Great Barrington Rudolf Steiner School
NEWSLETTER WINTER 2014
"It is a chance for the students to develop inward picturing," says Mrs. Brennan. "Plays cultivate students' ability to develop their capacity for forming inner pictures as they recite and tell the story together."
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CLASS PLAYS
by Kate Staples For the students, the teacher and the parents, the class play is one of the highlights of the school year. Each play is months in the making, beginning with the teacher writing or finding a play and introducing it to the class. "The play the teacher chooses comes out of the curriculum for that year," says first grade teacher Tracey Brennan. So, for example, a class learning the Greek myths might stage a play based on one of those myths. "The class dynamic plays a big role in the choice as well," says Mrs. Brennan. "Teachers will find a play that fits with what that particular class is experiencing, what is living in them." As a whole, class plays are an extension of speech work. In the early grades' plays, all the students gesture and speak together the way they do in class. "It is a chance for the students to develop inward picturing," says Mrs. Brennan. "Plays cultivate students' ability to develop their capacity for forming inner pictures as they recite and tell the story together." Once teachers have decided on a play, they will either find a written version of that play or write a play themselves. Especially in the early years, the plays are often in verse, making them easier for the students to memorize. Every school has its own traditions. At GBRSS, the eighth grade often does Shakespeare. Fifth grade has a very busy year with other activities and generally does not do a play. First grade, so involved in their own memorization and recitation in class, might wait until the following year to stage their first play. The class is introduced to the play and learns it as a whole before the parts are cast. Teacher's have their own way of working: some will assign roles themselves; others allow students to identify preferred parts before giving an assignment. Either way, individual roles are often assigned for pedagogical reasons. "Sometimes a student will choose a small role and turn it into something real-
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ly special," says Mrs. Brennan. She adds that, particularly in big classes, there are often two casts. Rehearsals can be a tense and exciting time. Outside companies, like Shakespeare and Company or Walking the Dog in Hudson, NY will sometimes share expertise or even costumes. "It's an amazing social interaction," says Mrs. Brennan. "The children work very well together. They often learn something new about their classmates, recognizing them in a new way." "The classes memorize the plays very quickly," says Mrs. Brennan. Generally, each student knows all the parts. They also are encouraged to contribute ideas to the staging of the play. Once it hits the stage, each class play becomes a school event. Other teachers will help out with music or props. All of the classes are invited to every play. "The young children love seeing the older grades perform and the older students are very respectful and supportive of the younger grades," says Mrs. Brennan. The community is invited to the 8th Grade performance of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream on the following dates and times: Wednesday, March 19th during school day Thursday, March 20th during school day Friday, March 21 7pm Saturday, March 22 at 7pm
8IEGLIVW [MPP ½RH E TPE] XLEX ½XW [MXL [LEX XLEX particular class is experiencing, what is living in them."
Great Barrington Rudolf Steiner School
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SPRING FREE PUPPET PLAYS
GREAT BARRINGTON RUDOLF STEINER SCHOOL
by our Early Childhood Teachers
Newsletter Winter 2014
35 West Plain Road Great Barrington, MA 01230 p. 413.528.4015 http://gbrss.org https://www.facebook.com/GBRSS
Editor Kate Staples Graphic Designer Stacey Hartka
▶ Saturday, February 1, 10:30 & 11:30 "The Snow Maiden" at Matrushka Toys and Gifts ▶ Saturday, March 15, 11:15 "The Hollyhock Dream," Mason Public Library, Great Barrington
Creative & Production Coordinator Anne Johnston Albert
▶ Saturday, April 12, 10:30 "Akimba and the Magic Cow" at GBRSS Early Childhood Building
Staff Liaisons Tracy Fernbacher Jenna Lamond Robyn Coe
RHYME TIME
Tuesdays 10:30am at Matrushka A free weekly event for young children and their caregivers
Article submissions 300-1,000 words: katestap@gmail.com Photo submissions: (300dpi) annealbert@mac.com
ADS & CLASSIFIED ADS please submit form, artwork and payment by deadline dates below: http://gbrss.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/ Newsletter-Ad-Placement-Form.pdf Each Tuesday at 10:30 visit Matrushka Toys and Gifts where GBRSS hosts Rhyme Time, a free weekly circle time for young children and their caregivers. Led by an Early Childhood teacher with a Waldorf background, children can join in and enjoy finger plays, rhymes and circle games. All are welcome! Matrushka Toys and Gifts 309 Main Street Great Barrington, MA 413-528-6911 4
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GBRSS Newsletter deadline and release dates are: FALL deadline Oct 18--release date Nov 4 WINTER deadline Dec 21--release date Jan 25 SPRING deadline March 20-- release date April 15 SUMMER deadline May 20-- release date Jun15
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THE HOLLYHOCK DREAM Early Childhood Teachers Create Original Book and Puppet Play Our Early childhood teachers have created an original storybook, The Hollyhock Dream, about a girl and her little brother who venture XLVSYKL XLI JSVIWX MR WIEVGL SJ XLI ¾S[IV XLIMV mother dreams will make her well. The fairy tale debuted as a puppet play at the Holiday Handcraft Fair in November, and teachers will perform it again for the community at Mason Library in Great Barrington, Saturday, March 15, 2014, at 11:15 a.m.
