Soup Homework

Dear Nursery Families,

We normally chop the soup vegetables you bring on Monday. Because of the holiday, I have procured a generous quantity of already chopped vegetables, and I will inspire my sons to cut up some more before school tomorrow.

This is to say the soup will probably be sufficient no matter how much else comes in.

If, however, you are inspired to bring your soup vegetables tomorrow, and you find yourself with a few extra minutes in the morning at home, it would be wonderful if you or you and your child could chop some up, and you can put the vegetables right into the simmering pot when you drop off your child.

Children and Carrie or I can also chop a few more vegetables while we are on the playground, so feel free to bring in whole vegetables as well.

We will also celebrate 2 birthdays this week, and children will be able to help me set up a shade garden in honor of Phoebe.

Looking forward to seeing you and your children tomorrow,

William


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Location:Maxwelton Rd,Clinton,United States

Reflections for Parents in a Hurry

Dear Families,

I sent along to many of you cartoons that summarize the discussions from Faber and Mazlish's book Siblings Without Rivalry. If you have not received these and would like a copy, please contact me (wdolde at gmail.com), and I will be glad to send along a batch. This was in response to a parent's request for help when time is short. Below a few other resources that have helped parents in a pinch over the years.

First, a caveat I've uttered before. Although I find Siblings Without Rivalry a really helpful book, I wish the name were slightly less emphatic. I wish the name were "Siblings With Just Enough Rivalry to Help them in Their Development" (this would probably be harder to market). My understanding from reading books such as Your Child's Self-Esteem by Dorothy Corkille Briggs and the work of Kim Payne is that children need a bit of jealousy, conflict, and rivalry to develop (Kim Payne warns us to avoid a harmony addiction). Briggs tells us that when there is too much jealousy, children then tend to shut down, and development stops. Kim Payne calls this the moment at which conflict becomes stuck and an adult needs to bring presence to the situation (not always doing something; sometimes Payne tells us, "Don't just do something! Stand there!" Sometimes children need our nonjudgmental presence as witnesses). I think Faber and Mazlish would agree, of course: I just want to make sure none of us are deluded into steering our family ship to a nonexistent (and ultimately unhealthy) cove devoid of any conflict or rivalry.

That said, I find rereading Siblings Without Rivalry or How to Talk So Kids WIll Listen or How to Talk so Kids Will Learn refreshing. By dipping into their cartoons that summarize the chapters, I am able to wake up and bring presence to situations that I had fallen asleep to, whether with my sons or in the classroom: "Oh yes, that's where I could have been trying a different way."

If the excerpts from Siblings Without Rivalry brought help, you may enjoy How to Talk so Kids Will Listen--which has more examples of parent and child interactions. Here's a link to one preview of this book http://www.amazon.com/How-Talk-Kids-Will-Listen/dp/0380811960

You should be able to find it at libraries as well. If you are short on time, skip to the cartoons at the end of each chapter--with effectiveness they encapsulate the kernel of each chapter's argument.

Our WIWS library houses a number of cds of lectures by Kim Payne. Over the years, a few parents have found The Compassionate Response lecture to be water in the desert when they found themselves at a breaking point. If you do not want to wait for the library to open again, you can order the CD directly from Kim Payne's web-site: http://www.thechildtoday.com/Catalog/

Katrina Kenison's Mitten Strings For God: Reflections for Mothers in a Hurry provides support and reflections on a variety of topics that translate what one thoughtful mother learned at a Waldorf school into ways of being at home. This should be available at libraries. Here's a taste of the book from Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Mitten-Strings-God-Reflections-Mothers/dp/0446676934.


IF YOU HAVE SLIGHTLY MORE TIME

I find Eckhart Tolle's books easy to read, transformative, and helpful to review frequently. His guidance toward presence and awareness helps me greatly as a teacher and parent. I would recommend either Power of Now or A New Earth. His web site contains a great deal of content: www.eckharttolle.com.

IF YOU HAVE MORE TIME

Polly Berrien Berends' Whole Child/Whole Parent travels through world religions and literature to reflect upon what it means to be a parent, what we are to learn in this process. Many of her conclusions work in harmony with Tolle's.

