Helle Heckmann speaks Tuesday night

Dear Rosebud and Dewdrop Families,

Please remember the following:

Whidbey Island Waldorf School Presents
Helle Heckmann
Founder of Nøkken Child Care Center in Denmark
Helle Heckmann is the founder of Nøkken, a renowned early childhood program. She is active in teacher education throughout the world,
supporting educators in Europe, North America and South America. Her books include Nøkken, More News from Nøkken,
and most recently, Childhood’s Garden.
“No Reruns on Childhood”
December 1st
6:00—7:30pm
You are invited to join the WIWS Early Childhood Faculty for an
evening lecture by Helle Heckmann. Helle will speak about her
experiences in the Nøkken community in Denmark and about issues related to raising children in modern society. This evening promises
to be lively and inspiring.
Suggested Donation: $5.00—$10.00
Whidbey Island Waldorf School
6335 Old Pietila Rd.
Clinton, WA 98236
(360) 341-5686
www.wiws.org

With warmth and light,

William Dolde

Visiting WIWS in December

Dear Rosebud and Dewdrop Families,

Even though our fall session concludes this Friday, we do have several opportunities for you and your child to stay connected with our school.

On Tuesday, December 1, at 6pm, Helle Heckmann, a teacher of Waldorf early childhood teachers from Denmark, will visit our school to speak to parents and teachers on the topic "No Reruns on Childhood." The lecture will likely be in the Common Room at Forest Hall (where our lantern walk puppet show took place). Here is an article by Heckmann to giver you a sense of her style.

On Saturday, December 5, our school hosts a Children's Holiday Workshop from 10 to 3. While some of the craft activities may not be just right for our infants and toddlers, there will be music almost all day long, food, and holiday spirit (including a chance to shop for Waldorf-inspired toys).

On Friday, December 11, at 10am at the Sanctuary at the Whidbey Institute (down the private road from our school), our Advent Spiral for parent & child families and infants, toddlers, preschoolers and their parents, granparents, and friends takes place. I will write more about this as the date approaches.

With warmth and light,

William Geoffrey Dolde

Songs and verses at snack time

Dear Families,

Per your request, this document contains the words to the songs and finger games I present at the table before snack time.

I will also print out a few copies.

Cheers,

William

Lantern Walk, November 13

LANTERN WALK

Dear Rosebud and Dewdrop Families and Friends,

As winter approaches we will kindle the light within us all at our upcoming Lantern Walk this Friday November 13th. We will gather our courage for the dark days ahead as we walk into the night with our shining lanterns guiding us. The lanterns are a symbol of our inner light that must be kindled during the long winter months ahead.

There will be two lantern walks, one at 5:00pm and one at 6:15pm. Rosebud families with kindergarten siblings have been invited to the 6:15pm lantern walk. I invite other Dewdrop and Rosebud families, past and present and future, to our 5pm walk. If you are not currently enrolled in our class (or Cordula's or Vanessa's program) but would like to attend our walk, please contact me so that I can prepare a lantern for you. Siblings are welcome if they are able to support a reverent mood and stay close to their parents at all times during the festival, including the walk where they should be by the side of their parents. They can bring their own lanterns if they have one.

Please arrive on time and walk quietly to the playground where we will have hot apple cider. Please do not arrive early. (This is very important). Park in the lower parking lot just off Campbell Rd (you turn immediately right as you come into the main driveway on Old Pietila Road).

After a few minutes we will go inside to the Butterfly classroom to watch a puppet play. The teachers will then lead us on the lantern walk. After the lantern walk we will lead you back to your cars and say goodbye.

Please look in your parent folders on Wednesday November 11th for a small gift to put under your child's pillow to find after the Lantern walk, right before bed or the following morning. (We will not have these for siblings who attend, apologies).

This is a quiet and reverent festival and we ask that you help support this mood by quietly guiding your children through the experience.

Blessings

Dyanne, Kim, William, Vanessa and Cordula

Lantern Workshop Monday night

The sunlight fast is dwindling, my little lamp needs kindling.
Its beam shines far in darkest night,
Oh, lantern guide me with your light.

Celebrating Fall Festivals
A Parent Workshop on Lantern Walks
Presented by Cordula Hetland and Vanessa Kohlhaas

Monday, November 9th
7 – 9pm

As the days grow shorter, we must keep our inner light burning. Come join us in talking about how to celebrate this season of darkness with children through lantern walks. Participants will learn about lantern walks, sing lantern songs, and make a lantern to share with their family. This symbolic tradition brings home the deeper truth in the words of Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism (563-483 B.C.) “There isn’t enough darkness in all the world to snuff out the light of one little candle.”

Whidbey Island Waldorf School
6335 Old Pietila Rd. in Clinton

Advanced registration required
Suggested donation: $5.00
Supplies to make your own lantern will be provided

For more information or to register:
Email: butterflygarden@gmail.com
Or call: 360-221-2270

Option for Parent & Teacher Conferences

Dear Families,

Outside the Butterfly classroom, I have posted Thursday morning parent & teacher conference times. While we do not expect parent & child families to sign up for a conference, I want to offer this possibility for you. It would be a chance for me to answer any questions about Waldorf education, my classes, or whatever you would want to talk about without the possible interruptions of class as usual.

The healthy social life is found
When, in the mirror of each human soul,
The entire community finds its reflection,
And when, in the community,
The virtue of each one is living.

Rudolf Steiner—The Social Motto

Elsewhere Steiner wrote that a social group can be at its healthiest and most effective when the work of the individual serves the needs of the group and when the needs of the individual are served by the work of the group. As I reflect upon the manner in which I teach parent & child classes and the changes I have made to my format over the years, I see that I strive to get closer and closer to this ideal in which children can bring their love of work into serving the class as a whole. As such, craft projects that led to individual objects to take home (not that there is anything wrong with this) tended to yield to cooking and cleaning projects in which the whole group could serve the individual or the individual could serve the whole group (all, of course, infused with the possibility of child-directed free play with a background of song and rhyme). Andrea Gambardella writes of this combination of work and play in "Sun and Rain." As children move through their first six years, they want to develop their senses of autonomy, initiative, and industry, and I have found that allowing them to be involved as much as possible in adult work from start to finish (with obvious limitations for safety--and respect for comfort levels of different families; some are quite willing to have a young child use and learn from a sharp and effective knife for cutting vegetables; others will want to wait until an older age feels just right; both are valid positions) has been a way to cultivate hearty and strong individuals and classes.

With warmth and light,

William Geoffrey Dolde