Sixth Grade

By sixth grade, the methods of teaching change significantly to address new conceptual capacities that are awakening in children as they approach adolescence. The challenge of the three upper grades is particularly intense because of the increasing complexity of both the Waldorf curriculum and the students’ needs. At this time the teacher is encouraged to review his or her goals, expectations, and standards to meet the newly, and often chaotically, emerging individuality of the pre-adolescent. The teacher emphasizes ways to nurture the child’s rising capacities for independent thinking and moral-ethical responsibility.