Dear Nursery Families,
It was a vibrant and lovely day today. Children worked and played together, sorted out conflicts, and found ways to be engaged and involved in a task for long periods of time. Some children played together in groups building and tumbling large structures. Others created a very small cage for pretend animals. Other children--without being in conflict to other children--set up elaborate puppet shows and play scenarios that they played and played in alone in peace. Other children helped me peel and chop vegetables for quite a long time, enjoying a sense of mastery and competence from their growing skills with peelers and knives.
Thank you for remembering so many soup vegetables.
Because the Butterfly Room will be a store at Saturday's holiday workshop, it is probably best to take everything home (as usual) on Wednesday--except for the slippers. These we will leave for St. Nicholas on a high shelf--rumor is he will visit on Sunday night.
As you may know, a donor has offered $500 to our school for each and every class that has 100% participation in our annual drive. I encourage you to donate or pledge whatever feels comfortable, no matter how small. Not only does this help bring about this generous matching gift, it also helps the school apply for other grants--foundations often like to see 100% participation from faculty, staff, board, and parents in an annual drive before they make a donation.
Thank you,
William Geoffrey Dolde
Monday, November 29, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
Holiday Workshop from Parent Council
Hello Nursery Families,
We are preparing for our Holiday Workshop festivities, and this year, several Kindergarten families are helping to organize the Snowflake Fairy Land, which will involve a simple story and craft for children. Nursery families are welcome to join us in our planning, in fact, we'd love it! Right now we are in need specifically for helpers for the day of the workshop. We need several adults in the Snowflake Land, posing as fairies (use your imagination here -- wings, glitter, white dresses, etc!) and helping children with crafts. We are also looking for another door keeper. These are about 1 hour slots, maybe a tad bit more. It's really very very fun, a simple way to be involved in the excitement of the day. You can email me (Ashley) if you'd like to help, or there is a sign up sheet above the water fountain outside William's room.
Also, we are planning on having the first trip through the Snowflake Land (10:30) specifically for the youngest children, and if your child would like you to come along, we will be allowing adults into the first round. As the day progresses, we hope to have only children through the adventure, as it will be a bit tight for adults. There will be a sign-up sheet downstairs, so if you anticipate that your child will want to go through the Snowflake land (will involve a 5-8 minute story, crawling through a tunnel to the next room, and then decorating a snowflake with glitter) it will be a good idea to sign up first thing when you arrive.
With anticipation,
Ashley Umlauf
We are preparing for our Holiday Workshop festivities, and this year, several Kindergarten families are helping to organize the Snowflake Fairy Land, which will involve a simple story and craft for children. Nursery families are welcome to join us in our planning, in fact, we'd love it! Right now we are in need specifically for helpers for the day of the workshop. We need several adults in the Snowflake Land, posing as fairies (use your imagination here -- wings, glitter, white dresses, etc!) and helping children with crafts. We are also looking for another door keeper. These are about 1 hour slots, maybe a tad bit more. It's really very very fun, a simple way to be involved in the excitement of the day. You can email me (Ashley) if you'd like to help, or there is a sign up sheet above the water fountain outside William's room.
Also, we are planning on having the first trip through the Snowflake Land (10:30) specifically for the youngest children, and if your child would like you to come along, we will be allowing adults into the first round. As the day progresses, we hope to have only children through the adventure, as it will be a bit tight for adults. There will be a sign-up sheet downstairs, so if you anticipate that your child will want to go through the Snowflake land (will involve a 5-8 minute story, crawling through a tunnel to the next room, and then decorating a snowflake with glitter) it will be a good idea to sign up first thing when you arrive.
With anticipation,
Ashley Umlauf
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Crayon Article from Parent & Child
Dear Nursery Families,
After I wrote the following piece for parent & child families, I thought it may be of interest to some of you. Some of you may have read Ingun Schneider's article previously--I tend to publish it to parent & child families every year.
There were several topics that we discussed last session that I will follow up on during the break between sessions. We discussed crayons and coloring for young children. I recommend the book Understanding Children's Drawings by Michaela Strauss, in which the author has studied pictures (scribbles) from around the world and drawn interesting conclusions about developmental similarities in children and how these are reflected in archetypal early forms--the scribble, the swirl, the dot, the cross, the closed circle. Strauss also notes that it is not necessarily good or bad that a child starts drawing at 18 months or 2 years or 3 years or 4, noting that children who start a little later tend to go through the same developmental archetypes of all children, just a little more quickly. In class, I reflected that it is fine for our youngest children to draw but we need not worry if our children show no interest in drawing. Helle Heckmann--master early childhood teacher from Denmark--reminded me fairly strongly in an evaluation that in the first 4 years, our children benefit more from gross motor experiences (the crawling, climbing, tumbling, wrestling, building, falling, and so forth) and that I would want to avoid distracting children from this by having too many fine motor activities such as stringing cranberries together. I have heard and read elsewhere of the value of allowing our youngest children to move freely and develop their gross motor skills first, and then this will help their fine motor skills when the time is right.