The Hollyhock Dream was written by teachers Trice Atchison, Beth Oakley and Jo Valens. “We went to a workshop led by author and storyteller Nancy Mellon last spring and, as part of the evening, wove together a story on the spot,” says parent-child teacher Trice Atchison. “We were so inspired by the process, we decided to collaborate on a new fairy tale for our Holiday Handcraft Fair’s puppet play.” Writing a new story allowed the teachers to consider themes such as how there can be more than one right way to a destination—sometimes with the least likely person leading the way; how benevolent help can show up during moments of confusion; and how the natural world is full of wonders, including plants that heal. When they finished the tale, the group decided to publish it as a storybook, with nursery teachers Jo Valens and Beth Oakley together illustrating the book with color pencil drawings. Jo Valens has previously illustrated The Waldorf Kindergarten Snack Book, The Waldorf Book of Bread, The Waldorf Book of Soups and Tell Me a Story, a collection of nursery and kindergarten tales from Waldorf teachers around the world, to which she also contributed several stories. Trice Atchison contributed to and co-edited A Warm and Gentle Welcome, a collection of articles about Waldorf early childhood education. When it came time to adapt the story as a puppet play, kindergarten teachers Somer Serpe and Michelle Kuzia joined the collaboration, making silk marionette puppets to represent the mother and children, along with a grandfather rod puppet of felted wool that can move with expressive gestures. Teachers brought the story’s animal friends to life, too, and created a puppet stage for the characters’ adventures using silk cloths and simple props. Michelle Kuzia composed two songs to accompany the performance and Veronica Horowitz, nursery assistant, joined in as a puppeteer. Feedback has been positive, according to the teachers, with children re-enacting parts of the story in their free play and conversation, and parents mentioning that their children are asking for the story to be read again and again. The Hollyhock Dream storybook is available at Matrushka Toys & Gifts, 309 Main Street, Great Barrington and at the GBRSS main building's front desk.
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Great Barrington Rudolf Steiner School
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HIKING PROGRAM by Kate Staples
7XYHIRXW JVSQ ½JXL XLVSYKL IMKLXL KVEHI TEVXMGMpate in the hiking program, though earlier grades often take their own hikes independently. In the same way that an academic subject is introduced gradually, the trips become more challenging over XLI ]IEVW 8LI ½JXL KVEHIVW XEOI E HE] LMOI MR the fall and again in the spring; the sixth graders' spring hike is an overnight.The week-long trip to Camp Glen Brook, at the foot of Mt. Monadnock in New Hampshire is a highlight for the seventh grade. In eighth grade, students hike the Taconic ridge, spending the night at the campgrounds near Bash Bish Falls and ending at Catamount. Those who have spent time in the Berkshire and Taconic ranges know that there is an education to be found in the mountains around Great Barrington. Fortunately, the school knows it too, and has developed a hiking program incorporating a number of the trails of both ranges.
