Madrona School Alphabet (L)

Next up in our alphabet-based exploration of what makes a Waldorf education unique...L for living education. We've explored this topic in other ways throughout this alphabet, but it bears repeating. Living education happens when you offer learning through experience and discovery, when you have a strong relationship between teachers and students, and when you offer a curriculum that engages all the senses.

As members of the Madrona School community we can all think of the glimpses we have of this education in action. There are the bean bag exercises that combine mental math with rhythm and song, taking practice to perfect. There are the demonstrations of middle school science -- making sound resonance visible with a Chladni plate demonstration or studying mechanics through building simple machines. There are the 1st graders in handwork class, knitting yes, but stopping often to count their rows and look up at the shared pattern posted at the head of the room, mentally calculating and then announcing how many "mountains" remain in their project. There is the sharing of applesauce, sauerkraut and beeswax candles from 3rd grade practical arts lessons, and the understanding of a life cycle as they prepare to plant grains in our new garden space for next year's 3rd grade to harvest and study. There is the focused silence of book work in the 4th grade after an energetic and physical game of energetic sentence diagramming in language arts. Countless examples abound...

In a 2014 interview, Christof Weichert said: [A dynamic lesson] is the essence of Waldorf education. Steiner said that we teach within an artistic process…the experience is that of expansion and contraction. It is shaped by very precise use of oral qualities, visual qualities and interactive qualities, and they have to be in balance. You should always have an eye for what refreshes the children and what tires them. If the children get tired, you change into another mood or another activity so you and the children are in kind of a flow….If you are engaged—and you’ll find that in the third chapter of The Study of Man—if you engage yourself in what you do, you stay alive. You stay fresh.

—adapted from our weekly email newsletter, May 20, 2014



Our Annual School-wide Open House

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The whole family is very welcome at our annual school-wide Open House, this Saturday, January 26th! Please come walk through the school, meet teachers, see current student work and hear about our early childhood program expansion and new outdoor kindergartens! We are so excited to share a glimpse of our school with you. You are welcome anytime between 10 am and 12 pm, although if you are particularly interested in early childhood, join Miss Mary at 10:45am in the green house classroom to hear more specifically about those changes…..And, plan a trip up to Lowery Farm to visit with Teachers Isaac and Jamie about our plans for that space — the farm is open between 10:30am and 12:30pm.

See you there!

Meanwhile, please enjoy these examples from previous years of the sorts of work you’ll be able to view:


Season of Light and Warmth

Our annual look at the warmth and light we enjoy in December at Madrona School…. Here, as in all Waldorf schools, we cultivate a sense of beauty in our classrooms all year long, helping us all relax into learning and strengthening the important relationships between our teachers and our students. In many ways, this darkest time of year here in the Pacific Northwest offers just as much warmth and joy as the breezy, flower-filled days of spring or the comfortable mellow-lit afternoons of fall, as we deliberately create opportunities to celebrate. We light candles on menorahs and Advent wreaths, we sing seasonal songs from a variety of cultures as a whole school and in our classrooms, we play and walk outside even in the cold rain because we are all bundled up, we pour fun into Secret Santa gifts, we make seasonal crafts like beeswax lanterns and colorful window stars, we enjoy visits from Santa Lucia and St. Nicholas, and we hold at least two Spirals of Light….We hope you enjoy a glimpse into these celebrations!

Wishing you a joyous season of light, however you celebrate. See you in the new year!

Some Parent Testimonials

We are grateful for those parents who chose to include testimonials for our website with their answers to our end-of-year survey this past summer. We highlight a selection of them here:

“Madrona School's approach to nurture our children's love of learning has been deeply moving. We appreciate how the school weaves the emerging scientific understanding of child's psychoneuro-developmental process along with the wisdom of Waldorf education. The school's ability to hold open and growing spaces for new information and the lived knowledge of the past to coexist has been important. Such a discerning and non-judging attitude the school embodies, we hope our children will continue to learn to practice to become who they are as unique individuals and as vital members of a meaningful community.” —Sierra, mother to two students

