Through the exploration of an unknown world, the seventh grade curriculum challenges the thought processes of young adolescents, leading them to discovery, understanding and discernment. Students trace the routes of the world's great explorers, hone written language through creative writing, and recreate the painting of a Renaissance master. New discoveries continue with the introduction of geometry and pre-algebra, and the physiology of the human body - coursework that lays the academic foundation for further studies in Grade Eight and high school.
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Main Lesson Books
| | Geography & the Renaissance
| | Creative Writing
| | Main Lessons
| | Class Teacher
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Not only does Laura spend her days with an amazing group of seventh graders singing, dancing, and playing with fractions, she is a local storyteller and currently serving as the Vice President of The Southern Order of Storytellers. Laura earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Texas A&M University, and her Masters of Arts in Teaching from Texas Woman's University. She completed her Waldorf Certification at Sunbridge Institute. She has previously taught students from preschool through high school, and has taught a variety of subjects, including creative movement, ESL, reading and math enrichment, American literature, and theater arts. Laura loves her class, folk dancing, and pie - in that order. Laura has an adult daughter who graduated from Academe of the Oaks, the Waldorf high school.
Grade Seven Pedagogical Overview
The twelfth year is the gateway to pre-adolescence and idealism, and although the sixth grader is increasingly able to experience internal logic, their sense impressions can often be clouded by emotion and whimsy. Throughout this year, students are encouraged to develop strong powers of observation, and precision and accuracy in their thinking. As they awaken to the intricacies of human thought and action, they readily embrace the biographies of individuals from ancient Rome and the Middle Ages.
In order to ground students in the surrounding world while fostering their fascination with the unknown, sixth graders are provided with their first formal study of natural phenomena. Mineralogy, geography, and physics lessons provide opportunity for in-depth encounters with the physical world while strengthening powers of sense-observation. In addition to being grounded by the lawfulness of the earth, students are also encouraged to develop expansiveness in their imaginative thinking. Astronomy draws students towards the heavens and provides opportunities for them to explore the mysteries of the cosmos. In an effort to recreate the experience of early astronomers, Astronomy is taught exclusively through observation of the unaided eye.
