Programs
Lakeside School currently offers Preschool to Grade 7.
“Every education is self-education, and as teachers we can only provide the environment for children’s self-education. We have to provide the most favourable conditions where, through our agency, children can educate themselves according to their own destinies.” Rudolf Steiner
Early Childhood
The world is good
Young children see beauty and purpose in everything and are naturally curious about all that comes to meet them. It is this sense of wonder that opens them to the wonders of the world. Their safety and well-being come from well-established routines. The repetition of daily, weekly and seasonal activities softly transitioned with songs and movements help them to adapt and understand the changes in life.
Preschool and Childcare
Imitation is the primary way children learn during the first years of life. Children in Preschool learn by seeing what the adults are doing and bringing their movements, songs and stories to their play. A kind and warm home-like environment welcomes children to discover the world and all the good things by being part of it. They cook, they share a meal, they help clean and organise the toys, they paint, do wool felting, and play freely in and outside.
Our teachers are certified ECE teachers with the BC Ministry of Education. They have Waldorf teacher training or they are in the process of getting it.
“The heart of the Waldorf method is that education is an art-it must speak to the child's experience. To educate the whole child, his heart and his will must be reached, as well as the mind”.
Rudolf Steiner
Kindergarten
Kindergarten
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Starting around 5 ½ years old, children develop their imagination and fantasy. They are able to listen to fairy tales and make up their own narratives while playing. The daily rhythms on our play-based program, supports the children's development of focus while encouraging the growth of their healthy social, emotional, cognitive, and physical skills.
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All the activities are an invitation to learning while having fun. Painting, modelling, and circles games develop coordination and dexterity, language improvements, and memory growth. Storytelling creates the foundation for long-term literacy and cultivates patience. Cooking builds understanding of mathematical concepts and refines their sense of taste and smell.
By 6 years old they are able to do more complex activities such as finger knitting and telling a story with beginning, middle and end.
“To truly know the world, look deeply within your own being; to truly know yourself, take real interest in the world.”
Rudolf Steiner
Elementary School
The world is beautiful
Our grade students start everyday with a verse and some rhythmic activities developmentally appropriate for each age group. Then they have the main lesson block, followed by a break for a snack and free outside play. The second period rotates through regularly scheduled specialty subjects. After their lunch, the students have more outside time and, finally, two afternoon classes.
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In our school, we offer our students two extra languages. The object of foreign language teaching is to develop a positive attitude toward people of other languages, cultures and countries and to encourage the development of human understanding. In a foreign language class, the children experience the culture, art, literature, customs and geography of another part of the world, and gradually acquire facility in the new language. As well as learning a new way to express oneself and a new way to experience the world, learning a foreign language also supports the development of flexible thinking, empathy, interest in the wide world and in other people.
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See below an overview of each grade’s classes offered this school year.
Grade 1
After the rose ceremony, which acknowledges the entrance of the Grade 1 students to this new stage of their academic life, children learn to act as a group in circles, singing in one voice, working, socialising, celebrating diversity and individual achievements, welcoming and encouraging individualities.
ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS
Children are invited, through stories and living images, to learn the letters of the alphabet. The language arts program is delivered through fairy tales, keeping the grade 0ne students in the realm of dream, bringing archetypal images that will develop their sense of beauty and goodness in the world and in themselves.
MUSIC
Singing and playing the pentatonic flute is part of their daily rhythm. It helps them to master finger movements and develop a musical sensibility.
SCIENCE
Some simple experiments bring students awareness of the world around them while they learn how to name the types of matter (solid, liquid and gas).
WOODWORK
Children learn how to safely handle their tools and work on simple projects such as a tree, a sailboat and a tic-tac-toe game.
MATHEMATICS
From the whole to the parts and based on the quality of numbers, students are first presented with the Roman numerals and after which they learn to count and write from 1 to 100. With a concrete image connected to nature, the four operations are taught.
PAINTING
Wet on wet watercolour painting brings children a deep and intense experience of colour.
FOREIGN LANGUAGES
Through stories, images, and songs the basics of the two languages are presented in a playful environment.
GAMES
The class is invited to play games that support their body and movement development. In addition to providing socialisation and team work.
FORM DRAWING
Students will draw patterns of straight and curved lines that they experience in nature. That activity is the door for the drawing of letters and numbers.
MODELING
The inner call for form is encouraged through natural beeswax modelling. Students model characters of the fairy-tales heard during story time.
HANDWORK
Children play with their fingers to wake them up. Listening to stories, they learn how to tie knots, finger knitting, and arm knitting. Then they learn how to knit one type of stitch with a pair of straight needles. Children usually complete an arm-knitted scarf, a flute case, and simple animals.