The Class 1/2 Child
A second-grade child is like a butterfly who has just emerged from the hard imprisoning chrysalis and sits upon the leaf, waiting for those glorious new wings to dry and strengthen. They are truly poised for flight.
~ Mannette Teitelbaum
Class 1 children still enjoy being held, and draw nourishment and joy from being told fairy tales, whereas the Class 2 child is at the brink of leaving this magical realm.
Steiner describes the 7 year cycles with importance and focus on the time when the 7-year-olds loose their baby teeth and begin to present a strong and beaming smile to their world. The forces that are working within the child bring forth new energies willing them towards the world of feelings, as they begin to notice the wonder, pity, joy, tenderness and sorrow of the world around them. These are the feelings that will lift these butterflies up into the air and begin to form a relationship with their world.
Class 1 creates a sense of belonging, wholeness and rhythm as the children learn together. In the second grade the children are ready to begin to realise the duality in human nature and within themselves. We don’t want to burden the 7–8-year-old with taking responsibility for their strong judgement or lacking empathy. They need us to present creative explorations of these traits in response to their emotional growth and recognise the shortcomings of their own animalistic natures.
The Animal Fables from different cultures present stories where man’s own animal characteristics are pitted against one another. The fables speak to the child’s imagination and cheeky sense of adventure, allowing them to form their own inner pictures of morality so that we need not lecture them directly.
A second-grade child has a ready appreciation for a fox who invites a stork to dine on a low plate from which the stork cannot manage to feed himself, simply to enjoy the other’s shortcomings. But to see the stork invite the fox to a delicious meal served out of a tall vase he cannot reach and serve the fox his own coin, shows the child the scale of justice with which mother nature balances her affairs.
~ Mannette Teitelbaum
Second grade students also continue to delight in the wonder of the spiritual world, where the heart can be fulfilled. Stories of the Saints remind the children of the wonder and wisdom from the spiritual world and the feelings ignited by their bravery, kindness and love for all. The Saints Main Lesson includes saints and inspirational people, which we explore in Term 4 to coincide with Christmas time.