The Color of Your Grade

Last week I had the pleasure of visiting 2 Waldorf schools while in California.

One thing that was a big “A-HA” for me was that each classroom was a painted a
different color.  Of course I checked out the 4th grade- a cheerful yellow- green.
What a wonderful way to introduce a new grade/year as you are schooling
at home!

Now, you may be thinking that painting the walls in the Waldorf lazure each
summer is not feasible. (As Waldorf teachers do in a school setting)
But there are other ways to bring the “color of the year”
into the room.

You can drape silks across the walls, windows and/or ceiling as seen in many classrooms.
Use as a cloth on the nature table or school table runner.
You could use cotton material in the “color” of your year or perhaps dye it and have the child
help during the summer. Hey, that sounds like a perfect summer project for us.
I love to get the child involved in the setting up and reverence of the room.

In the  4th grade class I visited, there were framed maps and pictures of California to use for
local geography, and  animal prints and statues for Man & Animal. There were some whimsical
Norse Myth paper mache’ hats. This got me thinking.

We could easily bring in ideas that represent what is going on in the Main Lessons
each year into our “classrooms”. Think of fables and animal stories, fairy tales,
Old Testament. What items can we use from the blocks to decorate and associate
for our children?  Math gnomes and fractions, times tables charts, etc. can all be a lot of fun.

Kindergarten starts with a red-pink that is feminine in quality and serves
to hold the children at this age.

First grade continues with a lighter, rosy pink that morphs into
a peachy hue for second grade- where the students are in a “peachy”
place of development. It’s always about meeting the child where they are in Waldorf.

Third grade the walls turn gold yellow as the child’s individuality starts to bloom.

Fourth grade the walls become a yellow-green as they child become more grounded and
study local geography and history.

Fifth grade brings the sciences which introduce blues to the green that coincides with
Botany and Greek Mythology. This is the middle of childhood and signifies this middle color feeling.

Sixth grade walls are true blue as blue is a “thinking” color studying astrology, physics
and the middle ages.

The color darkens into seventh and by eighth they walls are hues of lilac, lavender & purple signifying the
merging of red and blue. And the complete circle.

The technique used by Waldorf schools is called “lazure” and is several layers of watercolors applied to create a
translucent effect. (google for more info)

Feel free to post your ideas below on how YOU can bring the color of the grade
to your homeschool. You can even send me pictures on our Facebook FanPage.

Donna