Dorothy Corkille Briggs Your Child's Self-Esteem was one of the few books Magda Gerber recommended. It seems to me that Briggs, like Faber and Mazlish, like Goleman and Gottman (Emotional Intelligence), like Louise Gurney, continues a stream of reflections about child development that are in harmony with Haim Ginott's teachings at Columbia's Teacher College and his books such as Teacher and Child.

You can start immersing yourself in the works of Rudolf Steiner in audio format for free by visiting www.rudolfsteineraudio.com. You might start with Anthroposophy in Everyday Life or the Education of the Child. Steiner was often lecturing to people familiar with his descriptions of the material and spiritual worlds, so a first listen or read might feel a bit much (after repeated reads, I can hold on to the cohesion of his images).


I am aware of the irony that this note is a bit long for help in a hurry. I look forward to seeing you at our summer festival Friday.

With Warmth and Light,

William Geoffrey Dolde

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Location:Maxwelton Rd,Clinton,United States

Summer Festival in America, Friday, June 3

Dear Nursery and Parent & Child Families Past, Present, and Future, and Friends,

Please see the invitation below. I am excited that we are expanding our WIWS family.

I will walk onto the 11am ferry with nursery and parent & child families from Whidbey Island.


Come Join Us for Some Summer Fun!!!

June 3rd -- 11:30am - 1:00pm
Lighthouse Park in Mukilteo

Picnic, Strawberry Shortcakes, Music, Dancing, Singing, Bon Fires

Free and open to the public, please RSVP: development@whidbey.com


Mukilteo Early Childhood Center will be hosting our end of the year Summer Festival on June 3rd at 11:30am for children 6 years old and younger and their families. Bring a picnic lunch for your family and we will have strawberry shortcakes to share. We will be meeting families coming from Whidbey Island Waldorf School at 11:20am at the Mukilteo ferry terminal and processing to Lighthouse Park with the violin music of WIWS Parent/ Child teacher, William Dolde. Once we are there, we will gather for some dancing and sing a song welcoming summer. Then, we will enjoy our picnic lunches, strawberry shortcakes, and bon fires.

Please RSVP so we will be sure to have enough strawberry shortcakes for all to enjoy. For RSVP or for more information, please contact: development@whidbey.com

I hope to see you there!!!

Warmly,
Vanessa

Vanessa Kohlhaas
Whidbey Island Waldorf School (WIWS)
Mukilteo Early Childhood Center (MECC)
Development Director

Whidbey Island Waldorf School is excited to be establishing a statellite early childhood program at the new Rosehill Community Center. If you want more information or are interested in supporting this project: Please contact Vanessa at 360-221-2270 or enrollment@whidbey.com






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Strawberries for June 8

Dear Nursery Families,

Our contribution to the strawberry shortcake party on Wednesday, June 8, will be that several families are needed to purchase and cut up organic strawberries. Families willing can talk to Lucy Yanz about this, and she will be keeping track of the amount of strawberries needed.

Thanks!
William and Lucy



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3 Bears, Birthdays, and Gatherings

Dear Nursery Families,

While it has been a pleasure to dance about the Maypole with the Butterfly Children for the past 4 weeks, I want to share with them my lap puppet show of Goldilocks and the 3 Bears for our final 8 classes (3 of these will be birthday celebrations; and one will be our final day of school). This story has often seemed just right for nursery children as in their play and social interactions the find points of balance in an active and imaginative life full of flux.

We will celebrate 3 birthdays in our final 2 weeks of school (summer birthdays for children who joined us after the year was underway). We will also wish Lynne a "bon voyage" as she departs to visit her daughter after this week. Children will get to experience her warm hello in the fall (whether in her class or as we meet in the hallways and playgrounds).

The following information about our last day of school, Wednesday, June 8, comes from our kindergarten newsletter.

The last day of all early childhood class is on Wednesday, June 8. Please join the Butterfly, Sunflower and Golden Forest classes for our last day celebration at 11:30. We will be serving strawberries and shortcake with mint water. If you are not able to come at 11:30, please arrange for your child to be connected with another parent who will be there, and let your child's teacher know of your arrangement. (Also, we would like to hear from all families enrolled in extended care whether or not you will be using the extended care on Wednesday June 8. Please let Cordula know your plans.)

