Letter to Parents

Dear Parents,

What a joy to welcome your children back to Spindlewood after the holidays. They seemed to be filled with the magic of the season, and content to play in one large cluster (like the honeybees at this time of the year!). They have been creating their own imaginary landscapes with carved wooden figures and table dolls and enacting their own dramas, (still featuring taming, feeding and tending kittens.) 

We painted with all three primary colors last week, something we have built up to very slowly, beginning by experiencing first one and then two colors. With all three colors, there is the possibility of making only “mud” on the paper, but every one of the children created a painting with complete quiet and absorption with glowing colors. We will send it home soon.  

This past week the children also sewed together some of their previous paintings to make pocket folders to store their crayon colorings. They are collecting them carefully so that they can sew ten pages together to make their own books. 

Each child has also begun sewing with colored embroidery thread on cloth held taut by a wooden hoop. They delight in choosing their colors and use all of their powers of concentration to work the needle up and down. When it is finished, we will turn it into a balsam pillow. 

On our coldest day, we had a special session of beeswax modeling, warming a piece of modeling wax first in warm water and then in closed hands, and then carefully pressing the wax (as do the bees!) to form small vessels. The children spontaneously produced tiny boats, bowls and cups. Perhaps the most touching to my sensibilities was the six-year old boy who made a tiny “cradle”. 

Our daily story time has been a table puppet play of The Shoemaker and the Elves. Have I mentioned what an extraordinary class this is in their ability to listen in complete silence to stories? When a repairman turned up one morning to fix our gas heater just as the children were transitioning from rest time to story time, he seemed stunned by the quiet in the room of 12 children. 

This would be a good time for another child to join the kindergarten. Please let your friends know that we have an opening. 

At last we have snow! If it lasts, you may find us still on the sledding hill at 12:15. If you are able and willing we would welcome your support and assistance in rounding up sleds and returning them to the shed where we will have our closing circle promptly at 12:30.  

Warmly,

Miss Susan  

The North Wind doth blow and we shall have snow
And what will the robin do then, poor thing?
She will sit in the barn and keep herself warm
And hide her head under her wing, poor thing.

The North Wind doth blow and we shall have snow
And what will the dormouse do then, poor thing?
He’ll curl up in a ball in his nest oh so small
And sleep ‘til its springtime again, poor thing.

 

The North Wind doth blow and we shall have snow

And what will the swallow do then, poor thing?

Oh do you not know that she’s gone long ago

To a country much warmer than ours… Ah!

                                                         

Advent Family Gathering last weekend

Hi Susan,

I have been meaning to reach out to you to say thank you for the wonderful Advent Spiral. That was my first experience of a Spindlewood Advent Spiral, and it was really magical. I have been telling everyone about it - and people just melt when they hear about the way you set it up...the candles in the driveway and along the path, the amazing harp music, the amazing spiral of greens and shells, the low light, your beautiful story, the intent, sweet looks on the faces of the children when they lit and placed their candles...it was really all so wonderful. I know it must take you a lot of time to set it up for us, and I just wanted to say a big, heartfelt thank you from this oh-so-appreciative Mama.

Take good care,

Laurie

Thank You to All!

Thanks to all Spindlewoodians who prepared,crafted, schlepped, sold, shopped and stitched for the Yuletide Faire atAshwood this weekend. Such a gentle, joyful event. Wonderful to see thechildren’s delight at the puppet show and the wholesome, hand-made treasuresand good food. So heartwarming to see friends, colleagues and alumnae of 25years.
Our wool acorns were happily gathered bymany shoppers, as well as were the crafts from yesteryear. And 40 childrenstitched balsam pillows at our children’s table. Spindlewood brought in$258.50, so helpful during these lean time; but moreover we generated good will and fostered friendships with our wider community and our sister school AshwoodWaldorf School.

Letter to Parents

Just a few notes to give you a picture of our Spindlewood kindergarten mornings!

Now that the children have carried their lanterns through the November darkness, and returned to the kindergarten, each child seems to have found his or her way into the morning’s work and play. This morning began with children finding their own aprons, washing their hands in the basin of warm water and lemon oil that Miss Elisa has set out, and finding a place at the table to knead bread dough with her.

Afterwards, Seamus carefully sweeps the tabletop with the crumb brush and small
silver dust pan. He gives it his full attention.

In the main room, several children create a large “house” for the “kitten family”. Avery, Eve, Benjamin, Luka and Jonathan cover the playframes with sheets and bring food in for supper. There is a ramp for sliding in and out. Over the course of several weeks, the “wild cats” and dragons seem to have disappeared. With a little guidance, the children who at first seemed threatened by a “cat” have found ways to care for them – giving them food, helping them find a resting place, giving them a
scratch behind the ears, or wrap their paws in silk if they are “injured”. The
kittens seem content.

