A Christmas Story

Dear Kindergarten Families,

I have a tradition--sometimes honored--of creating a Christmas story every year.  If you wish to read it, follow this link to my blog

http://cottageglen.blogspot.com

May light and joy visit you.

With appreciation,

William

Thanks for anonymous gifts

Dear Families,

Thank you for the physical gifts you have given me, and for the gift of trust and well being you give to me all year long. 

Thanks to the anonymous donor of home-made apple juice, pears, and pickles/relish.

With appreciation,

William

Just Right Timing Friday, Emergent Advent Festivals

JUST RIGHT FRIDAY TIMING -- I love the Advent Spiral.  It is a pleasure to watch the diverse ways in which children walk to the central candle and spread the central light out to wide world spaces.

As I reflect upon what works well to create the vessel for this beautiful creation, it occurs to me that this year in particular it will help if you are neither early nor late.  The Butterfly nursery families will be walking at 4:30.  It would be beyond great if almost no cars pulled into the drive (and hence near Huckleberry Hall) until at least 4:55.  So if you are one who likes to be early, I would appreciate very much if you can find something fun to do in your car while parked at the corner of Cultus Bay and Campbell, or in the private road across the street from Old Pietila, or drag racing around Deer Lake, or (prizes for the best story of what you did).

We also have dancers and others who have other events to attend Friday evening after our Spiral, so I will want to commence our Golden Forest Advent Spiral really close to 5pm as well.  So please accept this spiritual challenge of coming neither early nor late, and being really relaxed about it as well.

EMERGENT ADVENT FESTIVALS  At some point in my path, I heard or pretended I heard someone say that a simple way of bringing peace and light into the season can be incredibly opening and effective.  I heard (or pretended I heard) that one wise kindergarten teacher brought the mood of Advent to her children by turning her rocking chair to look out the window and rocking and waiting expectantly.  I have threatened to have Dyanne sit in the lobby in a rocking chair as our school's Advent Festival for the grades (and will perhaps do that once I am tenured and have a long title in front of my name--The Living Green Endowed Early Childhood Teacher Emeritus William Dolde, or something like that).

It occurs to me that our consistent long walks on Mondays and Tuesdays provide another simple and powerful access point to the world wisdom of Advent.  It was a delight to feel a couple hours of warmth as we walked.  When we heard a bird song and felt a warm breeze, I told of a story (from a collection of stories I've told to my sons from before there were born) of how when Mary was cold one night on her way to Bethlehem, the winds sang her a spring song, with scents of fresh jasmine, to warm her and cheer her on her path (and hence, every year as Christmas approaches and we allow the light to flow to, through, and with us, some days will feel warm like a spring day).  Later, our winds rustled in the most pleasant way as we enjoyed a snack at Grandmother Rock, quite an example of the mineral element for the first light of Advent (stones, plants, animals, humans--over the 4 weeks).  I am very interested in stories of light from many cultures, religions, literatures, spiritual paths, and more.  Please share any gems you might have with me.

With much appreciation,

William

Fwd: Advent Spiral, Friday Dec 7

Kindergarten & Nursery
Advent Spiral Garden
in Huckleberry Hall
December 7th, 2012

At many Waldorf Kindergartens throughout the world, the season of Advent is marked by the ceremony of the Advent Spiral Garden, an experience of moving from darkness into the light.  The garden is a beautiful spiral pathway of evergreen boughs, interspersed with pine cones, crystals, seashells, and shining stars leading to a candle in the center.  In the darkness of the evening, held by reverent music or voice, each child in turn carries an unlit candle held by a rosy apple and walks the spiral path to the center, lights his own small candle from the center candle and embarks on the journey back outward, placing the apple and candle in the spiral boughs alongside the pathway.  Slowly, with each child's journey, the Light glows and grows.  It is an archetypal experience of birth and incarnation which honors the Journey of the (every)Child of Light.

Please bring your warmly dressed child to their respective classrooms at the time designated below for your family. Parents can then make their way to Huckleberry Hall and wait until the children are led down by their teacher. It will be important to be on time, not late, and not too early.  We will be holding the children in a quiet space until all have arrived.  Please let Vanessa, William or Dyanne know if you will not be coming so that we can know whether to wait for you.  This is a Festival which is held in quiet reverence.   To support the children in such an experience, we will be building up to this festival with the children during our mornings at school.  The children will also be supported by your own quiet mood of reverence during the week and during the festival itself. 

 We look forward to sharing this experience with you.

Vanessa, William and Dyanne


4:30                                                              5:00                                                     6:00
*****************************************************************************************************************************
Butterfly Nursery                                                       Golden Forest                                                  Sunflower
(please meet in Huckleberry Hall with your nursery child)               (Please drop your kindergarten child off in their room with their teacher,
                                                                                    then take your seat in Huckleberry Hall)

sun, giants, food, home dismissal, workshop

Hi Folks,

Here are a few quick and hopefully pleasant notes.

SUN -- What a pleasant time we had at the sunny meadow (the 10 acres we use for festival parking) today!  It is so much warmer there than on our playground, and it is warmer in the woods than in our playground.  During these colder months, Molly and I will try to start our Monday and Tuesday walks as soon as possible (9:30ish) to get warm.  When sunny, we will go to the sunny meadow or other place to warm up.  When rainy, we'll appreciate the shelter of Grandmother Rock or Fairy House Grove.  On a rare instance (like the WETTEST DAY WHIDBEY HAS EVER SEEN, now confirmed by people who have lived here longer than me), we will go inside and improvise.

GIANTS -- We walked the upper loop today (our usual Monday trek) and continued past Bumberdeen the Giant's playground to get to the sunny meadow.  This imaginative way of describing the ropes course came to me via Dyanne (who got it from Chris McFee years ago).  I live my life with the pleasant assumption that the creatures of the forest, including giants, are all there to help us, that a stream of well being is always flowing around us if we are just able to notice it.  My Bumberdeen is a super friendly guy that I have never seen.  He lets us walk through the playground.  Out of friendliness, we stay off his giant sized playground (this is the ropes course, which we would participate with trained facilitators).

That said, I also appreciate how children love to explore power and transformation through creating scary stories.  There were a few vivid stories told by children of a mean giant who eats many things, who fortunately lives in another country.  While endorsing the wonderful power of a story such as this, I always reflect back my full confidence in the friendliness of the creatures of the woods towards us.

FOOD  --  We are in pretty good shape with food.  Feel free to bring contributions for our soup by Wednesdays.  While chickens have slowed down, we almost have a dozen eggs for Thursday; if you have a few to spare, that will get us there.  I've switched to scrambled eggs for the winter time; it does not require as many eggs to satisfy the class.

Even though apples are no longer so plentiful on trees, if you can bring a few apples for snacks in the woods and apple sauce, that is wonderful.  Several children are doing incredible work and growth through cutting apples in conscientious and artistic ways.

DISMISSAL ON WEDNESDAYS AND THURSDAYS  -- Because it might alternate between being relatively nice at 12:20ish to being fairly wet and/or cold, I've decided to switch Wednesday and Thursday mid-day dismissal to in the hallway.  I will do my best to have children ready to trickle into the hallway beginning at 12:20 so that you can gather your child and her or his possessions before extended care children from the Sunflower Class move into the hallway.  Monday and Tuesday dismissals will remain the same.

CLOTHES BAGS HOME THIS THURSDAY OR FRIDAY  --  I think it will bring the most peace of mind to everyone if you bring your child's spare clothes bag and anything and everything from your child's cubby home on Thursday or Friday, leaving the space clear for the Holiday Workshop, and helping you to know with confidence where your child's gear is for next Monday.  The little ones who have already come to us will be heading to their own festival and will like to depart on Thursday.  Perhaps they'll meet up with little ones yet to manifest in our classroom and tell us stories of them.

With appreciation,

William

Real invitation

Friday, November 9

Lantern Walk

 The Lantern Walk is a festival that marks the threshold time of year between longer summer days and longer winter nights.

