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Highlights of the Year 2016-17

Membership This year marked a big change for the WECAN Membership Office as Nancy Foster, who served as Membership Coordinator for many years, retired, and Laura Mason (pictured right) from Issaquah, Washington, stepped in to carry the membership work for WECAN. She spent the year working closely with our 19 WECAN regional repre-sentatives, and coordinating the site visits and self-studies for our member schools and early childhood programs.

WECAN membership is stable, with 49 Developing Members, 135 Full Members, 11 Registered Initia-tives in Mexico and 12 Teacher Education Institutes. WECAN had 485 Individual Members this during this time.

New Developing Member in 2016-2017: Escuela Micael in San Antonio, Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. We were very pleased to welcome our first WECAN Member early childhood program in Puerto Rico!

New Full Members in 2016-17: Our Sons and Daughters School in Sag Harbor, NY and École Rudolf Steiner de Montreal in Montreal, QC were both accepted as Full Members this year. These two schools now stand alongside our other Full Member programs as representatives of the worldwide Waldorf Early Childhood Education movement. Congratulations to both schools for your work nurturing and caring for young children!

We would like to provide you with a picture of the thriving life and activity of our Waldorf Early Childhood Association in 2016-17. Thanks to the generous sharing of resources and talents from our growing numbers of individual and organizational members, board members, regional representatives, committee members, volunteers and friends, and the capable work of our professional staff, WECAN has continued to expand its activities in service of the developement of Waldorf early childhood education on our continent. Thank you for your support!

2016–2017 ANNUAL REPORT FOR MEMBERS & FRIENDS

Above, L-R: École Rudolf Steiner de Montreal, Montreal, QC; Our Sons and Daughters, Sag Harbor, NY

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Early Childhood Teacher Education

In 2016-17, the WECAN Teacher Education Committee worked closely with TEN (Teacher Education Network of AWSNA) on reforming the Path to Membership for Institutes, so that the two organiza-tions can align their Self-Study and Peer Visit processes as much as possible. WECAN Teacher Educa-tion Coordinator Holly Koteen-Soulé represents WECAN and the Early Childhood movement on TEN.

Several North American early childhood teacher educators attended the IASWECE-sponsored Early Childhood Trainers Conference in Tallinn, Estonia in October, supported in part through a grant to WECAN from the Waldorf Schools Fund. The focus of the conference was on engaging students in their own learning and self-transformation and new approaches to adult education.

WECAN Conferences and Regional GatheringsOur largest annual conference, the WECAN East Coast Early Childhood Conference, was held Febru-ary 8-10, 2017 in Spring Valley, NY. The keynote speaker was Susan Perrow from Australia, who spoke on the theme of the Healing Power of Language and Story. Attended by 380 participants, this major professional development event also included puppetry and eurythmy performances, workshops, work-alike sessions and mini-sessions. In addition, regional WECAN gatherings and conferences took place throughout North America, in-cluding the following:

• Pacific Northwest, February 17-19 at the Whidbey Island (WA) Waldorf School: “Diving into the Deep Well – Supporting the Life Sense” with Dr. Adam Blanning.

• Texas-Mexico-Southwest-Rockies, March 18, Denver Waldorf School: “How can we help the next generation know what is moral and what is good?” with Dr. Adam Blanning, Nancy Blanning, and Laurie Clark

• Southeast Atlantic, April 7-8, Waldorf School of Baltimore: “Igniting the Social Impulse of Waldorf Education” with keynote speaker Laurie Clark

• Mid-Atlantic, Saturday April 22, Waldorf School of Philadelphia: “A Day of Puppetry”: Conversation, Sharing and Workshops.

• Northeast/Quebec, March 24-25, Monadnock Waldorf School, Keene NH: A meeting of early childhood colleagues together with AWSNA colleagues.

Titles Published by WECAN Books in 2016 - 2017

In addition to the twice-yearly Gateways newsletter, WECAN published the following books in 2016-17:

The Seven Life Processes: Understanding and Supporting Them in Home, Kinder-garten, and School, by Philipp Gelitz and Almuth Strehlow, translated by Nina Kuettel

This book considers basic physiological processes and shows how they develop and transform within the child, giving important educational considerations for caregivers, teachers, and parents. Translated from German for the first time.

