Dear Current Rosebud and Dewdrop Families, Friends, Alums, and Prospective Families,
You and your child(ren) are invited to our Spring Festival on Thursday, March 12, from 9:30 to 10:30am. It is an outdoor festival; we will get to meet Spring whether she presents herself as a lion or a lamb. Children and parents will gather on the playground and shelter where I will serve warm bread and chamomile tea; although we will not have soup, families are invited to bring crunchy vegetables to share.
At about 9:45am, we will take a short walk into the woods (alas, most strollers will not fit on the trails; ergos and other carriers will). There we will meet Mother Earth, Father Sun, Brother Wind, and Sister Rain; these friendly characters may even give us gifts. After the walk, we will return to the playground for more snacks, play, and conversation. If weather permits, I will end our festival with fiddle tunes and dancing outside.
There are a number of good books about festivals in the Kathrine Dickerson Memorial Library. Here also is an article written by an experienced kindergarten teacher from Santa Cruz Steve Spitalny about festivals. Although Steve is writing for teachers in this article, he helps us as parents as well simplify and clarify our thinking about marking the seasons of the year to support our children.
Here is a reminder for current parent & child families about our snow delay policy (snow is in the forecast this week). Please check www.schoolreport.org or call our school--360-341-5686. We follow the South Whidbey Public School decisions. If schools are delayed one hour, our parent & child classes will take place as usual, beginning at 9am. If schools are delayed two hours, our parent & child classes will begin at 10am and go until noon. If schools are closed, parent & child classes are cancelled, and you will receive a credit for that class.
With warmth and light,
William Geoffrey Dolde
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Schedule Reminder
Dear Dewdrop and Rosebud Families,
Here is a reminder of upcoming dates:
No classes February 19 & 20.
2 weeks of classes February 26 & 27, March 5 & 6.
No classes March 12 & 13.
A festival open to all parent & child families, alums, friends, relatives, community members, Thursday, March 12, 9:30am, outside the Butterfly Room. We will walk into the woods to look for Spring and perhaps meet Mother Earth, Father Sun, Sister Rain, and Brother Wind.
Final classes of the winter session: March 19 & 20.
The spring session commences on March 26 & 27.
Feel free to contact me if confusion persists.
With warmth and light,
William Geoffrey Dolde
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Simplicity and Spring Cleaning
Dear Families,
I hope many adults are able to attend tonight (Wednesday's) lecture on Simplicty Parenting by Kim Payne. In his talk he often exhorts parents to remove clutter from their child's physical environment and schedule. As I think about cleaning and clarifying, I am reminded of an article by Linda Thomas on chaos and cleaning and caring. As head house mother of the Goetheanum in Switzerland, in charge of keeping a center of spiritual and altruistic thought tidy, Thomas developed great insights into the spiritual aspects of, say, cleaning a toilet. She is an inspiring speaker, and her article alone has helped parents find new rewards in what were formerly odious tasks. Rather than becoming a distraction from parenting or personal growth, cleaning can become an aspect of our personal growth through parenting (much the argument of Whole Child/Whole Parent, an excellent book available in the Kathrine Dickerson Memorial Library).
As we remove clutter from our children's lives, we want to be careful to preserve the right for our children to encounter and overcome and learn from obstacles. Last week I showed the rest of the faculty video footage of infants and toddlers interacting at Loczy in Budapest. The faculty showed interest in what I narrated and what they observed. A colleague asked what I thought about the apparent clutter in the play room the infants at Loczy shared. I remarked that the Pikler and Gerber work reminds us to refrain from cleaning everything up right away to make things easy for the infants and toddlers. Infants and toddlers learn something as they try to crawl or walk or climb through and around all the toys on the playroom floor, and the nurses (and RIE teachers in America) are careful to refrain from clearing everything out of the way to make things easy. When left to develop with loving attention and trust, infants and toddlers will amaze us with what they are able to accomplish.
Joan Almon, Waldorf teacher of early childhood teachers and head of the Alliance for Childhood, writes with eloquence of the fluid play scenarios of the 3 to 5 year old. A 4 year old may have toys scattered about the house and have seemed to switch from playing boats to cats to dolls to tea party to dragons to construction to bus driving. When a parent suggests the child put away a toy from several scenarios ago, the child might object, "I'm still playing with that!" because, in the fluid, developing attention span of the 3 to 5 year old, the child is still playing with it. This Protean flow, rather than being a diversion from the development of attention span, is the way the 3 to 5 year old develops attention span. While we as parents and teachers help our children by bringing form to their surroundings, we also help then by becoming a bit comfortable with chaos, clutter, and challenge.
This reminds me of an interaction with a girl in the nursery class today. Many nursery children have become interested in washing dishes of late, and the more children there are, the more likely it is that someone will get wet. Rather than changing this girl's shirt right away, I offered her a couple of towels to dry herself with. She became very engaged with drying herself and then a classmate, and deep attention and cooperation were in the process of developing. Whereas at the beginning of the year becoming wet might have paralyzed her, now it gave her an opportunity to work and bond and imagine. We give gifts by what we as adults do and don't do. To paraphrase Kim Payne quoting something else, sometimes in a heated situation or crisis our presence is enough. The message to adults: Don't just do something, stand there!
