Curriculum by grade

Grade 1 Waldorf-inspired main lesson blocks

Grade 1 is the first year of main lessons. At six and seven, children love rhythm, pictures and stories, and they meet letters and numbers through them before any rules are written down.

Level Grade 1 (Foundation Phase)
Blocks 3
Weeks of lessons 11
Outcomes 32

A Grade 1 year moves between language, mathematics and form drawing in blocks of three or four weeks, with practice lessons, painting, handwork and time outside running through every week.

The blocks

Grade 1, 3 weeks, 4 days a week, about 90 minutes a day

Form Drawing

Three weeks of form drawing for Grade 1: the straight and the curve, standing, lying and leaning lines, waves and zigzags, circles and spirals, the lemniscate and simple mirror forms. Each form is walked, drawn in the air and on a back before it goes on paper, and each grows from a story.

Week by week

Week 1
The beetle's road
The straight and the curve, then standing, lying and leaning lines, meeting in the star the dung beetle steers by.
Week 2
The river and the aloe
Waves and zigzags as running forms from the river's journey, then the circle and the spiral from the aloe in Gogo's garden.
Week 3
The sunbird and the butterfly
Spirals practised, the lemniscate from the sunbird's path, and simple mirror forms from the butterfly's wings, ending with a walk through every form.

Grade 1, 4 weeks, 4 days a week, about 100 minutes a day

Letters from Stories

Ten capital letters, M, A, W, S, O, F, T, I, B and L, each grown out of a story set in a South African landscape, drawn as a picture and then found inside it. The block ends with the first small letters and a first sentence.

Week by week

Week 1
Land, sky and sea
The new book opens with the mountain path. M steps out of Nomvula's mountain and A out of Anja's ladder under the stars. Wanda's waves story is told on day three and sleeps over the weekend. First word, MAMA.
Week 2
Sand, moon and water
W walks out of the waves, S slides out of the snake's track in the red sand, and O is found in the moon lying in the pan. Faiza's fish story sleeps over the weekend. Words, SAW and WAS.
Week 3
Things that stand
F swims out of the little fish, T stands up from the tree at the crossing, and I is found in Itumeleng standing still. The baobab story sleeps over the weekend. First sentence, I SAW MAMA.
Week 4
The long walk home
B from the baobab and L from Lindiwe's long shadow. Then the first small letters grow out of the capitals, m, s and a, and the block ends with I SAW A BAOBAB and a look back through the whole book.

Grade 1, 4 weeks, 4 days a week, about 100 minutes a day

The Quality of Numbers and the Four Market Friends

A four week Grade 1 mathematics block. In the first two weeks the numbers one to twelve are met as qualities in stories, in the world and in the body, with Roman and Arabic numerals. In the last two weeks four friends at a Lowveld street market bring adding, taking away, multiplying and sharing to life, working from the whole to the parts with beans, stones and rhythm.

Week by week

Week 1
One to six
The one sun and the one baobab, the river's two banks, the three-legged pot, the four seasons and sides of the world, the five-petalled blossom like the open hand, and the bee with six legs. The first Roman numerals grow from the fingers.
Week 2
Seven to twelve
The rainbow week, the spider's eight legs, nine seeds in three rows of three, ten fingers crossed, a team of eleven and twelve months sewn into one blanket. All twelve numerals, Roman and Arabic, ending in the year wheel.
Week 3
Ayanda gathers and Mme Dineo gives away
Twelve becomes the whole the market friends work with. Ayanda gathers twelve mangoes and the child finds the many ways twelve can be made. Mme Dineo gives mielies away from a row of twelve, and the child reads what was given from the gaps.
Week 4
Oom Danie brings many and Kokwana Tsakani shares
Oom Danie brings oranges in bags of the same, and the times tables are walked and clapped. Kokwana Tsakani shares twelve litchis fairly, one at a time. The block ends with the four friends packing up together.

What a morning looks like

A real day from The Quality of Numbers and the Four Market Friends: Two is the pair.