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Love as the Source of Education: The Life Work of Helmut von Kügelgen, edited by Su-san Howard

Helmut von Kügelgen (1916–1998) was a champion of the Waldorf early childhood movement in North America and around the world. In celebration of the centenary of his birth, we published this collection of some of his articles, lectures, and essays.

Let’s Dance and Sing! by Freya Jaffke, translated by Nina Kuettel

A collection of lively pentatonic games, verses, and dances to give children the joy of singing and playing together and experiencing their environment through all the seasons of the year in a rich and formed way.

Waldorf Early Childhood Education: An Introductory Reader, edited by Shannon Honigblum

A new collection of foundational articles for early childhood educators and families.

Toy Making: Simple Playthings to Make for Children, by Gun Lee Blue

In this simple and straightforward book of projects, author Gun Lee Blue en-courages adults to take up the joyful task of making toys for the children in their lives.

The WECAN Board

The Board was pleased to add a new member, Sarah Arnold. Sarah is a Sunbridge Early Childhood graduate who established Evergreen Garden Playschool in Harvard, Massachusetts, a WECAN member kindergarten. She is currently pursuing a doctorate on literacy at Boston University. Sarah also has experience in interfacing with the mainstream world with educational policy. (see Reaching Out to the World, below).

The theme of the Board activity in 2016-17 was collaboration. When Susan Howard met with repre-sentatives of other educational associations, such as Montessori and NAEYC, in October 2015, a door opened to other contacts for WECAN. The Trust for Learning Foundation contacted WECAN to learn more about Waldorf early childhood education. This small foundation is striving to bring the benefits of private early childhood education to a much broader community of children, particularly those living in impoverished circumstances.

Another step of outreach was that two WECAN board members attended the Alliance for Public Wal-dorf School Conference last January at Rudolf Steiner College in Fair Oaks, CA. In sending represen-tatives, WECAN wished to acknowledge and connect with our colleagues teaching in public Waldorf settings. It was a wonderful experience to meet so many new colleagues who are working earnestly to

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bring Waldorf education to the wide community of children attending public schools. We look forward to seeing how WECAN can offer support to this important work in the public sector.

The WECAN Board also reached out to Canadian colleagues in the Toronto area in May when the spring board meeting took place in Ontario. This was the third time in recent years that the board has traveled to different regions in North America to meet, acknowledge, and support colleagues there.

WECAN is also exploring a closer collaboration with the Physicians Association for Anthroposophical Medicine (PAAM), the Medical Section, and the Bio-dynamic Association, towards public health out-reach that could provide resources for families with babies and young children.

Reaching Out into the World

Through support from the Waldorf Educational Foundation, WECAN was able to appoint Sarah Arnold, pictured right, as a part-time Public Policy Coordinator. Together with colleagues from AWSNA and the Alliance for Public Waldorf Education, Sarah has had conversations focused on public policy issues having to do with teacher training programs for those work-ing in independent and public/charter Waldorf schools. We are working on assessing the best way forward for our teacher training programs to meet our member school needs and licensure requirements.

In April 2017, WECAN and the Alliance for Public Waldorf Education were invited to become educational partners in the Ideal Learning Round Table (ILRT), a working group of leaders from several alternative education pedagogy approaches, including the Alliance for Public Waldorf Education, Bank Street College of Education, Friends Center for Children, Montessori Leaders Collaborative, North American Reggio Emilia Alliance, Tools of the Mind, Trust for Learning, and WE-CAN. The relationships forged at the Round Table will also offer us the possibility of working collabora-tively with these groups to effect change in Early Childhood Education Policy in the US.

2016-2017 WECAN Board, L-R: Magdalena Toran, Holly Koteen-Soulé, Adrienne Doucette, Louise deForest, Sarah Arnold, Ruth Ker, Heather Church, Nancy Blanning, and Susan Howard.

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International Association for Steiner/Waldorf Early Childhood Education (IASWECE)

WECAN is one of 34 Member country and multi-country Associations in IASWECE. Louise deForest and Susan Howard continued to represent WECAN on the IASWECE Council, which met in October 2016 in Tallinn, Estonia, and in March/April 2017 in Cape Town, South Africa.