The three classes will be making merry that morning (June 8) before 11:30 and would like to have a slew of fresh flowers for head wreaths and other adornments. Please bring a bouquet of fresh flowers on Monday or Tuesday of that week (June 6 and 7). We will store them in buckets of water until Wednesday morning.

Beginning after Memorial Day, we will have a large basket labeled "lost and found" in the hallway. Please go through your child's cubby and clean out any unnecessary items. Please put anything that doesn't belong to you in the basket. Also, periodically go through the basket to see if you recognize anything.

We are always taking donations for our extra clothes bins. Let us know if you have any such items.

On Friday, June 10th, 1:00 we will need a few hearty volunteers to help us move the furniture out of our rooms and into the perfectly stacked bathrooms in preparation for the carpet cleaners.


Finally, from me, William, expect an update about our nursery and parent & child summer on Friday, June 3 soon (it will likely take place at 11am in an exciting new location).

With warmth and light,

William Geoffrey Dolde

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Clarifying Drop-in Care

Dear Families,

This week you received a note from WIWS administration about a new drop-in option for before school care (7:30 to 8:30am) and extended day care from 3pm to 5:30pm. If you plan to avail yourself of these options, please attend to the communication expectations in the original email.

Here I wanted to clarify that a drop-in does not exist for nursery or kindergarten children from 12:30 to 3pm. The 12:30pm to 3pm program is full and unable to accommodate any new students. Even were there space, the nature of the 12:30 to 3 program--a nap in a classroom with an unfamiliar teacher and unfamiliar children--is not one we would recommend on a casual basis. It is a program that seeks to serve well children who need it on a regular and consistent basis.

I apologize for any confusion created by the school's original email. With the exception of our two Butterfly children who already stay at school for lunch and nap, the only drop-in program available for current nursery children is the before care from 7:30 to 8:30am. Here again you must make contact with Lucy Yanz to arrange care.

Thanks for your attention,

William


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Do you want 5 days next year?

Dear Families,

I have had two clarifying conversations with families, and want to pass along what we discussed for all current and potential students.

If you have enrolled your child for 5 days next year, do not worry. We will not force you to switch your child's enrollment to 4 days for next year.

Conversely, if your child is enrolled for 5 days next year and you would like to entertain the idea of having your child remain in the 4 day Butterfly Classroom next year, please let me know. We can have administration alter your child's contract.

Finally, if you have registered your child for 4 days but think there may be a compelling reason that you would seek 5 days of school before next school year is out (you are in a job search, for example), please let me know. That would be a compelling reason to place your child in the Sunflower or Golden Forest Room next year.

Below I am going to summarize options for next year in Early Childhood by age. They are not rigid rules, but guidelines. As you can see, there are multiple options.


Parent & Child classes; Friday at 9, Friday at 11:30; children birth to 4

Monday to Thursday early childhood; children 2 and half to children turning 5 after June 1 (children aged 3 and half to young 4 could be in any of 3 classes)

Monday to Friday kindergarten; children 3 and a half to six (rising first graders are expected to attend kindergarten 5 days a week).

As always, please call or write with questions.

Warmly,

William Geoffrey Dolde


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4 Day Nursery

Dear Current and Prospective Nursery Families,


The faculty and board at WIWS have approved a change to the nursery program.  Beginning with the 2011-2012 school year, the Butterfly Nursery will now be a 4 day, Monday to Thursday class.  All students in the Butterfly nursery will receive 4 day contracts and attend 4 days a week.


What does this change mean?  It is likely that a number of current nursery students will remain in the Butterfly classroom next year.  I will adjust the curriculum to meet the children where they are.  For many of my previous 8 years of teaching nursery children, I have had classes that combined older 2 year olds, 3 year olds, and young 4 year olds, and I feel confident in my ability to create a program that nourishes children of diverse ages.


The Butterfly Nursery will continue to welcome children as young as 2 and a half.  We will also continue to welcome children who turn 4 after June 1 of the school year (that is, children with birthdays after June 1, 2007, for the 2011-2012 school year).  We have had such a robust enrollment of 2 and 3 year olds in the past 2 years that we have had to place young 4 year olds in the Sunflower or Golden Forest classrooms to make space for 2 year olds.  While we may still have a healthy interest from families of 2 year olds, our kindergartens are almost full for next school year, and we want to do our best make sure we have space for new families to our school with 5 and 6 year olds.  Because the mix of early childhood families as a whole changes from year to year, we adjust our classes to best serve the community of students and family as a whole.


