Nature Stories in the Waldorf Elementary Classroom by Carrie Reuther, Waldorf MEd Year-Round Program

In the Waldorf elementary classroom we use imagination to reach the students we teach. Instead of teaching new ideas to children about the natural world around them as a series of facts, we tell them stories. Rudolf Steiner, the founder of Waldorf education, believed that children learn best through pictorial representation; as Waldorf teachers we present much of the curriculum through story with many valuable facts imbedded in the narrative and description. The following is a sampling of a nature story I composed in my Waldorf curriculum class for kindergarten or first grade to explain the change of seasons from fall to winter.

            The sun faded and the days had started to get shorter. The trees all around began to sing sweet melodies to Grandmother Wind. When the trees sang, beautiful colors appeared on them: crimson, rust, orange, gold and lemon yellow. These colors then awakened the leaf children who loved to frolic and play with Grandmother Wind. One of their favorite games was to see how long they could float in the sky with Grandmother Wind, before they would eventually tumble to the earth below. However, as the days became shorter the leaf children could not play as long during the day and began to argue about who would play when and where. When Grandmother Wind heard them bickering she was sad at the sight of their arguing.

“Have patience dear children. It is important your playing days are shorter now and you will soon know why.”

“When will we know why Grandmother Wind?” they uttered back.

“You will know soon enough,” she answered reassuringly.

And so it was that the leaf children kept playing and trusted that Grandmother Wind knew why their playing days were getting shorter and shorter. As the days continued many of the leaf children noticed they were tired more easily and did not want to play as long. The leaf children felt content to lie on the earth’s floor, because it felt soft and warm to them. They watched Silvia the Squirrel gather nuts and hide them in strange spots all over the meadow. The leaf children’s game now was to count all of the places Silvia hid her nuts. So, their play changed from that of the sky to that of the earth. When Grandmother Wind saw they were all comfortable lying on the earth she knew it was time to talk to them.

“Your blanket over the earth is very important,” she whispered to them. “Now Father Winter will know it is time for him to come.  And soon enough he will tell the snow fairies it is their time to come. Without your help he would not know. Thank you leaf children, you are so dear to me.”

Just then Grandmother Wind moved more strongly about as she felt Father Winter approaching.

 

Gyotaku: Japanese for fish (gyo) and rubbing (taku)

Pronounced gee-oh-tah-ku, this is a traditional form of Japanese fish printing dating back to the mid 1800’s. Easy to do, kids love it, and the results are impressive. Using a dead fish, fresh or frozen flat, or better yet, a rubber fish model, apply a coat of paint on the fish, thoroughly coating it. Apply rice paper or any thin paper to the top of the fish and press firmly with your fingertips to coat the bottom side of the paper with paint. Each print will be unique, and worthy of framing!

Submitted by Sophie Barbier

Louhi, Witch of North Farm by Vicki Peters

What would happen if someone stole the moon and sun?
Such a plot unfolds in Louhi, Witch of North Farm. This picture book, with a retelling by Toni De Gerez and illustrations by Barbara Cooney, portrays a story from Finland’s epic poem, the Kalevala,. Through the rich text and poetic pictures, mystical characters share their magical powers and, perhaps, more powerful, their connections to nature.

Introducing the book:
Depending on the depth and breadth of our study, I would use this book with first through fourth graders. This could easily be a Winter long thematic unit, bringing us into Spring with the return of the sun, growth, plant life etc. I’d first read it aloud during group story and scaffold it with a discussion (I have an idea of the themes I recognize, but this would be a good opportunity to tap into the students’ interests). During the following days, I might read it again and invite the community to listen and think of one of the themes - listen and really imagine the mystical happenings–How does it feel to dream into animals and forge a great sun or moon? - listen and then afterwards record their thoughts in their journals and later we would act them out on our stage (Vivian Paley style).

A taste of possible theme related activities:
The book offers a variety of curricular opportunities ranging from scientific inquiry to poem writing, and
musical play.

