Mothers' May Celebration Today

At our Mothers' May Day Celebration today, the children wove crowns for their mothers and grandmothers and served them small breads shaped liked doves. We sang our spring songs as we wound our colored ribbons, and ended our morning with a puppet play of The Queen Bee.

So thankful that the sun shone at last!

To be a child...

"Know you what it is to be a child? It is to be something very different from the man of today. It is to have a spirit yet streaming from holiness; it is to believe in love, to believe in loveliness, to believe in belief; it is to be so little that the elves can reach to whisper in your ear; it is to turn pumpkins into coaches, and mice into horses, lowness into loftiness, and nothing into everything, for each child has its fairy godmother in its soul."
                                                                                                                    Shelley, 1908

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