When we finalize our class lists in early August, we will take into consideration my conversations with current nursery families about wishes for next year.  As with every year, we try to ensure that children have peers.  We avoid placing, for example, one young 4 year old in a classroom with all 6 year olds--or a young 4 year old in a class of all young 3 year olds.  We also take into consideration your family's history with our school teacher--that is, if your child has older siblings who have been with Kim or Dyanne for before, it is more likely your child will be in that class.  Please contact me with concerns or questions as soon as possible.


Prospective and current nursery families (indeed, all early childhood families) should know that enrollment for all early childhood classes is robust.  It  is likely that all 3 early childhood classes could be full with a wait list at some point earlier or later in the summer.  Please return contracts or applications to reserve your child's spot.


I will continue to offer 2 parent & child classes next year on Fridays.  In addition to a 9 to 11am class, I will also offer an 11:30am to 1:30pm class.  In Baltimore this 2nd class time served a number of families well:  infants and young toddlers who still take a morning nap; children of any age who take a slightly later afternoon nap; slightly older children who fare better with a smaller and younger group.



With warmth of light,


William Geoffrey Dolde

Well-used cake recipe

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Bread recipe

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From Butterfly.

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Soup recipe

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Inclusive Parties

Dear Families,

It has been heartwarming to observe a play scenario that has emerged inside the past two days. A child has been inviting all children in the class to a party and making it clear that every child is invited (not necessarily every child drifts over, but most do). As with much social and imaginative play, much of the joy and work is in planning. There is great fluidity, and children add ideas, and the process keeps flowing along and changing. FIrst on Monday the party was going to be for thieves, and everyone could be a thief, and then this quickly shifted into a birthday party, and then metamorphosed into a pretend school party in which some students were in 2nd grade and others were in 1st grade (without a lot of tension). Clean-up was very easy that day because I asked the 2nd and 1st graders to help, and it seemed natural to our children to pitch in like these venerable and seasoned students of their imagination.

Remember that you are all invited--siblings, too, of course--to join me and parent & child families at Maxwelton Beach this Friday from 5 to 7pm for a potluck.

With warmth and light,

William Geoffrey Dolde

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End of rain pants?

Dear Families,

As parents who have been in the school a number of years know, after May 1 students need only wear rain gear on an as needed basis. It has happened that we've had pretty wet and rainy Mays, so "as needed" may end up being every school day. If, however, we receive some dry weather, we can start wearing fewer layers.

Here are ways to help you make a decision. The Sunflower kindergarten posts their rain gear decision outside their classroom door. It would be good to follow this decision, especially for families with siblings in that classroom.

I will likely wear my snow pants through the end of the year. Inevitably I end up sitting on the ground in the forest with a child in my lap, and my outdoor pants preserve my indoor ones.

We also have sand and water and muck available to play with; some children may have more freedom in their play if they are not so worried about keeping indoor clothes clean and dry--a reason to keep on with rain gear most days.

Children tend not to need sun hats in our class--we are in the woods for an hour, and while some sun comes to our playground, we are not there for such a long time.

Finally, if you dress your child and the weather warms up, Lynne and I let children take off layers once we come to the playground; it is ideal to have a few light layers so it is easy to adjust. A t-shirt with a heavy winter coat might create only too hot or too cold options.

Hope this helps. Thanks as always for taking your child's clothes home on Wednesday. This really helps to create a welcoming feeling for parent & child families.

With aspirations towards warmth and dryness (but not so quickly that we have to dispense with our bonfires),

William Geoffrey Dolde

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fire fighters and group glee and work

Dear Nursery Families,

I wrote a number of you individually about the evolving cooperative play scenarios coming to life in the Butterfly classroom and outdoors. On Wednesday again a theme of fire fighters working together to create big structures to burn down and then rescuing the structures was an important theme. Girls and boys both worked on this project for a long time, and children put their imaginative muscles to good use in devising costumes to wear for their roles--there were a number of baskets improvised as helmets.