Louhi also dreams herself into various creatures; our supporting journal entries could be: What animal would you dream into? How would you feel? Move? - this could even stem into an aside research project on their individual animals) creative movement and guided imagery could enrich the ecology of the imagination and bring the children’s experience into that of the story’s. The text also introduces folklore, and magical characters such as Vainamoinen (the great singer, boat maker, and knower) and Seppo (the great smith), the class can use these characters to connect to different folklore we have.

Other relevant studies include: skiing; the different qualities in snow; the importance of the sun and moon; animal connections; Finland; Scandinavian culture; epic poems; links to Native American poems and changing animals; creative movement; log home building; blacksmithing. Beyond concrete academics, this book fosters a compassionate bond with nature, and with others. If we only think of our wants or needs, the community could suffer. We must remember we are all in this together, all a team taking care of the earth which sustains us. Good notions to help children to consider.

Poetic Language and Creative Writing
This text offers a variety of graceful images, like Owl Moon by Jane Yolen, and children gain a lovely sense of appreciation of such through reading this book. Phrases such as “down a cloud hill,” “the wind howled angrily,” and “all is still except for Vainamoinen,” invite children to expansively wonder and marvel at the magic of life. When is all still for you? How do you feel? How does it sound? How do you get there? Who is with you? How would it feel to ski through the sky? Such conversations provide kind prompts toward reflective imaginative writing. Wind poems, snow poems or cloud poems could be modeled. Use this time to expose children to the full meaning of the vocabulary, for without words, how does one think? Let children deliciously know and understand and move through different knew words, encouraging children to raise their hand and look forward to discovering a new word, not feel any shame or stupidity for not knowing its meaning.

For more activities on this delightful book, visit http://www.vickipeters.net.

The Rap of Montessori

Maria Montessori, she was one smart Lady.
First Woman PhD, in all of Italy.
Nobel Peace Prize, three times nominated.
She took in Roman street kids,
and the mentally retarded.
(no play, no play)

There ain’t no reason, to pressure kids to Learn.
They need creative Space, to learn at their own Pace.
Some like the order, some like the details.
But in all the cases, the environment prevails.
(no play, no play)

Afraid of looking stupid, afraid of being wrong, ,
Maria said, Don’t educate by fear, all day long.
Sensitive Blocks, are what makes them yearn,
The little ones are eager, and able to learn.
(no play, no play)

Itty bitty desks and itty bitty cupboards,
Everything’s accessible to Itty bitty paws.
Without Organization the other schools
But in her class, you won’t find a fairy tale.
(no play, no play)

Independence = Con-cen-tration,
Give them choices, let them decide.
You’ll see kids have, real application.
And the teachers observe, always observe.
(no play, no play)

There’s no punishment, there’s no control,
The child’s set free and on a roll.
There’s science, there’s math, there’s reading writing,
But there’s No puppet show,
And where the heck’s the Play-Doh???

Submitted by Joy Cole, Kenny Harris and Sophie Barbier

Orientation Day, Sept. 2006

Orientation Day, Sept. 2006

I noticed a bunch of words neatly printed on a yellow Post-It note, stuck next to the speedometer. From the back seat I read:

Careful Ageless
Useful Tireless
Hopeful Tasteless
Peaceful Changeless
Wasteful Shapeless
Graceful Scoreless
Wow.

I sat there utterly stunned by these poignant, powerful words. I thought my supervisor, Norm, is quite an interesting guy. He has meditation words to focus on while driving. Those words were so simple.

We were driving to the beach for lunch, a small beach just inside the Bay that looked at the Marin Headlands and some steep brown islands. We also came to pick up some seaweed for the sea slugs that were held on the exhibit floor in a large tank.

Norm was already my mentor. He showed me how to set up and maintain all the biology exhibits, including the necessary tricks for the Limping Grasshopper Exhibit that was only supposed to be up for a few months but had lasted for twenty years. And he encouraged me “to lose some time” in other parts of the museum. Since I started working at the Exploratorium, I felt I was getting closer with Norm than with my other co-workers. Especially after our calm lunch watching tankers and sailboats in the Bay and then the flora walk rummaging through the different kinds of seaweed, Norm was starting to be my friend and mentor.

At the end of this day, we were packing up our stuff in the office. I decided to ask.

“Norm? You know those words on your dashboard? What are they for?” I couldn’t help my reaching out emotion from cracking my brow or voice.

