Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Alabama Waldorf School
Friday, May 20th, 2011
AWS AWareneSs
AWS Events Calendar: May 16th-June 19th
Tuesday Tours of AWS —Final Tour of school
year is 5/24! No tour 5/31. Tours resume June 7.
Tue, 5/17 &
5/24, 9am
AWS Board of Trustees and Capital Campaign
Meeting (childcare provided) featuring Martin
Novom.
Tue, 5/17
5:30-8pm
Raising Money and other Acts of Torture! Pre-
sented by Fundraising consultant Martin Novom
(details on p. 4) AWS Parents & Friends invited!!
Wed, 5/18
8:30-10am
3rd Grade Circus—an AWS rite of passage!
All families invited. Gymnasium. (See p. 4)
Fri, 5/20
2pm
Marketing Committee Meetings — Auditorium,
Noon-1pm
Wed’s, 5/25
and 6/8
Personalities in the Classroom: Teaching the EEyore’s, Tigger’s, Rabbit’s, and Pooh’s
by Administrator Lisa Grupe, Ph.D.
Closing and Graduation Ceremony
details for Thur, 5/26
Nursery Closing for all students: Thursday, 5/26, 11am (3day
students should arrive at 10:30am)
Kindergarten Closing: Thursday, 5/26, 11:30am
Grades: On Thursday, 5/26, all classes dismiss at 12:30pm
NO Afternoon Extended Care Programs on Thur, 5/26
All-school Graduation: Thur, 5/26 at East Lake United Methodist
Church. 6:30pm
FRIDAY, MAY 27TH is a make-up snow day. All programs
will be in session from 8:15am-12:30pm.
NO Afternoon Extended Care Programs on Fri, 5/27
A parent reminded me that I had not yet re-addressed the temperaments from the January 2011 Awareness, so let’s begin with how to recognize them. Often, the archetypal characters in “Winnie the Pooh” are used as models. Pooh is phlegmatic with his calm demeanor and overall preoc-cupation with eating, comfort, and rest. Eeyor and Piglet represent the melancholic temperament with their “Everything is going wrong…again,” and “The sky is falling!” attitudes. Tigger is of the sanguine tem-perament--optimistic, fun, happy-go-lucky, and chatty! Rabbit is the choleric with his passionate leadership qualities, his fiery personality, and his proclivity toward anger.
In Betty Staley’s chapters of Between Form and Freedom: A Practical Guide to the Teenage Years (easy to find online and through Hawthorn Press), she offers tips on raising children of each temperament. The
melancholic child (“Nobody cares about me. Probably nobody will even remember my birthday.”) is capa-ble of imagining all sorts of catastrophes, both inside his body and out in the world.
Every little ache is magnified, and he often misses events due to illness. He worries about everything, is self-involved, and though he is convinced that a small insult or injury was meant to hurt him, he himself often makes blunt comments that hurt other peo-ple. It is difficult for him to laugh or feel he is the cause of anything; it is always someone else’s fault. He is afraid of new situations, and there is little hope of convincing the mel-ancholic child of anything other than his own fixed viewpoint.
Raising this sort of child requires much soul searching and offers few immediate rewards. However, it is important to realize that this child can be nurturing and compas-sionate. Once awakened, his gifts of helpful-ness and gentleness can lead to sacrifice and service to others. Parents of the melan-cholic child need to be supportive but firm, careful not to indulge or ignore. This is often the child who misses class parties or class trips. Unless there is a real physical problem, this is often a cover-up for some anxiety he feels over what is usually a small thing such as borrowing someone’s pencil and then losing it. Staying home is appealing because he can avoid problems at school, lie in bed and maybe even spend time alone with a parent. The parent must be sympathetic for
the child’s discom-fort but firm in his belief that attend-ing school is a priority; recurrent absences from school only serve to distance the melancholic child from the rest of the class.