From Nature herself we can witness the in breath of the Earth as she pulls the plants back toward her.  The leaves begin to fall and cover the ground with a blanket of protection and quietude.  During this time, we humans also find ourselves pulling inward.  Yet, it is at this very inward-pulling time that we rekindle our connection to our own inner most self.  While all of Nature is falling asleep, we are called to "wake up" and take note of our own inner flame.  Festivals are a way of marking these poignant occasions in community with one another; and some would add, in collaboration with the Earth and the Heavens.  

The early childhood community of WIWS would like to celebrate and honor this time together with a Lantern Walk at Maxwelton Beach on Friday, November 9th, 4:30-5:30in the evening.  We have timed this event so that we can gather in the light, walk in the dusk and finish in the dark.  In this way, we can move together through this threshold, shining our little lights with one another in a community of love and good will.   And a large community we will be....Butterfly, Golden Forest and Sunflower classes, plus any interested Rosebud families.  We are making our lanterns at school for this occasion while singing lantern songs both familiar and unfamiliar.  Of course, the preparation is almost as important as the festival itself! (Below is a more detailed schedule of the hour)   

4:30---early bird arrivals:  play at the beach/playground for short time.  Warm cider available

4:50 Light lanterns and gather to commence our beach walk

4:55 Begin our walk together

5:20  Return to public beach area, Adults sing "Oh How Lovely Is the Evening" for the children

5:30 Say goodnight to one another with a shared experience of darkness and candle light

Remember!  We will be at a beach in November.  Please dress accordingly!!

The public park at Maxwelton Beach is called Dave Mackie Park.  Take Maxwelton Road (away from Langley) all the way until you come to the end.  There you will find Dave Mackie park.  There is parking on both sides of the big field.  Please ask a teacher or another parent if you need further instructions.

  

  

lantern walk invitation

Class Meeting, November 6

Sunflower and Golden Forest Class Meeting
Tuesday, November 6, 6:30-8pm

Singing:  "O How Lovely is the Evening" and Lantern Songs

Compassionate Response Meditation (from Kim Payne).  During Kim's recent visit, he helped William refine and augment the meditation, and William is eager to share with our parents.

Success Stories on "Dialing it Down" (from Kim Payne).  In his lecture at WICA, again and again Kim described how simplifying the home and school life can help children, whether they tend to exhibit or attract bullying behavior, and even if they don't.  One parent, inspired by Kim (she also noticed both her children were showing lots of signs of stress and distress), the next day cancelled a play date for her middle school son (his request), warmed a blanket in the dryer in the morning, and after dropping off her middle school son at school, snuggled with her 3rd grade daughter in the back of their car and read a book to her (rather than sending her off to play on the playground right away).  This felt really good to the mom and the children.  

Dyanne and William have both consciously simplified the rhythm of their mornings to minimize transitions, and both see what a gift this has been for their classes.

In our meeting, we are looking for any success stories of ways families have simplified and uncluttered their lives.  We are not going to try to "out-simplify" each other.  We encourage you to listen and find inspiration rather than expectation (if you take your child to school on the back of your motorcycle, for example, it probably won't be so soothing to cuddle on the back of the motorcycle with a warm blanket and a book on a rainy day).

Lantern Walk and Advent Season and Advent Spiral.  Dyanne will guide us through the festival seasons of our Lantern Walk and Advent Spiral.

Holiday Workshop and other Parental Sharing and Planning.

Conclusion:  Reprise of Singing.

pumpkins, reminders, appreciation

PUMPKINS

Please remember a pumpkin for your child this Monday. Please label. 7th graders will help us carve a pumpkin.

REMINDERS -- MEETING AND LANTERN WALK

On November 6 (a week from Tuesday), we will combine for a kindergarten class meeting. Time will be 6:30 to 8pm (note later start time). I will guide parents in a compassionate response meditation (work of Kim Payne), we will share success stories inspired by Kim Payne, Dyanne will talk about the lantern walk and Advent spiral (coming in December), and we will provide time for holiday workshop and other planning on the part of parents.

Our Lantern Walk will be at Maxwelton Beach (note location) on Friday, November 9, from 4:30-5:30pm. Expect a fuller description soon.

APPRECIATION -- birthdays and inside

We have started our inside days with birthday celebrations, including a double one. Often the additional tasks of the birthday can make the days feel stressful and hurried. While I have put great thought into simplifying and clarifying the rhythm of the day (inspired by Kim Payne and others), last Wednesday and Thursday had the potential to become chaotic--only because I had given me and Molly and the children more to accomplish than was reasonable to accomplish in the morning. It is with awe and appreciation that I observed the children remain calm, engaged, cooperative, imaginative, and playful. What a blessing to be in their presence.

hikes, inside, birthdays, Kim Payne, and other events

Dear Parents,

I'm really excited to be back with the children at school tomorrow.  Our Monday hikes and play in the wood have been so rich, so full of physical challenge and gorgeous social interaction, that my intention is to start our week tomorrow (Tuesday) as if it were Monday.  We'll take our long hike and end up for snack (almond rice cakes, tofu almond nori rolls, almond, veggies), an ample amount of play, and The Bremen Town musicians at Grandmother Rock.  On Wednesday, Molly and Kristin lead the children on another pleasant hike (serving hummus and crackers and veggies and fruit).

(It was thrilling to tell the Bremen Town Musicians last Monday.  Children were so engaged, a little tense when wondering what the robbers would do, and laughing with a hearty sense of relief when the robbers mistook the 4 animals for powerful opponents).

On Thursday we'll celebrate our first birthday of the year (Leon's) and have an extended time to play indoors for the whole class.  I am so pleased that we started with a lot of outdoor time; it is going to help us so much find delight, alignment, and just the right amount of challenge and contrast with our indoor work and play.  Thursday we'll eat soup with roasty toasties (egg donors can take a week off, or if you already have brought eggs, we will store them for a future week)--and of course little muffins that we will bake in class.

We'll celebrate 5 birthdays before the end of October.

Now that the weather is colder and wetter, on hike days (normally Monday and Tuesday), we will try to leave as soon as possible (9:30 or earlier).  The kindergarten playground is likely colder than your house, and it is certainly colder than where we hike and play in the woods.  If it is possible (only if it is possible) to provide your child an additional layer for the playground that we will shed before the hike, that would be ideal.

I will be finding what works well for our days of eating snack and playing and creating art and crafting inside (and slowly, with anticipation, meeting our little ones again and the like).  Rather than persisting with painting with small groups while others play outside, I plan now to keep us together as much as possible on the playground, and then come inside with plenty of time to snack, move and/or hear a story, play, craft, create, tidy up, and the like.  With the 5 birthdays and muffin baking, it is likely that it will take us a few weeks to settle to an indoor rhythm on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Many events are marching toward us, hopefully with guffaws of delight.

Tuesday, October 16          Kim John Payne at WICA.  This is an event not to be missed.  Kim John Payne is a gifted speaker with a great amount of experience and wisdom on many topics.  This talk will be on Raising Socially Resilient Children.  Please attend if at all possible.

 

Wednesday, October 17   William not at school.  I am part of the core Social Inclusion Group, and I will be meeting with Kim Payne all day.  I look forward to sharing the gifts of his wisdoms and insights with anyone interested.

Monday, October 29   PUMPKIN CARVING with the 7th grade.  Kim always had her daughter's classes come assist our kindergarten children.  Ms. Lindstrom is thrilled to be asked, and we thnk her students will love helping us.  Please bring a pumpkin with your child's name on the bottom to school on that Monday.  If it helps relieve anxiety, feel free to bring the pumpkin earlier.  Small and simple is wonderful.  Our intention is to foster community and have a great time--I am less worried about final products.

Tuesday, October 30                      Middle School Open House.  This is a wonderful opportunity to experience the gifts of the middle school curriculum in a Waldorf School; to see where the children eventually get to from here.

 

Wednesday, October 31                 Halloween…Of course.  Since Halloween is filled with all kinds of wily activity in the latter part of the day, we will do our best to keep a normal rhythm in the morning.  The children love to tell each other what they are going to dress up as.  Please leave all dress up clothes and Halloween paraphernalia at home so as not to create further distraction from healthy imaginative play.  (By the way, my sons convinced me to dress up this year as Superman, but I will resist wearing my new costume to school as well).

