Private Elementary School in Chicago

The South Side School, Chicago:
The South Side School is an affordable independent elementary school with a Waldorf-inspired curriculum near Chicago's Loop in the vibrant urban environment of East Pilsen and we are happy to serve Lower West Side, Pilsen and South Side communities. We draw on an 90-year-old teaching tradition that engages the "whole child" - intellectually, socially, emotionally, and physically - in time with the natural developmental stages of childhood. We are focused not simply on the college your child will attend, but rather the person your child will become: curious, compassionate, self-reliant. We are a new elementary school in Chicago, whose curriculum is inspired by Waldorf education.

Waldorf-Inspired Education & Curriculum:
The South Side School brings affordable, Waldorf-inspired elementary education to the near south side of Chicago. Our curriculum, focused on engaging the whole child, integrates practical skills, artistic experience, and academic discipline.The uniqueness in a Waldorf education can be found mainly in how and when the students are taught-not in what they are taught. First comes the experience of the subject and from this experience comes the understanding of the concept. This genuine learning process, from perception to feeling to idea, is the basis for later abstract and intellectual learning. We teach our children in the deepest manner possible, allowing lessons to become fully incorporated into the individual.

Waldorf education strives to educate the full range of human potentialities within children. In a Waldorf school the practical and artistic subjects play as important a role as the full range of traditional subjects that the school offers. All students learn to read and to write clearly as well as focusing on their handwriting and cursive writing. They learn math, science, geography, literature and two foreign languages. All students are taught singing, a musical instrument, drawing, painting, woodworking, and hand crafts. Children garden and have extended outdoor time as well as movement classes.

Waldorf education understands, celebrates and supports the very important role of the teacher in a student's life. Ideally a teacher stays with his or her class from Grade One through Grade Eight providing extraordinary continuity in curriculum. Remaining with one class for eight years allows the teacher time to gain valuable insight into each child, to fully understand and appreciate the gifts and challenges each child brings to the classroom.

- History and Literature:
* Fairy tales (Grimm, Asbjornsen and Moe)
* Nature stories

- English and Grammar:
* Pictorial introduction to the alphabet
* Writing simple words and sentences
* Reading approached through writing
* Word families
* Oral poetry, tongue twisters and alliterative verses
* Oral recitation

- Math:
* Four operations (0-24)
* Multiplication tables through movement and recitation
* Qualities of numbers
* Counting to 100
* Roman numerals
* Rhythmic patterns
* Number sequences and relationships
* Odds and evens
* Word problems
* Mental arithmetic

- Natural Science:
* Introduction to nature through stories
* Experience of the natural world through observation and exploration
* Cooking
* Gardening

- Foreign Language:
* Mandarin Chinese
* Spanish

- Fine Arts:
* Drawing (curves, lines, patterns, letters)
* Watercolor painting (wet painting with primary colors)
* Beeswax modeling (scenes from fairy tales)

- Handwork:
* Knitting (with two needles to make a scarf, hat or flute bag)

- Music:
* Pentatonic flute
* Singing (all songs in pentatonic scale)
* Lyre

- Physical Education:
* Eurythmy
* Games
* Extended outdoor play