Details for Monday

Synopsis of the details that follow:

1) At 8:30, the class will go to the teepee. Don't rush. Plan to walk your child to the teepee if you arrive after 8:30 (you are not late).
2) Kindergartens are dismissing earlier. If the 12:20 nursery dismissal proves too late, I will move it a few minutes earlier.
3) On Wednesdays, we will go at 11:45am to the teepee with the 7th and 8th graders. We will return at 12:20pm. Plan on meeting your child outside on Wednesdays. I/we will give support to families also picking up kindergarten children at 12:25.
4) Please return to the habit of bringing crunchy fruits and vegetables such as apples and carrots. Please avoid mushy or juicy fruits. We can use more soup vegetables of all sorts, too.
5) Inside, I am moving the puppet show earlier and putting more form (assigned seats; predictable order of dismissal from the story circle). While this may upset some at first, it will relieve stress in the long term.

Drop-Off -- Going to the Teepee earlier

Our grounds are beautiful. Our nursery children can delight themselves picking berries, swinging, digging, exploring. We have hopes of seeing the 2nd story of the play house made safe and ready for our use.

The space would be even more ideal for young children beginning school if it had a clearer boundary. While the rustic fence is lovely, it is permeable; it is easy for children to see parents having a conversation by the bulletin board (as parents should be able to do). When I reflect upon other Waldorf nurseries, I see that many have great success with outdoor starts when there is a lovely, clear, sturdy gate. The parent hugs and/or kisses her or his child and says farewell at the gate. The gate and fence provide more clarity about when and where school starts.

While having a parent stay longer can sometimes help a child through tearful separations, it can also increase the tension for other children. Some mornings I observed this; the pressure seemed to mount as we got ready to walk to the teepee. With the change in assistants and growing class, I want to provide more clarity about when school begins--this may be hard for some children, but I feel this will be best for the group as a whole.

I like the way our kindergartens have a definite good-bye as part of their circle, and I felt and still feel that it doesn't work for us to join that circle (too big) or for us to try to do the exact same thing (because so many parents would have to be in 2 places at once). I mentioned to some parents that I considered starting our day at the teepee in the summer--it is more enclosed, can hold the children more, there is a fallen branch to climb over that makes an entrance--but I backed away from this idea because the logistics seemed too confusing for parents with multiple children.

After much consideration, I think it will be much easier for most families if we start at the teepee. Even though you may have to walk your child farther, the clarity of when school starts will--in not too long a time--make the morning farewell more graceful and joyful. What follows are the nuts and bolts:

Earlybirds (8:15 to 8:30): You may still drop off your child early at the berry patch playground. I offer this as a courtesy. School has not officially started yet.

8:30 -- bells for the whole school. Nursery children who are present and ready will here "All aboard who are coming aboard" and mount our ship (a rope with knots I will be holding). We will, without delay, head on our trail to the teepee.

We will be at the teepee until at least 9:10am. Do not feel you need to rush to school to be there by 8:30.

If your child resists boarding the ship at first, that is fine. Allow us to travel ahead of you. Then walk your child to the teepee and say farewell at the fallen branch (this location will become obvious after the first day).

For parents with kindergarten children, I can see 3 options, any of which are viable.

A) Your child will be so excited to board the ship, you will say a quick good-bye at 8:30.
B) You and your kindergarten child might walk your nursery child behind the ship, say good-bye at the fallen branch, and return in time for the 8:35am kindergarten circle.
C) You keep your nursery child with you for the 8:35am kindergarten circle and walk your nursery child to the teepee "gate" (the fallen branch) after saying farewell to your kindergarten child.

For parents with a child who looks forward to swinging first thing, I see the following as a good plan:

Don't try to rush to get to school to get to a swing "first" or before the ship leaves at 8:30. Come at a time that works for you. Have a plan such as, "I'll push you on a swing while we sing 2 songs, then I'll walk you to the teepee and say goodbye at the fallen branch." I notice that when many children want to swing at the morning separation, tension can mount as children wait for a swing. I am trying to free children and parents from this pattern.

At the teepee, we will start a long-term project of blazing a new trail and clearing a path bit by bit. The 7th and 8th graders will help us with this project, beginning on Wednesday.