“The first week of school, my daughter said: ‘Mom , I wish school lasted until 5 pm’. The last month of school, she told me: ‘Mom, I wish school did not end so soon’.” —Mom of a 7th grade student

“This school brings so much joy to our child's life which in turn makes our lives so much richer. The wholesomeness and care each teacher puts into their students is in invaluable.” —parent to a kindergarten student

“Madrona is a gift to our children and the whole community! Keep up the great work! I tell everyone I come in contact about the school and what it has meant to our lives and our daughters! I have watched [them both] change dramatically since becoming part of the Madrona community. They entered unhappy and with a lack of confidence. Now I am in awe of how confident, happy and well rounded my daughters are! I for one will never be able to thank you enough for what your wonderful school has given them.” —Dad of two students

“My child’s teacher is ALWAYS prepared. Every week, everyday. She is amazing.” — from a parent of a rising 6th grader

“Rooted in the reliable insights of Waldorf and renewed by the inspired, loving presence of its teachers, Madrona School has been a wonderful blessing to our family. I'm very grateful.” -- parent of two students

The Purpose of the First Grade Circle

Back in October, at our Experience Waldorf event for parents, our 1st grade teacher, Ms. Hartz, shared the why and what of circle time in first grade. There is a lot behind what looks like fun to these eager students at the very beginning of their grade school journeys!

A first grader’s day begins with a handshake and a greeting to and from the teacher. The mood in the classroom is one of calm and expectation, sometimes with some excitement about something from home, or in anticipation of the day. The class speaks their morning verse together, and then, before moving into work at their desks, they will clear a space in the classroom for some circle time. A circle in 1st grade incorporates movement, music and singing, spoken word, rhythm, breathing, and concentration. It’s purpose includes:

  • Joy and delight

  • Awakening a healthy imagination

  • Wake up! Get out of breath, prepare to sit

  • Immersion in the season or “mood” of a block

  • Incarnation into hands/feet and fingers/toes

  • Creation of artistic and beautiful movement

  • Strengthen uprightness, endurance, coordination

  • Connect hemispheres of the brain

  • Working on body geography and spatial relationships

  • Enhancing a sense of touch, balance, controlled movement

  • Supporting speech development an sound/letter connection

  • Working on rhythm: foundational for math as well as music

  • Flexibility: work between polarities.

Ms. Hartz writes: “A first grader continues to be a being in movement. A first grader imitates out of an attitude of devotion and trust in the goodness of the world. Out of this feeling of goodness (reverence) will come an internal sympathy for goodness, a moral compass that does not need its own direct instruction.”

She shared her autumn circle with parents, including some of the “whys” behind its design:

  • Morning Verse to imbue and experience reverence and silence.

  • Seasonal Songs: Yellow the Bracken; The Autumn Winds; Golden is the Garden (to learn the months, movement crossing midline); Ghost of John (for fun).

  • Form a Ring: Expansion Contraction (to learn to make a beautiful circle); One for the Golden Sun; A Sailor Went to Sea; Tony Chestnut (for slow, fast, quick, slow); Bean bags passed to Hickory Dickory Dock (coordination with your neighbor and the group).

  • Balance boards and beam.

  • Drink of water and move desks back in preparation for the day.

Morning verse, movement circles, music including singing and recorders, and recitation continue up through the grades and develop depending on the needs of the class and the teacher. Often, teachers include some math games and mental math too. Some teachers employ movement as a mid-morning break, while others prefer to begin the morning with circle time. Please ask your child’s teacher if you have questions about how she or he incorporates movement and music into a morning’s lesson!

A Note from Missi About Spiral of Light

Dear families and friends,

We are truly into the darkest days of winter with solstice just ten days away.  Amazingly, it will be lighter when we return from break in January than it is now!  While I find myself longing for the light to return, I am also grateful for the opportunities of reflection that this season offers.  