 

Thursday, November 1                  The day after Halloween.  Since children are up later than usual the night before, and they are often coming down from an extra surge of excitement and sugar, we encourage you to consider bringing your child late to school on this day.  Giving them some time to sleep in, take the morning routine a little more slowly, etc. can be very helpful in some cases.

 

Sunday, November 4                       Time Change.   Move the clocks back one hour

 

Tuesday, November 6.   KINDERGARTEN PARENT EVENING, 6 to 7:30pm.  Please send me any topics you'd like to see as part of the meeting.  I envision us giving the Holiday Workshop parents time to speak, solicit help, whatever is needed.  We will sing and prepare for the lantern walk.  We will preview December's advent spiral.  I think it likely Dyanne and I will share insights from Kim Payne particularly suited to early childhood, and I'd love to have a discussion about Kim's lecture and reports from any parents who have tried anything he suggests.

Thurs & Fri November 8 & 9       Parent teacher conferences.  Early dimissal for Grade School. 12:30 dismissal for all EC classes.  No Robin Song Extended Care.  Cordula will be offering fee based child care for the time that parents are in conferences with the teachers.  If interested, please see Cordula for more details regarding age span, fees, etc..  Cordula will also be using my room for care, and for this and other reasons, I will be offering my conferences during my Tuesday office hours (or another time if needed).  In EC we find a different rhythm works best for conferences.  Before Christmas, I would like to meet with the 3 families with children of age to rise to first grade next year.  I would like to have conferences for the ten younger children in January and February, during office hours (and probably other times to fit them all in).

 

Friday November 9             Lantern Walk Festival for kindergartens, nursery, and parent child families.  This year will be a new location(!) with new inspiration(!)  More information will be coming out soon.

 

Wednesday, November 21                        Beginning of Thanksgiving Break.

 

 

With appreciation,

William

Ease and Flow, Play, Extra Outside Time, Harvest

Ease and Flow

The children seem to be welcoming Molly with open arms, and we are having a sweet time together. The long walks on Mondays and Tuesday (which the children take up with joy and composure--with some grumblings of hunger and fatigue toward the end) blend into an outdoor snack time and really beautiful, sustained play in the woods. Children are choosing a variety of playmates. They are challenging themselves physically, communing with nature with fairy house building and berry picking, and enjoying an occasional mutually satisfying game of chase.

Our long playground days of Wednesday and Thursday have been satisfying as well. Last week I pruned some of the alder trees to promote their health, and children have been building and decorating forts and houses with the branches. A number of children help prepare the snack, have been sewing up their painting folders (and I've been sorting our first paintings from last week), and help care for the chickens.


Play

At Grandmother Rock, I found myself telling a small group of children, "And now we will do something we've never done before," and a child responded, "O, yes, I remember that!" Rather than just telling the story, children act out the story as I narrate. I had very simple costumes that we could transport to the woods. A child can always refuse to play a part. On this day, the children chosen seemed to find delight and satisfaction in portraying Sea-Girl, the 3rd Daughter of the Dragon King, a goose, a parrot, a pea-cock, and eagle, a farmer, and the water. I'll keep track and give a variety a chance to play a role.

This transformation of a story into a play was something my mentor did when I first taught Waldorf kindergarten, and master storyteller Nancy Mellon insisted that I use this technique (in a very polite and emphatic way), and that I should stay with a story in this way for a long time. She told me, for example, of the benefits of staying with The Wolf and the 7 Little Kids for 3 months between January and Easter, most of it as a play (this would likely be too intense for our current mix of children). It was true, the children loved rotating through all the roles of little goats, shopkeeper, miller, and baker. I was always the wolf. And we did stay with this story a long time. We'll plan on a couple of weeks with my current story and then see where we are.


Extra Outside Time

While we will have great opportunities for indoor work and play, current opportunities are keeping us outside a great deal. On Wednesdays, we play with the Sunflower children for an hour on the playground at 9am and then with the Butterfly nursery children at 11am. Somewhere in between we enjoy our snack. Mixing with both classes seems stimulating and brings out wonderful things in our children, and this seems really important to foster. I am moving the painting day to Thursday at present.

We will also likely be watching Michaelmas rehearsals, which may keep us outside more often this week (even on painting day).

Next week the 3rd grade is building a Sukkah, a traditional Jewish harvest shelter. I sense this will be a great activity for us to observe, perhaps even help with. Next Monday we will visit the work, and if it seems fruitful, we will likely join the 3rd graders often next week to help, watch, delight, and enliven.


HARVEST

On this Wednesday, we will have our early childhood harvest festival. Please bring, if possible, harvest items (flowers, squashes, bulbs, and the like) to the EC hallway. The kindergartens will work together to decorate a harvest altar. Our Golden Forest class will tend a fire in the clay oven, and we will bake an apple snack to share with the Sunflower and Butterfly classes toward the end of the day. The two kindergartens will join together for seasonal games to end the morning.

These decorations will find a 2nd life as part of the Golden Knight's decoration of the 10 acres to welcome families parking there for Friday's festival.


With appreciation for all your support,

William

Sept 25 2012 class meeting

Kindergarten Class Meeting
Tuesday, September 25
6-7:30pm

Sunflower and Golden Forest Parents will meet and stay together, commencing in the Sunflower Room and moving to the Golden Forest Room.

Agenda

Introductory -- Class Coordinators, Social Inclusion (Kim Payne work)
Other Announcements

Singing and Movement -- "O How Lovely is the Evening"

Lecture and Discussion -- William on Raphael's painting of the Madonna, why it is up in some early childhood classrooms, relationship to verses by Steiner, and other anecdotes.
Dyanne deepens discussion, relates to other forms of painting and Eurythmy.

Our Relationship to the Woods and to our Community -- what we can do to bring beauty to the woods around us (Golden Knights already at work); kindergartens working on crafts for the community (making lanterns for nursery and parent & child).

Reprise of Singing (outside if possible)

First Week Appreciations. Future Events.

Appreciation for Polly

When Polly shared her intention to journey forth, she let me know that she would be able to use time away from school to amplify her income.  This would free her husband up to return to Whidbey Island.  Their family will be reunited.  The thought of her family together brings me such joy, and this is the vibration of thought I will hold about Polly as your children and I continue through the year.

Appreciation for Polly, Kim, Children, and You

It was a thrill to be with your children last week.  They show great willingness to try new things, to endure, to be flexible, to be clear, to be really happy, to make it clear when they are not.  Walking through the woods was really easy, and this allowed us to enjoy relatively long and beautiful walks right away.  It was often really cool or really warm in the woods, and the layers allowed us to be OK in the cool, and we could choose to play barefoot in the warmth of the Story meadow.  I told stories of the gnomes and nymphs at work in the Story Woods (Legacy Forest), and children respected the moss on the old growth stumps and seemed relatively content with leaving gifts of the forest in the forest.  Children tried all the snacks, and there were always some children who really enjoyed them (which is great right at the beginning of the year; I've had many a traditional grain day at which children complained as a group about the same rice or porridge they would savor later in the year), and many days most children tucked in to hummus, soup, or eggs and apple sauce.  The eggs and apple sauce were so popular, I'll increase my request for both.

Seasons and Indoors and Outdoors

 It feels right to honor the seasons with more outside time here at the start.  Our snacks in the woods on Mondays and Tuesdays and at the picnic table on Wednesdays and Thursdays feel like they thrive, preparing us for indoor snacks later in the year.  On Wednesdays and Thursdays, children came inside with me in small groups.  I previewed our work this week of painting lanterns with a story, we drew, and children then played inside.  I think this smaller group indoor play allows the children to explore more, lets me observe them at their play with more attention, and will set us up for robust and flexible play when we come inside as an entire class in a few weeks (my litmus test will probably be 2 days of really wet and uncomfortable picnic table snacks on a Wednesday and Thursday).  Children also joined me for flight school on Thursdays; pretending to be birds, they flew aloft in my arms, and then we practiced some zoo exercises on the floor (more about this at a future class meeting).

