Spring, TX
Great Oak School

Child. Family. Community.

Childhood is sacred at the Great Oak School. Through the head, heart, and hands, our students are guided toward wholeness and balanced development. Great Oak Early Childhood classes are based on the rhythms of a healthy home life. Children have daily access to the outdoors on our ten acre campus. Nature walks, gardening, cooking, and outdoor play are a central element as we teach children a reverence for each other and for nature.

Great Oak Elementary classes offer rigorous academics balanced with a developmental respect for children in the Waldorf tradition.

Classical literature, foreign languages, mathematics, and rich experiences with the arts of music, theater, painting, drawing and practical arts of handwork, modeling, and woodwork, are key components of the curriculum.

Community life and school festivals are central to life of a Waldorf school. Great Oak serves children, but also the whole family, with Parent/Child classes and adult education opportunities, the end result of which is a rich community life that nourishes and empowers the child, the family, and the community.

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In our Parent Child Classes , parents and their children meet together once a week with our Pre-k Teacher, Ms. Jill. Together, we explore the world of the young child, enjoying a home-like setting, connecting with other parents, and growing in confidence as we learn effective, compassionate parenting skills that last a lifetime.

In our Pre-K Class, we start our day by exploring the outdoors around us, this might include nature walks, building sand castles in the sand, finding creatures in nooks and crannies. We come inside for circle time, free play, stories, and snacks.

In our Kindergarten, we continue spending time outdoors, noting the seasons and celebrating the rhythms of the year with the school festivals. Play becomes more harmonious and purposeful. The teacher guides the children through activities of the day. A great importance is place don imaginative play including dress up, playing house, building structures. We also do sewing, beeswax modeling, drawing, painting, and paper crafts. Outdoor play, anture walksm and gardening help develop a sense of reverence for nature. We us story, rhythm, and music to allow chidlren to move their bodies in healthy ways.

Elementary classes vary greatly in their daily rhythms depending on the age. Active learning through movement, music, and the arts are common across the grades, form first through 5th grades.

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