I love how in the Mays and Junes of yore, children in my classes have found delight in playing out the story of Santa Claus bringing presents. I particularly remember some sweltering days in Baltimore: in their collective minds, children were in a delightful world of Christmas. Any time is a great time for robust conversations about Halloween costumes. Our children can reveal to us the pleasure in slowly digesting and savoring a holiday or festival; we can relax; we have all year to celebrate Michaelmas (indeed, Steiner wanted to bring back the Michaelmas festival to help us maintain the gifts of the Easter festival throughout the year; to keep things present, in the Now, rather than shelved in the realm of miracles or things you only celebrate for a brief while).
Our Golden Forest children vary in age and inclination. Some of your children, perhaps inspired by older siblings, are chomping at the bit to create Valentines for their 14 classmates (see below) and teachers. Others may be happily remembering Michaelmas at present--yet may become inspired to make something for classmates of a Valentine's theme in May. I want to welcome this diversity.
Your child is welcome to make something for every child in the class and teachers (don't forget Kristin and Cordula if they are part of your child's experience) (and indeed, I get pleasure from thinking of their pleasure in making, so they need not make something for me unless it pleases them) if this is inspiring and motivating for your child. It need not be paper. I could imagine some children finger knitting 16 to 18 bracelets to distribute. If your child does bring in something, please have it be home-made; no food please (in respect of allergies).
On the 14th, we will bake a treat to have as a dessert for our traditional snack of apple sauce, eggs, and almonds.
At present we have 14 children. We may have a 15th child join us before the February break. It is probably good to make an extra "just in case gift."
It seems to me most allowing and effective to have any children distributing gifts to their classmates to place them right into our cubby bags in the hallway (Molly or I can help younger children make sure they find every bag); it would be good for the cubby bags to go home over the 2 week break. This frees children from worrying about how many or few Valentines they might get in this or that lovely painted mailbox we might otherwise create. The cubby bags are always there.
My intention here is to create space for a pleasing activity that inspires your child, something that seems the next logical step. If a child, when gently asked if she wants help making Valentines for classmates, shows resistance, I might reflect back, "William says that is fine. He loves how children can enjoy a holiday all through the year. Let me know if you ever want to make gifts for your classmates in the future."
We are doing great with soup, by the way. A couple more apples would be really nice for our apple-sauce; we have a couple of parents quite generous with their apples, so things always work out.
With appreciation,
William
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