Stories

Three days this week I told the story "Wild Goose Lake" at the tent near the Story House.  On Thursday, Sunflower and Golden Forest classes joined as I told the story of the Golden Knights, how the oldest children in the village were called to serve the youngest.  I related it to our Michaelmas pageant; it tells of a peaceful time when the dragon is tamed, but in order for the crops to grow, new Golden Knights are needed to help keep the dragon in balance.  On Monday, Polly has asked to share her transition with the children.  Polly and I have talked, and I know to pay especial care to the children in the coming week.  Tuesday we will return to "Wild Goose Lake."  My intention is to stay with this story for a while, and to surprise the children by allowing them to act it out on the Story House Stage as we deepen our relationship with it.  When I taught kindergarten in Monterey, I worked with master storyteller Nancy Mellon, and she encouraged me to assign roles and have children act out the story as I narrated.  It was rich and rewarding.  Have no fears about children being singled out.  Children are always allowed to decline a role and just watch, and this is especially appropriate for our younger children.

Introducing Molly Rice

When Polly let me know of her intentions, we were fortunate in that we had recently conducted a hiring process for a Sunflower assistant.  We received a letter of interest from an excellent candidate right after we had hired Gina to be Dyanne's assistant.  I was able to contact Molly (the excellent candidate), and her interest in joining our school remained and remains really strong.  Molly, her husband, and 3 children moved to Whidbey Island this summer from Portland, where Molly taught early childhood classes, took Waldorf training and many workshops, and founded and led a very successful all outdoor forest school.  She has an excellent singing voice, has a strong sense for the woods and can share stories of the wonders of nature (tangible and intangible), and has skills in puppetry and crafts that will enrich and enliven our time on the playground and in the classroom.  We are blessed to have her.  Molly is excited about her role as Golden Forest assistant.  Her husband is excited to live and play with their children while at home (their children hopefully joining our school community soon).  Please welcome her and her family as much as you can.

Trying New Things

As all teachers do, I may make various modifications to the rhythm of the day and week.  I am exploring providing a rewarding amount of interaction between our students and students in Sunflower and the Butterfly nursery.  I am sure Molly and I will be finding vibrant ways of interacting, and this may cause some minor adjustments of schedule and rhythm.  I'll keep you informed as the weeks progress.

Class Meeting Next Tuesday, Office Hours, Apples, Pears, Eggs

We will gather for a class meeting on Tuesday, September 25, from 6-8pm.  We will join with Sunflower parents for part of the meeting.  I will give a preview of the agenda as we approach.  

Office hours with me will be on Tuesdays from 2:05-2:50 (2 slots), weekly in the Butterfly Room, starting on the 25th.  I will put a sign-up in the hallway.

Do keep bringing a bounty of soup vegetables, crunchy vegetables for the woods, and lots of apples.  Apple sauce was very popular.  Some parents have a bounty of Asian Pears.  Many children love these as a daily snack, and let us try mixing some in with our apple sauce.

Children like eggs more than I predicted.  We have one family brining a dozen eggs this week.  Our school chickens should provide a dozen.  It'd be great to have a third dozen.

With appreciation for your attitudes and help,

William

A Letter from and joyous wishes for Polly

First, a letter from Polly.

Dear Golden Forest Parents;

I am writing to let you know that I am needing to simplify
my life a bit. Along with working in kindergarten I have been
carrying two other jobs, single parenting and have now gone back to school.
I am feeling a bit stretched! I'm needing to make my life a little
more manageable for my sanity's sake, so I have decided not to continue
as the assistant in the Golden Forest kindergarten. This has not been an easy
decision for me since Waldorf education is my first love and your children
are so very near and dear to my heart. The children do not know yet as I
wanted you all to know first. The school has found a replacement, a lovely
woman by the name of Molly, who is very familiar with Waldorf early childhood.
I will still be around the school as my Alli is in her last year at school and
I am happy to sub when the occasion arises. This Monday will be
my last day and I will let the children know of my leaving then.
Monday will be Molly's first day and you all will get a chance to meet
her.
I wish you all a wonderful year together.
With much love in my heart for you all,
Polly


Now a brief note from William

I appreciate all that Polly has done for our class and our school. We will still see her often. She has helped to leave our class of children in a wonderful place. After I give you some time to digest Polly's note, I will send along descriptions of our first week and an introduction to Molly Rice. All will be well.

With appreciation for all you do for our children and the school,

William

notes for first full week

Hi Parents,

It was delightful to be with our older children last week and to work in collaboration with Dyanne. Some practical thoughts come to mind as we start our first full week with all children.


The Elementary School Bell is Early!

This year the grades teachers opted to have the morning bell ring at 8:25 so they could start their main lessons at 8:30. This means that if you arrive at 8:28 with a grades student, you are not late (just go to the classroom, not the playground). Kindergarten still commences at 8:30. It is really important for me to be able to drop Crispin off in Sunflower (inside) before you drop your children off with me. After this drop-off, I will sing a song, open the playground gate, and welcome your children. (And as with last year, you are welcome to come after 8:30 to avoid the crowds).


Fruit and Veggie basket will be inside

In case it ever does rain again, it seems best to leave the fruit and veggie basket outside the Golden Forest door on the inner hallway. We need crunchy veggies and fruits for our walks and soup vegetables.

Eggs and Apples

I'll put a sign-up on the Golden Forest door so people can estimate how much they can bring. I love your generosity. It'd be great to have 2 dozen eggs or so each week rather than 6 dozen the first week if everyone is eager to give (I can store if need be; hard boiled eggs do work better with older eggs). You can also email me your intention and I'll write it.

Layers

As you probably remember, the playground is really cool. When we leave for our walk, I'll likely have the children take off an outer layer; our walks will be vigorous. It'd be great to dress your child in multiple light layers. The trails are a bit overgrown (and it is cool in the woods); I recommend pants in the morning, even if it is going to be a hot day.


Blessings on our first week,

William

passing the train whistle

Dear Golden Forest Families,

Kim and I have had a rich conversation about the story she told about Buttercup and her work. As anticipation and excitement build about the arrival of my little one (I want the anticipation to be fun for children), there will be intimations and messages coming to me that will include stories of the wellness that Kim and Buttercup are experiencing.

Tomorrow, Kim and I agreed that a simple, short exchange would be the right thing. After the whole school rainbow bridge ceremony, Kim will meet me by our playground, hand me the beloved train whistle used to gather children in the woods, and then she will want to depart in a graceful and rather rapid way (rather than lingering) (again, we will see her often, and I will weave in stories of Buttercup and Kim's adventures with my little one). I will likely play the whistle and sing "I've been working on the railroad." Then I'll look forward to welcoming your children for their cubby times a little later that morning.

With warmth and light,

William

Reframing Transitions and Farewells

Dear Golden Forest Parents,

I look forward to seeing you on Tuesday morning. Kim will indeed be present during the Rainbow Bridge ceremony at 8:30. Upon reflection, it seemed best not to include a symbolic gesture of Kim passing the torch to me as the Golden Forest teacher during the whole school ceremony. She and I are in the process of planning something very simple on the Golden Forest playground right after the whole school ceremony (approximately 9am); it will likely be quite simple--we want to maintain a sense that all will be well with the transition.

Here are some thoughts about the sadness children demonstrate when saying goodbye to a parent after a long summer away from school (or as also sometimes happens later in the school year). In a workshop with Nancy Foster--one of the wisest of wise women who have refined the craft of Waldorf Early Childhood teaching in America--I remember her recommending that teacher and parent work in concert as "confident actors" (her term), quelling any nervousness on their parts and focusing on the likelihood that all will go well with a child's transition to school.

What if we take this a step forward and use a phrase like, "Things are always working out for me. Things are always working out for my child"? No matter how twisty a path, it is always working out towards one of thriving and well being. If this sounds or seems challenging, we could start with very general phrases that soothe us and make us feel better (whether we need soothing because our child is reluctant, or because our child marches away from us and never looks back!). "I've known a lot of other parents whose children were sad at first and then really enjoyed kindergarten." "There are a lot of times when I felt hesitant about beginning something and was really glad I did so." "I don't have to figure out the perfect way to say goodbye. There is no wrong way, and there is no perfect way." Maybe from here, inspirations or images will come that will support your child.