With warmth and light,
William Dolde
I hope many adults are able to attend tonight (Wednesday's) lecture on Simplicty Parenting by Kim Payne. In his talk he often exhorts parents to remove clutter from their child's physical environment and schedule. As I think about cleaning and clarifying, I am reminded of an article by Linda Thomas on chaos and cleaning and caring. As head house mother of the Goetheanum in Switzerland, in charge of keeping a center of spiritual and altruistic thought tidy, Thomas developed great insights into the spiritual aspects of, say, cleaning a toilet. She is an inspiring speaker, and her article alone has helped parents find new rewards in what were formerly odious tasks. Rather than becoming a distraction from parenting or personal growth, cleaning can become an aspect of our personal growth through parenting (much the argument of Whole Child/Whole Parent, an excellent book available in the Kathrine Dickerson Memorial Library).
As we remove clutter from our children's lives, we want to be careful to preserve the right for our children to encounter and overcome and learn from obstacles. Last week I showed the rest of the faculty video footage of infants and toddlers interacting at Loczy in Budapest. The faculty showed interest in what I narrated and what they observed. A colleague asked what I thought about the apparent clutter in the play room the infants at Loczy shared. I remarked that the Pikler and Gerber work reminds us to refrain from cleaning everything up right away to make things easy for the infants and toddlers. Infants and toddlers learn something as they try to crawl or walk or climb through and around all the toys on the playroom floor, and the nurses (and RIE teachers in America) are careful to refrain from clearing everything out of the way to make things easy. When left to develop with loving attention and trust, infants and toddlers will amaze us with what they are able to accomplish.
Joan Almon, Waldorf teacher of early childhood teachers and head of the Alliance for Childhood, writes with eloquence of the fluid play scenarios of the 3 to 5 year old. A 4 year old may have toys scattered about the house and have seemed to switch from playing boats to cats to dolls to tea party to dragons to construction to bus driving. When a parent suggests the child put away a toy from several scenarios ago, the child might object, "I'm still playing with that!" because, in the fluid, developing attention span of the 3 to 5 year old, the child is still playing with it. This Protean flow, rather than being a diversion from the development of attention span, is the way the 3 to 5 year old develops attention span. While we as parents and teachers help our children by bringing form to their surroundings, we also help then by becoming a bit comfortable with chaos, clutter, and challenge.
This reminds me of an interaction with a girl in the nursery class today. Many nursery children have become interested in washing dishes of late, and the more children there are, the more likely it is that someone will get wet. Rather than changing this girl's shirt right away, I offered her a couple of towels to dry herself with. She became very engaged with drying herself and then a classmate, and deep attention and cooperation were in the process of developing. Whereas at the beginning of the year becoming wet might have paralyzed her, now it gave her an opportunity to work and bond and imagine. We give gifts by what we as adults do and don't do. To paraphrase Kim Payne quoting something else, sometimes in a heated situation or crisis our presence is enough. The message to adults: Don't just do something, stand there!
With warmth and light,
William Dolde
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Looking ahead to the Nursery
Dear Rosebud and Dewdrop Families,
You may also find these reflections from Whole Child/Whole Parent (linked to in a previous session) helpful.
Because many of you plan to join our Butterfly nursery next year or in a future, I thought I'd pass along some thoughts about rain and snow gear that are always too late for the current nursery families. We are blessed to be surrounded by woods. Not only do walks (climbs and runs) foster the development of initiative and autonomy amongst the nursery children, but the many clearings we visit provide different materials and scenarios for cooperative and imaginative play. Inside Waldorf early childhood classrooms, we bring in natural materials to spur children's imagination. At the Whidbey Island Waldorf School, we are so fortunate to bring the children outside to a variety of outdoor rooms, stocked with the makings of forts, fairy houses, bridges, caves, pretend ovens, and the like. While the nursery children play well and imaginatively indoors, often their ability to imagine and cooperate soars when they are outside.
While my experience finds that a mainly or entirely indoor class works well for parent & child classes, the nursery children thrive when we have generous amounts of time outside every day--sometimes as much as two hours if the weather permits (and it has been very mild and dry of late). Even when the weather is dry as it has been of late, children wear rain pants and boots every day from late September to early May. Getting dressed becomes part of the habit and part of the learning process--as children develop a sense of autonomy and competence. While warmth is important, and while you could find many articles about warmth in Waldorf periodicals, I think it important to remember that autonomy and initiative and industry (terms from Erik Erikson) are important parts of the nursery years. Some children who get dressed or undressed with confidence and grace when wearing slightly lighter clothes (rain pants and rain boots) resist getting dressed when provided with snow boots and snow pants. While we want your child to be comfortable next year, take into account your child's sense of accomplishment when selecting gear next year. Lighter outer clothes over multiple indoor layers may not work for all children, but some nursery children seem quite comfortable outside and heartened by their ability to dress themselves.
Also consider, as you think about procuring clothes for next year, what might give your child support as she or he uses the bathroom independently. Although snow pants with bibs keep children very warm, for a child just learning to use the toilet, the extra time for taking them off (and the coat) in a emergency can make hard to get clothes off quickly enough. If you already have your wet and cold weather clothes for next year, I am not asking you to spend more money to change things. My assistant and I patiently help children with their gear, and all the nursery children enjoy the outdoors whether they get ready quickly or slowly. I provide this advance information with the hope that it will help some parents.
With warmth and light,
William Geoffrey Dolde
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