"For the overnight, setting up our tents, making a fire, cooking and cleaning up, all after a long day, are activities which exercise the will," says Mrs. Palmer. At the end of the trip, each hiker is encouraged to share with the class their impressions of the day, expressed as: a rose -something wonderful; a thorn -- something uncomfortable; and a bud -- something they are looking forward to. Next year, Mrs. Palmer will begin incorporating hiking journals into the program for journaling and sketching. Students will keep these journals all four years.
"There are so many aspects to these hikes that surprise them -- the moon rising over the mountains, the babbling brook that actually babbles. Hopefully, they will become comfortable on these trails and as the students get older and become adults, it will transform into a feeling of responsibility and they will come back to the woods and take care of them."
Individual classes have been taking trips for years, but hiking was incorporated into the GBRSS curriculum eight years ago after Krista Palmer, on sabbatical, hiked local segments of the Appalachian Trail and the Taconic Ridge, and noted which trails would be appropriate for day and overnight trips. We are incredibly lucky to have the Appalachian Trail in our backyard," Mrs. Palmer says. "It should be one of the signatures of our school and part of our experience." "One of the primary reasons for starting the program was to get out in the woods."
"It soon became apparent that having time, small as it is, to experience the quiet and sounds of nature had a calming effect on all of us. I now incorporate two quiet times, be it on the summit or by a waterfall, where the students spread themselves out and are alone with their thoughts, the view, the wind or the sky." As valuable as the quiet time is, the class as a whole benefits from the social interaction. "Everyone hikes at different speeds and students may find themselves hiking with classmates they wouldn't normally associate with," Mrs Palmer says. "They will often help classmates, carrying each other's backpacks or sharing food and water." 6
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"Everyone hikes at different speeds and WXYHIRXW QE] ½RH XLIQWIPZIW LMOMRK [MXL classmates they wouldn't normally associate with," Mrs Palmer says. "They will often help classmates, carrying each other's backpacks or sharing food and water."
"We are incredibly lucky to have the Appalachian Trail in our backyards," Mrs. Palmer says. "It should be one of the signatures of our school and part of our experience."
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Great Barrington Rudolf Steiner School
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7 QUESTIONS FOR SCIENCE TEACHER RICK SHRUM by Robyn Coe
Leading the Science Fair this year is Waldorf teacher Rick Shrum. Mr. Shrum studied Marine Biology at University of California, San Diego, and worked as a marine biologist at Scripps Oceanic Labs, one of the oldest and largest centers for ocean and earth science research in the world. He received his Masters in Neurobiology from University of California, Santa Cruz, specifically studying learning and memory in sea slugs. As he began work on his PhD, Mr. Shrum found out about Waldorf education by attending a winter fair at the Waldorf School of Santa Cruz, where he saw students’ main lesson books open on a table and thought, “Wow, this is a whole different way of looking at science!” His favorite part of graduate studies was teaching rather than pure research, so he left his graduate program in biology and entered Waldorf teacher training in Sacrmento, California, finishing with a second year of training on the East Coast at Spring Valley, New York. He started his career as a science teacher in the Rudolf Steiner High School in Manhattan, but eventually wanted to try his hand as a class teacher, and took a class from grades 1-5 in Eugene, Oregon. He joined the faculty at GBRSS in 1996, where he specialized in the middle school, taking a class from grades 5-8, then another from grades 6-8, as well as working in the Great Barrington Waldorf High School.
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Watching bread rise is really transformation of a substance, which is the heart of chemistry. 1st and 2nd graders take nature walks and form an intentional connection with the earth, which further inspires their sense of wonder. 3rd graders study house building where engineering ideas come into play. 4th grade is the study of the Human and Animal, which makes a comparison of human form and function with that of animals. 5th grade is botany. 6th is physics with the study of light, sound, heat and magnetism as well as the beginning of earth science with astronomy and geology. These science fair middle schoolers will have blocks with more physics, plus general and organic chemistry, anatomy, physiology, health, nutrition, and meteorology. Pretty impressive science curriculum I'd say! What’s different about this year’s science fair? This year, students will be focusing on the “doing” aspect, not so much the report aspect of their projects. If you want to study horses, focus on one horse specifically, not all the horses in the world, and go observe it. Science is people doing things; it’s a will activity. The other aspect is that science teaches sequential thinking, to take an idea and break it down. I tell the students, it all starts with a question, and your curiosity. How many students will be participating in this year’s Science Fair? Close to 50 students will be doing a science fair project this year: Mrs. Giles’ eighth grade (who took part in the science fair last year) and Mr. Eurich’s 7th grade, who are doing it for the first time. Each student will work with a mentor —among them, teachers, myself and parents in the community (8-10 all told) who have a special interest or experience in their topic.