One image comes to my mind from the spring of 2006. I would begin each morning in my nursery class with 5 children merrily perched on my chair as I was knitting. Some of these children had been with me for 3 years, and in the 3rd year, only seemed appeased when saying goodbye to mom or dad when sitting on my lap. Even after the relief was no longer needed, the fun these 5 children had all crowding onto my chair--and it brings back a big smile for me, too--continued this ritual. It was a wonderful spring with lots and beautiful interactions--on my chair and throughout the room and playground. I bring up this image when discovering ways to soothe a child in distress at the start of the morning.

If you have stories to share or insights, I'd love to hear them. Let me know if I can share with other parents in our class.

Finally, there have been some transitions in assistants and a student. Here are words from Dyanne. "We have a couple of updates to the Sunflower Class. First, Jack McAuliff will be in the Sunflower Class this year. It has become clear to both William and me that this placement will be best for all. Also, I am pleased to announce that Gina Schneider will be my assistant this year. Gina has lived on the island for about one year, during which time she spent a good deal of time substituting in our Sunflower, Golden Forest and Butterfly classes. Prior to her time on Whidbey, Gina taught for 10 years in the California public schools, and was a lead kindergarten teacher at a Waldorf charter school in Orange County, CA. She was trained in "The Art of Teaching Kindergarten" at Rudolf Steiner College and is also published poet. In addition to assisting in the Sunflower class this year, Gina will also be assisting Cordula in the afternoons and working on her internship with The Art of Spiritual Direction Program. Many of your children will remember Gina from last year. She is very excited to be joining the team and we are excited to have her."

With appreciation for your willingness to try new things,

William

Kindergarten Parent Meetings 2012-13


Kindergarten Parent Meetings
2012-13 School Year

Tuesday, September 25 6-8 pm

Tuesday, November 6 6-8 pm

(Tue, January 29, grade 1 risers) 6-8 pm

Tuesday, March 19 6-8 pm

Tuesday, May 21 6-8 pm




(edited excerpt from the Children's Garden 'Parent Handbook)
Parent Meetings

We offer a handful of parent meetings throughout the year. These meetings offer social time with one another as well as an opportunity to look deeper into various aspects of child development. The format of the parent evening offers connection, support, validation, perspective, and insight. These meetings are an important part of your child's education at this school in that they will keep you connected to your child's experience by way of networked adult conversation with the teacher and with other parents. The teachers at WIWS view parent meetings as an essential part of parent teacher teamwork

We recognize that there are many variables, such as work schedules, child care, and bedtime routines that can affect your ability to attend evening events. For this reason, we will notify you in August of all parent meeting dates for the year. Please, plan ahead so that you can attend. If you miss a meeting, it will be your responsibility to speak to a designated parent about the content of the meeting. It is our goal to have 100% attendance (at least 1 parent/ family) at all meetings.

This year, the teachers have pared down the number of parent meetings in a school year so that parents can also feel free to attend the many educational events offered throughout the year. We encourage you to attend these events as they offer not only another opportunity for community involvement and connection, but also serve to deepen our understanding of the children's experience.

Golden Forest Birthdays 2012-2013

Attachment has cleaner formatting.

Golden Forest School Birthday Celebrations

NAME BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION DAY

Natascha Graner June 9, 2006 Friday, September 14
Anna Umlauf June 18, 2006 Friday, September 28

Leon Kohlhaas October 18, 2007 Tuesday, October 16
Daniel Lueken October 21, 2007 Tuesday, October 23
Evening Fisher October 24, 2007 Wednesday, October 24
Ian Wundrow October 24, 2007 Wednesday, October 24
Evelyn Umlauf October 28, 2008 Tuesday, October 30
Atom Zimmermann December 10, 2008 Wednesday, December 5

Sonja Toombs-Kenney July 14, 2007 Wednesday, January 9
Izabella Nikulina July 30, 2007 Wednesday, January 16
Yarrow Batiste July 31, 2007 Wednesday, January 23
Wilder Yanz April 9, 2007 Friday, April 19

(Excerpt from the Children's Garden Parent Handbook/Birthdays)

~ For Children Turning 3, 4 or 5 Years Old
We will be honoring their birthdays at school in a very simple, yet beautiful way. For these children, we want to take great care to support them by creating an experience that does not place them as the focus of attention of their classmates for any extended period of time. On these mornings, the children will become aware that their friend is celebrating a birthday through subtle indications in the room or by the teacher. A simple song or story may be told, muffins shared and a birthday book made. If you know your child will not be at school on their scheduled birthday date, please let your child's teacher know.

~ For Children Turning 6 or 7 Years Old
We would like to invite the parents of those children turning 6 or 7 to join us for part of the day to celebrate with your child. This should take approx 30 minutes. The children will then continue to work and play and parents can leave. If you know your child will not be at school on their scheduled birthday date, please let your child's teacher know.

In preparation of the story we ask that parents prepare a sentence or two to speak about each year of their child's life. To be clear, the child's "first year" is her year from birth to one; "when she was one" is her year from one to two etc. These should be simple and short. For example: "When Olivia was four we moved to Whidbey Island, this is the year she began kindergarten and began to ride her bike."

Golden Forest Rhythm 2012

Two versions: posted in the email, and as an attachment (which has cleaner formatting).

Golden Forest Weekly and Daily Rhythm
Fall and Late Spring

We will attune to the breathing cycle of the year. We will be outside a great deal in fall and late spring, indoors much more in late fall, winter, and early spring.

Drop-off: 8:30am or later, kindergarten playground (Fridays in classroom)
Pick-up, Fall and Spring: 12:25pm, kindergarten playground
Pick-up, Colder Months: 12:25pm, indoors (I'll make clear when we switch)

Snacks
Monday nori almond butter roll-ups, carrots, almonds, veggies and fruit
Tuesday crackers and class-made hummus, veggies and fruit and seeds
Wednesday vegetable soup (nuts, veggies, fruit later)
Thursday hard-boiled eggs and class-made applesauce
Friday bread and veggies and fruit (shared with Sunflower class)

As the cold and rain invite us inside more, Monday's snack will gradually transform into nori and rice day (inside) and Thursday's snack will transform into oatmeal day.

Please bring each week crunchy veggies or fruits for our walk; soup vegetables
Please contact me if you have a bounty of eggs or apples to share in September and October.

Monday and Tuesdays will be trek days (with inside time Mondays in the absolute coldest weather). We start on the playground, prepare snack, care for the animals and environment, work on handwork to suit the weather (e.g., embroidery or felting in fair weather; candle dipping in the cold). We will take a long walk, play in the woods, have circle and snack and story at the Story House. Playground for farewell.

Wednesday and Thursdays are home days (with shorter walks in fall and spring and expansive time indoors in colder and wetter months). We start on the playground, prepare snack, small groups enter Golden Forest to paint (Wednesdays) and draw (Thursdays). Thursdays will also be Forever Mountain's Academy Day, including wellness promoting movement for children one on one or in pairs with me. In fair weather, we eat snack on the playground, clean-up, and take a shorter walk for circle and story at the Story House. In foul weather, we come inside for snack, play, and story.

Fridays are visiting days. We will start inside. We combine with Sunflower for much of the day, including snack. It will be mostly outdoors in the fall.

Reflections from tonight's meeting, docs to follow

Dear Parents,

In separate emails, I will send along a birthday list, rhythm of the day, and class meeting schedule for the year.

I thank parents for their generous laughter, willingness to try new things, and their questions that help me clarify what information is needed sooner than later.  I enjoyed the meeting and your participation.

Here, not in order of the meeting, are some answers or thoughts about your questions.

How will we handle the children's sense of the transition from Kim to me as teacher?  (Some still assume Kim will be there teacher.  Some assume Kim is never coming back).  I have begun working on this.  Kim will be present on Tuesday the 4th at 8:30am to help guide her risers from last year across the rainbow bridge into first grade.  I am working with Kim, Dyanne, and Maureen to creat a brief and symbolic gesture before or after this time.  Something as simple as Kim gives me a hug welcoming me as the new Golden Forest teacher, to something big that she transfers to me.  It will have to be brief and mainly visual, but will plant a seed.  I encourage you to bring your children to witness the ceremony at 8:30am.

I can pick up on this seed of a story briefly during cubby time with the children.  I am gathering information about Kim's story she told at her departure.  

