River Oak Charter School educates the head, heart, and hands of children
It’s Enrollment Season 2021-2022 at River Oak Charter School! The school will hold its annual enrollment lottery on February 26, 2021. This school is a popular choice for families who are looking for high quality, free public education that incorporates art, music, and foreign language.
This year like many schools in our area, our students are learning online. 2020 has brought many challenges to families in Mendocino County. It is not lost on us the sacrifices that our families are making to commit their time and energy into their child’s education. We are grateful to have healthy, communicative relationships with our families. When on campus, our teachers can trust their own observation and intuition to know that their lessons are meeting the needs of all students. Now, we need to rely on feedback from our families. Our teachers continue to have the pedagogical and child development perspective, but our families have all of the observation. Our heads, their hands, together we teach to the hearts of our students.
River Oak is a Member of the Alliance for Public Waldorf Education. In addition, we are a free public school that follows the California Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Waldorf education and practice is based on the work of Rudolf Steiner, an Austrian philosopher, scientist, and educator who lived at the turn of the last century (1861-1925). His educational philosophy believes children learn best with a developmentally appropriate, experimental, and academically rigorous curriculum that incorporates the arts into all areas of academics. At River Oak Charter School, art is not a separate class but is rather integrated into math, science, and reading. Our Steiner-method curriculum educates the head, heart, and hands of every child.
What does it mean to educate the head, heart, and hands?
Starting in Kindergarten, students are welcomed into a nurturing and loving environment. Children hear stories and watch puppet plays which strengthen their imagination and helps to develop good listening and concentration skills. Teachers model the behavior they wish to see in the children. As students progress through the grades, story-telling continues and they use their concentration skills to focus on pictorial and phonetic introduction of letters, which eventually leads to reading and writing. Starting in first grade, students stay with a core “main lesson” teacher for many years. During a two-hour block period each morning, there is movement, music, and verse that accompanies the educational focus. The four operations of math are also introduced in the first grade, with a progression that can include Algebra in the eighth grade. Beyond having a rigorous curriculum, we are also building the ability to think creatively in each child. Rather than filling them with information, we strive to foster the love of learning and curiosity that leads to creative thinking.
In Steiner-method education, the first seven years of a child’s life should be cultivating their imagination and social relationships. At River Oak Charter
School, we educate children’s hearts by allowing play to be the focus of a Kindergartener’s day. When children play, they develop creativity, leadership, and group-skills. These important life-skills that begin on the playground are utilized in the classroom. We find that performing service work helps broaden student perspectives on social issues and fosters within them the life-long desire to give back. Our students in the upper grades have required community service, because when students help others, they develop empathy for members in their community.
Students at River Oak enjoy specialty classes in all grades such as music (singing and playing the recorder progressing to strings and band), Spanish, handwork, painting, woodworking, gardening, drama, speech, circus arts, physical education, and wonderful curriculum-related field trips. The goal of Steiner-method education is to expose children to as many experiences to develop their interests and capabilities. When students work with their hands, they develop a deeper understanding of the material in the classroom. Using their hands creates an association or memory tied to the subject they are learning in the classroom and therefore, will likely remember what they learned for years to come.
We are accepting lottery applications until February 24, 2021. Applications available online at www.riveroakcharterschool.org The school is centrally located at 555 Leslie Street next to the Ukiah Senior Center. Call (707) 467-1855 ext. 104 for more information.