Assurances

"TO MY FELLOW SWIMMERS"

"We have been telling the people that this is the Eleventh Hour
Now you must go back and tell the people that this is the Hour
And there are things to be considered

Where are you living?
What are you doing?
What are your relationships?
Are you in the right relation?
Where is your water?
Know your garden.

It is time to speak your truth.
Create your community.
Be good to each other.
And do not look outside yourself for the leader.


There is a river flowing now very fast.
It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid.
They will try to hold onto the shore.
They will feel they are being torn apart and they will suffer greatly.
Know the river has its destination.

The elders say we must let go of the shore, and push off and into the river, keep our eyes open, and our head above the water.

See who is in there with you and Celebrate.

At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally.
Least of all ourselves.
For the moment that we do, our spiritual growth and journey comes to a halt.

The time of the lone wolf is over,
Gather yourselves!

Banish the word struggle from your attitude and your vocabulary.
All that you do now must be done in a sacred manner
And in celebration."

"WE ARE THE ONES WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR..."
Hopi Nation, Oraibi Arizona

September, 2001

Dear Nursery Families,

A friend suggested that I read the book Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow by Elizabeth Lesser. As I read Lesser's book, received nourishment from it, and found myself opening up, I also noticed how much in concert her words are with so much of what he have discussed and written about in our parent & child and nursery classes. The Hopi Message to the Elders, for example, which I was given as a gift by Rena Osmer at a conference for Waldorf Early Childhood teachers, seems as if it could be an epigraph for Lesser's book. Osmer, and powerful teacher of children and teacher of teachers, was offering strength and courage (which Steiner offered his teachers at the first Waldorf School in Stuttgart) and helping us realize that just because we had lots of pink walls, silks, and soft toys, we did not need to be soft ourselves. Indeed, Osmer believes that parents and teachers of today need to look not just to Gabriel (the archangel of birth) but also to Michael as we nurture children in the challenges of today (remembering, of course, as Kim Payne will remind us, the way we will be effective teachers and parents is to love the times we live in). She described the model of the warrior-nurturer to us and exhorted us to use this as our image.

(A few friends and I had a grand time creating a skit about the warrior-nurturer [complete with sword to battle grades teachers or board members or administrators if a meeting got testy] as a gift when we graduated from Rudolf Steiner College, which Rena appreciated very much. Children and adults need humor and laughter as well as form and protection and strength).

In the middle of Broken Open are a few well-written chapters on children and parenting. You may be able to get a taste of these chapters and the entire book from this google book preview. Lesser's ideas work very well with Katrina Kenison's Mitten Strings for God (a book written by a writer turned mom who translates gifts of Waldorf education for her home life) and Polly Berrien Berends' Whole Child/Whole Parent (which is not about Waldorf education but works well in concert with the principles and practices of Waldorf education). While Mitten Strings for God is written for "mothers in a hurry" (Kenison's subtitle), Berends' work, as with writings by Steiner, takes time to digest. I really only began to understand the book on my 3rd time through or so. That being said, there are gifts we can receive from her book even if we dive in and dive out. Her assurances for new parents, for example, can give clarity and comfort to all of us, whether we are parents of infants or tending to ourselves and other adults. We have copies of this book in the Kathrine Dickerson Memorial Library; I recommend giving the book a try when the time seems right.

With warmth and light,

William Geoffrey Dolde

Calendar Preview

Dear Nursery Families,

It occurs to me that there a few times coming up in which my schedule will differ from the school schedule you received at the start of the school year, and I want to give you a heads up.

Our Nursery Class Parent meeting occurs on March 17 from 5 - 6pm (the EC teachers yielded the 24th to the middle school so they could put on their class play). This will not be a lecture, so I would love your questions, comments, and ideas for what you would like to talk about in advance. Please email, call, or talk to me.

Nursery children with their parents (and/or grandparents and caregivers) are invited to join our parent & child families and community for our young child Spring Festival on Friday, March 19, from 9 to 10:30am. This will be similar to last year's event, during which we will meet Mother Earth, Father Sun, Sister Rain, and Brother Wind.

