Class 4 Complements
Click one below to learn more:
HANDWORK
DiATONIC FLUTE
Needle felting & PRACTICAL ARTS: Animal Adaptations
THEATRE & SPEECH
Cooking
PAINTING & Drawing
World Languages: Spanish & German
Exercise, Adventure, & Circus
Seasonal Crafting
Ukulele
Our class size is 14 students, allowing the teacher to get to know each student and creating a class community environment during class.
Handwork: Embroidery & Cross-Stitch or Crochet
Handwork is a lifelong skill from which one can create beautiful and useful items while benefitting in deep and lasting ways. Creating beauty in perfectly imperfect handwork is a fundamental element of the Waldorf curriculum throughout the grades and informs our daily living in surprising and delightful ways.
Through practical and meaningful handwork activities, younger students develop strength and coordination in their hands and fingers. In addition, improved fine motor skills build healthy foundations in students for writing, drawing, maths and artistic work in grade school.
Learning to skillfully use their hands not only develops the child’s sense of self-reliance and confidence, but hand skills also awaken creative powers, promote a sense of reverence for craftsmanship, and instills respect for the creative artisans of the world.
Handwork is an important component of development which aids the child in acquiring the following benefits, traits and skills:
patience and perseverance to work on projects which require weeks to complete
expanded skill sets involving in-depth experimentation with techniques and materials over time
enlivening of the senses and nourishment for the soul through use of natural materials and colors
rhythmicity of repeated movements which creates calm for the nervous system as an antidote to anxiety and over-thinking
confidence and independence in creating beautiful and useful items
creating new neural pathways to the brain which strengthens the brain-body connection
problem-solving skills which builds future decision-making abilities
goal orientation based on understandable outcomes from immediate, step-by-step, tangible results
strengthening of soul forces - example: encouraging thinking in the dreamy child, feeling in the overly intellectual child, and activity in the weak-willed child
“The density of nerve endings in our fingertips is enormous. Their discrimination is almost as good as that of our eyes. If we don’t use our fingers in childhood and youth, we will become ‘finger-blind,’ and this rich network of nerves will be impoverished which represents a huge loss to the brain and thwarts the individual’s overall development.“ - Matti Bergstrom, Neurophysiologist
Embroidery & Cross-Stitch
Third and fourth grade students will learn the basics of sewing learning to do the running stitch, back-stitch, whip-stitch, blanket stitch and increase their knowledge of embroidery stitches including stitches such as the lazy daisy, satin stitch and more according to the student's curiosities. Projects could include a beautiful needle book, a hand-embroidered candle mat or sewing place mat and more. Students will also be introduced to cross-stitch and will be invited to make a cross-stitch needle book, a pencil case or a cross-stitch pouch for their sunglasses or glasses.
Crochet
Fourth graders will be welcomed into the world of crochet where they will learn to do a variety of projects from coasters and a treasure pouch to net bags, wind spinners and hacky sacks. Students learning to crochet also will strengthen their handwriting skills as they build up hand dominance.
Students will learn the basics of crochet moving from a simple chain to learning single and double crochet stitches. As students advance they will learn to crochet in the round as they work on hats. They will also learn to change color.
Please note: Depending on the student, some projects may require greater assistance for your child to complete, so please be readily available while we are online together to support your child’s learning during class time each week.
Diatonic Flute
Playing a flute or recorder is not only fun and creative, it has many educational and health benefits as well. Engaging in breathwork is a very important part of singing and playing the flute/recorder. Breathing is essential in keeping the body regulated and oxygenated for optimal use of the body and brain. Learning to read musical notation creates and strengthens the neural pathways to the brain from sensory experience and paves the way for language acquisition and the understanding of math symbols and operations.
Establishing a whole-body experience of elements of music such as beat and rhythm affects the mind/body systems profoundly, bringing order and ensuring optimal functioning of our organs, our thoughts, our emotional life. It is well-known that music learning enhances skill acquisition in every other subject area of student learning. Singing and playing the flute/recorder also creates an inner vibration in the body that stimulates warmth, heart connection, empathy and creativity. Self-expression through the arts, especially through singing and making music provides students with creative ways to think and be as they shape their self-identity. Each class will be individualized for the experience of the group. For example, If one child already reads music, they will receive additional challenges while the rest of the class learns music notation.