The melancholic thinks that his experi-ences are not shared by anyone else so it is important for him/her to see that other people have similar problems/concerns. A trick of the enlightened class teacher is to seat mel-ancholics together--this way they bond over similar experience and, over time, work themselves out of their melancholy. Biogra-phies also help this child to break out of his self involvement and cultivate an interest in others. He must learn that all humans have to endure hardship, so it is good for the par-ent to share his own stories of what he has had to overcome. This creates the capacity for the child to sympathize with another.
It is beneficial to strengthen the will of the melancholic child to persevere; the parent can help the child carry on by setting clear goals. “Do this for ten minutes,” or, “Repeat (cont’d on p.6)
Preschool Summer Program starts Mon, 6/6
2nd Annual Father’s Day Weekend 5k Race!
Oak Mountain State Park
Sat, 6/18
8am
Page 2 AWS AWareneSs
AWS Family Association News
Congratulations to the following parents who were recently elected to positions as F.A. Officers for the
2011-12 school year!
President: Chrissi Douglas
Treasurer: Monica Spiegel
Family Support Coordinators: Jill Housch and Sandra Duca
F.A. Rep to the Board (Grades): Misty Garrison Whaley
F.A. Rep to the Board (Preschool): Erin Pradhan
Though there are several positions that remain unfilled, at the May F.A. meeting parents decided that the
most critical to fill were:
Secretary and Volunteer Coordina-tor (either position may be held by
one or two people)
Check out the job descriptions be-low, and if you or someone you
know would be a good fit, contact the new F.A. President, Chrissi.
A huge thank you to Brian Mixon and Patrick McCarty for their dedi-cation as officers in the 2010-11
Family Association!
Secretary – handles written com-munications internal to FA.
Volunteer Coordinator – responsi-ble for the smooth and effective operation of the FA volunteer pro-gram. The ‘VC’ is not responsible for doing volunteer tasks, but is responsible for encouraging and enabling other F.A. members to fill volunteer roles that make it possi-ble for F.A. to fulfill its mission.***
German Club Celebrates May Day!
If you’re looking for a festive way to spend your weekend, check out The German Club on Saturday, 5/21, at 6pm. They’ll be celebrating Maifest, the May Festival of Spring and Life! Parent Judy Caples and new AWS parent Gerhard Graf (wife Shandra, daughter Elli a rising 1st grader),
both active in the German commu-nity in B’ham, are sending a special invitation to all AWS families. They
hope to see you there! Go to www.fdsk-dashaus.org for more
information.***
FACTS in 3! From Finance Director, David Carpenter
From the desk of: The AWS Administrative Director To: All AWS Teachers Re: A Love Letter to the Faculty
Date: May 10th, 2011
Dear Faculty, I wanted to take a moment to say how much I love each of you and our school. This has been an extraordinary year...you weathered it all. You were there when you didn’t feel up to it. You worked late and on the weekends. You put on plays and assem-blies, went to training during the year, observed in other schools. You erased chalkboards, washed and cut up fruit, and vacuumed your own carpets. You swept old and tired floors, picked up bugs, cleaned off the stage, cleaned out the fridge, cleaned up children, and wiped away tears. I love that you respect each other and yourselves. I love that you hold your students on all the planes of exis-tence there are: physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. I love that you speak your mind. I love that you can disagree respectfully with me and with each other. I love that you care about each other, that you help each other and offer your support in times of need. I love that you serve the school and the children so selflessly with committee work, team work, independent study and self examination. I love you when you’re grumpy. I love you when there’s glee. I love that you, like me, are human with frail-ties and imperfections, yet what I see is that you strive mightily and that you are worthy and good and courageous and true.
I wouldn’t want to work with any other people.
For those who are holding off on enrolling in FACTS because they would prefer starting to pay for 2011-12 in September, please consider that the school operates on a 12-month budget, and that teacher salary is spread out over 12 months. Currently we have more con-tracts than we have families signed up for FACTS, which means that June payroll will be difficult if not impossible to make. Consider...