10 minin-breath
Opening: One Sun Rises
Light the candle and stand together. Say One Sun Rises with the movements. Then greet each other by name and shake hands.
20 minout-breath
Rhythmic work: Clapping in pairs
Say the first two lines of One Is the Sun with the movements, and add the third, the cooking pot. Then play a pairs clapping game: clap your own hands, then both hands against your child's, counting every clap up to twenty. Walk heel to toe across the room saying left, right, left, right. Finish by counting back from twenty to one, crouching a little lower on each number.
15 minin-breath
Recall: Remembering Lufuno
Sit together. Ask, "What did Lufuno see on top of the hill?" Let your child tell the story back as far as they can, in their own words. Help only with a nudge, such as "And then they walked down to the...". Notice which pictures they remember most and use them in the drawing.
25 minout-breath
The new story: A hunt for one and two
Start with your own bodies: one nose, one mouth, one heart; two eyes, two ears, two hands, two feet. Then go outside. Look for one: one sun, one big tree, one path. Look for pairs: two wings on a bird or a butterfly, two halves of a leaf, two sides of a path or a stream. Collect a few small finds and lay them on the nature table in a group for one and a group for two.
25 minout-breath
Main lesson book: The baobab and the river
Turn to the golden circle page. Below the sun your child draws the baobab, a wide grey trunk with branches reaching out like roots in the sky. On the next page, draw the river in blue down the middle, then a brown and green bank on each side, and a fish eagle in a tree on each bank. Draw from the story, not from a picture book.
5 minin-breath
Closing: Our Work Is Done
Put the crayons away together. Stand and say Our Work Is Done. Blow out the candle.

The evening before

Choose a short route in the garden or a park for the number hunt. 5 minutes
Draw the baobab and the river with two banks on scrap paper so you know the shapes. 10 minutes

Lufuno's story is remembered. Pairs are found in the body and outside, and the baobab under the sun and the river between its two banks are drawn. The whole morning runs about 100 minutes.

Materials to have at hand

Main lesson book
Block crayons
A long rope or skipping rope
A beanbag
A candle and matches
Two chairs, pot plants or stones
Beeswax block crayons
Stick crayons
A candle and holder
Two beanbags

What a parent can expect to see

Selemo's outcomes describe what you can notice, never a test. Coverage counts only the outcomes you confirm from your own record.

Arts and handwork

Draws circles and spirals that wind in and out, keeping an even space between the turns.Look for: Winds a spiral in to the middle and out again without the turns touching
Draws the lemniscate, the lying figure eight, with both loops the same size and a smooth crossing in the middle.Look for: Crosses through the same middle point on every turn
Finds the forms in the world around them (the spiral in an aloe, the wave in a river) and names them.Look for: Points out a form in the garden or on a walk without being asked
Draws the straight and the curve and forms built from them with flowing, even lines.Look for: Draws the form large in the air before drawing it on paper
Completes mirror forms across a vertical line and running forms across the page.Look for: Matches a curve on the other side of the line
Paints a colour story with three colours, keeping colours clear.Look for: Rinses the brush between colours
Knits a simple piece with two needles.Look for: Casts on with help and knits a row alone

Movement and music

Walks a form on the ground and draws it in the air and on a partner's back before drawing it on paper.Look for: Walks a form in one flowing path without stopping
Moves with rhythm while counting, reciting and playing clapping games.Look for: Keeps a steady beat across a whole verse
Plays simple tunes on a pentatonic flute or sings them in tune.Look for: Plays a short tune learnt by ear

