Grade 3
In the 3rd Grade, students move into a new sense of self as they naturally ask “Who am I in relation to others and the world?” In Waldorf education we recognize this realization of selfhood as a nine-year change process. It is expressed through the students’ evolving self-consciousness as they move their feelings more inward and begin to become more independent in thought and action. Adults may notice that the students become more critical as well as beginning to test everyone and everything. This is a natural process as children begin to see that they will one day have to leave the parental nest and make their own way in the world. This developmental process is met in the curriculum by connecting students with the practical experiences of life such as building, farming and gardening in addition to continuation of general academic subjects.