1) The process is highly user-friendly and takes less than 5 minutes to complete! Click on the link to FACTS at alabamawaldorf.org (look for the graduation cap symbol). It won’t cost you anything to register with FACTS, and a payment is not due at the time you register. 2) All families must complete their registration on the FACTS system by May 20th. Your enrollment contract re-quires you to pay in 12 monthly
installments; if you do not sign up with FACTS by the 20th, you will receive a statement with a late fee from the mean side of the Finance Director. 3) If you have not received the e-mail with instructions on how to log in to the new FACTS tui-tion management system, call or email the Finance Director David Carpenter — [email protected] or
Page 3 Friday, May 20th, 2011
Lucas (Grade 4 refresher), Erica Spencer (Grade 3 refresher), and Jodie Bradley (Grade 2 inten-sive).
Thanks to the following parent contributors to Stand Up for Teach-ers: Rachel Cornelius, Gin-ger Downs, Barbara Cusi-mano, Gerda Carmichael, Monica Spiegel, the Prad-hans, the Mixons, Linda Burrow, Valerie Campbell, Jennifer Ernest, Mary Ann Saylor, Lucha Maria David, Amanda DeRocher, and Andrew Brown! It's not too late to be a Stand Up contribu-tor, as teachers collectively are about $800 short of having all
Thank you to the following businesses for donating flowers and produce for our flower-dyeing craft: Publix (Montclair and Cahaba Hts stores) & Winn-Dixie (Montclair store), Whole Foods, Davis Wholesale, Mary Ann Saylor at Bottega Cafe, and Desiree Shrestha of Pelham Flowers by Desiree!
AWS a winner in Birmingham Magazine’s 2011 Parent’s Choice Awards!
Best Preschool,
Best Private School,
Best Family Friendly Festival
(for Holiday Faire)
And Runner-up for Best Mommy and Me Program
(for Morning Garden)
AWS’ award-winning parent-toddler program, Morning Garden, held its final class of the 2011 semester last week. Pictured top left, teacher Agya Karki and her son Kiran painting with the other moms and kids (below). Morning Gar-den starts up again in September. Call 592-0541 for more informa-tion and to reserve your spot!***
AWS is the grateful recipi-ent of a $7,000 teacher training grant for 2011. This is the sec-ond consecutive year we have received support from the Mi-chael Foundation. In addition to making it possible for Ms. Sadhna to complete her Early Childhood Education this sum-mer, Handwork Teacher Sarah Gurganus will begin a certifica-tion program in Waldorf Hand-work teaching. This grant together with over $2,000 raised in Stand Up for Teach-ers will also help the following teachers obtain Waldorf train-ing: Liudmila Self (Grade 7/8 intensive workshops), Lynda Powell (Grade 6 refresher course), Melissa Downs (Grade 5 refresher), Michelle
AWS receives Grant For Teacher Training!
expenses covered. Contact the 2011-12 Faculty Chair Ashley Dulaney (Nursery teacher) if you'd like to become a contributor!***
Although it rained, then poured, then hailed, AWS’ hosting of the 2011 Waldorf Southeast Re-
gional Olympics couldn’t have been better! AWS 5th and 6th graders teamed up with students from 5 other Waldorf schools in the region to make up the city states of Athens (yellow), Sparta (red), Corinth (blue), and Thebes (green), with about 25 kids in each group. Students competed in each of the 5 traditional pen-tathlon events: javelin, discus, long jump, the relay race, and
wrestling. Pictured at right, the Greco-Roman style of wrestling is one where both cooperation and strategy are required. Each competing pair of students is reminded by the referee that they are “partners” from the waist up, and “competitors from the waist down,” because they
are required when they grasp hands to keep a golden circle at all times. To push an oppo-nent out of the ring, then, re-quires a balanced strategy of holding their ground when be-ing pushed, and advancing when their opponent’s balance is off-kilter. The three-day event began with an opening ceremony,
during which the story of the first Olympic games was told; the event con-cluded with each student receiving handmade medals designed and forged by Sloss Furnaces metal artist Heather Spencer. The closing ceremony marked the end of a Waldorf rite of passage but the beginning of new friendships formed by both teachers and students during the games!***
2011 Pentathlon an AWeSome Succecss!
Magic City Art 2011!
