Waldorf-inspired, nursery to grade 8
Orrery is a small school in Trumansburg for children from nursery to eighth grade. Mornings begin with a story and end with paint on the table, and each class keeps its teacher.
Three stages
The school grows with the child. What a class does in the morning changes as children do, and the people stay familiar.
A morning with a rhythm: free play, a story, a song, and a snack chopped or baked in the room
Watercolor, beeswax and wool, and a nature table that changes with the season
Time outdoors every day, in the yard, the garden and the edge of the woods
Letters arrive through stories, pictures and songs, and each child sets the pace
Kindergartners meet their first-grade class teacher in the spring. The two teachers and the family talk before the move, and it happens in the fall.
Main lesson: two hours each morning on one subject, for a few weeks at a time, drawn and written in a book the child makes
Form drawing, knitting, recorder and a second language
Fables, legends and tales from many lands, told aloud before they are written
Gardening, baking and a class play
A class teacher begins with the class in grade 1 and stays with it. Specialists teach music, language and handwork.
Main lessons in science, history and geography, with experiments done by hand
Woodworking, sewing and a long class project
Subject teachers join the class teacher, who stays close
A spoken report and a class play in eighth grade
Grade 8 ends with a project each student presents to the school. The office helps each family look at what comes next.
Sample levels.
The school year
Six gatherings carry the school through the year. Families are invited to each, and children have a part in all of them.
Late September · Families press cider, bake bread and share one long table. The older grades tell a story about courage.
Early November · Children carry the lanterns they made and sing along the village road at dusk.
Early December · Wool toys, beeswax candles and baked things made by the classes, with songs between.
February · Each class performs a play it has worked on in main lesson, for the school and its families.
Early May · Flower crowns, a maypole and songs in the yard.
Mid-June · The whole school shares a picnic and a last circle before summer.
Sample dates.
Classes
Every stage keeps the same mornings. Afternoons and after care are for families who need them.
Ages 3 to 6
Nursery and kindergarten share a mixed-age room.
Grades 1 to 5
Fridays end at 12:30 p.m. for every class.
Grades 6 to 8
Afternoons are for woodwork, sewing and the class project.
Sample programs.
A morning at Orrery
The rhythm is the same every day, so children know what comes next and have room to take their time.
The class says a verse and sings, then spends two hours on one subject. A block on fractions or on the local watershed runs for a few weeks, and the children make their own book of it.
Painting, modeling beeswax, knitting, woodwork. Handwork is part of every week, and the work is made to be used.
Snack, a run, the garden, the edge of the woods. Children go outside in all but the worst weather, in clothes that can get dirty.
Faculty
Thirteen teachers share the school. Two of them are here, and the rest are on the faculty page.
Faculty chair
Chairs the faculty, which meets every week to plan the year and talk about each child. Taught a first-grade class and now helps new teachers find their feet.
Class teacher, grade 4
Leads a fourth-grade class, teaches its main lessons and the woodwork afternoons, and writes to families once a month.
From families
“We came on a visit morning and the room smelled of bread. Our daughter did not want to leave the garden.”
“Our son's class teacher knows how he works and writes to us every month. It feels like a small village.”
“The festivals bring the whole school together. We did not expect to like the lantern walk as much as we do.”
Sample reviews.
Visit
A visit is a morning at the school. You see the rooms, watch a main lesson and talk with a teacher about what you hope for. Children are welcome to come along.