Nursery families only need one conference a school year. For families seeking a conference, know that I will likely hold conferences on Saturday morning, April 3 (rather than Thursday and Friday the 1st and 2nd). This greatly simplifies my childcare situation. If you would like a second conference this school year, I ask your patience; please let others sign up for that Saturday, and perhaps we can arrange a meeting on a Saturday morning in late April or May.

The boys and I will be visiting my grandparents in Virginia and Florida over the Spring Break. I will not be in school on Monday through Wednesday, April 12 to 14. Lynne will work with a substitute for those 3 days.

As always, please ask me to clarify if anything I write is confusing.

With warmth and light,

William Geoffrey Dolde

Re-enrollment Intention for 2010-2011

Dear Current Butterfly Nursery Families,

I'll give details and discussion below, but here is the brief recommendation from the early childhood faculty. When filling out your intentions for your current Butterfly Nursery child for next year, please consider your child to be kindergarten ready for next year and select a 4 or 5 day option (with the option of extended care).

Some Details

Many of you attended Helle Heckmann's presentation in the Autumn. There, and in her work with the teachers, she made a good case for the value of a 4 or 5 day rhythm in school over a 3 day rhythm, and the value of having very mixed age kindergartens (her program mixes children ages 1 to 7; it would take quite a licensing change to go that far here). Next year we are taking a first step in this direction. Golden Forest and Sunflower will be parallel 4 or 5 day kindergartens with children from age 3 to 6. For a variety of reasons--largely because of my other teaching roles in instrumental music and parent & child--we are maintaining my nursery class at 3 days for next school year, even though we are believing more and more that a 4 day program would be better pedagogically even for our youngest of students.

As many of you know, we had a waiting list for the nursery class this summer, and we want to make sure to be able to welcome new nursery children next summer (several of you enrolled over the summer) so that our school can remain strong and grow stronger. By some past ways of sorting children, 11 of our 12 children could return to Butterfly next year, which would be very easy for me (to have the same class a second year) but not in the best interest of the school. We want to assure you that we are not sending our young 4 and 3 year olds next year as orphan young children in a sea of older children; Dyanne and Kim will make sure their curriculum meets the age of your child, and it will feel like a healthy group because there will be such a strong presence of young 4 and older 3 year olds in next year's kindergarten. My younger son, for example, will attend school 5 full days with Kim or Dyanne next year. (On a side note, this year's kindergarten is particularly old; a number of children were 6 before the school year started; next year's kindergarten, even without all our families, will be on average quite a bit younger). As your child begins this new journey, it is likely she or he will be able to stay with Kim and Dyanne for 3 years to receive benefits of that continuity.

That being said, there could be a compelling reason why we would make an exception next year. If you feel 3 days is the right option for your child, please find a time to talk to me before filling in your enrollment intentions--or mark your desire and plan to have a conversation with me or the early childhood faculty before contracts for next year come out.

This seems a big and exciting leap for all of us (it is a little scary, to be honest, to think that as of now I have 0 children enrolled in my nursery for next year), but many of the current 6 year olds in kindergarten began 3 years ago when they were young 4 year olds or older 3 year olds, so in sense this is a return to what was our normal practice in the past.

We can discuss your joys, hopes, concerns, wishes for this year and next at our upcoming parent meeting from 5 to 6pm on March 17 (the date has been changed from the original calendar).

With warmth and light,

William Geoffrey Dolde

Soup; Refining, Drawing Article

Thank you for all the carrots and soup vegetables last week. Please remember to bring soup vegetables Tuesday (if your child is concerned, I will prepare bread for them).

We had a generous amount of fruit last week, and I have more than enough fruit for the coming 2 day week.

Wednesday again seemed a positive day for our children. The woods around our school provide teachers and children a gift, and our nursery children seem to be taking advantage of this gift. As I worked on the trail Wednesday, children pretended to cook, pretended to be bears in caves near me, pretended to be bears cooking. While children had a lot of freedom, I sensed they also felt comfort from having me nearby on the trail work and Michael near the teepee sawing wood. We will continue with this work and rhythm in the coming weeks.

It was great to have the 7th and 8th graders help our nursery children get dressed and come to the woods with us (we will try to work out any clothes that end up getting traded with all this help). While many of our nursery children have enjoyed the visits before, the open space of the outdoors with the protectiveness of the woods seemed to allow both the younger and old children to relax and find joy and comfort in being in the moment--something we could wish for for all of us.