Likely on the 10th, when our full class is together, I will pick up on Kim's story to help connect my presence to hers, with intimations of my little one to come (he may come sooner).

Will there be Spanish on Fridays?   Yes

What can I do to support my child who looks upon the school year/being away from mom or dad with trepidation?  While I have sent articles in the past, I feel the time has come for me to create a new image, a new picture of what might be helpful.  Let me sleep on this and strive to deliver something satisfying to you in the days ahead.

  

When we parents email the group (about festivals, classroom help, Holiday Workshop, and soforth), it can be easy to leave a name off the email list, especially the names of families joining mid year.  I propose we form a google group for parents in the Golden Forest class as an experiment.  This is like an email contact group that is held centrally, so you know if you want to write the whole class about a festival or fun experience, you can write one address (that of the group), and all parents will receive it.  The messages will also be archived at the group, so a new family joining the class could, once they join the group, look back over old messages very easily.

The challenge of this method is that each of you need to accept an invitation to join the group.  I'll start the invitation, but the email you receive will be from google; some of your email programs may drop it into spam.  So I'll email you directly to tell you to look for the group invitation in your inbox or spam folder.

Once it is all a go, I'll let you know that it's ready to use.  I'll make you all owners of the group once we are in, so you can refine and tinker. 

To keep things clear, I won't use this google group for my emails to the class, so you can keep parent fun and work separate from my discursive ramblings (I will be on the group, so it is not a great way to plan hoaxes or surprises for me). 

I am copying this note, and all future notes, to what was my nursery blog, which I will endeavor to rename something more generic (William'spontifications.com or something like that).  This way, too, a new parent joining the class could rather easily read all communication from me in one place.

Where will drop off and pickup be?  We are always starting outside on the playground.  As you will read in the rhythm of the day and week, we will end outside in the fall and late spring and inside in colder weather.  After the meeting, I spoke to Dyanne and Cordula.  While this may or may not work, my intention for foul weather is to have children who do not stay for lunch carry coats and boots through the Golden Forest Room, and we will get dressed right by that door and join Dyanne's class for dismissal at 12:25pm.  This will help extended care have a quiet space for lunch.  This lets us continue the nice tradition of bringing both classes together at dismissal time (we are working on a closing song together).  And it means parents always go to the same place to pick up children (the playground).  You may still have to come in to fetch treasures and wet clothes from their cubbies (if it is manageable, I'll transport those to the playground as well), but still this will hopefully make life easier.

Do we sign up to bring specific foods?  For now, I'd love to try having you bring what is abundant, letting our soup reflect the seasons.  Plan on bringing 1 crunchy fruit or vegetable, and 1 soup vegetable each week.  Bring more if you want.  Forget if it pleases you.  All will be well and fun.  Plan to bring them Monday so I have time to send reminders or procure added fruits and vegetables.  We are starting the year with an apple sauce and hard boiled egg day on Thursdays to reflect the bounty.  Please bring plenty of apples if you have an abundance.  It is great if egg donors contact me so we don't get a superabundance of eggs.

What's up with the clay?  No one really asked this, but this seems like a nice way to end this note.  I would have liked to have shared a metaphor or analogy or story about the clay.  When we work with clay, the process is part of the delight, a Big part of the deliciousness.  We don't take a lump of clay and expect it to be finished by one throw on the table.  The molding and shifting and modifying are part of the joyful process of growth.  I see this too in the way each child has her or his own path of development through childhood, in the way every social situation--from friendship to conflict--has a gradual way of growing into something more, something rich, something satisfying.  When Kim Payne speaks to us in October, he will encourage us to enjoy conflict, to enjoy the sifting and sorting and working things out.  I find great joy in doing that myself.

With great appreciation,

William

birthday song album, Summer Fridays

Dear Families,

Thanks again for a lovely spring and year.

If you want to listen to all the birthday songs, they are now available at http://williamdolde.com/fr_birthdaysongs.cfm.

Families are gathering informally at Maxwelton Beach from 10 to 3 on Fridays this summer. I'll miss the few but look forward to seeing you later in the summer.

Cheers,

William

a gradual pack-up of the room

Dear Nursery Families,

I think it best to pack up the nursery room (from which I'll move after Wednesday) gradually. Rather than leaving it completely set, I want our children to see it begin to move away. I think this will help some of them understand that school will be out for summer (rather than feeling they are being kept away from a nursery class that is still rollicking about). We have many favorite places in the woods, and without exhausting our children, I want to guide us to these spots one more time before the summer.

I'm planning to see all of you on the playground on Wednesday at 11:30am. Blessings on your summers.

William

A Waiter's Reflections on Bears, Newspapers, and Media

PREFATORY REMARKS: CHOICES ABOUT TELEVISION

If you have not done so, I encourage you to read an article about screen media's effects upon young children. "The Waldorf View of Television" by Jennifer Saleem offers the added benefit of going back to Waldorf Education's founder, Rudolf Steiner, and speaks a bit of the wellness the education tries to promote.

Part 1 of the article: http://www.tvfreeliving.com/the-effects-of-tv-articlesmenu-43/74-the-waldorf-view-of-television

Part 2: http://www.tvfreeliving.com/the-effects-of-tv-articlesmenu-43/77-the-waldorf-view-of-television-part-two


PREFATORY REMARKS 2: FAULKNER'S ABSALOM, ABSALOM!

While I am looking at a screen as I type this, over the past years I have watched almost no videos or movies (with more efficient use of computer technology so I spend less time staring at words on screens as well). It seems my ability to create mental images in my head is improving. Pictures in my head seem more vivid. Last week I was meeting with teachers in the Butterfly Room. Lights were out. The sun went behind a cloud for the meeting, and it was darker than one might want for a meeting. Soporific. At the conclusion of the meeting (which I promise I stayed present for), I had a wonderful appreciation of the initial scene from Faulkner's fairly abstruse masterpiece--Absalom, Absalom!--in which Quentin Compson (before he would go to Harvard and tell what he learned to his roommate and then unravel in The Sound and the Fury) sits in a crepuscular office about to hear of the legacy of the Sutpen and Coldfield families. I read this book once, 22 years ago. I appreciated its vigor and complexity then. I know I did not create mental images of the scenes from the book as vividly back then as I do now. That I watched movies such as Caddyshack and Die Hard with my roommates to unwind (rather than retelling chilling and Gothic tales of southern families) rather than meditating and walking in nature to unwind as I do may have nothing to with my ability to create these pictures. It is just something to explore.


THE HEART OF WHAT I INTENDED TO WRITE: BEARS AND NEWSPAPERS AND SMART PHONES

"Only Connect" -- E.M. Forster

I love technology when it frees us, connects us. I love listening to literature in audio format. I loved to read in college and grad school, and the physical act of reading--still, head in an awkward position--took a toll on my body.

All this is to say I am biased to be a defender of smart phones and the like, so I find myself becoming defensive when a fellow educator or parent associates the decline of the modern family with the smart phone or other gadget.

In many older children's books I read with my sons, a father--whether bear or badger or human--often seems to be reading a newspaper at the breakfast table, often having no connection with his children or spouse. An occasional badger is perhaps just bashful, and uses the newspaper to hide the glory of love and wisdom within him, and he is able to dispense loving wisdom to his daughter. But some of these other dads seem to drift in and out of the narrative, never really connecting with the family at all. I think of adults I've known addicted to CNN, or NPR, or talk shows, or the Price is Right, or Dickens (O, that's me).

In the restaurant I see many families in which children are playing video games the entire meal (and perhaps having a tantrum or becoming sullen when asked to shut the game for a moment) and young adults are checking out by checking in on Facebook and dads can't stop playing words with friends or solitaire or searching for a new poem at the Poetry Foundation app (OK, that's me again, and I try not to do this while dining out with my boys).

I also see families with no gadgets having miserable times, with all sorts of out of alignment emotions and moods and pushing against one another.

And then there are many families with no gadgets who are there to have fun, who expect to find good things in each other and in their environment and so attract this to them, who remind you that eating out can actually be pleasant (with not a few other families I marvel that I think I am having a much better time than the diners are; I also expect waiting tables to be a pleasant experience, good for my body and mental and emotional capacities).

