Athletics & Movement

Physical activity not only boosts fitness, it also improves students’ psychological, social-emotional, and behavioral health—as well as their brain development, academic performance, and confidence. At WSL, no student spends the day behind a desk! Every student participates in a rich array of movement, games, and athletics that advance along with the developing child.

In the early years, games emphasize imagination, social skills, and the joy of movement. By fifth grade, cooperative games are integrated with competitive sports, which continue through the middle school years. Fifth grade also features the Olympic Pentathlon, a recreation of the first Greek Olympics, hosted by WSL and including other area Waldorf schools. Students train for the long jump, javelin, discus, long run, Olympic wrestling, and 50-yard dash. Our Olympians are judged not only on speed and strength, but on gracefulness and good sportsmanship. Beginning in sixth grade, all students (no try-outs) may participate in WSL’s competitive after-school athletics programs in soccer (fall) and basketball (winter), along with physical conditioning in the spring.

Eurythmy

Eurythmy brings a somatic approach to language and music, as children embody stories through gesture, movement, and imagination. As a class, students learn how to move together as one, choreographed by the teacher and accompanied by live piano music. First graders start with simple geometrical forms and learn how to coordinate their movements to work as a whole. As children grow through the grades, the patterns become more complex, requiring students to differentiate their movements and develop more sophisticated spatial awareness.

The practice of eurythmy develops proprioception—the ability to sense the position of our bodies moving in space—along with coordination, rhythm, poise, sensory integration, dexterity, and gross motor skills. Eurythmy also helps to bring balance and harmony to students’ unfolding individuality, and fosters social integration in each class.

The Fifth Grade Olympic Pentathlon embodies key attributes of a Waldorf education: joyful participation, best effort, good sportsmanship, and the lighting of a flame that lasts a lifetime.

The Fifth Grade Olympic Pentathlon embodies key attributes of a Waldorf education: joyful participation, best effort, good sportsmanship, and the lighting of a flame that lasts a lifetime.

The grace and exuberance of eurythmy, performed with live classical piano music, is another unique hallmark of Waldorf education.

The grace and exuberance of eurythmy, performed with live classical piano music, is another unique hallmark of Waldorf education.