Wednesday also provided a lot of opportunities for physical exertion and purposeful work. Lynne has been taking larger and larger groups of children (sometimes the entire class) on longer and longer walks exploring the woods near our bonfire. At our playground, children helped Lynne locate the big wheelbarrow (the search was as much fun as the discovery) and then helped her move woodchips. I spotted children (by refraining from intervening unless really necessary) as they climbed and jumped from a play structure; a number seemed content with their increasing confidence and competence.

Inside I noticed how merry the children were--a bit bouncy, a bit noisy. I also noticed that the harmony of their creative play lives on even in the noisier moments. Lynne and I work hard to help children read cues, to notice the other. Does this child seek this sort of game right now? Or something quieter? Is this child feeling left out when you say only girls or only boys allowed? While we try to do this with as few words or explanations or confusions as possible, we do foster the development of these important social skills. I found nothing threatening in some of the rowdier moments of Wednesday--I was scanning the room to make sure the mood worked for all children--and the children seemed to be able to make a transition to quieter parts of the morning with grace. The classroom had a lively and healthy sense of breathing.

When I was a new teacher, I remember reading about the phenomenon of group glee, a moment in which an entire class enters an ecstasy of laughter or delight. The researcher posited that this was extremely healthy for children and almost impossible for a teacher to deal with (especially if one has an agenda of academic or even artistic or craft projects to force along). By working to simplify and refine the nursery morning to minimize a sense of haste or hurry, we perhaps create the possibility for children to flow in a natural way from activity to rest. Or perhaps I was lucky. Lynne and I are ever ready to intervene or, as Kim Payne advises aware teachers and parents, "Don't just do something! Stand there!"

With warmth and light,

William Geoffrey Dolde

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Flow

Dear Nursery Families,

As winter rolls into spring, the play of children has blossomed and grown in diverse and delightful directions. I've hesitated to write about how well I perceive things seem to be going in class because we have had one or two children consistently absent over the past 2 months, and I did not want to inadvertently suggest that a child or two are not part of the synergy of the group. Having observed children in class and elsewhere, I can now say with assurance that I have seen all the children--whether they are coming to class frequently or not--find new ways of playing and interacting with one another that has been very heartening.

With boys and girls, I have observed two parallel and apparently but not necessarily contradictory trends in the past months. At times, groups of 4 or 5 boys have been engaged in a common project--such as a construction project on the playground involving sand and mud and muck and a wheelbarrow that--la bit ike the rock os Sysiphus--tips over the moment it is filled with too much sand and much. And like an indefatigable hero from Greek myth (minus the sense of doom), children pick up the wheelbarrow and start their work anew. Among the girls, tensions about swings have abated in general, and I have observed the increasing strength and confidence as children propel themselves on the swing or push others on the tire swing. In the woods, it is not infrequent that girls will sally forth with or without Lynne to explore the trails near our bonfire (I created the trails to allow children to explore while still being near me and Lynne for safety).

I wrote a while back about one transformation in indoor play. Children who had been ostensibly afraid of a dramatic play theme such as a dragon or lion now seemed to be the ones inviting those ideas into the classroom--this was what they needed to work on. While this still occurs from time to time, I have also noticed an increased number of physical games that do not involve the idea of aggression. Mutual tumbles or wrestling initiated by girls or boys seem to bring delight to both children; last week I watched a boy and girl roll and tumble down the hill at our clearing in the woods with great delight. They'd climb, hug, roll down the hill, and laugh. A few times their tumbles were bigger than they expected, but they recovered quickly and continued their game. In the classroom, their have been some voluntary pile-ons, much like in Rugby and Football. These Lynne and I keep an eye on to make sure that every child is enjoying the game. Lots of dads and grandfathers and stepfathers have been joining the imaginative play scenarios involving moms and babies in the classroom; children have set up doctor's offices to make sure babies or moms or dads are well cared for.

While conflicts do emerge and children sometimes seem capable of getting stuck in a habit of play (e.g., the way to play is to take something away from another), I witness increasing flexibility and ability to enter the flow and hum of the classroom. It can be lively; it can be noisy; it is certainly wonderful.

With warmth and light,

William Geoffrey Dolde

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May 13 Beach Gathering

Dear Nursery and Parent & Child Families,

We will have another informal potluck at Maxwelton Beach on Friday, May 13, from 5pm to 7pm. I will bring my guitar and copies of Rise Up Singing; if a sing-along seems right, we will make it happen.

Warmly,

William Dolde

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