When we return to the berry patch playground at 9:10 or 9:20 or so (as we build a new trail, we will lengthen our walk; Helle, who has observed many children, feels our nursery children would benefit from a much longer walk. I plan to build up slowly), we will have another ongoing project. Groups of children will go with teacher or assistant to fill a wheelbarrow or tarp with woodchips to help fill in under the kindergarten swings and tire swing. I want this to be a meaningful and lengthy project, so please resist helping us to make it easier. It will be great if it lasts us for months.

Dismissal

The kindergartens plan to dismiss at 12:25pm, a bit earlier than before the New Year. I will strive to dismiss at or right before 12:20pm as I have been (I think I've been pretty true to this timing). If this proves too late (that is, the hall is too crowded with kindergarten parents), I may move dismissal up to at or just before 12:15pm. I will let you know.

On Wednesdays, when the 7th & 8th graders visit at 11:45, they will help our nursery children get dressed in outdoor clothes, and we will go to the teepee together. The middle school students will help us clear a trail, build forts, find ways to challenge us with climbing, and more. I think it will be nice to end the nursery week at the teepee--some of our children may look forward to returning to the teepee first thing Monday morning to see the forts or work they did with the middle school students. We will return at 12:20pm from the outside. For some of you, it may be easier to check your child's mailbox, meet us outside, and stay outside with your child. I will be willing to stay outside a little past 12:25 with your children if this makes it easier for you to pick up your kindergarten child (I do have afternoon classes to teach, so I ask that you strive to be prompt). We may have to adjust Wednesday dismissal to make it work for parents with children in kindergarten and nursery.

Crunchy snacks like carrots, celery, and apples, please.

Our fruit/vegetable snack policy has been to ask for crunchier items easier to transport and eat while in the woods. The kindergarten teachers and I tend to slide into allowing juicier or mushier items like bananas or oranges, but my conversation with Helle and my reflection reminds me of the important balance some crunchier foods that require work provide. I am convinced of the merit of my warm snacks of rice, bread, and soup, but they are all somewhat mushy.

I also intend to start serving apples or carrots outside in the woods, especially as we go for longer walks. While I love oranges, they can feel very cold outside in winter time (maybe I'll beg for oranges in spring). Bananas can be hard for a teacher to transport (as cool as banana bunkers are, I'd prefer not to rely on them). If a a banana or orange is the only item that makes it easy for your child to come to school, please bring it--I may not necessarily serve it that day or week (or may trade it for soup vegetables, or mix it into our birthday ginger muffins).

Helle also encouraged me to bring more form to snack times (her expectations for table manners for 2 and 3 year olds were quite high; while I will not be unreasonable, it is good to have high expectations), and I want to add beauty and form to the apple or carrot snack. While in the woods, I plan to take a knife and responsibly carve an apple or carrot into even pieces (7 pieces if there are 7 children waiting, for example) and share them out only after they are all ready. This will also be an early, unspoken lesson in fractions (which students will get to in a more explicit way in 4th grade). In Waldorf early childhood settings, we try to set up these teachable moments, but we allow them to be experiences, and we strive to avoid disrupting them with explanations and talking (it is of course great if a 4th grade teacher knows what went on in the nursery and can tell a story about years ago when a teacher cut an apple into 7 or 9 or 12 parts).

Story earlier in the day

With the transitions, it will help our children, I believe, to have more clarity when we come inside at 9:30, 10, 10:30 (we will stay outside the right amount of time). When children come inside, we will all put away our coats. Children will go to assigned seats around a circle for a puppet show. This will avoid some of the competition for baby dolls or toys that might just get worse and worse unless I make a change. After the puppet show or story, we will say our blessing, bless children not present, and then I will dismiss children one by one in a logical, rotating order. This may be very frustrating for some children in the short term (especially if they have to wait and don't get the doll or toy they were hoping for) but should without too much delay greatly increase clarity and relieve stress (I may not get my favorite doll today, but in 3 days I know I get up from the circle first).

We will have some of our favorite snow fingerplays and songs at the snack/rest table at about 12:10 or so just before dismissal. Again, these seats are assigned, so this will relieve stress and competition (who gets to sit next to an assistant, and soforth).

Some children will also have new snack seats, and you may hear laments because she or he was moved (or not moved). This made sense with a new assistant and new children.

All these increases in form are meant to increase the freedom of the children in the play; the children no longer have to worry about certain things (who to sit next to), so they are more free to use those forces in imaginative play.

Thanks for reading,

William Dolde