When I began as an assistant teacher in 1997, early childhood teachers in Waldorf Classrooms were beginning to take a hard look at the use of block crayons in early childhood--up to that point they seemed a natural gift for early childhood classrooms: they did not break; no paper to be removed; they seemed to encourage exploration and divergent artistic thinking rather than outlining and perhaps more convergent form making. Remedial teachers such as Ingun Schneider were asking kindergarten teachers to take a second look the the use of thick, block crayons. As Schneider points out in her article on supporting the development of the hand, our arms and shoulders become very tense when we hold a block crayon; they are noticeably less tense when holding a stick crayon and pencil. Remedial teachers began to wonder if the overuse of block crayons in kindergarten classes were interfering with a smooth and natural process of developing pencil grip and learning to write. I remember my lead teacher packing away all the block crayons and purchasing stick crayons to use exclusively.
Not long after this I was fortunate to take a week of classes with Ingun Schneider as part of my training to become a lead teacher, and for me the use of stick crayons for very young children (including toddlers) made a lot of sense. As with any educational system, there are different opinions and streams, and I respect colleagues who make more frequent use of block crayons. That being said, one preference I have for stick crayons (or even sturdy colored pencils) for young children is that they help dispel the illusion that in a Waldorf early childhood setting everything needs to be soft and fuzzy: there are places for lines and angles as in the crosses and scribbles young children make as they work with crayons; and there is space for lines and hard spaces and toddlers work through conflicts as we have read in recent articles on toddler conflicts.
Schneider's article provides helpful insights into how we can help our children develop; she begins with infancy and early toddlerhood. If we can allow our children opportunities to move, climb, roll, crawl, fall, and tumble, we allow them the chance to form the foundations for fine motor development in future years.
With warmth and light,
William Geoffrey Dolde
Not long after this I was fortunate to take a week of classes with Ingun Schneider as part of my training to become a lead teacher, and for me the use of stick crayons for very young children (including toddlers) made a lot of sense. As with any educational system, there are different opinions and streams, and I respect colleagues who make more frequent use of block crayons. That being said, one preference I have for stick crayons (or even sturdy colored pencils) for young children is that they help dispel the illusion that in a Waldorf early childhood setting everything needs to be soft and fuzzy: there are places for lines and angles as in the crosses and scribbles young children make as they work with crayons; and there is space for lines and hard spaces and toddlers work through conflicts as we have read in recent articles on toddler conflicts.
Schneider's article provides helpful insights into how we can help our children develop; she begins with infancy and early toddlerhood. If we can allow our children opportunities to move, climb, roll, crawl, fall, and tumble, we allow them the chance to form the foundations for fine motor development in future years.
With warmth and light,
William Geoffrey Dolde
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Thanks and Looking Ahead
Dear Families,
Thanks for attending Monday's meeting on a dark and stormy night. It seemed just right to have nursery and parent & child families together--making the group the right size for sharing and discussion. In addition to gatherings for our nursery families such as potlucks at the beach (which will rest for a bit in winter), I plan to gather us with interested parent & child families two or three times in the new year for various lecture and/or discussion topics. If any in attendance have other thoughts or ideas or topic inspirations, please share them.
You are all invited to next Wednesday's Advent Study in the Butterfly Classroom at 7pm, November 17. It will be led by other faculty members and help share a bit about the Advent season, ideas for home, and more. With apologies, I will not be present; I will be at another meeting at the time.
I look forward to seeing you tomorrow at our lantern walk. Please review a past blog post if you forget your invitation time. First, it is a lovely event, and I want you to feel welcome. It also has some unique scheduling needs to make it run smoothly, and I want to clarify or repeat 4 points.
1. Please arrive as close to your actual start time as possible. If you are early, your car's arrival may interrupt a quiet moment at the end of the previous group's lantern walk.
2. Please park in the parking lot on the right once you turn into Old Pietila Rd.
3. We will have lanterns for you. Because I will be leading the walk, I will not hand them out. Your child's name will be subtly inside the lit lantern to pick up for our walk.
4. To make best use of the outdoor space (Relles Performance Hall), we are replacing our traditional puppet show with storytelling and a tableau.
Remember that we are closed Thanksgiving Week.
We will have our nursery advent spiral on Thursday, December 16, at Relles Hall. I am setting the time at 9am (I proposed 8:45am before) to make it easier to remember. It will likely take about 30 minutes and can be a nice image for the children to take away before our three week break.
