The Grade Seven curriculum is designed to meet the student’s need for greater accuracy and articulation through mechanics, chemistry and physical education.
The emotional life is explored in a thoughtful, organized way through poetry, geometry, chemistry, and other subjects.
“The need for imagination, a sense of truth, and a feeling of responsibility – these are the three forces which are the very nerve of education.”
Rudolf Steiner
At a time when students are experiencing great physical, cognitive and emotional changes, the Grade Seven curriculum is designed to meet the student’s need for greater accuracy and articulation through mechanics, chemistry and physical education. The emotional life is explored in a thoughtful, organized way through poetry, geometry, perspective drawing, chemistry, and other subjects. Cognitive skills are challenged with the increasing expectation of clarity and order in verbal and written expression as well as phenomenological study and observation. The goal is for the student to experience a stronger sense of self-mastery and responsibility. With all the personal changes being experienced by the student and the increasing need to challenge existing rules and practices, this is the time that the curriculum visits the Renaissance, the Age of Exploration, and the Reformation.
Students are also introduced to metres and poetic structure, allowing them to explore emotions and inner experiences through a new means of articulation and expression.
Algebra brings simple, logical structures to more complex problem-solving. Students continue work with plane geometry, with constructions becoming increasingly demanding both cognitively and technically. Accuracy is essential in both thinking and technique. Mathematical laws of perspective bring order to depth in art and provide another connecting point between arts and academics.
The historical transition from the geocentric to the heliocentric picture of the solar system is the focus of astronomy studies. Biographies of the great thinkers including Kepler, Copernicus and Galileo connect this study to the Renaissance and the Age of Exploration. This is also the grade in which a more formal study of chemistry is introduced with focus on combustion, salts, acids, bases, and the lime cycle.
Main Lesson Subjects:
English composition, grammar, spelling, research papers, literature, and drama; class play; geography of Europe and Africa, or the Americas ( other topic in Grade Six); the Renaissance, Reformation, Age of Discovery, Age of Exploration; Arthurian legends (1400 – 1700) (Grade Six or Seven); algebra, geometry, power, root; physics, inorganic chemistry, astronomy, physiology; perspective drawing.
Subject Lessons:
French, choir, eurythmy (a movement art) when possible, knitting (advanced), woodwork (carving), physical education (team sports), gardening, visual arts.