Madrona School Alphabet (G)

We've reached the letter 'G' in our alphabetic journey to celebrate what makes a Madrona School education unique  ... and Graduates!

From a 1st grader's main lesson book, the beginning of a school journey...

From time to time, we have the pleasure of checking in with some of our alumni. They truly are the best representatives of all that makes Waldorf education unique. Our graduates exhibit self-confidence and a sense of purpose in pursuing interests, in both high school and beyond. They prove well prepared for life after Madrona School!

Since 2005, Madrona School has graduated 44 students from 8th grade. The first graduating class has finished college, while other graduates are in college or high school. Initially, our alumni go on to succeed in the variety of local high school programs: Bainbridge High, Eagle Harbor, Seattle Waldorf, West Sound Academy, and Seattle Community College's Running Start program. Most of them attend college, including: Bates, Beloit College, Lewis and Clark, Canadian College of the Performing Arts, Mount Holyoke, Sarah Lawrence, Smith, Western, UW and Whitman. They are budding scientists with biology and geology majors, musicians, Spanish scholars and theater majors.

Our school home is a beginning...

According to the Research Institute for Waldorf Education, and their interview-based study of 526 former Waldorf students, 94% of Waldorf school graduates attend college. Among other outcomes, their research offers three key findings about graduates, including 1) the ability to think creatively and embrace lifelong learning; 2) placing a high value on human relationships; and 3) bringing a strong sense of ethics into adulthood. We have a pamphlet in the office, entitled "The Results of Waldorf Education" with more on this research. You are welcome to come and pick one up!

Keep your eyes open to opportunities to support our current 8th grade class as they prepare for school beyond Madrona School -- we'll have a 8th grade project presentation in the spring, and graduation in early June is a wonderful evening where we are welcome to celebrate with our new graduates!

--edited from our school newsletter, February 4, 2014

Working Together: The 2016 Annual Fund

With the school year off to a joyous start, we invite you to come together to support the school's important work. Our annual fund helps us fully fund our program each year, as tuition alone does not completely cover the cost of a Madrona School education. The theme for this year's campaign is "Working Together".

One thing that sets Waldorf education apart is its focus on guiding children toward becoming constructive members of a group. In a time of increasing social fragmentation in the larger world, our commitment to educating children to be compassionate, engaged members of their communities has real-world relevance.

Your generous gift today contributes to this legacy of caring involvement. Please join the board, teachers and staff of Madrona School in supporting the 2016 Annual Fund. Help sustain this special environment where your children can practice working together as they grow and mature into the people they are destined to become. See the appeal letter in your mailbox, or donate online here: madronaschool.org/annual-fund.

On behalf of all the children of Madrona School, we thank you!

Class Teachers and Building Relationships with Students

Long-term teacher-student and teacher-family relationships are a vital way a Waldorf school builds community and delivers education. Just as we see the curriculum on an arc of several years, we also value a growing and ever-evolving relationship between a teacher and a student.  

In our early childhood we achieve this with a mixed-age kindergarten where a young child gets to know their teacher (and assistants) over two to three years of time together. We are fortunate here to have an experienced and stable early childhood teaching team, and teachers who are raising their own families in Waldorf education. Our teachers offer a partnership with parents, a wonderful resource through early childhood development; where parents see their own child, our teachers see many children.

In the grade school, class teachers loop up with their students through the grades. While not necessarily unique to Waldorf education, "looping" teachers are relatively rare in American education. A class teacher has been a fixture of the Waldorf grade school since Rudolf Steiner founded the first school; Steiner believed that the strong relationship forged between a teacher and a student was essential to a robust education, and an aid to healthy child development. Our students begin each day and have main lesson with their class teacher, even while they have a chance to learn from other teachers in the specialty classes that follow. When a teacher spends this much time with his or her class, education is truly a child-centered journey, allowing a teacher to know a particular constellation of students and bring and build on developmentally appropriate and emotionally engaging education each year. Both teachers and children are engaged together in a variety of ways, and each one of them is an artist, a scientist, a mathematician, a poet and a musician, experiencing the breadth of human endeavor together; children have a chance to try on a variety of skills and disciplines on their way toward adulthood.

Relationships are fostered over many years, and class communities are built and tended through inevitable ups and downs. It is the necessary work of the teacher to know and see each student and to strive to meet them where they are developmentally. Learning to relate to one another in a constructive and loving way is essential human work, and a long-term, trusting relationship between teacher and student in a Waldorf school is one valued way we can model the importance of this.

Parent-teacher conferences are coming up -- dare we suggest that you hug your child's teacher? Talk with them, take advantage of their skill and deep knowledge of your beloved family members, speak openly about challenges and questions, and ask for what you need! We invite you to strengthen our community by celebrating the blessing of these relationships.

To read more:

• Missi Goss wrote her letter in our weekly newsletter to accompany this article, October 18, 2016.
• Multi-year Teaching in the Grade School, The Waldorf School of Philadelphia blog, October 30, 2015.
• Class Teachers in a Waldorf School, by Christof Wiechert, Pedagogical Section of the Goetheanum Journal, no. 54, 2015. 
• Characteristics of a Steiner/Waldorf School, Pedagogical Section of the Goetheanum Journal, no. 53, 2014.
• Looping: Supporting Student Learning Through Long-Term Relationships, the LAB at Brown University, 1997.

Madrona School Alphabet (F)

As we continue to celebrate what makes a Madrona School education unique through the alphabet, we have reached the letter 'F' ... for Field Trips and Festivals!

Field trips take Waldorf education on the road, and many of our field trips are regular and highly anticipated additions to the curriculum.

As many of you know, and your children experience, our early childhood classes are outside each week -- to Lowery Farm, as well as each Friday to other island parks and beaches. Our young students, in full weather-appropriate gear, make a colorful and energetic addition to our community, and they are able to fully engage in the outdoors in a way that is just not possible in our smaller play yards.

Many field trips are designed to enhance the grade school curriculum. They become rites of passage too -- trips to look forward to as you move through the grades. In May, our third grade will embark on their first overnight, to Pioneer Farm near Mt. Rainier, to help wrap up their year long study of the practical arts. Earlier this year, our fifth grade made a trip to the Hoh rainforest during their botany block, getting creative when their trip fell smack in the middle of the government shutdown. And our sixth grade trekked overnight to Mount St. Helens for a geology block. What natural riches we have to explore in our backyard!

And we offer trips to build community between the regional Waldorf schools, too. Beginning in fourth grade with a potlatch on Whidbey Island, our students meet with other area Waldorf schools to explore common themes from their year. In fifth grade they gather and compete in a Pentathalon; in sixth grade they participate in Medieval games; in 7th grade they enjoy a Renaissance Faire. All wonderful opportunities to spread their wings a bit, and meet other Waldorf students beyond their class communities.

Festivals are a vital part of the rhythm in our community's year. Celebrating the passing of the seasons, festivals also offer the opportunity to come together and socialize school-wide. In September, we mark Michaelmas, with a re-telling of the legend of St. Michael and the dragon, playing through challenges that remind us of our inner strength and resolve as we move into the darker and wetter time of the year. Highlights of this festival include crawling through the dragon's lair built by our 8th grade, and feasting together on potatoes from our school garden. In November, the story of St. Martin illuminates kindness and generosity to strangers, and our students revisit his story and mark the dark night with lantern walks and songs. In May we celebrate the burgeoning of spring with May Day festivities, making flower crowns and dancing around a maypole. It is a joyful, colorful end to our festival year.