Learning to play the Choroi Diatonic flute is a long tradition in Waldorf Schools and age-appropriate for children of 9-10 years old. The class will sing, play songs, invent new songs and learn symbols for each note to begin understanding musical notation. Whole-body movement exercises along with playing rhythm sticks, use of bean bags, and creative expression in color will be some of the ways in which we will engage in our learning of the music. No previous experience in musical instruction is necessary.
(The Diatonic Flute is also called a soprano flute or C flute.) We will be playing the instrument with Choroi fingering tuned to 440 Hz (Important information to have when ordering!) We have many musical adventures ahead as we learn basic music skills and how to play the flute!
Needle Felting & Practical Arts: Animal Adaptations
Needle felting is a process of using barbed needles to interlace wool fibers into tightly packed material. In this process we take loose wool and shape it into creative 2D (painting with wool) or 3D (sculpting) projects. Drawing inspiration in the animal world and seasonal festivals. The simplicity of forming an entirely new art project from stippling with needle, makes needle felting an easy and relaxing craft. However, felting needles are very sharp, therefore finger protectors and staying present are needed. Projects can vary in their size and time complexity- commitment.
Learners will also be encouraged to look into possibilities of materials around us and find new ideas to give things a second chance. May it be practical repurposing, remodeling into imaginative structures, or bringing items to life in the form of puppets and props to tell a story. Remaking creations spark imagination and problem solving abilities while opening a broader view with thoughts of responsibility and sense of care for our environment.
Needle felting is performed on foam working surfaces, so that needles don't break while hitting hard surfaces. We will be creating with natural wool fiber, and additional materials like pipe cleaners and felt sheets.
Theatre & Speech
In our weekly drama class, students will explore the power of storytelling through drama. In class we learn how to bring characters to life through characterization, movement, and voice. Steiner-inspired speech exercises will provide a backdrop to work on speech concepts such as articulation, diction*, prosody (expressiveness of speech), and flow.
Lotus & Ivy’s Speech Arts & Drama classes draw on Rudolf Steiner’s dramatic gestures to enhance the students’ connection to the spoken word. We explore a world of incredible richness, depth, and beauty in one of the common places – our speech. These practices improve students’ conversational speech, performance arts, English and grammar education, and it can be therapeutic.
Main lesson themes are reflected in the curriculum for each class which speaks directly to the developmental well-being of the student.
By working with familiar themes and stories inspired from their Main Lesson classes and the classics, students will learn core acting skills that will help them bring the stories and characters to life. Despite being online, ensemble-building will be a crucial component of this course. Theatre games and choral work will build our group together through laughter and imagination! No experience necessary.
LOTUS AND IVY DRAMA SCOPE AND SEQUENCE THROUGH THE GRADES
K-1 Creative Drama and Voice:
In creative drama, our students learn foundational acting skills. We focus on using our bodies expressly and representationally to act out different animals, people, and emotions that we feel. We use charming seasonal stories to act out, explore, and create different production elements to bring the story to life at home and online together such as puppets, masks, and simple scarf-based costumes and sets.
Grade 2-3 Theatre and Speech:
In Creative Storytelling and Drama, we pick up where we left off in Creative Drama, but focusing on how we use our voices and imagination to tell stories, poems, and speak with people in our everyday lives. Storytelling focal points include finding levels in our voices to show different levels of emotional states, using our imagination to turn abstract objects into other objects, and most importantly having fun!
Grade 4-5 Theatre and Speech:
Fourth and 5th Graders will continue their knowledge of theatre training by focusing on character building in this course. We will still explore the foundational acting “tool kit” of voice, body, and imagination, but we will focus more on how our bodies can reflect a character, how our voices can reflect that all on the Zoom screen! This class will work on a play to be presented at the end of the semester.
Grade 6-8 Theatre and Speech:
Improvisation, Scene Study, Physical Theatre, oh my! Our middle school Theatre and Speech class is all about using our whole-selves to create theatre magic! We will be exploring physical theatre techniques such as pantomime, improv skills through improvisation games and scene, and character work within scene study. This “all-round” class offers a great introduction to performing to students who have never taken a theatre class before and skills practice to those who are involved with local theatres or have taken a Lotus and Ivy Theatre and Speech class in the past.
Through Creative Dramatics, students will practice speech concepts such as visualization and articulation, while working with others and harnessing their imaginative skills.
Our class will meet weekly for 18 weeks (except during school-wide breaks) and will culminate with a demonstration meeting in which families and siblings are invited.
*Please note, this does not take the place of specialized Speech Pathology courses. This will aid students in these areas.
