To make matters clearer for families with more than one child in the school, the early childhood conference sign-up sheet is upstairs in the lobby. This enables parents to coordinate multiple conferences. It is also different from the form in past years and may have caused some confusion. I apologize if it has done so.
You are welcome to sign up for a half hour conference for next Tuesday and Wednesday. You are welcome to wait until the April conferences. You are welcome to try to set up a conference for some other time. Do know that beginning after Thanksgiving I will be working with kindergarten and first grade children in after care every day (the early childhood faculty is supporting the school's budget by taking on extra responsibilities) and may have very limited availability for additional meetings during those those months.
If you choose to have a conference next week, teachers ask that you sign up by Tuesday afternoon. We have a conference preparation form we want to give you on Wednesday to be returned to us by Friday.
We have a meeting with the kindergarten families this Tuesday from 5 to 8pm in Thomas Berry Hall at the Whidbey Institute. Please ask if you need directions (continue down Old Pietila road rather than turning left for the school). If you need assistance with child care, please let me or Belinda know; it is possible a kindergarten family in your neighborhood could help out, and I will have the kindergarten class coordinators check.
Beginning with the Lantern Walk, many of the Autumn and Winter festivals of light provide great nourishment to children and their families during the darkness of winter. In Waldorf schools, Advent is presented as a time of preparation and waiting for light in the darkness. Many stories, poems, and display depict the four weeks of Advent in this way: first the stones and crystals are aware; next the plants; third the animals; finally the people become aware of the coming of the light. In my effort to convey the essence of festival life with simplicity to young children, I find the actual lighting of the candles and the singing of "Advent, advent, a candle burns" (some of your children will probably sing this to you) with a simple poem about stones, plants, animals, or people to convey the story of light in darkness. To keep with my goal of allowing time for everything and avoiding all sense of rush, I like to start my advent "wreathe" (no greenery yet) with sea shells four weeks before the winter break. This year this means this week. Even as your children and I string cranberries to decorate for Thanksgiving and watch a puppet show about sharing a pumpkin, we will start lighting an Advent candle and singing an Advent song at snack time (in a similar way, I light a Menorah for the last 8 nursery school days before the winter break to give the full of experience of candles building school day by school day). I realize that my early celebration of Advent could make me seem guilty of joining the rush of marketers trying to extend the Christmas shopping season, but my intention is different and therefore, I hope, forgivable. Children seem to enjoy the time I allow for ample repetition.
With warmth and light,
William Dolde
No comments:
Post a Comment