (mechanics, magnetism and electricity), human physiology and nutrition; science includes chemistry and astronomy; math work includes pre-algebra, geometry (Pythagorean theorem, simple Euclidean proofs, laws of perspective drawing), powers, roots, integers, formulae.
Eighth Grade
Literature (short stories, letters, dramatic contrast in Shakespearean drama); age appropriate language arts; the age of revolution (Industrial, American, French); cultural geography/anthropology; world geography; human physiology (bones and muscles); learning to discern media; intro to organic chemistry; physics (acoustics, optics, hydraulics, aerodynamics, meteorology); contemporary history topics; math includes algebra and geometry (platonic solids, proofs, volumes of solids, laws of locii); binary opposition math and the origins and development of the computer.
Specialty Subjects
Physical Education
Physical education is vital to the curriculum of the Village School at all grade levels. The goals of the movement program are that the students have fun and be able to recreate through playing in order to lay the foundations for the development of a lifetime of enjoyable physical activity. Between the ages of 7-14 students focus on sport, games, and movement to develop spatial awareness and the capacity to form the many-sided judgments so necessary to critical thinking. Students learn to play both cooperatively and competitively. In grade 5 students participate with other Waldorf Schools in the Greek Games. Middle school students participate in a regional track meet.
Foreign Language
Students in grades 1-8 receive Spanish instruction twice a week. The Spanish teacher incorporates the same basic pedagogical principles as those that underlie the teaching of the main lesson blocks. Instead of worksheets and textbooks, students learn through movement, songs, and recitations. Students have an opportunity to write to pen pals in South American schools.
Art
The art program integrates what is being learned academically. Art periods develop the child's visual and tactile capacities through painting, drawing, modeling, etc. The teacher nurtures the child's aesthetic awareness and creativity, and allows room for spontaneous self-expression.
Handwork
Handwork or handcrafts are, by definition, any work or creation executed primarily with the hands, sometimes with the aid of different tools, utilizing various media. Our goal is to help each student make beautiful, useful items that generate a feeling of inner wholeness and an ability for creative expression within the child. The secondary goal is to develop strong hand-eye coordination, manual dexterity, and a sense of pride for the child. These goals are accomplished in a progressive manner, following other areas of the curriculum. Beginning in the kindergarten with finger knitting, we move through the early grades with increasingly demanding knitting projects, crocheting, into hand embroidery, hand sewing, weaving, leatherwork and culminating in machine sewing by grades 6, 7, and 8. Woodworking using simple hand tools in the middle school grades is also a part of the Handwork program.
Music and Drama
Music and the dramatic arts are an integral part of every grade. Beginning in Kindergarten, daily singing helps teach tone recognition, melody, harmony, imitation, rhythm, as well as signaling transitions. Moving through the grades, the children continue singing but are also introduced to the pentatonic flute in grade 1 and to the recorder in grade two. Students will continue with the recorder through eighth grade. By grades five and six, two and three part music for recorder and voice is done regularly. The violin will be introduced in grade three and continue through grade five. The eventual goal of the School is to establish a Village School string orchestra. Students in grades six through eight learn to play guitars and experience being part of marimba ensembles.
Students perform in class plays and in all-school musical productions a few times each year.
Support Services
Title I
Title I is a federally funded grant available to schools to provide support in reading, math and extra help for students during Main Lesson, tutoring for students, an extended Kindergarten program, and more.
Special Education
A District staffed Learning Center is located on site to serve students from both The Village School and Ridgeline Montessori School who have special learning difficulties. Both state and federal law require schools to provide an appropriate education for students who have disabilities. The School in partnership with the District will make reasonable accommodations and modifications for any student who has a disability. Some students with disabilities may require reasonable accommodations or modifications in order to participate fully in the regular educational program while others may require a special education placement. Students with disabilities, or their parents, may contact their classroom teacher, a counselor, or the School Administrator if they believe accommodations or modifications need to be made or if they would like to be referred to receive special education services.
Testing
The Village School is a public school, and therefore participates in all mandatory national testing. Students in grades 3, 5, and 8 will participate in the Benchmark tests, and grades 1-5 will participate in Fall and Spring Title I tests. First graders have an additional winter assessment.
After School Care
Kindergarten extended care is available Monday through Thursday between 11:45 AM and 2:45 PM.
Beginning at 2:30 PM after school care is provided by Eugene Creative Care. To register, contact Creative Care at 683 – 7291. Registration forms are also available on top of the parent mailboxes outside the School office.
Homework Policy
Forming good habits around Homework expectations builds life-long skills essential to a child’s success in life. Homework gives students the opportunity to demonstrate and practice learning with families. It is relevant to coursework and helps parents to know what is happening at school.
Although first graders do not have homework, we encourage parents to continue reading to their children as a night time ritual and to engage their children in games and/or other activities that expose children to numbers and counting. Grade two begins receiving homework once after the Spring Break.
In grade three, the family has primary responsibility for seeing that homework is completed. We ask that you support your child by finding a quiet place at home away from television and/or computers, by being available to clarify directions, by checking for neatness and completeness and by assuring that your child turns in their homework on the due date.
In grade four, beginning with the practice of carrying an empty homework folder between school and home, more responsibility for meeting homework completion expectations is place on the student. Children are given either brief daily assignments Monday through Thursday or a week’s worth of assignments with a series of mini-deadlines (ex: 15 minutes of reading each evening). In either case, children are to bring their homework folders to school every day so that teachers can check student progress and offer support as appropriate.
In grade five, weekly assignments are given by the class teacher and are due on a specified day. Students are now learning how to pace their work each night to meet the due date weekly.
Starting in grade six and continuing through the Upper School grades, students are given assignment planners as tools to help them manage their work with varying due dates and longer term projects.
Assisting students in developing this “homework habit” involves the student, teacher, parent and school. In order to establish and support good homework habits, we ask that families agree to the following:
Teachers will:
• Assign appropriate and relevant homework
• Make sure that students and/or parents understand assignment task(s)
• When needed, provide “Homework Club” leader with a list of students participating for the day and their assignments.
• Return homework in a timely manner with positive, constructive feedback, grade, or score.
• Establish a positive reinforcement system/incentive to celebrate student successes.
Students will:
• Complete assignments to the best of their abilities
• Return assignment on time
• Participate in “homework club” when needed (grades 4 – 8 )
Parents will:
• Provide space without distractions (i.e., TV, radio) and establish a consistent time for child to do homework
• Review homework assignments and check for completion nightly
• Support homework interventions when needed
School will:
• Provide a “homework club” curing lunch recess where students in grades 4 – 8 will do homework not completed – homework club will be held daily in the cafeteria
• If necessary provide an after school “homework session” twice a week for students who need assistance with homework
• Convene a parent – student – teacher conference, when necessary, to discuss the homework issue (Why? How can we help?) and agree upon a homework plan
As part of our school wide plan to improve student achievement, we ask that all Village School families to join the teachers in making a commitment by signing The Village School Compact.