Painting & Drawing
In this drawing and watercolor class, grades 3 and 4 students will hear stories that provide nourishment for their specific stage of development. These stories align with main lesson blocks for these grades, deepening their understanding through color and imagery.
Students will build core drawing skills through a Waldorf-inspired progression of form, texture, proportion, and light. Beginning with form drawing, learners strengthen hand-eye coordination and explore symmetry through fluid lines and patterns. As the year progresses, they develop techniques for texture, perspective, and shading—bringing animals, landscapes, and human figures to life. With a balance of creative expression and technical practice, students gain confidence, deepen their observation skills, and learn to represent the world with clarity and imagination.
Students’ painting compositions will reflect the earth’s richness, farming and botany, and the changing seasons. Exploration of form and flow will tie into geography, as we paint landscapes, rivers, and natural formations. Themes and colors of growth, warmth, and renewal will come to life as we paint together, fostering imagination and a deep connection to the natural world.
Students will learn to honor their inner artist with words of encouragement, kindness, and love as we work our way through meeting the primary colors, then secondary colors, and beyond. In working with wet-on-wet in the lower grades, we are focused on the colors and the process, not the outcome. We are calling on their super-sensible senses to hold the experiences of color and form—not just the basic senses, but also the senses of life, movement, balance, warmth, and thinking.
Wet-on-wet watercolor means that we will use liquid watercolor pigments and pre-soaked watercolor paper. These liquid pigments make the experience of painting very fluid. Color and form mix in beautiful, sometimes unpredictable ways. It is a wonderful way for the children to learn through direct creation and observation how colors are created. We will occasionally use plasticine to explore three-dimensional forms, as well.
We are not just making paintings and drawings; we are making artists, human beings able to see the world from multidimensional perspectives and who are free to create anew.
Cooking
Encouraging children to help prepare healthy meals for their families is an excellent way to teach them essential life skills. They gain a deeper understanding of the effort and time required to create tasty dishes and develop a stronger connection to the ingredients they use. This connection often makes children more open to trying foods with new flavors and textures. By expanding their palate, they can develop healthy eating habits that benefit them for life. By encouraging independence and instilling competence, children will gain the confidence to make any recipe they discover and adapt recipes to suit their tastes. The sense of accomplishment that comes from feeding loved ones can also lead to self-confidence in other areas of life.
Anticipated Recipe List:
(Recipes are subject to change according to dietary restrictions and accommodations needed within the class.)
Fruit leather and mint tea
Mediterranean Quinoa Salad
Pickled Garden Veggies
Vegetable Soup
Viking Flat Bread and Blueberry Jam
Cheesy Broccoli and Rice Casserole
Italian Ice
Garlicky Green Beans and Honey Glazed Carrots
Pumpkin Bread
Salad made with home-grown greens (beet, carrot, garlic) and
Homemade Dressing
French Toast
Cranberry Sauce and Baked Acorn Squash
Harvest Granola
Potato Latkes
Flourless Chocolate Chip Brownies
Sweet Potato Casserole
Rosemary Focaccia Bread
Design Your Own Baked Pasta
Throughout the semester, the variety of recipes will reinforce technical skills, encourage innovative use of ingredients, and support interest in food culture. However, this class is about more than preparing tasty dishes.
Cooking offers hands-on experience with measuring, counting, fractions, tracking time, and temperature. For students in third grade and up, multiplication and division skills are needed to scale a recipe up or down. For students in fifth grade and up, additional math practice can come from calculating the cost of making a recipe vs. the price of a take-out version of a similar dish.
Following the step-by-step process-focused instructions of a recipe improves reading comprehension and shows that reading has practical benefits.
As foods are prepared, abstract concepts such as chemical reactions become relevant and understandable to children.
Cooking requires problem-solving and resilience to find solutions when a recipe does not come together as planned.
Many recipes we will prepare utilize basic ingredients that the student may already have in their pantry, demonstrating that home-cooked meals are manageable and can be fast and straightforward to prepare.
The kitchen is an excellent place for children to engage their senses experientially. They can knead, toss, pour, smell, chop, feel, and taste foods, all while having fun and learning without even realizing it.
Students will be encouraged to flavor dishes with herbs and spices and challenged to try their own variations, customizing recipes to suit their flavor and dietary preferences.
Cooking can teach children responsibility as they learn specific tasks to contribute to meal preparation and cleanup.