To those parents who volunteered their time on a weekend to pitch in, I could not have done it (sanely) without you!! Thanks to Monica Spiegel, Rachel & Neville Baay,
David Carpenter, Erin Pradhan, Brad Daly & Glenny Brock, and Susan and Vic Kelley; thanks to Ms. Mila for helping me with all of the booths this year!***
Page 4 AWS AWareneSs
Movin and Groovin!
Movin’ and Groovin’ has been a success! The final mile will be held at the school Friday, 5/20 at 3pm, after the 3rd grade circus. T-shirts will be available then. Plans to march in the Do Dah Day Parade have been canceled, and instead Ms. Cripps will lead Movin’ and Groovin’ participants in a parade at the 1-mile Fun Run at the Father’s Day 5k Race. Those who wear their t-shirts on that Saturday, June 18th, can participate for free. Follow directions to the 5k Race at Oak Moun-tain State Park. The 1-mile Fun Run will begin at 9am. Bring your hula hoops, your stilts, and your grooving selves!***
Tutoring at AWS this Summer Class Teacher Lynda Powell will offer her teach-ing expertise for tutoring purposes this summer. Open to rising 5th through 8th graders, the “class” will meet on Thursdays from 9am-12pm for 5 weeks (6/12-26 and 7/21-28). $35 per stu-dent per session; $150 (non-refundable) in ad-vance for all 5 sessions. We need a minimum 3 students to offer these rates, so contact Ms. Powell ASAP if you’re interested! 205 790 2653 [email protected]***
Former AWS Students and Alumni Shine on!
Former students of AWS now attending Shades Valley High School have proven their out-
standing status as high schoolers! Susan Mwenja and Claudia Watkins have made the Top 20 list for the Freshman Class; Grayson Cusi-mano has made the Top 20 list for the Sophomore Class (for the sec-ond consecutive semester). Con-
gratulations, ladies, on your hard work this school year!***
Tornado Relief Efforts
Roni Mahon, a Nursery Parent and store man-ager at SOCA Girl Clothing is selling bracelets to raise money for tornado relief. The bracelets are wide band rubber bracelets of different colors and have "Come Together" printed on them (see photo below). AWS will be helping SOCA in their efforts by selling them through the school store beginning this coming Monday. Neither AWS nor SOCA is making a profit — all proceeds go to the relief efforts. They cost $2 each, all proceeds go to tornado relief efforts. So, not only will you be helping those in need but you’ll be getting a cool bracelet in return! Pay in the AWS office by
cash, check (made out to “SOCA Cloth-ing”) or you may charge your school account.****
**The excerpt below was taken from Waldorf Today, “Why Waldorf Teaching is the Greatest Profession” by Henning Kullak-Ublick. Visit the newsletter at http://us1.campaign-archive1.com/?u=a0ce04e5a70babb8ef1330163&id=9142fd934d&e=de6cbc588f
Only if we love the world
can we educate.
“...It is more important than ever to create situations for children and adolescents, in which they can en-gage wholeheartedly with the world and have truly-saturated encoun-ters with it. For teachers, this in-cludes not only keeping “up-to-date”, but above all, working with fantasy, an unbounded interest in
Why Waldorf Teaching is the Greatest Profession
the world and the courage to blaze trails together with the children, on which they can discover a new way for the future. We must abandon the idea that teachers are there to fill the children with facts and lifeless knowledge. Being a teacher means mastering the art of relationships, both in relation to each individual child (which can sometimes take time), as well as in the teacher’s relationship to the world, through which the children can experience and understand the world. Only those who love the world can educate children.”
that you strive mightily and that you are worthy and good and courageous and true.”***
Fundraising Consultants Martin Novom and Liz Knuppel from Skystone CFRE Partners visited AWS on May 17 and 18. Martin is the Director of Admin-istrator Training at Rudolf Steiner College where AWS Administrative Director Lisa Grupe completed her training.
AWS is soliciting assistance in professionally planning a campaign to raise capital for a new school building at Ruffner Mountain. This visit was a chance for Martin and Liz to market their firm's fundraising consultant services in advance of responding officially to a business proposal which will be made available to other firms as the school solicits professional assistance with the fundraising.
