From the Parent-Child Morning Garden

Dear Parent-Child Families,

I want to thank you all for the good cheer you bring to our Monday mornings. It shows in the children! It is so sweet to hear their voices chime in for the “tidy-up” song, and coming to circle with “Skip to my Lou.” I revere their stillness as we quiet ourselves, for the snack blessing and story time. It’s wonderful to hear the anecdotes of how the children are taking in what we bring to them. They inspire and challenge us to be our best!

Here are some photos.  I look forward to seeing you again!

Yours Truly,

“Miss” Elisa

Note to Parents...."Just So You Know"

"Here at Spindlewood" as any of the older children will tell you, "firearms become firewood". Sticks have many uses and are often carried. But if they "shoot", they are collected with proper gratitude for kindling our fires. No lectures or moralizing. Just the way it is here.

Now it's remarkable how flexible thinking can become. We often see guns transmute into bows and arrows or "waterarms" (to put out fires). Even swords. We appreciate this kind of creativity.

Yours,

M. Susan

A Life Sustained

Our Kindergarten Class parent Amy Donaghy is featured on the etsy blog!

Here’s the link for some adorable photos of her family and some inspiring examples of her felted wool creations!

http://alifesustained.blogspot.com/2012/03/life-sustained-sponsor-newtknees.html 

Bravo, Amy!

A Letter from a Parent

Hi Susan,

Thank you so much for the parent evening last night. Hearing a bit about the conference you and Elisa attended was fascinating. I loved hearing a little about Steiner's views and how they influence your work with the children. The anecdotes you told about a day in the Kindergarten were so sweet. Your explanation of how you usually take the pulse of the class and the place that modeling has in the classroom were equally interesting to me. I also loved hearing Elisa talk about the afternoons. I know they have been a special time for (our daughter) Elsa this year. Finally, I really appreciate the way that you invite the parent's voices during those evenings. The whole evening was interesting, informative, and totally enjoyable. Thank you so much for your time and thought.

Take good care,

Laurie

Notes from our Parent Evening, March 5, 2012

Dear Parents,

Thanks to all of the parents who were able to reschedule your lives to attend our postponed Parent Evening yesterday evening! And thanks also to all the others who let me know that you were unable to be here.

What a warm and enjoyable evening with you! One parent asked if I could send around a few notes to summarize some of our topics for those who were tending the home fires that night. So here are a few:

We began by introducing ourselves and what our children's names meant to us. (Sometimes in the birthday story that I tell in the kindergarten, the Guiding Angel tells the Star Child that when she comes to the earth, she will have a name; and that whenever she hears that name she will feel strong.)

Miss Elisa and I traveled to New York in February for the annual WECAN conference (Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America). It is always inspiring to share meals and sing with some 300 Waldorf teachers. A few highlights from the keynote address by Susan Weber, founder of Sophia's Hearth in Keene, NH and a former mentor of mine:

Rudolf Steiner speaks of the new capacities that are beginning to ripen in human souls at this time.

We are beginning to see these in the children:

· The ability to feel the pain of others

· Freedom of thought

· Recognition of spirit working in the world

So what is it that the children need now?

· To re-connect with the world of the archetypes

· To experience uprightness in adults

o We can enhance this by truly listening to a child, and by holding him in our thoughts without using so many words.

· To experience clarity of form in the physical environment (This engenders clarity of thought in the developing child.)

In the kindergarten, we work with these indications by encouraging self-directed imaginative play, nourishing the children with fairytales and authentic experiences, and by engaging in mindful, purposeful work in their presence. Miss Elisa and I shared anecdotes from recent days in the kindergarten.

Announcements:

A show of the children’s watercolor paintings is on exhibit at the Lincolnville Farmers’ Market (at the corner of Heal and Main Street) this month. The market is open Wed. 2-5pm and Sat. 9 – noon.

Re-enrollments are now due for next year. Forms are available in the basket in the mudroom. You can reserve your child’s place before March 15 at a discounted deposit of $200. After March 15, the usual deposit of $330 is required.

Parent-Teacher Conversations are scheduled for this Thursday unless you have scheduled an alternate time. I’m looking forward to meeting with you.

Spindlewood (along with the other independent school of the mid-coast) will have an Open House on Saturday, March 31 from 10am – 1pm.

A new state law requires unvaccinated children to be excluded from school when there is an outbreak of a particular illness in the school. Thank you for keeping me informed about your family’s illnesses and exposures.

Social Game

In the spirit of the social art of speaking and listening, we opened the topic of conversation around the question “How do we navigate the normal illnesses and challenges of childhood?” As each person spoke, a ball of yarn was tossed to him or her, and we watched a web of yarn grow among us. At the end, we rewound the ball of yarn as each person recalled the spoken contribution of the person who spoke before previously.

I feel so enriched by all of your participation,

With gratitude,

Susan

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