The students will now experience the world and themselves through practical subjects such as blacksmithing, wool carding, spinning, and weaving. All these crafts lead to a major building project where the class works together to construct a 1:1 building at the school. The practical life in the third grade is also a good opportunity to learn more about commercial arithmetic.
It’s about giving the students a beginning understanding that they can be self-sufficient and that they can learn what they need to create their own lives. The most important thing is the ability to play in and with nature and the will to create a sense of belonging and community with other people. These motifs are also found in the Old Testament as well as in the Nordic literary canon.
The first word classes are introduced through various exercises. Based on the Old Testament, all animals and plants are named. This is how the nouns are introduced. From there it is not far to the adjectives, which describe the different qualities of things. When people have to take responsibility for their own lives, there are many things to be done. This is where the verbs come in, which make the pupils aware that they have to distance themselves from things, qualities, and actions in order to be able to name them.
In arithmetic, everything must be measured and weighed. We start with what can be measured and weighed with the body based on the old units of measurement before we introduce today’s common units of measurement.