With warmth and light,
William Geoffrey Dolde
Thanks for attending Monday's meeting on a dark and stormy night. It seemed just right to have nursery and parent & child families together--making the group the right size for sharing and discussion. In addition to gatherings for our nursery families such as potlucks at the beach (which will rest for a bit in winter), I plan to gather us with interested parent & child families two or three times in the new year for various lecture and/or discussion topics. If any in attendance have other thoughts or ideas or topic inspirations, please share them.
You are all invited to next Wednesday's Advent Study in the Butterfly Classroom at 7pm, November 17. It will be led by other faculty members and help share a bit about the Advent season, ideas for home, and more. With apologies, I will not be present; I will be at another meeting at the time.
I look forward to seeing you tomorrow at our lantern walk. Please review a past blog post if you forget your invitation time. First, it is a lovely event, and I want you to feel welcome. It also has some unique scheduling needs to make it run smoothly, and I want to clarify or repeat 4 points.
1. Please arrive as close to your actual start time as possible. If you are early, your car's arrival may interrupt a quiet moment at the end of the previous group's lantern walk.
2. Please park in the parking lot on the right once you turn into Old Pietila Rd.
3. We will have lanterns for you. Because I will be leading the walk, I will not hand them out. Your child's name will be subtly inside the lit lantern to pick up for our walk.
4. To make best use of the outdoor space (Relles Performance Hall), we are replacing our traditional puppet show with storytelling and a tableau.
Remember that we are closed Thanksgiving Week.
We will have our nursery advent spiral on Thursday, December 16, at Relles Hall. I am setting the time at 9am (I proposed 8:45am before) to make it easier to remember. It will likely take about 30 minutes and can be a nice image for the children to take away before our three week break.
With warmth and light,
William Geoffrey Dolde
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Dates and vacations to be mindful of
Dear Nursery Families,
Because a number of you are new to our school, I wanted to give a preview of some calendar items. Our weekly newsletter also has an accurate calendar.
Friday, November 12 -- Lantern walk. See a previous blog post for your family's time.
November 22-24 -- No school the week of Thanksgiving.
Friday, December 10 -- Nursery Advent Spiral postponed. Because the whole school will be involved, we are delaying the set-up of the greens and changing the dates of the early childhood spirals.
Thursday, December 16, 8:45am -- Likely time of the nursery Advent Spiral. Parents are invited to bring their children back to school for this event. It will last about half an hour.
Monday, December 20 until Friday, January 7, School closed. My hope is you have adequate time to prepare for this 3 week closure.
As a school, we are trying to avoid one day closures that bump classes off rhythm.
My experience is that longer breaks create space that enables children to start anew with wonderful new imaginative play scenarios. I look forward to the joys and gifts children bring with them in the New Year.
Please note that school will be open on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. It will be a day of service (I am not sure as of yet in what ways we will honor the day in our nursery class).
Hope this helps.
Respectfully,
William Geoffrey Dolde
Because a number of you are new to our school, I wanted to give a preview of some calendar items. Our weekly newsletter also has an accurate calendar.
Friday, November 12 -- Lantern walk. See a previous blog post for your family's time.
November 22-24 -- No school the week of Thanksgiving.
Friday, December 10 -- Nursery Advent Spiral postponed. Because the whole school will be involved, we are delaying the set-up of the greens and changing the dates of the early childhood spirals.
Thursday, December 16, 8:45am -- Likely time of the nursery Advent Spiral. Parents are invited to bring their children back to school for this event. It will last about half an hour.
Monday, December 20 until Friday, January 7, School closed. My hope is you have adequate time to prepare for this 3 week closure.
As a school, we are trying to avoid one day closures that bump classes off rhythm.
My experience is that longer breaks create space that enables children to start anew with wonderful new imaginative play scenarios. I look forward to the joys and gifts children bring with them in the New Year.
Please note that school will be open on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. It will be a day of service (I am not sure as of yet in what ways we will honor the day in our nursery class).
Hope this helps.
Respectfully,
William Geoffrey Dolde
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
lantern walk invitation
LANTERN WALK
The sunlight fast is dwindling,
My little lamp needs kindling,
Its beam shines far in the darkest night,
Dear lantern, guard me with your light.
~ M. Meyerkort
Dear Early Childhood Families,
As winter approaches we will kindle the light within us all at our upcoming Lantern Walk on Friday November 12th. We will gather our courage for the dark days ahead as we walk into the night with our shining lanterns guiding us. The lanterns are a symbol of our inner light that must be kindled during the long winter months ahead.
There will be three lantern walks, one at 4:30pm, 5:30pm and 6:30pm. Please check the end of this letter to see which lantern walk your family is scheduled to attend. Siblings are welcome if they are able to support a reverent mood and stay close to their parents at all times during the festival, including the walk where they should be by the side of their parents. They can bring their own lanterns if they have one. If you have a conflict with the lantern walk you are scheduled to attend please swap with another family and please inform your teacher. We are not able to add children to the lantern walks as they are all very full.