Some of the key issues the Council identified and worked on in 2016-17 include the following:

• Raising awareness of the importance of sleep and movement for the child from birth to three

• Fostering greater awareness of the role digital media plays in the lives of young children and their families

• Understanding and articulating the role of assessment in early education

• Supporting the care of the newborn child and family in the first three years

• Drafting a manifesto for school readiness as a collaborative effort by early childhood and grades teachers.

IASWECE also collaborated with the Pedagogical Section on processes for granting permission to use the names “Waldorf” and “Steiner” around the world, further articulated guidelines for birth to three teacher education, and supported the development of early childhood teacher education initiatives throughout the world.

Further details are available at www.iaswece.org.

Support for International Projects

WECAN supports the international activities of IASWECE through membership contributions from our Developing and Full WECAN Member organizations. This year WECAN was able to offer a contribution of $32,000 in sup-port of mentoring and training projects in Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America.

MEXICO: Through grant support from WECAN and international sources, Louise deForest and Helle Heckmann spent three weeks in Mexico in September to explore the needs of many new initiatives there and offer advice and support.

TURKEY: Waldorf early childhood ed-ucation is establishing tender roots in turbulent times in Turkey, the cultural and geographic border and meeting ground between Europe and the Middle East. Small Waldorf-inspired kindergartens have opened in recent years in Istanbul, Bodrum, Antalya and Eskisehir. Participants at the February WECAN conferences do-nated more than $3600 in support for the development of training courses and mentoring and to bring together Turkish Waldorf colleagues to strengthen their work.

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Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North AmericaProfit and Loss Statement, June 30, 2017

INCOMEGifts and Donations 181,959Membership Dues 169,025 Conferences 101,285Sales 89,429Other Income 4,706TOTAL INCOME 546,404

EXPENSESMembership Services 155,283 Collaboration with IASWECE 47,538Conferences 89,051Int’l Dues and Donations 42,463Other Programs and Meetings* 49,911Publications 111,573General Operating 50,082TOTAL EXPENSES 545,900 Net Ordinary Income 504

*All project funded activity (except Teacher Ed), IAS-WECE Council meetings, Board and Staff Meetings, Leadership retreat

INCOME

EXPENSES

Finances 2016-2017

A few notes of explanation:WECAN members pay a portion of their membership dues to support IASWECE and this is shown as membership income and also as a dues/donation expense.

Susan Howard, who is employed full-time by WECAN, works half-time for WECAN and half-time for IASWECE, and IASWECE donates funds to WECAN to support the personnel and other related costs for this activity. This accounts for the expense for international collaboration with IASWECE and the equivalent amount of international support in donations from IASWECE.

1%

33%

19%16%

31%

Membership Dues 31%Sales Income 16%Conferences 19%Gifts and Donations 33%Other Income 1%

9%

9%

8%

9%

16%20%

28%

Membership Services 28%Publications 20%Conferences 16%General Operating 9%Int’l Dues and Donations 8%Other Programs and Meetings 9%Collaboration with IASWECE 9%

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Purple Hummingbird WoolensQ’ewar Peruvian DollsRudolf Steiner Fellowship Foundation Steiner BooksWaldorf PublicationsWee Things Fiber ArtsWynstones PressYayen Teng

Friends and VolunteersCharlton Hughes CampbellGreen Meadow Waldorf SchoolJasper Van BrakelKen HartmannRay ManaçasThreefold Educational FoundationWaldorf School of Baltimore

Regional RepresentativesHeike Adamsberger-KostaLisa BechmannHeather ChurchLaurie ClarkMaggie CrawfordJane Danner-SustarDiane DavidLouise deForestDagmar EiseleBetty Jane EnnoSacha EtzelMartha FloresDyanne HarshmanVanessa KohlhaasAstrid LacknerMary MaschalKim RaymondSu RubinoffSomer Serpe

We are extremely grateful to our many friends and supporters, including individuals, kindergartens, foundations, businesses and other organizations, many of whom are listed below:

