Cedarwood Waldorf School has distinguished itself by developing a uniquely contemporary expression of Waldorf education. Cedarwood is located next to historic Lair Hill Park in downtown Portland. Parents who choose Cedarwood highly value a curriculum that educates the whole child. They choose an educational approach that nurtures their children's growing physical, emotional, spiritual and academic capacities.
Cedarwood School brings Waldorf education to life and strives to instill a love for learning. Our curriculum weaves together the arts, academics and movement, with a reverence for the developing child. We nurture our children's spirituality, cultivate their ability to think imaginatively and inspire them to seek the truth.
Dedicated to teaching to meet the needs of the developing human being, we provide comprehensive curriculum that evolves with our students to inspire a true love of learning, cultivate imagination, thinking and discovery.
Cedarwood Waldorf School is a fully accredited member of the Northwest Association of Independent Schools (NWAIS), the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA) and the Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America (WECAN).
When your child leaves the warmth of your home to go to our school for the first time, you can rest assured they will be greeted with kindness, simplicity and a well-rounded experience. They will be able to fully immerse themselves in the work of childhood, which we believe is play.
Our dedicated teachers create a safe community of active and creative learning that protects the magic of childhood and nurtures the balance so necessary for a fulfilling life.
Every aspect of our beautiful classrooms is intentionally chosen and carefully prepared to meet the developmental needs of the young child. Handcrafted dolls, pieces of wood, colorful beeswax for modeling, and toys that encourage wonder, competence and curiosity.
Your child will enjoy a variety of hands-on practical activities in a social setting that will develop a sense of competence, skill and community. Sorting, counting and cutting up vegetables for soup is an example of the pre-academic skills embedded in our early childhood curriculum. Through baking bread, your child will absorb the beginnings of science and develop a love of creativity. Storytelling, puppet plays and poetry are rich in pre-literacy activities.
Our early childhood teachers have specialized training and nurture their dedication to their craft with professional development activities both locally and nationally.
In addition to our accreditation by both the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America and the Northwest Association of Independent Schools, our early childhood programs have full membership in the Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America.
Cedarwood Waldorf School covers a full spectrum of traditional academic subjects and integrates artistic activities into the academic work. This allows students to engage in learning at the emotional level. Painting, music, and story are integral parts of academic lessons so that art becomes a conduit of knowledge, not an optional add-on. Kinesthetic learning is also interwoven through movement and crafts. Cedarwood cultivates a love of, and respect for, nature and the rhythms of the seasons through seasonal celebrations and daily time outdoors.
Academic work begins in first grade, when the child is developmentally ready to begin the journey out of the realm of early childhood. The grades program is comprehensive and covers a classical curriculum in an imaginative and personal way that seeks to meet the child’s growing capacities physically, emotionally, spiritually and academically. Cedarwood’s grade school includes the full Waldorf curriculum of traditional academic subjects as well as music, eurythmy, handwork, games and two foreign languages, Spanish and Japanese.
Please visit our curriculum page.
Our School Day
The start time for grades 1-8 is 8:15 a.m. and release is 3:15 p.m., with the exception of early release Thursdays at 12:45 p.m.
The first grade is released at 1:15 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Second grade is released at 1:15 p.m. on Fridays.
We believe experiential learning motivates our students and allows them to be engaged intellectually, emotionally and socially in the learning process.
Cedarwood Waldorf School is located in downtown Portland, Ore., where our central location affords us many opportunities to explore the natural and urban world around us and relate it back to what is being studied in the classroom in each grade. In the early grades, students stay close to home and visit local pumpkin patches and urban flower farms. As the students progress, they will venture farther out into the world. Eventually, each student at Cedarwood will learn how to build an igloo on Mount Hood, stay on a ranch in Eastern Oregon, bike across all the city's bridges on a bridge tour, camp in Bend, Ore., for an astronomy unit, and sail through Puget Sound on a hundred-year-old schooner using the stars to navigate.
The culmination of their Cedarwood experiential learning ends in eighth grade with a seven-day service trip. The eighth-grade students fundraise and choose this experience in collaboration with their teachers. Students have done service work in Hawaii, Mexico, Costa Rica and Colorado.
For more information, we encourage you to visit us during one of our several open houses during the year.
Cedarwood Waldorf School3030 SW Second Ave
Portland, OR 97201
Tel: 503-245-1477
Our Staff:
Alison Fredette
Grades Admissions Director
Join Hurtt
Early Childhood Admissions Director
Jean McGowan
Development and Communications Director