Mr. Shrum is currently in his third career as a nurse at Berkshire Meadows, a residence and school for children and young adults living with developmental disabilities. From this position, he mentored the school in creating a dedicated science program at GBRSS, including the science fair, something the school had long wanted to do. The school’s 5th annual science fair takes place on February 13th, at 7 pm.
Why is the Science Fair important?
How do GBRSS teachers approach science in the class- room?
What do students get out of participating in the Science Fair? What are the long-term benefits?
Rick Shrum: We take a phenomenological approach, starting an experiment— let’s say the production of hydrogen gas—with the experience of a phenomenon. Students make a detailed observation, and from there, draw conclusions. So the students formulate a concept based on their experience—we draw that out of them, rather than starting with a concept as a given. This keeps their sense of wonder and imagination active. You might say we try to make science come alive.
Long-term benefits include being able to carry an idea through to the end; exercising their sense of wonder; and learning that they can answer their own questions about the universe. Students also have to do tactical problem solving as they go along in their experiment, making adjustments when aspects might not go as planned. And they get a little worldly experience: they see that things cost money.
It’s important to see that science is done by people, not just something you read in a book. It’s important to learn the skills involved, such as learning to defend one’s investigation and results. The students present their findings in class, and then to the larger community at the Science Fair. They even have to use scientific methods to explain their work.
How does the Science Fair relate to students’ regular science curriculum?
What is different about the Science Fair at the Great Bar- rington Rudolf Steiner School, compared to science fairs at other schools?
It gives them a chance, for example, to go deeper into a topic they’ve already touched on in class, or something they're curious about in the world around them. Whether they realize it or not, middle school students have been studying science since kindergarten.
All projects are done by hand. There is no photocopying, no downloading from the Internet. The students are also encouraged to go and talk to people to learn more about their project, so there’s a humanistic basis.
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GBRSS 5TH ANNUAL MIDDLE SCHOOL SCIENCE FAIR The 5th annual Middle School Science Fair will be held Thursday, February 13 at 7pm in the auditorium. GBRSS 7th and 8th graders will demonstrate 50 projects on topics they have chosen from earth science, life science, physical science or an alternative science. Last year’s diverse projects included an operational hovercraft, a scale-model green building, plant-based fiber dyeing, and a solar water-heater. This year students’ projects can be an experiment, a research study or building something. Working with a mentor, the projects, which students will work on for approximately 7 weeks, will cul-
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minate with a display and explanation of their findings. Students will also write up their research including hypothesis, procedures, and observations to be handed into their class teacher. Some plans include research on forensic science, construction of a robotic hand, an exploding volcano, and experimentation with various projectiles shot from an air-pressure cannon. The whole community is invited to attend this exciting, educational and often explosive evening dedicated to the fun of science and technology.
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ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: JOSH WEINSTEIN by Kate Staples
Josh Weinstein is majoring in business organizations and entrepreneurship at Brown University, but one of the aspects of his Steiner education he is most thankful for is the artistic component. "My friends can relate only to certain people in certain ways, but I can relate to a wider variety of people and topics because of the diversity of my early education," he says. Josh attended GBRSS from first through eighth grade, with Ms. Franco as his teacher. He attended the Salisbury School for high school and is now a junior at Brown. His chosen major, he says, will prepare him for a variety of careers, including consulting and small business management. Josh is not sure yet what he will pursue, but he does know that he wants to live in a rural area. "I love being outside, and that I attribute to the Steiner school and all the time we spent outdoors, playing squirrel hunt and other games. It helped me build a bond with nature," he says. Waldorf education has helped him in a number of ways, some seemingly unrelated to any specific classes. "The open perspective and alternative learning methods, being surrounded by free-thinking people -- it allowed me to approach people and situations with an open mind that I might otherwise have dismissed." That open thinking, and the hands-on component of Waldorf schooling also encouraged him to look at problems and concepts from a different angle. "I might find it easier to examine a physics problem, for example, taking it from words on paper and looking at it from different angles, bringing it into my mind, where I can solve it," he says.
