In the course of drawing, the undulating gesture of the snake emerges. The teacher then shows the children how the sound of the snake can be found in its picture image as well as the initial letter of its word. The letter 's' thereby emerges. In a similar manner other pictographic relations between the archetypal sounds of the consonants and their modern representations are developed. The work of the eurythmist who creates parallel images of language in the archetypal gestures of speech eurythmy supports and deepens the class teacher's work.
Writing is slightly more important than reading in that writing is active while reading is passive.
Historically, people had to write before they could read, and Waldorf education tries to follow the development of human consciousness as faithfully as possible. So the Waldorf reading curriculum is actually a writing curriculum, and the ability to read emerges out of the activity of writing. One of the most important experiences for a child is the realization that the markings on a page suddenly make sense and that she can now read. By having the children copy their teacher's compositions into beautifully made lesson books Waldorf education prepares children for this experience, thereby establishing a much more intimate relation with reading than otherwise possible. Taught through writing, reading starts with the imaginative presentation of letters, moves onto the copying of simple sentences and, in turn, whole stories.