Acquiring ingredients from the grocery store, farmer’s market, or even harvesting their own herbs, fruits, and vegetables helps children understand where the ingredients that make up their favorite meals are sourced. Purchasing fresh, locally grown ingredients supports farmers in your area. For the Cooking 3/4 class: Students will be encouraged to visit a farmer’s market or pick-your-own farm to choose local seasonal ingredients.
Making a grocery list before shopping helps a child learn about planning and making informed choices about healthy foods. Choosing whole-food ingredients reduces packaging waste and instills the values of environmental consciousness.
Preparing recipes from other countries allows children to experience new flavors and textures. This exposure to diverse cuisines opens a child’s mind to different cultures, offers a geography lesson, and promotes awareness, understanding, and appreciation of culinary traditions and practices worldwide. For the Cooking 5-8 class: Each week, students will be encouraged to research two new facts about the recipe’s country of origin to share with the class.
Cooking allows children to learn more about their own heritage and family traditions through treasured recipes passed down through the generations.
Exercise, Adventure, & Circus
Classes will begin with a fun and challenging opening to get everyone up and moving. Then we will have a challenge section of class to develop balance, strength and coordination. This will be done through games and exercises. Moving into circus skills, the class will explore clowning and theatrical movement. Circus skills will include balancing, juggling, and plate spinning.
Students will learn to present their skills in Circus and theatrical styles. Social interactions will be part of the work, and focus put on students connecting and having fun. There will be a cool down and reflection to close class.
Seasonal Crafting
This joyful, Waldorf-inspired class invites children to experience the changing seasons through hands-on, nature-based crafts. Using materials like yarn, kite paper, natural treasures, and soft wool, students will create projects that reflect the mood and spirit of each season. With a focus on festivals and rhythms of the year, each craft nurtures creativity, fine motor skills, and a deep connection to nature. From autumn leaves to winter sparkle, students will celebrate beauty, wonder, and the quiet magic of seasonal transitions—all through the work of their hands.
Ukulele
Playing the ukulele offers a myriad of benefits that positively impact both mental and physical well-being. Engaging in the rhythmic strumming and precise finger movements required to play chords and melodies enhances hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills. The melodic and harmonic aspects of playing the ukulele promotes relaxation, and reduces feelings of stress and anxiety. Learning and practicing music stimulates various areas of the brain, improving cognitive function, memory, and concentration.
Regular practice sessions instill discipline and perseverance, contributing to personal growth and development. Please encourage your child to play every day until it becomes a habit.
In this class, students will embark on an exciting musical journey, learning the fundamentals of playing the ukulele while exploring various rhythms, chords, and songs.
To begin, we will start with the basics, teaching everyone a foundational rhythm pattern (DDUUDU) and three essential chords (C, F, G). With these chords and rhythm, students will learn to play songs, laying a strong groundwork for their ukulele skills.
As we progress, we will expand our chord repertoire by introducing two minor chords (Am and Em), enriching our musical palette and broadening the range of songs we can play. Students will continue to practice and refine their technique, gaining confidence in their ability to strum and switch between chords seamlessly.
While we will be learning chords, the class will be focused on playing music. Blending chord practice and playing songs will make for a wonderful, full learning experience and will excite the children. During class, students will be listening to me, and playing along, or I will play a group of chords, and they will “repeat after me” in a choral manner. There will also be times where students are the ones leading and playing off mute.
Next, we will delve into the world of bar chords, learning the D and Bm chords. These chords will unlock new possibilities, allowing students to comfortably play songs in the key of G (G, C, D, Am, Bm, Em). With a focus on mastering different rhythms, students will learn to play songs with varied time signatures, adding depth and complexity to their musical repertoire.
As students progress, they will have the opportunity to explore advanced chord variations and their own musical choices. For those ready to challenge themselves further, advanced chord shapes such as Dominant 7th and bar chord versions will be introduced, encouraging exploration of the ukulele's fretboard.
In the final stages of the class, students will learn to play in the key of F, mastering chords such as Bb, Gm, and Dm. With a diverse range of chords and rhythms at their disposal, students will be well-prepared to tackle a variety of songs and even consider performing in gigs.
Throughout the class, emphasis will be placed on creativity, expression, and collaborative learning. By the end of the course, students will have developed a solid foundation in ukulele playing, equipped with the skills and confidence to continue their musical journey with passion and enthusiasm.
If you’d like some reading about music in Waldorf schools, this is a wonderful read: Music as a Threshold Experience