Please arrive on time and walk quietly to the pavilion where we will have hot apple cider. Please do not arrive early or late. (This is very important). The timing of our walks is close and so we have to remain on schedule. Park in the lower parking lot just off Campbell Rd (you turn immediately right as you come into the main driveway on Old Pietila Road).
After everyone has arrived we will watch a puppet play in the pavilion. (Please dress very warmly). The teachers will then lead us on the lantern walk. After the lantern walk we will lead you back to your cars and say goodbye.
This is a quiet and reverent festival and we ask that you help support this mood by quietly guiding your children through the experience.
Blessings
Dyanne, Kim and William
4:30pm Lantern Walk
Ruari and Callum Keith
Viola Butters
Corey Lindstrom
Phoebe Holland –Thompson
River Stephens
Beatrice Zabel
Leon Kohlhass
Cooper Patty
Yarrow Batiste
Olivia Sichel
Atam Zimmerman
Walden Sagmeister
Ianna King
Sara Teevin
Sylvia Anton – Erik
Benjamin Cone
Ian Woodrow
5:30pm Lantern Walk
Josephine and Jack McAuliff
Julian and Soren Walston
Kailey and Alena Henderson
Wilder and Grace Yanz
Sonia and Gabby Toombs
Michael Cardosa
Ada Faith – Feyma
Annie Kate McDanniel
Edythe Donham
Anna and Thor Umlauff
6:30pm Lantern Walk
Crispin Dolde
Slater Canright
Forrest Erickson
Briar and Miles Morgen
Zachary Rosenberger
Sam Simons
Genny and Joey Edmonds
Ava Johnson
Amanda Kehl
Kiera Sherman
Josephine Chia
Sterling Gardiner
Natascha Graner
Hugo and Rain Costello
Sierra and Nicholas Muller
The sunlight fast is dwindling,
My little lamp needs kindling,
Its beam shines far in the darkest night,
Dear lantern, guard me with your light.
~ M. Meyerkort
Dear Early Childhood Families,
As winter approaches we will kindle the light within us all at our upcoming Lantern Walk on Friday November 12th. We will gather our courage for the dark days ahead as we walk into the night with our shining lanterns guiding us. The lanterns are a symbol of our inner light that must be kindled during the long winter months ahead.
There will be three lantern walks, one at 4:30pm, 5:30pm and 6:30pm. Please check the end of this letter to see which lantern walk your family is scheduled to attend. Siblings are welcome if they are able to support a reverent mood and stay close to their parents at all times during the festival, including the walk where they should be by the side of their parents. They can bring their own lanterns if they have one. If you have a conflict with the lantern walk you are scheduled to attend please swap with another family and please inform your teacher. We are not able to add children to the lantern walks as they are all very full.
Please arrive on time and walk quietly to the pavilion where we will have hot apple cider. Please do not arrive early or late. (This is very important). The timing of our walks is close and so we have to remain on schedule. Park in the lower parking lot just off Campbell Rd (you turn immediately right as you come into the main driveway on Old Pietila Road).
After everyone has arrived we will watch a puppet play in the pavilion. (Please dress very warmly). The teachers will then lead us on the lantern walk. After the lantern walk we will lead you back to your cars and say goodbye.
This is a quiet and reverent festival and we ask that you help support this mood by quietly guiding your children through the experience.
Blessings
Dyanne, Kim and William
4:30pm Lantern Walk
Ruari and Callum Keith
Viola Butters
Corey Lindstrom
Phoebe Holland –Thompson
River Stephens
Beatrice Zabel
Leon Kohlhass
Cooper Patty
Yarrow Batiste
Olivia Sichel
Atam Zimmerman
Walden Sagmeister
Ianna King
Sara Teevin
Sylvia Anton – Erik
Benjamin Cone
Ian Woodrow
5:30pm Lantern Walk
Josephine and Jack McAuliff
Julian and Soren Walston
Kailey and Alena Henderson
Wilder and Grace Yanz
Sonia and Gabby Toombs
Michael Cardosa
Ada Faith – Feyma
Annie Kate McDanniel
Edythe Donham
Anna and Thor Umlauff
6:30pm Lantern Walk
Crispin Dolde
Slater Canright
Forrest Erickson
Briar and Miles Morgen
Zachary Rosenberger
Sam Simons
Genny and Joey Edmonds
Ava Johnson
Amanda Kehl
Kiera Sherman
Josephine Chia
Sterling Gardiner
Natascha Graner
Hugo and Rain Costello
Sierra and Nicholas Muller
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