“Oh, those. Those are this week’s spelling words for my oldest son, Willy. We put them there so we could test him.” “Oh, that’s a good idea.”

——
This vignette is my favorite and applicable to our orientation day in August. Well, let me begin by asking what does “placeful” mean? By my accounts, it’s not a real word, but one of my favorites. Was that teacher a visionary or did I misspell the word? I define “placeful” as a deliberate choice to fulfill the aesthetic. Moving with purpose. There was a point, during our orientation day when people were filing out of 201 N for a break when I came up with another definition for “placeful.”

Here we have an accumulation of great potential; there will be great teachers here. Simply, we represent an amazing set
of choices.

by James Erard

Out of the Mouths of Students (and Teachers):

“I’m not sure why we’re doing this, but I have faith in our teachers that this will all come together.”
- Entering student in her 4th week

“The day Joseph Chilton Pearce picked me up hitchhiking changed my life.”
- David Sobel

“When can we see Ron’s Hello Kitty collection?”

“That Buddha guy—he’s pretty cool, but he just kind of sits there.”
- 8th Grader exploring religions.

“I know how to knit, but I don’t do it recreationally.”
- Not a Waldorf student

The Impulsive Cinderella by Christine Destrempes

Ella, our three year old granddaughter would randomly chose a book and say, “Wead me a book, Yia Yia.” She patiently tolerated Pinocchio and flipped the pages of 101 Dalmatians before I could finish reading them, but her world shook when she heard the story of Cinderella. This was serious. I kept waiting for her to say that this was the story that she had been waiting for all her life to hear.

After the 20th or so time I started to suspect her level of comprehension because although she was infatuated, a little obsessed even, her eyes would glaze over which was an unfamiliar expression for such an animated child. I asked her if she understood what was going on in the story and she shook her head no. When I launched into my analysis of the actions of the wicked stepsisters I was met with another vacant stare. Finally it dawned on me that perhaps this fortunate child had no clue what meanness is. So, I said to Ella, “I think I can explain what meanness is.”

I attempted to explain to this innocent about how some people behave in ways that are not nice to other people. She got it. The next day she told her mother, Regina, to be a mean mommy and that she would be Cinderella. Throughout the day whenever Regina lapsed into her normal, well-adjusted kind self, Ella would remind her to be mean. Soon after the day of role-playing, Ella declared that she was getting married. Regina suggested that she find someone who is like her daddy.

Ella replied, “I’ll marry myself.” Progress. It happens sometimes. And it’s a good thing when a little girl has to ask her mommy to be mean and realizes that her best life partner can be herself.

Submitted by Christine Destrempes

Last Laughs….

After being interviewed by the school administrator, the eager Antioch alumnus said:

“Let me see if I’ve got this right. You want me to go into that room with all those kids, and fill their every waking moment with love for learning, and I’m suppose to instill a sense of pride in their ethnicity, modify their disruptive behavior, observe them for signs of abuse and even censor their t-shirt messages and dress habits.

You want me to wage war on drugs and sexually transmitted diseases, check their backpacks for weapons of mass destruction, and raise their self esteem. You want me to teach them patriotism, good citizenship, sportsmanship, fair play, how to register to vote, how to balance a checkbook and how to apply for a job.

I am to check their heads for lice, maintain a safe environment, recognize signs of anti-social behavior, make sure all students pass the state exams, even those who didn’t come to school regularly or complete any of their assignments. Plus, I am to make sure that all of the students with handicaps get an equal education regardless of the extent of their mental or physical handicap.

I am to communicate regularly with the parents by letter, telephone, newsletter and report card. All of this I am to do with just a piece of chalk, a computer, a few books, a bulletin board, a big smile AND on a starting salary that qualifies my family for food stamps. You want me to do all of this and then you tell me….

I CAN’T PRAY?”