For me the season really kicks off with the Spiral of Light festival that we celebrated this past Sunday.  For those who haven't had the chance to come yet, imagine a room all in darkness.  In the center of a spiral of evergreen boughs laid on the floor, a candle is lit.  Solitary and dim, it barely begins to light the room.  Everyone sitting around the edges is swathed in darkness.  Our sweet-voiced teachers are singing an array of seasonal songs from both Christian and Jewish traditions: they sing in delicious harmonies in English, German, and French.  Through the singing, family after family walks the spiral to light a candle and set it down on golden paper stars sprinkled among the boughs.  Bit by bit the room becomes filled with a golden glow.  Suddenly, I realize that I can make out the faces of the people sitting across the room from me.  Friends old and new, grown-ups and children.  I am struck by the lovely metaphor that I have just witnessed, articulated in the words of one of the carols being sung: "Each little child shall shed her light, till all the world is warm and bright."

In this season of veritable darkness, I appreciate the unique light that each child and each parent shines into the world.  Thank you for sharing yourselves with this precious school community.

Reflectively yours,
Missi

— From our newsletter, December 11, 2018

Dia de los Muertos Celebration in 7th grade

This year our 7th grade class worked on a special project with Maestra Mabí to mark Dia de los Muertos. They each chose someone to remember through a painting or drawing, and they spent some time sharing (in Spanish, of course) about their choice. The resulting art was hung at our local art museum, BIMA, and helped round out the museum’s community-wide celebration.

Lowery Farm Campaign Update: Mark Your Calendars for November 28

Dear Madrona Families,

This is a very exciting time in Madrona School’s history. With our 20th anniversary just around the corner, Madrona School has a unique opportunity to create a legacy of Waldorf education on Bainbridge Island with the purchase of the Lowery Farm property. This very special piece of land has become an integral part of our school’s curriculum and culture, serving as our second kindergarten classroom, providing gardening and outdoor space for our 1st through 8th grade students, and hosting many of our lively school festivities.

Many people in our school community have been hard at work on a long-term plan to purchase the Lowery Farm property with the ultimate goal of building a new home for Madrona school on the site in the years to come. While that is still very much our goal, the reality is that without the farm we could not even continue to serve our current students and families—we quite literally do not have enough rooms in our current building for all of our students!

As we move closer to the 2019 deadline for purchasing the land, many of you have asked where we stand in the process. While the Board and Lowery Farm Acquisition Committee have been hard at work putting into place all the pieces that will go into making this dream a reality, nearly all that work has been “behind the scenes.” We’d like to take this opportunity to share with you our progress and alert you to some upcoming opportunities for greater involvement that we believe will be of interest to you.

To date, the Lowery Farm Acquisition Committee has been meeting weekly to accomplish the following items:

• Explore various financing options for the land purchase

• Develop a timeline for the land acquisition and corresponding capital campaign

• Lay the groundwork for an initial capital campaign focused on the land acquisition, including researching campaign consultants

• Work with the City of Bainbridge Island regarding the additional traffic study requested during the Conditional Use Permit proceedings

• Work with the architect on construction budgets and timelines for each of the three phases

While this is by no means an exhaustive list of all our activities, it does provide a snapshot into the work that has been going on behind the scenes to make Lowery Farm a permanent part of Madrona School’s future.

You can be involved as well! As we transition from planning to launching the campaign, we are looking for volunteers in the areas of construction, finance, fundraising and marketing to serve on active committees. The input from these committees will be crucial to the long-term success of the campaign.

To bring more transparency to the process and share additional details about the upcoming campaign, we hope you’ll join us for a Community Info Night on Wednesday, November 28 from 7-8pm in the EHCC Fellowship Hall. We’ll be presenting information on plans for purchasing the farm property, details on the capital campaign launch, and leave plenty of time for Q&A.

Rudolf Steiner said, “Man is not a being who stands still, he is a being in the process of becoming. The more he enables himself to become, the more he fulfills his true mission.” The success of the campaign and the acquisition of Lowery Farm will enable Madrona School to become more than we ever thought possible and fulfill our mission of bringing the joy of Waldorf education to generations of local families now, and in the future.

Sincerely,
Cindy Smith
Chair of the Madrona School Board

Madrona School is a non-profit, tax exempt public charity organization incorporated in the State of Washington. Madrona School does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender expression or identity, national and ethnic origin, sexual orientation, or religion in any of its programs, classes or activities.