And from time to time I see families using gadgets together to plan their next adventure that afternoon in perhaps their first visit to Seattle or other mutual plans. One mother, father, and son stand out for me. The dad seems to always have a laptop (he may be on call); the preteen son often has a book or an ipad. The mom has a smart phone. They somehow seem to be really connected despite or almost because of this; they share information with one another; they clearly value and love one another; they like the restaurant; they are pleasant to their waiter; they expect good things to come. They remain present and open to life's wonders around them even with their books and gadgets.

If this thin excuse to justify my listening to Bleak House via bluetooth on my ipad has any sort of conclusion or next direction, it would be to encourage us to think of Eckhart Tolle or others who remind us of the value of the present moment, of being present in the present moment, of allowing, of celebrating the present moment. TVs and computers and smart phones can pull us out of the present moment. So can books, newspapers, racing thoughts, grudges that we could allow to float away, and the like. And we can connect no matter what is there.

Katrina Kenison, editor and write, describes some of this in "Dailiness" from Mitten Strings for God: Reflections for Mothers in a Hurry. Her book is helpful (and available from our school library when it reopens in the fall). Here is an excerpt: http://www.ofspirit.com/tw-mittenstringsforgod.htm.

many shades of green

Dear Families,

Our forty minute uphill hike from deep in the woods today reminds me of the remarkable vitality of our children in this year's Butterfly Nursery class. What a variety of terrains and shades of greens we have explored and encountered! Sometimes the sun showers us with dappled light. There is an enormous root system from a fallen tree painted shades of green that seem sublime. Tender wildflowers peek at us from the side of the trail.

Teachers and children enjoy the salubrious value of these walks. We are navigating down and up steep hills, running like Puck and plodding like Bottom, rolling and rolling at Granny's meadow, and benefiting from a host of movements in nature. At a movement seminar at Rudolf Steiner College, I learned that Germans created gymnastics as something for people to do in cities when they could no longer access the health-giving benefits of tree climbing and playing in nature. How fortunate for all of us (teachers included) to have such a variety of outdoor space to explore.

"Here's the Towel": Feedback and Bikram Yoga

In "Rhythm and Discipline in Home Life," Rahima Baldwin Dancy reminds us that we will find ourselves tuned up to guide our children once we release our (false) expectation that they will remember our (ostensibly) wisdom tomorrow. Rather than, "Why do you always slam the door? I tell you every day not to!" we might make it a (spiritual) practice to be present at the door like a zen master ready to help our child close the door gently. Sharifa Oppenheimer gives this analogy: anytime we have to direct our children in an incendiary moment, we soothe our children and shift their vibrations if we can offer our words with the same inflection we might say to a guest, "Here's the towel."

I remember uttering (out loud!) "Here's the towel" to girls in an explosive conflict over a doll. Strangeness disarmed them. They paused, descried their weird teacher, and flowed into collaborative and imaginative play they were both wanting so much.

Andrea Gambardella, the teacher who launched me into nursery and parent & child teaching in Baltimore, a teacher who drips with erudition and integrity and warmth, encourages us to find metaphors that work for us. She pictured herself as a sturdy oak, able to stand no matter what winds or storms blew by it.

Recently I took my first Bikram Yoga class. Glorious. 90 minutes at 105 degrees. This intensity tasted like the wee little bear's porridge to me: I opened, expanded, released. I adored the teachers. This was Seattle. Classes had about 30 to 50 students. The poses are difficult. Teachers need to correct us constantly. They need to correct sometimes one student. Sometimes they have to give generic feedback that will help everyone without causing one or a few students to overcompensate. The four teachers I've witnessed seemed a master at giving this necessary and almost constant feedback in a supportive and nonjudgmental tone. I never once felt my worthiness in question.

Eureka. I had a vibrant, living, refreshed metaphor for my teaching. While I would not talk constantly in an early childhood classroom, I did wonder if I could carry this attitude of giving feedback with such equanimity, something I know we are supposed to do--yet it is so easy to slide into the slough of despair and exasperation. Could I guide that child about to strike another child with a stick (important for me to intervene) with the same calmness and freedom from judgment my yoga instructors treat me with when I can't touch my forehead to the floor while having my knees locked? I could! And did. And it helped the children realize that they did not have to be stuck in their same patterns. These things actually work!

We want to feel well. We want to flow. We want to expand. We want to be free. We want to lift others. And it is so easy to fall into unconscious habits that take us out of the present moment, that bring in doubt, judgment. It is such a blessing when a new experience can help to wake us up yet again and remind us that we can step back into a place of presence, free from resistance, full of allowing, knowing, seeing, loving, helping, nurturing, soothing, sweating. Here's the towel to dry off your sweat when you find your practice.

Maxwelton Beach, June 1, 5 to 7pm

Dear Nursery and Parent & Child Families and Friends,

Please gather with us on our final day of Rosebud classes (and our final full week of nursery classes) at Maxwelton Beach on Friday, June 1, from 5 to 7pm for a pot-luck and festive summer expansion. The weather will invite, as appropriate, Maypole dancing, fiddle tunes, and folk song singing from Rise Up Singing.

If there are enough willing adults, we may even put on a play for and with the children. We did this with the Elves and The Shoemaker a few winters ago, and it was delightful.

Join us on June 6 at 11:30am!

Dear Parents,

Here are some notes as we approach our conclusion of our school year together and our expansion into the wide reaches of summer.

Beginning after Memorial Day, there will be a large basket labeled "lost and found" in the cubby area.  Please take time to look through your child's cubby to be sure that everything, in fact, belongs to you.  Anything that does not belong to you can be put into the basket.  It is a good idea to take a daily gander through the basket and claim anything you recognize.  Anything left in the basket after June 6 will either be added to our extra clothes bins or donated to Good Cheer.

Wednesday, June 6 is our last day of school.  For many years now we have enjoyed a round of strawberries and shortcake to bring festivity to our final hour together before the summer break begins.  Please join the Butterfly, Sunflower, and Golden Forest classes for this festive time at 11:30 on the early childhood playground.  If you are not able to attend at that time, 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 6.  There will be a checklist on Cordula's clipboard that hangs next to the girl's bathroom.)

Challenge as Strength

Dear Families,

Here I digress. If you seek long peregrinations through my mind on matters related to Waldorf education and child development, consider visiting butterflynursery.blogspot.com and/or dewdroprosebud.blogspot.com. Both blogs have a search feature. You can type in, for example, "sleep" or "conflict" to uncover and dust off posts from past years that address these topics.

My present intent it to present a series of shorter essays that present one topic at a time.

Steiner extolled the lively child, the active child, the defiant child. In the fire of early childhood, Steiner foresaw the strength that would aid the child in work and life as an adult. Steiner did not, however, exhort us to give children free reign while we stood around, helpless, wondering when the angels drop down to tell us what to do. It be can be quizzical to maddening to liberating to read Steiner and notice the times he recommends intervention when I would not have thought of one and when he advises us to let things be when one might have thought of intervening. There is no exact formula. No exact recipe. Each child is unique. Again and again we are told to observe without judgment, and the inspiration will come to us.

I propose the following: for the next days or weeks, seek out a behavior of your child that seems annoying or upsetting. With as much fun as possible, create a scenario in your mind of your child as an adult, with this perhaps disturbing seed of early childhood serving as a strength. You may find it best to start with an easy one. You may find it easy to start with a difficult one and spin out a far-fetched fantasy (the world will change a lot in 20 years). Perhaps you will imagine or intuit things that can help guide the child's challenge into strength. Perhaps not. But even the gesture of making peace with the Now, the suchness of the moment, may bring pleasure, contentment, radiance, a winged chariot pulled by 2 pegasus (keep it fun and imaginative), and the like. This may be easy. It may not. Have fun either way.

Here I defy my inclination to compare this to multifarious processes from other educational and spiritual streams. Tell me how you fare. Expect more later.

With appreciation of your willingness to play,

William

Meeting, Wednesday, May 16

Dear Nursery and Parent & Child Families,

You are invited to join all early childhood families on Wednesday, May 16, as teachers describe and answer questions about expanded programming options for the 2012-2013 school year.  Please see below for times.