Martin and Liz met with the Board of Trustees and the Capi-tal Campaign Planning Group on Tuesday and with AWS Par-
ents and Faculty/Staff on Wednesday. They will submit their official response to our proposal in early June.
Memorable quotes from Martin’s and Liz’ talks:
“You’re not just raising money; you’re building a com-munity.”
“You must recognize the seri-ousness of our task. Raising money for a new school is an urgent need—your current physical building ceases to exist in 3 years! If you don’t have a place somewhere else; you won’t have a school.”
“Confidence is key. Suspend skepticism.”
“Know who you are; know where you are going; do it with joy!”***
Gearing up for the Capital Campaign…
Step 1: Uncover the Joy!
Alabama Waldorf School...
Excellent Academics Enlivened by the Arts
Page 5
Ms. Spencer’s 2nd graders performed
their class play last month. The cos-
tumes and set were a delightful fit to
the fable’s story about how courage
can live even in the smallest of crea-
tures. Below, 2nd graders performing
a Spanish poem at the May
assembly.***
Field Trips & Festivals:
For Learning and
For fun!
Above, 1st graders in a tree (tree-climbing being
an important part of Nature Studies in Grade
One :) Below, Ms. Mila leading the 1st grade in
their performance at the May assembly the
folktale about “Too much Noise!”***
Above, far left: 4th graders visited historic Sloss Fur-
naces as part of their Local History block, where they were led on a tour of the
facility and learned about the steel and iron industries. Remaining photos above:
Visiting the Cahaba River, Alabama’s diverse ecosystem, provides the ideal out-of-classroom learning experience for
4th grade Waldorf students studying Geography Life Science. From left to right: Anton seeking out log-dwelling inver-
tebrates or pollutant-tolerant organisms. Middle: students teamed up to look for things they caught in the seine net.
Top right: An out-breath of play in-between activities! Bottom right: learning about the layout of the river and how to
read maps. Photos courtesy of Matt Slocum and Tosha Gaines.***
“The boys left us behind, but we don’t care.”
8th graders Alice, Marian, and Madeline on
their “field trip of all field trips”... their class
trip to the Grand Canyon!***
Alabama Waldorf School...
Excellent Academics Enlivened by the Arts
Page 6
Parenting and Teaching Different Temperaments (cont’d from p.1)
...“[Repeat] that forty times,” gives him a clear expectation and helps to avoid anxiousness. The melan-cholic craves routine and security, so inform him of change in ad-vance and be aware that resis-tance is often simply masking fear. Utilize the strong artistic sense of the melancholic by ask-ing him to cut flowers for the ta-ble, or make cards or bake muf-fins for someone. Don’t try to force the melancholic to be merry, but divert his preoccupation with self to another person’s pain/unhappiness. He is great at show-ing true sympathy.
Reading can be a good exercise for this child not as an escape but as a therapeutic means for learn-ing about the great deeds of oth-
ers who had major hindrances in their lives (e.g., Helen Keller), for exploiting humor toward laughter, and as vicarious enjoyment of ridiculous behavior in which he himself would never engage! And, remember, this is a child who appreciates a sad ending!
Adolescence can turn the melan-cholic into a choleric. The atten-tion to order and detail can mani-fest as conscientious leadership. Once his focus is shifted from within to without, he can focus on the situation at hand and take charge. His worry about how everything will turn out can pre-dispose him to be a responsible adult who sees his obligations through.
The sanguine child (“I try to do too many things, and then I don’t get to finish anything. But I like to be involved in everything; it
makes life so interesting.”) bub-bles and chatters and talks to anyone and no one! She is a quick thinker with the ability to cover an amazing amount of territory in a few short moments. It is difficult for an adult to follow her train of thought because she is thinking so many things at once the inner connection isn’t obvious. She exaggerates freely, and sociability is her great strength. She is so much fun to be with that life never gets boring. She is the first to make friends with the new kid on the block, and if injured, brushes it aside and quickly bounces back into the adventure of life.
