In fourth grade, students focus on local geography and history. In grades 5-8, they are ready to reach out in time and space to study ancient histories and cultures, including India, Persia, Egypt, Greece and Rome. Then, they focus on Europe from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance and the Age of Exploration. In the eighth grade, they turn to the study of American history. The students explore geography and cultures through their studies of the continents of the world.

In biology, students move from the observation of plant life to the study of the human being. Through the main lesson block in nutrition, for example, students discover what sustains and balances them. This study of the human being culminates in their attention to anatomy and physiology. Students work with the chemistry of acids and bases in the laboratory.

Through observation of phenomena around them, our students discover scientific laws and their relation to mathematics. Acoustics, optics and mechanical principles are explored through experiments and theme-related trips to Camp Glen Brook. In math, as they move from fractions and decimals to geometry and algebra, practical applications help students see wide-ranging connections with other subjects-even art and eurythmy, which offers avenues for the exploration and understanding of geometric forms.

Students in grades five through eight increasingly work with specialty teachers in addition to the class teacher who may have been with them since first grade. In eighth grade, students begin the study of Spanish and choose whether to pursue French or German, having studied both up to this point. Writing, research, classroom presentations, science observations, reports and the creation of main lesson notebooks increasingly demand initiative and higher-level intellectual skills.

By the end of eighth grade, students have not only mastered skills, but have also gained a growing understanding of how things learned in the classroom are connected to each other, to the outside world and to their own lives. They are ready for the next stage of a Waldorf education: the intellectual excitement and challenge of high school.