AWS Awareness 2014-15, August/September Page 1

AWS Awareness

Alabama Waldorf School1220 50th Street SouthBirmingham, AL 35222

AlabamaWaldorf.orgBlog: AlabamaWaldorf.wordpress.com

August/September 2014

In this Issue...2 Accreditation Updates

3 Family Association News / Spring Gala 2015, The Edge of Chaos

3 Grandparent’s Day

4 Events Calendar

5 Classroom Clips

6 Teaching Reading / New Website

7-10 Sponsorship pages

Recent Research Supports the Waldorf Curriculum

Scan the headlines of the Times and major newspapers and you’ll find that scientific re-search is catching up to Waldorf ideals. Here are a few that have surfaced just in the past month.

1) The New York Times article, “Steve Jobs Was a Low-Tech Parent” by Nick Bilton (Sept. 10, 2014, nytimes.com) reported that many high-tech company employees know the ben-efits of limiting screen time in their children, former Apple CEO Steve Jobs chief among them. Citing reasons like “exposure to harmful content like pornography, bullying from other kids, and perhaps worst of all, becoming ad-dicted to their devices, just like their parents,” tech company founders realize the dangers can far outweigh the slim benefits. For chil-dren under 10, the proportion becomes even more lopsided as the younger the child is, the more prone to addiction they are.

2) If you’re trying to get your kids off-line, the band Recess Monkey sings some ideas for creative play on their latest release, ironically titled, “Wired” (Music Reviews: ‘Wired’ And ‘Appetite For Construction’ by Stefan Shep-herd, Sept. 15, 2014, npr.org). With so many opportunities for kids to stare at screens - big and small - it can be work to get them to use their creativity and make things with their own hands. The band has songs about “school di-oramas, duct tape and Legos.” Another band from Brooklyn called The Pop-Ups follows suit on their song “All these Shapes,” which talks about “making puppets, creating photo collages and trying on all sorts of clothes at a costume party.”

Waldorf schools also encourage a hands-on experience. As part of our healthy, whole-child approach to education, screens aren’t (cont’d on p. 2)

Save the date... Join us on Feb. 28th, 2015 for our Spring Gala Fundraiser,

The Edge of Chaos! (more on p. 3)

AWS Awareness 2014-15, August/September Page 2

employed in the lessons at all. Instead, teachers present material enlivened through story and expe-rienced by the student through movement, art, and writing. When parents join the Waldorf community, they pledge to carry out the ideal in their home life as well, limiting screen time for their children to the weekends. In this way, the rules that govern the child’s environment are consistent, whether at home or at school, and parents within the community can rest assured that other families are striving to raise their children under the same ideals.

3) In “This Is Your Brain. This Is Your Brain On Music” by Cory Turner (Sept. 10, 2014, npr.org), the theme was about music lessons being a healthy addition to the school day. According to the article, a recent study proves the benefits of music in the school day for low-income students. The small study found that in addition to gaining proficiency at the instrument, “playing music also helped kids’ brains process language.” It turns out that “learning music improves the brain’s ability to process [pitch, timing, and timbre], which helps kids pick up language, too. Consonants and vowels become clearer, and the brain can make sense of them more quickly.”

Music is woven into the Waldorf curriculum begin-ning in Waldorf nursery programs. Preschool chil-dren’s pre-academic material is presented through a daily morning circle, and in elementary school students play the flute in grades 2 and 3 and pick up the violin in grade 4. Music is a required sub-ject in Waldorf schools, and is allowed two periods per week - the same as other subject classes like Russian, Spanish, Movement and Handwork. In ad-dition to the benefits to the brain, music is presented in the Waldorf curriculum to “round out” the child’s educational experience, to provide those who have a natural affinity for it the opportunity to pursue it, and to provide those who don’t have natural ability the exposure to it.

All the subjects combined serve to produce a knowl-edgeable and in-formed citizen of so-ciety and the world.

Recent Research Supports Waldorf Curriculum (cont’d from p.1)

Accreditation UpdatesSoutheastern Association of Independent Schools (SAIS)... In August Damian Kava-

nagh met with Alabama Waldorf School staff and faculty to present a workshop about the indica-tors the school will need to meet as part of our process of becoming accredited by SAIS. Since then, teachers have been working in groups to write responses to each of the 53 in-dicators. Members of the Board of Trustees are also helping to craft responses, and Administrator Lisa Grupe created a survey which faculty, staff, board, cur-rent parents, and even middle school students are in the process of complet-ing. The data from the survey will help us write the required “value narrative” which is the story that communicates the school’s value to current and pro-spective families. Another required component, a full-scale financial audit, was completed in mid-September and the school received a positive rating from an independent financial auditor.

Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA)... In seeking accreditation with AWSNA, we also seek full membership in the Association which indicates that we have matured to stand in the world as an example of Waldorf education. With more than 1300 schools worldwide and more than 160 in the North American continent, this is no small task. We will become one of only 68 accredited North American schools this time next year. When we attend the 2016 Summer Conference, we will be full delegates who participate in important discus-sions about Waldorf’s common goals. AWSNA has dual accreditation agreements with 16 school accrediting agencies including NAIS/SAIS with whom we will pursue a dual accredi-tation next fall. Our accreditation not only shows we are compliant with more than 50 indicators in the areas of mission, governance, curriculum, stakeholder communication, and support systems, but it also includes an important narrative self-study that demonstrates our own thinking about where we are now, where will be in the near future, and how will we get there.

AWS Awareness 2014-15, August/September Page 3

Grandparent’s DayOn Friday, October 31st, AWS grandpar-

ents will visit with their grandchildren for a special Grandparents Day celebration. We are looking forward to hosting our grand-parents again this year! On the schedule...

Nursery Program, 9:30-11am

Nursery children will visit and play with their grandparents on the Nursery Playground at 9:30 and have a special Ap-ple Orchard circle and a snack. At 10:30, grandparents and children will move to the Community Hall for a special assembly.

Whole-School Special Assembly for Grandparents, 10:30-11am

All grandparents and students will congregate in the Community Hall for a special assembly program featuring AWS grades students at 10:30.

Kindergarten Program, 10:30am-Noon

The Kindergarten celebration will begin with the assembly at 10:30 in the Community Hall and move to a harvest circle on the Kindergarten Playground at 11am.

Grades Program 10:30am-Noon

Grades celebration will begin with the whole-school assembly at 10:30 in the Community Hall and conclude with individ-ual class celebrations in their rooms.

Spring Gala Fundraiser at UAB’s The Edge of Chaos!

SAVE THE DATE! We hope you’ll join us on Saturday, February 28th, 2015 for our Spring Gala Fundraiser at UAB’s Lister Hill Library. We’re excited to be holding our annual spring fundraiser at the innovative meeting venue, The Edge of Chaos. Located on the 5th floor of the Lister Hill Library, The Edge of Chaos has beautiful views of the city and ample space for auction materials, catering, photo booth and DJ. Our marketing committee is thrilled that the name matches our fun, diverse school com-munity. As any of you know who have attended our galas in the past, we know how to throw an AWeSome party! Details about tickets, time and cost to come soon - stay tuned to our new web-site for future gala announcements. If you’re in-terested in donating an item, a service, or food to our auction event, contact marketing@ala-bamawaldorf.org. Sponsorship benefits may in-clude name/logo recognition on the gala poster, school newsletters, and social media sites.

New Parent Orientation, held at The Edge of Chaos, was a wonderful success! Both vet-eran and new parents were treated to an awe-some food spread from El Barrio, as well as skits and songs about dress code and healthy foods poli-cies! A huge thanks to Erin Underwood, Cynthia Mwenja, and the individual class am-b a s s a -dors for m a k i n g this event such a fun success.

AWS Awareness

AWS Awareness 2014-15, August/September Page 4

AWS Calendar of Events - Fall/Winter 2014Keep up with events online at AlabamaWaldorf.org

Holiday/No School Parent Attendance expected. Free Childcare provided by AWS.

November1 Moss Rock2 Fest. Hoover34 MG I, Sheila 9a

5

6 Gr’s 6-8 Second-ary School Eve. / MG II, Holly 9am

7 Assembly 2:30p8 F.A. Play-

ground Work Day, 9-2 / F.A. Mtg 9am

...

11 Veteran’s Day / No Morning Garden

12

13 MG II, Holly 9am

14

...

17

18 Final MG I, Sheila 9a

19

20 Final MG II, Holly 9am / Board Mtg 5:30p

21...

25

26 Thanksgiving27 Holidays28 No School30

31

1 Labor Day...

8

9 F.A. mtg, pre-view of Gala space at UAB, food provided by El Barrio 6-7:30p / Fall Morning Garden I, with Ms. Sheila, begins 9am

10 Individual Student Photos (Grades only)

11

12

13 F.A. Play-ground Work Day, 9-2/F.A. Mtg 12pm

16 MG I with Sheila 9a

17 Free Observa-tion Day for Prospective Students

18 Fall Morning Gar-den II, with Ms. Holly, begins 9am

...

23 MG I with Sheila 9a

24

25 MG II with Holly 9am / Grades 1-4 Parent Eve. 5:30-7

...