We have been seeing a silk marionette play at the seasonal table in recent days; one of our favorites, featuring a little girl whose fairy friends disappear with the autumn wind. To find them, she must find a “lantern” from the spindlewood tree (burning bush) and a “key” from the ash tree. When she finally finds her way to where her fairy friends are resting for the winter with Mother Earth, she is given a golden pouch of bulbs to plant in her moss garden. Hint: wouldn’t it be interesting if each child found a pouch like this for planting in his or her moss garden that
we create during Advent? As you have heard me say at various parent evenings, each year has its own unique character. This year, I am astonished at how this group of children LISTEN at story time! Such a gift.

Today, Amelia creates a play at the seasonal table. Silk cloths are carefully arranged as a landscape for all of their characters and Amelia quietly narrates the story. Elsa, Lucy and James pull up chairs and listen intently. Afterwards, Lucy and Elsa create a story.

Tor sits beside me at the spinning wheel with the drawing that he has brought from home today. “A famous one” that he has shown to all of his classmates as they arrived. I am spinning wool from Buttercup that we have carded on the carding machine, a little each day, on the picnic table. Tor is fascinated by the process and is keenly interested in all of the steps. When this spool is filled, we will ply two
strands together to make yarn suitable for knitting mittens.

Before circle time, we compose a Thank You note to Elsa’s dad for making a new xylophone stick for us! Later, Miss Elisa and Miss Susan hold a huge red fabric tube (loaned by Madrona – thanks!) and children line up to crawl through. As our therapeutic friends would say, it is a thorough tactile and vestibular experience. (Besides, it is great fun!)

At the table, the children tell many tales about sightings and encounters of skunks, raccoons and other woodland creatures. We also read from Blinkin’s travel log. Thanks to all of you for hosting our knitted gnome friend Blinkin as he travels home with a different child each day, and for assisting with his journal entries!

Outside, the children have established fairy houses (read "small scale construction" if you are standard-conscious) along the stone wall, with secret passwords. And a city with walls, lake, bridge and island is created in the sandbox. A swing has come
loose, so together we carry a ladder from the barn for the necessary repair.
“This is a two-man job”, says Tor as he hoists the ladder with me.

Oh, so much more happens in the course of the morning, but you get the picture of how we are settling in for the winter together.

Thanks to those who have helped with the preparations and sign-up for the Yuletide Faire. If you can’t make it to the Faire, you may find our plump wool acorns on the shelf in the mudroom for sale…perfect for Thanksgiving party favors or hostess gift!

There will be no school next week. Happy travels and family meals to all! See you again November 29th.

Warmly,
Susan

Family Festival for 11/11/11

Martinmas Lantern Walk
for
Spindlewood Families and Friends

Thursday, November 10, 4:30 – 5:15 pm

This week in the kindergarten, each child will make a paper lantern by folding and cutting one of his or her watercolor paintings. They will be ready when you arrive
for the Lantern Walk. You are welcome to bring other candle lanterns, also, but
please no flashlights!

'Martinmas', November 11, is a festival with European roots. Martin (named for Mars) was a Roman soldier of the fourth century who gave his cloak to a beggar. (This was more than an act of charity. It was considered to be an act of treason.) Later in a dream Martin saw Christ clothed in his cloak. He subsequently devoted the rest of his life to helping the poor. He was a man who carried an inner light in
a time of darkness.

This festival provides us with an opportunity to consciously mark the point in the cycle of the year when the light and warmth of the sun is retreating. The Lantern Walk allows us to experience the change of season in a sensory way.

A small bonfire and warm apple cider that we pressed at our Harvest Celebration will await families upon their arrival at the kindergarten. When all are gathered we will celebrate the circle time that the children are doing in the kindergarten. In the Waldorf School, we wait until second grade to tell stories of the saints. So our circle game presents a picture of the elemental beings whose task it is to bring cosmic light into the earth, bringing life to the seeds and light to the growth of crystals.

After the circle, parents or grandparents may light the children’s lanterns (we will provide long matches that you may wish to keep just in case a lantern needs to be rekindled) and I will lead the way along the lighted path. The walk is not long but the experience is memorable. Stepping into the darkness we are guided only by the
light of our lanterns and the luminaries placed along the pathway and the full
moon (if I remember to turn off the automatic spotlight on the barn!) We may
hear an owl, a crackling stick, or the wind. We return to find the bonfire extinguished, but the sparks of light in our lanterns creating a large circle of
warmth and community. We sing a final song, receive a ginger cookie and then
carry the lanterns with the same quiet intention to your cars and on to your
homes.

All Souls' Day

The day after Hallowe'en the children brought in photos of their grandparents and family members who have passed away. We created a special place of honor for them on our window sill, with silks and flowers.

The puppet play this week tells the story of a brother and sister who meet their grandparents in the Land of Memory and experience their love and joy in being remembered.

Thanks going out to all of you who could join us for the Cider Harvest Festival. The weather held off while parents assisted the children in climbing, shaking, picking, gathering, washing, chopping and pressing! Whew! What good work. Thanks especially to those who stayed and filled our cart with cider for our year together. So glad that our alumni and older siblings, Shamus, Elias, Ella and Yonah could join us for this Homecoming event also.