Open to change, she is hard to pin down. She tells each friend they are her favorite, and while she means every word, it can be quite confusing. Because her attention is so easily diverted, parents of the sanguine child benefit from creating an orderly, simple environment, free of chaos and clutter. This enables her to relax and minimizes the nervous energy upon which she so easily thrives.
It is also important to cultivate a single underlying interest amongst all the ones in which she dabbles. If one doesn’t emerge, keep looking, and when it does, support it so that her interest deepens. This is an example of working with the temperament instead of against it. Resist the temptation to push an interest upon her; if it doesn’t generate inner excite-ment, it will not last. Patience is required of the sanguine parent in this effort and also with disci-pline. The sanguine accepts punishments and then moves on. If guilt is felt, it is fleeting. The parent can have a hard time believing s/he has any impact at all! It is helpful to remember that the sanguine’s most motivating force is love for the people around her. She will do things for a person rather than for joy in doing the deed well.
Often it works to put things be-fore her that involve her for only a brief time. Taking the project away serves to increase the child’s desire to do it again. By doing lots of small projects, she begins to want to work longer on
one thing, and this improves her attention span. While the parent
may employ a similar strategy with a melancholic child, it is done to increase skill incremen-tally; in the case of the san-guine, the emphasis is on small completions along the way, thereby increasing her will-power. Examples of such pro-jects might include common household chores such as set-ting the table, taking the trash out, folding towels, and checking the mail. If the assignment can be rhythmic (occurring at about the same time every day), all the better because she begins to anticipate it naturally and this helps her to avoid distraction. Over time, the emphasis can be shifted to a focus on quality. At first, she does the job to please someone, but as time goes by she learns that doing the job the right way is pleasing in and of itself.
A lighthearted approach where magic and fun are part of the equation works well with the sanguine, due to her natural embodiment of the innocence of childhood. As the sanguine moves into adolescence, she experiences a slowing of those life forces that have sustained her sanguinity. She finds it eas-ier to concentrate and stick with tasks and activities. Her cheer-fulness remains, but it is infused with calmness instead of hyper-activity. The child becomes grateful to the parent and teacher who insisted on order and form in her environment and she begins to see the rewards of being more organized. From her mercurial childhood nature emerges a solid adult, full of cheer and capable of handling the myriad details of daily life with ease.
A basic understanding of the temperaments makes it easy to see how working with the child’s temperament is more efficient and enjoyable than fighting it! Stay tuned to the June Aware-
ness for an in-depth look at the slow and sensible phlegmatic child and the energetic and purposeful gesture of the chol-eric child! In fact, the Spring 2011 Renewal has a piece on the choleric child! My hope is that these temperament tools will help you and your children have a super smooth summer!***
AWS Talent
Show a Hit! The 2011 Alabama Waldorf School Talent Show took place the last Friday in April, with proceeds bene-fitting the tornado relief efforts. AWS Community members, includ-ing teachers, substitutes, friends, and extended family gathered in the school auditorium for a healing evening of entertainment and laughter.
Left, Joshua Valentin, brother of Isaiah (6th grade) and Anamaria (Extended Care Teacher),
performed a break-dancing routine that made the crowd go wild! Right: Daniel (4th grade) showing off his martial arts skills. Below: James (5th grade) per-formed “Take it Easy” on guitar with vocals. Below: Joe and Si (5th grade) and Rumi (7th grade) performing the Beatles “Ticket to Ride.”***
Save the Date! AWS’s Father's Day Mile Fun Run is June
We decided to bring this fundraiser
11 school year, not only because it was a success last year, but because it supports our mis-sion by encouraging students to be accountable for their physical well-ness. It also supports community by making exercise something that can be shared by friends and family.
Oak Mountain State Park showcases our area’s natural resources and pro-
surface course that is both scenic and shady.
mapped out by the Birmingham Track Club and runs near Oak Mountain’s beach and along several picnicking areas, making it the perfect venue for
someone who does, we are seeking sponsors who share our mission of educating responsible world citizens!
Alabama Waldorf School...
Excellent Academics Enlivened by the Arts
Page 7
Classroom clips!