Literacy

Draws across the page from left to right and from top to bottom with a relaxed grip, ready for writing.Look for: Starts running forms at the left edge of the page
Recognises and writes upper case letters met through letter pictures, saying their sounds.Look for: Says the sound when shown the letter
Hears the first sound of a spoken word and finds words that begin the same way.Look for: Offers three words that start like the letter of the day
Copies a short sentence from the board into the main lesson book, with spaces between words.Look for: Leaves a finger space between words
Reads back simple sentences the class has written together.Look for: Points to each word while reading it
Begins to write lower case letters as they grow out of the capitals.Look for: Writes a lower case letter beside its capital
Sings the open vowel sounds of A, O and I and hears them at the start of spoken words and names.Look for: Sings ah
Lays out a main lesson book page with a picture, a letter and a word, working from the top of the page down and from left to right.Look for: Leaves room at the top for the picture

Language and story

Retells a story in sequence, with the main characters and what happened.Look for: Tells beginning
Recites verses and poems from memory with clear speech.Look for: Speaks a whole verse alone
Listens attentively to a story for ten minutes or more.Look for: Asks about the story the next day
Speaks tongue twisters and letter verses clearly, giving each opening sound its full weight.Look for: Says a tongue twister slowly and then faster without losing the sounds

Number

Experiences the qualities of numbers one to twelve (one is whole, two is a pair, three a triangle) in stories and the world.Look for: Finds examples of a number in nature or at home
Counts forward and backward to one hundred in rhythm, and in twos, threes and fives.Look for: Counts in fives while clapping
Writes Roman and Arabic numerals to twelve and numbers to one hundred.Look for: Writes the numeral for a counted set
Understands the four operations as stories with concrete objects, working from the whole to the parts.Look for: Shares twelve beans into equal groups and says what happened
Solves simple addition and subtraction within twenty with objects and in the head.Look for: Finds two numbers that make twelve in more than one way
Builds and reads the Roman numerals to twelve from the hand, knowing I as one finger, V as the open hand and X as two hands meeting.Look for: Lays VII or IX with sticks and says the number
Knows the four market friends as pictures of adding, taking away, multiplying and sharing, and matches each friend to their sign.Look for: Names the friend who gathers
Shares a set of up to twelve objects fairly into equal groups and says how many are in each group and whether any are left over.Look for: Deals beans one at a time into groups until none are left

Science and nature

Observes the garden, weather and creatures closely and describes what changes.Look for: Describes one change since last week

Practical life

Prepares the work space and cares for materials (crayons, books, brushes).Look for: Sets out the main lesson book and crayons without being asked

Where the timing differs from CAPS

Selemo meets most CAPS topics in its own order. These notes say where it comes earlier or later. They are written in Selemo's own words and are being checked against the Department of Basic Education's documents.

Recognises and writes upper case letters met through letter pictures, saying their sounds.

Selemo brings each letter out of a story picture at a slower pace and meets capitals first; CAPS works through many single sounds in lower case from the first term.

Recognises and writes upper case letters met through letter pictures, saying their sounds.

Selemo writes capitals first and lower case later in Grade 1; CAPS forms lower case letters from the start and adds capitals later.

Copies a short sentence from the board into the main lesson book, with spaces between words.

In Grade 1 Selemo children copy sentences the class has made together; writing their own sentences comes mostly in Grade 2.

Reads back simple sentences the class has written together.

Selemo lets reading grow out of the child's own writing and starts formal reading later; CAPS begins group guided reading with graded readers in Grade 1.

Reads back simple sentences the class has written together.

Reading back familiar sentences comes before reading unseen graded readers, which Selemo leaves mostly to Grade 2.

Begins to write lower case letters as they grow out of the capitals.

Selemo meets lower case letters later in Grade 1, as they grow out of the capitals; CAPS starts with them.

Safety notes

Light and blow out the candle yourself, and keep it well away from paper and sleeves.
When walking forms outside, check the ground for thorns and broken glass first.
An adult lights and blows out the candle, and it stands where an arm cannot knock it over.
The snake story is gentle. If you meet a real snake on a walk this week, stand still, keep your child close and let it move away.

Teach it at home

Selemo plans these blocks into your year, prepares each evening with you, and keeps the record as you go.

Start the 14-day trial All of the curriculum

No card needed for the trial. Seedling Free stays free.