Welcome!
Children thrive at Da Vinci Waldorf School. We believe that children deserve an inspired education that allows them to grow up balanced, confident, and able to think for themselves. The journey begins in our warm, homelike, play-based preschool. Our developmentally-based curriculum in grade school includes music, arts, and outdoor play for all students every day, multi-sensory and experiential learning, and academic excellence without high-stakes testing. When children relate what they learn to their own experience, they are interested and fully engaged, and what they learn becomes their own. Da Vinci Waldorf School is designed to foster this kind of learning. Da Vinci Waldorf School is proud to bring Waldorf education to Lake County, IL. Visit us today and experience the difference.
Our mission: Through the power of imagination, we inspire children to think freely, responsibly, and creatively, to live compassionately, and to embrace learning throughout their lives. Working cooperatively and with integrity, teachers and parents nurture the child’s body, mind, and spirit using the wisdom given by Rudolf Steiner. We strive to prepare children to meet the challenges of our world and the future with clarity of thought, a caring heart and confidence to initiate the positive transformation of society.
Featured Blog Posts:
In the classroom 2-3-14
Early Childhood
The circle time in early childhood is a winter movement adventure (see photos above) where we go on a journey “O’er mountain high and bridges low…ever onward we must go!” The children walk across a balance beam “bridge” over an icy river below. We move from fine motor activities to gross motor movement as we build capacities that will serve us as we journey onward in our learning. One fine motor activity that takes much warmth and will forces to accomplish is our Wednesday morning beeswax modeling (see photo to left). What golden treasures they create!
The Parent-Child class has been enjoying warm and nourishing soups during these cold days…highlights have been Persian lentil soup, Borscht, and Curried Cauliflower In the circle Jack Frost has been visiting, and the gnomes have been carefully watching for children’s footprints in the snow. Seasonal songs and games with our families are a lovely way to stay warm, interact lovingly with our children, and just have fun!
1st Grade
Block: Math- number bonds for numbers 1-12, 2,3,5,& 10 times tables reinforced with rhythmic movement, and simple math problems using manipulatives.
Language Arts Skills: 3-4 letter word families.
Painting: Complementary colors exercises (see photo on right).
Practical Arts- Snow globes (see photo above).
Spanish: A new bingo-like number game with playing cards has kept us thrilled and engaged!
Handwork: Four new kittens have been “born.” Continuing to practice knit stitch.
Music: Introduction to the pentatonic scale and our new pentatonic flutes. Discovering the beauty of 12 in the 12 tones.
Movement: Cooperative games.
Extra Lesson: Spiral foot forms. Clay modeling. Finger strengthening with rods. Relays with partners- leap frog, wheelbarrow.
2nd Grade
Block: Mathematics: multiplication and division tables presented in the context of multi-cultural fables.
Language Arts Skills: Vowel sound work as it pertains to spelling. We are preparing to perform a play for the 7-8th grades: writing some of the dialog together, costuming and blocking.
Math Skills: Review of the four processes using bigger numbers both horizontally and vertically. Review of place value.
Nature Fridays: Friday’s lessons are themed with nature. Stories, crafts and activities weave into our studies.
Spanish: Students are reciting large parts of Pollita Chiquita (Chicken Little). They love it!
Handwork: We have begun to knit a gnome in garter and stockinette stitch.
Music: We are gaining fortitude in our flute playing and composing a song about the cold winter!
Movement: Cooperative games.
Extra Lesson: Partnered rod tossing. Pushing and pulling with resistance for balance development and upper body strengthening.
3rd and 4th Grade
3rd and 4th Grade
Block: Math- Introduction to Fractions. We began by dividing objects into parts and making fractions (and eating them also!), then finding equivalent fractions, adding and subtracting simple fractions, and finally discovering the relationships between improper fractions and mixed numbers. Later in the block, students will learn to use the greatest common factors and least common multiples to aid in solving fraction equations.
Visual Arts: Painting-Finding form through the interaction of the colors. It is often a surprise to see what emerges!
Crafts: paper weaving.
Movement Arts: During morning circle we are walking the balance beam keeping a bean bag on our head and reciting, using copper rods independently and in partnership with skill, and practicing bean bag tossing and passing.
Math Skills: Increasing speed and accuracy of basic facts.
Spanish: We’re taking a peek into Norse Myths…en espanol!
Handwork: Introduction to cross stitch, practicing mirrored image designs for their pencil case.
Music: We continue striving to play our C- flutes with good tone. We have been working with call and response singing and activity songs.
4th Grade Orchestra: We are working to read music from a staff now and identify those tones on our instruments. Watch (and listen) for longer pieces of music coming soon!
Movement: Cooperative team games.
5th & 6th Grade
Block: Ancient Rome.
Math Skills: Reviewing measurement. Grade 5 students are learning to check math by casting out 9′s. All are learning Roman Numerals.
Language Arts Skills: In reading, to tie in with our block, we are reading Detectives in Togas. This has some lovely activities to help us with vocabulary, grammar, and literary analysis.
7th & 8th Grade
Block: Physics- exploration of aerodynamics, hydrodynamics, and electricity. The picture below is of a demonstration that visually showed the students how water supports objects and how the weight of the object is affected.
Math Skills: Group 1- Pre-algebra practice continues, as well as work with ratios and proportions. Group 2- Pre-Algebra, using algebra to solve word problems. Group 3- Algebra.
Language Arts Skills: Verbs and their uses, including: tenses, intransitive and transitive verbs, helping and linking verbs.
Visual Arts: Working with pastels, interpreting the first part of our morning verse in pictures. And exploration of three-dimensional shapes (polyhedrons) and their nets.Looks good to me
Spanish: The novel, Los Pirates del Caribe, has kept us entertained and engaged.
Handwork: We are hard at work with humming machines and three of us have finished our pajama pants!
Music: Understanding the circle of 5ths (how the different keys relate to each other) as well as sight reading in choral parts.
Movement: Wrestling forms and indoor games.
Orchestra: Learning new key signatures with more difficult fingering (see photo, above).