Spanish in Grades 7 and 8, From Senora Mixon
“We have been focusing on Spain this year in the 7th/8th grade class. The students learned about the great Spanish poet, Federico García Lorca (1898-1936) and they translated and dis-cussed his poem, La Guitarra, which they will be performing at the Gradua-tion Ceremony. The students also learned about Lorca's friendship with the Surrealist painter, Salvador Dali. To conclude the block, they studied, discussed and drew their own copies of Dali's painting, Pierrot and Guitar (1924), one of Dali's works which shows his early interest in cubism.”***
4th Grade, Local History and Geography, Pages from Student’s Main Lesson Books
Above are pages from Ms. Downs’ 4th graders’ MLBs for Local Geogra-phy & History. In Waldorf schools students learn about the geography of the world starting from a point of what they know (their neighborhood) and then working outward to their community, city, state, etc... 4th Grade curriculum also introduces the drawing of maps. Nealy’s (top left) is of the river systems in Alabama; Ivy’s (top right) shows the beginning of a study on industry and topography in the state. Students also mapped the path of the recent tornados that came through Alabama at the end of the month.***
Excerpts from Teachers’ Class lessons And Block Plans
Russian Language and Culture, From Rita Meikson
On May 4th, AWS 4th graders traveled to the
Jewish Community Center to visit ESL class for
Russian immigrants. Russian Teacher Rita
Meikson prepared a surprise presentation in
honor of Victory Day. On May 9th, 1945, WWII
ended, and each May 9th the people of Russia
hold celebrations in honor and remembrance of
the 26.5 millions people who were killed in Russia during the war .
Fourth graders memorized 2 poems about this day and recited them
during their visit. Then the students sang a few Russian songs, and
they shared Russian cookies for the celebration. Students had a
chance to practice their Russian with the older generation immi-
grants, all of whom were so happy and touched by the students’ sur-
prise that they shared hugs with the students and practiced their
English with them. The following week students received a thank-you
note from all of them. Ms. Meikson would like very much to continue
building the relationship next school year, and even design a pro-
gram in which the students present English lessons and the ESL
students help AWS student with their Russian conversation skills.
Ms. Meikson also said that the Russian students were shocked and
delighted to learn that a school in Birmingham (in all of Alabama,
even) taught children Russian!***
Mathematics in Grade 2, Pages from Students’ Main Lesson Books
In Waldorf schools, stories are used to engage the students’ interest in a lesson, no matter the subject. In Ms. Spencer’s math block, she re-viewed the 6 times table by telling *the story of a King whose palace had 6 walls and whose 6 sons rode out from there to explore the world. After the students had heard the story, an artis-tic representation of it was drawn in their Main Lesson Books. The end result of the story about the knights’ journeys is pictured at right. Not captured, unfortunately, were the delighted faces of the children joyfully learning about math in addition to freehand geometry, with 6-
pointed stars and hexagons. Left: For the introduction of square numbers, Ms. Spencer told *a story about a king who built a glorious palace (yellow box) for himself. Afterward he built three more pal-aces covered in gold for his councilors (orange), then five cloaked in purple velvet for each of his noblemen, etc...Stories like these incorporate many different aspects of mathematics, promoting more than just linear thinking; this example provides opportunities for talking about squares within squares, odd numbers, the relationship between adding and multiplica-tion, as well as making mathe-matical concepts concrete.***
*Stories taken from Dorothy
Harrer’s book, Math Lessons
for Elementary Grades.
Sam Pointer Music Lessons
Guitar, Mandolin, Bass, Banjo
Ages 8 to Adult, All Styles
205-967-8453 | [email protected]| www.sampointer.com
Learn songs you like, how to read music, good technique,
music theory & improvisation, how to play with others.
The AWS Awareness is brought to you by These Proud Sponsors
HOMEWOOD 871-1888 wittchiro.com
The AWS Awareness is brought to you by These Proud Sponsors
The AWS Awareness is brought to you by These Proud Sponsors
If you would like
to advertise
with us,
call 592-0541
or e-mail
Receive 15% off any purchase at the
mental_floss store when you use
discount code: AWS
mentalfloss.com