You may notice that your children have not had as much time to draw. This has not stemmed from a desire to limit drawing but from my observation of rich their play has been inside the classroom (every child gets involved right away with amazingly few conflicts at present), and I felt by introducing the mats, papers, and crayons, I might be distracting the children from their work. As I have said and written before and advised other teachers when mentoring them, one of the most important skills an early childhood teacher can have is to keep the day nourishing and simple by being willing to exclude certain activities, artistic work, and the like. When I was in teacher training, I remember a frenzy that would come about when we would learn of all the wonderful things a teacher in a Waldorf kindergarten could do; it began to become pretty stressful when realized we couldn't do everything without creating a really hectic and unhealthy morning. Over the years I have grown from the process of refining, simplifying, eliminating, sometimes adding, and working like an artist to craft a rhythm of the morning that really helps the children in my care flourish--what may work one year may need to change the next.

Drawing is a wonderful activity. It is also one that a child can dive into with passion for days or weeks or months at age 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 or 6, and it is an activity that a child can let sleep for days or months and pick up again with a fervor. Waldorf educators take children's drawings with great interest--especially for what they can reveal about the development of the child. I recommend the book Understanding Children's Drawings: Tracing the Path of Incarnation by Michaela Strauss. The first few chapters, in particular, help us to make sense of the scribbles, spirals, circles, and crosses of young children's drawings. I believe a copy of this book is available in the parent library. I am also providing this preview of the book from google; the preview contains the chapters on drawings for preschool age children. If it is hard to read on the computer screen, you may wish to scroll down to the chapters on drawings from preschool children.

I look forward to seeing you at my talk on conflict on Wednesday at 5pm. Kindergarten and parent & child families have been invited as well.

With warmth and light,

William Geoffrey Dolde

Seems to be Going Well

Dear Families,

In general, our nursery children have had a great deal of fun, activity, joyful, and purposeful movement in the clearing near the teepee for the first 45 minutes of the morning--even with the rain (the trees do give shelter). Children have played imaginatively, watched Michael saw wood, and come with me as I create a new trail--the trail grows quickly, about 20 yards, and 5 children came a along and found nooks to play in around me. The children's joy and engagement reminds me of the satisfaction I derived from reading Richard Louv's Last Child in the Woods in preparation for a talk last year. Copies of this book are available in the Kathrine Dickerson Memorial Library.

Each group of children is unique and responds and grows differently. As such, it is impossible for me to know if the increasing joy outside is because of the subtle shifts in rhythm, because of shifts in the children, because of the long break, or for other reasons. Whatever the reason, this outside time no longer seems--as it had for some children--something the children hope to get through so that they can play inside. It would be my ideal for children to find challenge and satisfaction in all parts of the morning, and we seem to be heading in this direction.

After our return to the playground, children are digging, playing imaginatively (five children had a boat with many voyages, fishing trips, and returns), cooking with sand, swinging, and helping Michael move wood chips under the kindergarten swings. Again, it seems the quality, engagement, and depth of the play here has increased--whether because our children are in a new place after the break or because they are no longer anxious about separation when playing at the sand and swings.

The indoor play continues to be lively, flexible, and generally cooperative--a few skirmishes over silks, but the times without conflict are far greater than the times of conflict.

Please remember that we will dismiss from outside on Wednesday, and we have no school on Monday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

With warmth and light,

William Geoffrey Dolde

Details for Monday

Synopsis of the details that follow:

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

Drop-Off -- Going to the Teepee earlier

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dismissal

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

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

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

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

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

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

Story earlier in the day

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

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

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

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

Thanks for reading,

William Dolde

Soccer Park on Langley Road, Saturday

Dear Families,

My boys and I will be at the smaller castle park near all the soccer fields on Langley Road tomorrow, Saturday, from about 10-11:30am. I invite any to all of you to come by, play, say hello, and ease back into our school community.

Expect a post later today or tomorrow with some details for Monday. While I have been pleased with the cooperative play of our nursery children, like my kindergarten colleagues, I have had time to reflect upon my own observations and those of Helle Heckmann and will be making some minor adjustments to the rhythm of our day and week. This will affect, for some but not all families, drop-off, pick-up, and what snacks to bring (again, the changes will be minor).

With warmth and light,

William Dolde