Wednesday May 16th
All Early Childhood Parent Meeting 6:00pm - 7:00pm
Parents of Rising First Grade Students only (Fall 2013) 7:00pm - 7:45pm
Please join us as we look ahead to next years early childhood program.
The early childhood teachers will present an overview of some inspired program 
changes in our early childhood department for the fall.

Feel free to contact me with any questions,

William

Requests for help: Compassionate Response, Confident Captain, Library

Dear Families,

Although I am endeavoring to craft short yet helpful letters, I will cheat here and offer links to longer pieces of prose for those interested. This comes upon two separate requests from parents of children of different ages--it seems they were seeking inspiration, courage, support, more for being present with their ever changing child.

Consider attending the Compassionate Response meditation work (from Kim Payne) Wednesday after school (ads in the newsletter). If you cannot attend, a CD of Kim Payne's lecture on this subject is available in the school library. In the past decade, several parents have reported to me that this work has brought light and relief during times of moderate to intense stress.

If you visit my blog at the link below, you will find some of my gathered thoughts on parenting.

http://butterflynursery.blogspot.com/2010/10/parent-evening-confident-captain-zen.html


Finally, the Kathrine Dickerson library has many resources. "Rhythm and Discipline in Home Life" from You Are Your Child's First Teacher can be very helpful. 1, 2, 3 . . . The Toddler Years has short chapters on subjects such as biting, fighting, tantrums, sibling rivalry, and the like and can offer quick relief. If you prefer a longer, more meditative, George Eliot Victorian novel type process (which, to be honest, is more my style), wading through Whole Child/Whole Parent or A New Earth could be quite helpful.

Blessings,

William

our children are enjoying these verses

Our nursery children demonstrate a keen interest both in fairy tales with moderate complexity and dramatic tension and in finger plays and verses that brought delight in our parent & child classes. At present children effervesce when the buzzing bee at the end of this sequence approaches:


Spring 2012 verses and songs
(Most of these come from Wilma Ellersiek)



Softly tippytoes,
On his trip the Sandman goes.
Tap tap tap tap tap tap tap,
Slips through garden and the house.
Scatters all his dreams about.
Scatters all his dreams about.
La la la la la la la laa.
Mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mmm.
La la laaa.
Mm mm mmmmm.


Teck teck teck teck teck teck teck.
Hammers here woodpecker small in every bark he pecks.
Teck teck teck teck teck teck teck.
Hammers here woodpecker small a little worm he seeks.

In every bark he pecks.
A little worm he seeks.
T-t-t-t-t-t-t-t teck teck teck.
T-t-t-t-t-t-t-t teck teck teck.


To the woods, the children all take a walk today.
Listen to the birdies' song, joyous tirilay.
Ti-ri ti-ri-li, ti-ri ti-ri ti-ri-liii.
Ti-ri ti-ri-li, ti-ri ti-ri ti-ri-lay.

They stop and listen well.
Teck teck teck, teck teck teck.
Hammers the woodpecker, t-t-t-t-t-t teck.

The mourning dove coos coo-oo coo coo coo, coo-oo coo coo coo.
The chickadee twitters chickadee-dee-dee, chickadee-dee-dee.
The finch sings widgibbet, widgibbet, widgibbet.
The robin chirps tilliwit, tilliwit, tilliwit, tilliwit, tilliwit, tilliwit.

There's a concert in the wood.
Listen, listen, it sounds good.

Teck teck teck, teck teck teck.
T-t-t-t-t-t teck.

Coo-oo, coo coo coo, coo-oo coo coo coo.
Chickadee-dee-dee, chickadee-dee-dee.
Widgibbet, widgibbet, widgibbet.
Tilliwit, tilliwit, tilliwit, tilliwit, tilliwit, tilliwit.

It calls and twitters far and near,
Just as the children like to hear.
The sun to listens as they cheep,
And when he sets and goes to sleep,
The many birdies small
Stop their singing, one and all.
Snuggle in their cosy nest,
From their singing now they rest.
(humming lullaby)
The concert is done.
Children leave now, one by one.


See, but see.
In the green grass, the grass so green,
A million golden suns are seen.

Dandelion, Dandelion
Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la
(repeat)

And then all the blossoms must close
And for a little while repose.
A second time the blossoms open out,
And--see!--a puffy flower looks about.

The wind blows strong -- phhhhh
Into the air the star-child throng.

The seeds hover, high and low, high and low,
Hovering so, high and low.
Gently sink down to the earth below,
That a new crop of dandelions may grow.

Dandelion, Dandelion
Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la
(repeat)


The little daisy, small and fine
Is waiting for the sun to shine.

Climbs the sun up to his height,
She opens up her blossoms white.

Goes the sun to sleep at night,
She shuts her petals tight.

Let's see who comes to visit our garden.

In my garden, the flower in bloom is waiting, waiting for whom?
For the beetle child, the beetle child!
She ree ra rocks it, in the breeze mild, the beetle child (repeat).

The flower in bloom is waiting, waiting for whom?
For the butterfly, the flutter child.
She ree ra rocks it, in the breeze mild, the flutter child (repeat).

The flower in bloom is waiting, waiting for whom?
bzzz, bzzz, bzzz, bzzz, for the buzzy bee, the buzzy child--bzzz, bzzz.
She ree ra rocks it, in the breeze mild, the buzzy child (repeat).

Stays the flower now alone?
O no. To her comes down the sunshine bright.
Stroking her so soft and light.
And when the sunshine goes, she falls asleep at night.

May Day preview, flowers

Dear Nursery Families,

Kim, Dyanne, and I are pleased with our plans for tomorrow, May 1. You will drop off and pick up your child as usual. We will spend our entire morning with the Golden Forest class, helping them to bake their bread, helping to knit may crowns, playing on the play yard, and joining them for a snack on the playground. The Sunflower children will join us, and then we will process to the sunny meadow. While children play and assist, adults and older children will craft may crowns (and perhaps other surprises) for each child. Each teacher will guide a set of dances around our little maypole--many of your children will remember my dances from parent & child classes. Our children will likely be enlivened and fatigued by the merry fellowship.

We are gathering flowers and will have the right amount for ornate or austere May crowns. If you have a few moments to clip a few flowers to weave into our crowns, please drop them off outside in the morning.

With warmth and light,

William

Possibility of Outdoor Starts

Dear Nursery Families,

Welcome back. For several days before our break, some children and I started the mornings outside on the playground. When Kim Dunkley, the Golden Forest teacher, had asked me to help out when a flat tire delayed her assistant, our nursery children had such a rich morning that I continued with this flexible rhythm (some children inside with Lynne, others outside with me) even when my presence was not required--though for their part, the kindergarten teachers appreciated the presence of me and our children: new play mates, new potentials. As we approach the end of our nursery year and look toward new classroom constellations next year, it seems efficacious to harmonize our nursery children with older kindergarten children in a mellow tone.

While this modified rhythm seems to swing, we will continue with these changes and improvisation. At 8:35 or so, I will go outside with some or all of our children, while Lynne stays inside to prepare snack with the help of one or a few (not so different from what happens in classrooms opening right onto the playground). We'll come back inside around 9:20 or 9:30 to gather for snack, indoor play, and a puppet show or story before we all go outside for a walk to the meadow or woods to end our morning.

It is possible our nursery children will begin to miss each other, and after a day or two I will return us to our usual rhythm of all of us commencing the day inside (or if Lynne or I need to be absent, we would all move as a class). It is also possible some of us will join the Golden Forest class on the playground for the rest of this school year. As I've written before, I so appreciate the freedom and responsibility given to Waldorf teachers--we are to observe our children with a keen eye and provide experiences that nourish them; these nourishments take a different form each and every year. Some days I may encourage this or that child to join us outside or inside to foster a variety of cooperative opportunities amongst the children.

For now, you are welcome to bring your child to school in outdoor clothes. It also seems to work for me to help dress early birds. It has also worked for parents who come a little later (remember, there is no such thing as being late to nursery class; our wish is for your morning routine with your child to feel as peaceful as possible for both of you) to greet Lynne, equip their child for the outdoors, and bring their child to the playground to meet me.

With appreciation for your flexibility and support of the class,

William