29

30 MG I with Sheila 9a

September1

2

3 Assembly 2:30p...6 Grades 5-8

Parent Eve. 5:30-7p

7

8

9 Kindergarten Par Eve 5:30-7p

10

11 Art in Avon-dale Park

13 Columbus Day Holiday

14 MG I, Sheila 9a

15 Free Observa-tion Day for Prospective Students

16 MG II, Holly 9am / Nursery Parent Eve. 6-7p

...

19 Wild & Scenic Film Festival

...

24 *AWSNA Confer-ence / *WECAN Regional Conf.

25 *AWSNA Confer-ence / *WECAN

...

28 MG I, Sheila 9a

29

30 MG II, Holly 9am

31 Grandparents Day 9:30a-Noon

October

* Association of Waldorf Schools of North America / Waldorf Early Child-hood Association Network

December1

...

4 Holiday Faire set-up 5:30-9p

5 Assembly 2:30p6 Holiday Faire

10a-3p - All welcome!

...

15

16 Garden of Light in Kindergarten 5:30p

17 Early Dismissal 12:30. No XC.

18 Winter19 Holidays20

21 No22 School23 until... Jan. 5th

AWS Awareness 2014-15, August/September Page 5

Watercolor Painting in 2nd/3rd Grade

Ms. Gibb’s 2nd & 3rd graders worked on painting a sunrise (below, left) for one week’s assignment, and then sunset (below, right) for the next week’s lesson. The results were beautiful, as you can see! Ms. Gibb explained that they used more yellow in the sun for the sunrise pictures; more red in the sun for the sunset, as well as green in the reflecting water.

Experiencing Local Geography in Grade 4

In Waldorf schools, academic lessons are structured to appeal to the multiple intelligences of the student. In a 4th grade geography block, for example, students will listen to the teacher’s presentation about the Indian nations of the state of Alabama, and then draw a map of these regions. (Examples: below left, Mr. Lucas’s chalkboard drawing; and below center, students creating their own maps in their Main Lesson Books). This process appeals to both the auditory learners and the visual learners. The kinesthetic learners benefit when they see the lesson live, whether it be making a model of the river systems of Alabama out of rope on the classroom floor, or, as Mr. Lucas’s class did, taking a field trip to walk the setting where the stories of the Native Americans took place! Thanks to parent Julie McAllister for providing the pictures of the 4th grade class on its recent field trip to Moundville (below right).

AWS Awareness 2014-15, August/September Page 6

During a 2nd/3rd Grade Parent Evening earlier this month, one of Ms. Gibb’s class parents asked her, “How do you teach reading in Waldorf Schools?”

Teaching Reading in Waldorf Schools

Short Answer: We teach reading “from the whole to the parts.”

Long Answer: In Waldorf schools, students in the early elemen-tary grades read by being met where they are. They learn to read by writing what they know from activities in class, and they then read aloud from what they’ve written.

For example, in teaching from the whole to the parts, I brought a story of St. Michael and the Dragon, who with his sword of light combats the darkness of the world. After the story I taught the class a celebratory song of St. Michael. After the students learned the song and could sing it with ease and grace, the students helped me write the lyrics on the chalkboard and then they wrote the lyrics on paper with pencil. As they completed their verses, they read back to me what they had written, perhaps singing it if needed. Looking at the writing on their paper and listening to the words from their mouths they begin to feel that THEY CAN READ. The confidence imparted by this exercise carries the love and momentum for reading forward till the next time we have a read-ing lesson.

After confidence in reading is built, the rules

of grammar and the phonics are brought in to supplement their learning by breaking down the language further. This is the analytic approach of learning from the whole to the parts that the Waldorf method applies to all subjects. The syn-thetic approach, on the other hand, is the method wherein the child learns the sounds of the letters and phonetically builds each word as s/he reads; it is learning that is done “from the parts to the whole.”

In our class, I use both phonics and visual recog-nition to teach the students how to read. We’re in the midst of writing all of our Michael song lyrics and will continue to write and read other verses we know while learning the fundamental rules of English grammar.

Although the Waldorf way of teaching reading differs from the mainstream “parts to the whole” method, it delivers the same results in terms of competency and efficiency. Sometimes the Waldorf way is more intensive, but the payoff, as many Waldorf parents can attest to, is worth it. Children not only learn how to read, but they actually enjoy it, which is something that not all standards-driven, time-limited curriculums can boast.

AWS Launches New Website!

If you haven’t checked it out already, visit alabamawaldorf.org and see what’s new

with the Alabama Waldorf School website! Sections for upcoming news, as well as quicklinks to articles from past issues of the Awareness are just a small part of what makes the site a joyous improve-

ment over the old one.

For the latest on events and calendar changes, visit us online.

AWS Awareness 2014-15, August/September Page 7

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