Donors and Supporters 2016-2017

Acorn SchoolAdrienne Doucette Andrea GambardellaAngela RoseAnn LandgrafAnne Branzell-SpieglerAyako YanagiBarbara BedingfieldBarbara GranceBarbara KlocekBoulder Valley Waldorf SchoolCarol NasrLara RadyshCelia RiahiCharlotte LandgrafChristine ShawCindy SydowCristina CookDiane DavidDianne BrooksDonna MieleDoreen MillerDyanne HarshmanElisabeth SwisherElizabeth StubbsEllen BisshoppEllen McRobertErica GallipoliKatherine BrownFranny HallFree to Be Under ThreeHazelwood Outdoor KindergartenHeather ChurchHeather GannonHiromi VilbigHolly Koteen SouleHoward DulaneyIngun SchneiderJ. F. HolbrookJan PattersonJanene PingJanet KaneJanet KellmanJeanne MacArthurJennifer DoeblerJennifer SalomaJo ValensJoan Almon JoAnne DeneeKaren HaysKaren LonskyKatherine AndersonKathleen RindenKathryn GageKatie Schwerin

Kendra CopenhaverKimberly RaymondLarisa KuznetsovaLaura GravesLeslie Burchell-FoxLeticia Pires SavianiLincoln KinnicuttLinda AtamianLinda HeywoodLisa MiccioLisa StoesselLouanna PerkinsLouise de ForestLourdes SmythLynn St. PierreMagdalena ToranMargaret Fischer-KrugmanMargot EntwisleMarguerite AicheleMarianne BockliMarie NordgrenMarigold Children’s GardenMarjorie ThatcherMary MaschalMavis BottenhornMaxine GarciaMia MichaelMolly McKenzieMountain Top SchoolNancy BlanningNancy FosterNancy GarveyNancy MacalasterNancy St. VincentNatalie BrinkleyNoris FriedmanPamela FennerPamela HarschPatricia McNultyPatricia RubanoPaula SousaRobin MasciocchiRobin O’BrienRSF Social FinanceRuth KerSara FernaldSarah ArnoldSarah MichelsonSarah WeberSaundra ClementsStephanie ClearyStephanie HoelscherStephen SpitalnyStevie RossSu RubinoffSunbridge Institute Susan Howard

Susan StarrSusan WalshThe Denver Waldorf SchoolTheresia Weber-JohnToronto Waldorf SchoolUnited WayW.S. Badger CompanyWendy WeinrichYeletzy Garzon

Yvonne de Maat

Foundations Association of Waldorf Schools of North AmericaThe Community Foundation of LouisvilleThe Glenmede Trust CompanyT. Rowe Price FoundationUnited WayWaldorf Schools Fund, Inc.

CorporationsW.S. Badger Company

Conference SponsorsAlkion Center for Adult EducationAssociation of Waldorf Schools of North AmericaCamp Glen BrookCenter for AnthroposophyDanish Woolen DelightFiber Craft Studio Great Lakes Waldorf InstituteLifeWays North AmericaMercurius / StockmarRudolf Steiner Centre TorontoSarah’s SilksSophia’s Hearth Family CenterSunbridge Institute The PuppenstubeThreefold Educational FoundationWaldorf PublicationsWest Coast Institute

Other Conference SupportAE Wooden ToysArlene ThornBrandon LeydicCarapace FarmCelia RiahiFlowering HeartsHarps of LorienLinda DugasMeadow Lark StoreMimi’s DesignsNatasha de CastroPear Tree StudioPfeiffer Wheat

Individuals & Organizations

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285 Hungry Hollow Road, Spring Valley, NY 10977845.352.1690 • info@waldorfearlychildhood.orgwww.waldorfearlychildhood.org

Board Members and Staff 2016-2017Board MembersNancy Blanning (Chair)Louise deForest (Chair and Secretary)Heather Church (Treasurer)Sarah ArnoldNancy BlanningAdrienne DoucetteSusan HowardRuth KerHolly Koteen-SouléPatricia LambertMagdalena Toran

StaffWECAN Coordinator: Susan Howard (Amherst, MA)

Administrator: Melissa Lyons (Spring Valley, NY)

Membership: Laura Mason (Issaquah, WA), Susan Wallendorf (Baltimore, MD)

Publications: Donna Miele, Bluma Acostella (Spring Valley, NY)

Teacher Education: Holly Koteen-Soulé (Langley, WA)

Communications: Laura Miller (Amherst, MA)

WECAN’s mission is to foster a new cultural impulse for the work with the young child from pre-birth to age seven. Based on an anthroposophical understanding of human development, WECAN is committed to protecting and nurturing childhood as a foundation for renewing human culture.

WECAN is a member of the International Association for Steiner/Waldorf Early Childhood Education.