The 11-year-old child learns fast, developing graceful agility in all endeavours, thus ushering in a ‘golden year’ of childhood. With a subtle balance in heart rate and breathing achieved, new neural pathways emerge.
This year, we have begun to deepen our learning into many of the subjects introduced in previous years. We have expanded fractions into decimals, dollars and percentages and approached science through the observation of natural phenomena.
The thematic thread in 2019 has been the wisdom of the ancient Greeks. Whether through myth, history, mathematical knowledge or artistic pursuits, the quest for beauty and perfection has broadened the children’s scope and attitude towards learning, with artistic work embracing more individuality. We traced the influence of Ancient Greek on the English language and began to recite passages from the works of Homer. This was complimented in Eurythmy with Greek poetry and the representation of the Ancient Greek alphabet.
After our sports carnival early this term, we began training for the Greek Olympics, which will include several other Steiner schools from our region. While some of the events will be similar to those of the athletics carnival, many of the techniques will be different, with an added emphasis on grace and beauty, in addition to speed and strength. Long jump will be done from a standing start and javelin introduced, along with discus. The students will also compete in wrestling, for which training has begun, with much enthusiasm (pictured above)! Our regular classes in Bothmer Gymnastics have also been building the students' strength, agility and coordination.
Our first main Lesson of Term 3 is a study of the Antarctic. Along with the fascinating animal forms and dramatic geography, the students were enthralled by the incredibly heroic journeys of Shackleton, Amundsen, Scott and Mawson. We have also done numerous experiments involving ice, salt and water, one of which involved measuring the temperature of ice in fresh water, compared to ice in salty water. While the fresh water was measured at two degrees celsius, the salty water plunged well below zero. We will conclude this fascinating main lesson with a project and an ice skating excursion.
The students are currently weaving , knitting and learning leather craft, and soon will begin to build and fire a Greek urn, a classic Class 5 project. We have also begun to learn the alto recorder and some fun pieces on our violins, violas, cellos and basses for a concert at the end of term.
William Keyte
Class 5 Teacher
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