Our Curriculum
Journey from Early Childhood through 12th Grade at PWS
PWS offers Waldorf Education from Early Childhood (Parent-Child, Preschool, and Kindergarten) through Grade 12 with a powerful and inspired curriculum that has the potential to change the world, one child at a time. Teachers make decisions at each developmental step along the way to nurture and support the fullest unfolding of a student’s potential, by providing an extraordinary learning environment, and integrating the arts and academics to foster imagination and independent thinking in our students.
We are part of an international Waldorf school community with over 100 years of development, and over 1,100 schools and 2000 Kindergartens worldwide that embrace a common philosophy and inspired approach.
Take a journey through our curriculum, starting with our Early Childhood program below.
Early childhood lays the foundation for future academic success
Pasadena Waldorf School delivers a comprehensive, multi-sensory early childhood curriculum. Carefully designed to build age-appropriate foundational skills, our play-based program builds a foundation that will allow the young child to flourish from the elementary grades through high school.
Pasadena Waldorf recognizes that the best long-term outcomes are not achieved by rushing immediately into advanced skills, but are rather built up gradually in a developmentally-appropriate manner, using age-appropriate activities. This is the advantage of the proven Waldorf curriculum, which has been successfully employed at more than a thousand schools around the world for over 100 years. From our Sweet Pea (Parent-Child) classes through to Preschool and on into Kindergarten, essential cognitive and developmental skills are carefully cultivated in a joyful and nurturing environment.
2023-24 PWS Early Childhood Faculty
Pasadena Waldorf School, License 198018862
Preschool
Our Pasadena Waldorf Preschool students, the Poppies and the Sunflowers, are recognizable by their orange and yellow hats and are immersed in a rich play-based curriculum that serves as a foundation for their later academic success. The importance of play is a guiding principle within the Waldorf perspective of Early Childhood education. During playtime, the children transform the room using many simple toys, play stands, blocks, cloths, and dress-up materials. Through their imaginative and creative forces, the children imitate the world around them. The activity of play encourages communication, socialization, and collaboration among the students. The group consciousness builds upon these interactions, allowing for increased growth and development with all children. Rousing outdoor playtime comes with a good deal of climbing, swinging, digging, pumping and hauling water, insect hunting, imaginative play, games, and plenty of running. The children are encouraged to participate in exploring and connecting with the natural world through their own activity while outdoors.
Minimum age is two years nine months by September 1, and children must be potty-trained.
Kindergarten
Pasadena Waldorf School’s immersive play-based Kindergarten curriculum blends many foundational skills necessary for subsequent academic success with a strong social-emotional learning component.
Young children learn best by actively engaging their senses and imitating what they see around them. Our Kindergarten classes encourage children to participate in simple duties that connect them to their environment and one another in a nurturing and harmonious manner. The teachers introduce children to simple handwork that helps to prepare them for future learning while also stimulating their creativity.
The outdoor play yard offers swings, a spacious sand pit for digging, and a lovely playhouse, which are all nestled below the branches of a stately oak tree. The play yard is lined by an edible garden that the children tend to and is complimented by hay bales for sitting or climbing. Separated from the play areas for the older grades, the Kindergarten yard is a perfect place for imaginative play or jumping rope.
The Kindergarten children also participate in the art of Eurythmy. This combination of synchronized movement and voice helps with sensory-motor development, enhancing coordination while simultaneously stimulating the language centers of the brain. The teachers also lead a story circle that progresses through the week. Sometimes, the children are invited into the story itself, acting out parts as they are immersed in the lessons of each parable.
The changing rhythms of the year are integrated into the Kindergarten experience, with the children beginning most days with an adventurous stroll led around the campus. The children march along behind their teacher on a winding journey, weaving amongst the trees and over little bridges on their morning walks.
Each child in the Kindergarten learns from the process of doing, whether stitching a doll or churning butter. They find joy in participating in the important work of daily life, from washing their napkins to cutting vegetables for a delicious soup. They are exposed to a rich, imaginative world through which they learn important lessons that prepare them for entrance into the grades.
Kindergarten age requirement is 4 years old by June 1st
Kindergarten License #198019903