Our beautiful farm is the ideal setting for grade school children to learn, to play, to build friendships, and to grow. In our supportive environment, children experience a developmentally appropriate and rigorous Waldorf curriculum while learning practical lessons on the farm. The creative presentation of the subjects taught in the classroom, combined with the hands-on experience of the lessons learned on the farm, allows motivation for learning to arise naturally from within, fostering a joyful outlook on the world and cultivating a lifelong love of learning.

The Class Teacher

In Waldorf schools, the class teacher will ideally take the same group of children from first through eighth grades. This gives children continuing security and guidance and allows teachers to become well-acquainted with each child as a unique individual. As each child matures, the teacher gains insight on how best to encourage the child to unfold his or her innate gifts.

Teaching in a Waldorf classroom is a creative process in which the teacher transforms education into an art. With an imaginative approach to education, the teacher strives to awaken each child’s inner faculties while daily presenting Main Lesson blocks in social science and literature, geography, mathematics, language arts, and the natural sciences. Foreign language is taught by a specialist in the language, and other special subjects such as handwork and music are taught by the class teacher or specialists in these fields.

During the grade school years, the child needs to experience love, reverence, and wonder for the world, and each teacher endeavors to impart these qualities by example.

Our Classes for the 2012–2013 School Year

School hours: Monday through Thursday, 8:30 AM – 3:00 PM;
Friday, 8:30 AM – 1:00 PM

Our grade school consists of first grade and four combined grades. Our Waldorf-trained grade school teachers design their lessons to best meet the range of ages and abilities in each of our classes.

• Isolde Perry is our first-grade class lead teacher. A founding member of Sunfield, Ms. Perry has many years of Waldorf teaching experience in various settings. Molly McGregor is our afternoon teacher for first grade. We welcome her back to Sunfield after taking a year off following the birth of her daughter.
• Jake Bell is our second/third-grade class teacher. We welcome Mr. Bell to our school this year from Vermont, where he was a Waldorf teacher at Green Valley School. Mr. Bell has seven years of experience as a Waldorf teacher.
• Ruth Mandelbaum-Pope is our fourth/fifth-grade class teacher. Ms. Mandelbaum-Pope began teaching at Sunfield in 2009 and taught the Sunflower Kindergarten for her first year. Prior to coming to Sunfield, she taught at a Waldorf school in Anchorage, Alaska, for three years.
• Beth Ann O’Dell is our sixth/seventh-grade class teacher. Ms. O’Dell has been working with children and families in Waldorf schools, public schools, Indian schools, and the Head Start program for more than twenty years. She came to Sunfield in 2007.
• Helen Curry is our eighth/ninth-grade class teacher. Ms. Curry has been a Waldorf teacher for the past twenty years, which has included her home-based Waldorf-inspired programs, Tomten Farm Kindergarten and the Children’s Circle. She began teaching full-time at Sunfield in 2006. For this year, her class is partnering with Northwest Academy to offer high school credit.

See Faculty & Staff for full biographies of our teachers.

Each teacher works out of his or her own creativity while adhering to the heart of a Waldorf education – educating the whole child with an academic, artistic, and age-appropriate curriculum.