Mind Your Language by Paul J. Meyers

Our English language – the most widely-spoken and necessary language in the world. Necessary for its being the most widely-spoken and for its prestigious position as the world’s most prominent means of communication. English fluency, more so than any other language, is the most sought after linguistic endeavor of those who were born of another native tongue. In fact, it has become so commonplace to hear English spoken properly with all sorts of accents that we, living in a native English-speaking country, have taken this beautiful melting pot of a language and diluted it by throwing too much water into the pot. Thus, it can only be the job of the teacher to set things right with the proper mixture of ingredients that will not merely sustain the commonality of the language, but to rescue the integrity and dignity of the English language.

Without delving too deeply into an etymological diatribe, I will simply offer that English has come to be a culmination of many languages both archaic and other living, breathing languages of today.

Though technically considered a West Germanic language of England, its early influences include Old Norse, Norman French, and Latin. Throughout its evolution it has picked up bits and pieces from Greek, modern French, and more.

With a language so widely-influenced and now influential in its own right there should be no question of its richness, its subtle nuances, its sudden twists and turns, and yes, those many unexplained “rules” we have all had to endure.  Moreover, one would assume if so many people are learning proficient English from thousands of different native tongues, then in those countries such as America where English is the native tongue, people would speak it the most proficiently – incorporating its extensive vocabulary and eloquent grammar.

Sadly, the trends show no truth to this assumption as our mainstream society speaks on a level that experts once said was of an eighth grade proficiency level but have since downgraded to levels even lower than that. As the foremost goal of acquiring the most material wealth possible gives rise to a quantity over quality mentality, so does our accepting nothing more than mediocrity when it comes to our own language, which so many others strive to speak and have increasingly surpassed us at doing. Perhaps this cannot be better exemplified than by considering the future global economic projections that predict the United States losing ground to the Far East and an ever-growing united Europe. For what good is the most impressive knowledge one possesses if he or she does not have the proper tools of communication to convey and articulate that knowledge to others?

Already, at the dawn of my teaching endeavors I have come to see where emphasis on the fundamentals of English falls through the cracks at all levels of education from first grade through to college. It seems that with each grade the teacher assumes that his or her students were exposed to the specific vocabulary words and rules of grammar laid-out by the curriculum and, therefore, never revisited or reinforced them at a later time. Therefore, by the time one reaches high school and college not even the English teachers are taking notice of deficiencies in grammar and diction, let alone the teachers of other disciplines such as social studies, science, and so on. The shift then turns to content, as it is expected of one to use proper grammar and more eloquent words by this point.

Let me clarify that when speaking of English as a subject taught in school, it is a two-headed monster, if you will. On one hand there are the fundamentals or mechanics of grammar. This is usually associated with the lower grades. Then, from middle school onwards, there is the shift towards content brought on by literary analysis and critical thinking. It is at this point when the grammar head is decapitated, leaving the content head to stand on its own without the support and dressing up that only a well made-up face can do – even making the ugliest argument look good! The solution? Teachers need to be grammar sticklers throughout the grades!!

This is not a suggestion aimed only at English teachers per se (see how English allows for the slipping-in of the Latin phrase to seem so seamless?), but must be followed by teachers of all disciplines. It is our responsibility as educators to uphold the integrity of our language. Don’t cop-out by regarding it as a job for the English teachers. More importantly for you aspiring English teachers, don’t ever assume that simply because your students should have been exposed to the proper use of commas, for example, as the state-mandated curriculum dictates, that they have all retained it and can properly use commas for the rest of their lives.

Continually assess and reinforce the rules of grammar while simultaneously building on your students’ vocabulary throughout the grade levels. This should be done without making it seem tedious, mundane, and redundant. Instead, do it in all sorts of creative and innovative ways as expected of any Antioch-trained teacher.

If this epidemic of accepting substandard levels of English proficiency continues, then we may arrive at a point when “See spot run” is no longer spoken by the beginning learner of English but becomes the average level for the American adults’ speech.

Poem by Sophie Barbier

A field covered in snow, a mirror of white,
The silence of a cold winter’s morning.
The sun sparkling bright, with silver finesse,
Your eyes sting, but you stare nonetheless.
You can’t look away, so you stare at the tracks,
A perfect straight line, coyote perhaps.
I want to capture the silence, capture the peace,
Keep it safe in my head and my heart.
So when the day starts and the magic is broken
I’ll remember, this morning’s start.

by Sophie Barbier