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His exposure to so many ideas and ways of thinking is one of the reasons Josh chose to attend Brown. The university's open curriculum allows students to take many electives. Josh estimates that out of the 32 courses required to graduate, 15 will be in his major, allowing him to take a number of electives tangential to his studies. "I took a modern architecture course," he says. "It was incredibly interesting. For a final project we had the option of writing a 15 page paper or building a model. I made a model chair, something I never would have done if I hadn't taken woodworking at Steiner." Josh also finds time for activities outside of school. He works with Bikes at Brown, an organization which restores and repurposes old bicycles for refugees in Providence who otherwise couldn't get around. He also works with the Brown socially responsible investment fund. "Brown gave us $30,000 to invest in the stock market, on socially-responsible companies with good ethics in management." The fund has done pretty well, he says. Out of all the aspects of Waldorf education Josh appreciates, one stands out. "I really value the opportunity Waldorf offers children to live the way children are supposed to live," he says. "With imagination and activity rather than sitting behind a computer screen." The belief in allowing children to progress at their own pace was an important aspect of the education, one Josh felt personally. "I was one of the last in my class to learn to read, but that was okay. I did learn to read in my own time and everything has turned out pretty well."
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KINDERGARTEN Mrs. Serpe
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GRADE 1
Mrs. Brennan
SPANISH with Señora Wolff
Spanish from 1st to 3rd Grade During the first three years the experience of learning a language is totally aural. Through imitation, the children are immersed in the soul of another language. Gestures, mimicry, recitation of poems, rhymes, songs, plays, short dialogues and stories bring to the children not only the vocabulary they need to acquire to be to able to master the language later, but more importantly, the openness to another culture.
A don Martín Ti-ri-rín, tin-tín, Se le murió To-ro-rón, ton-tón, Su chiquitín Ti-ri-rín, tin-tín, De sarampión, To-ro-rón, ton-tón.
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MEET REBECCA MORRISON, 2nd GRADE TEACHER by Kate Staples
Every evening, 2nd Grade teacher Rebecca Morrison takes time to reflect on her class. She thinks about the day that passed, and if she would have done anything differently. She then incorporates what she's learned into the following day. "Students are incredible teachers," she says. "Not a day goes by that I don't find a lesson for myself." Mrs. Morrison has had many days of lessons. She joined GBRSS last year, but has been teaching, in various ways, since she was young. Mrs. Morrison grew up in Africa, moving from Zambia to Malawi with her father, an engineer, her mother, a secretary, and teacher and three siblings. In Africa, she taught English to other children. After later attending schools in England, she moved to the United States. During college, Mrs. Morrison worked for two years in Dallas, Texas as a bond broker. "It was not for me," she says. While attending Penn State, she worked as a teacher and director in the after care program at an elementary school and as Director of the YMCA summer programs in Harrisburg, PA. It was then that she decided to make a life in teaching, and at the same time was drawn to an artistic training. She became a certified eurythmy teacher at Spring Valley and completed her teacher training at Alkion, NY. She has been teaching eurythmy to children and adults with special needs for fifteen years. One of her favorite parts of teaching, Mrs. Morrison says, is opening her students up to new experiences and ideas. "I love watching them gain confidence in new areas and develop new interests," she says.
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"We can move forward in our development when we are open to surprises. I try to create an environment that fosters interest in the world; this opens doors to exploring new areas." Each child has a key, Mrs. Morrison believes. If she can find out what that key is, she can begin to understand what motivates them and help engage them.
"Mostly, I observe," she says. "I see how they are animated. Many are motivated by humor, and that gets their attention, it is a great teaching tool and enlivens them to the moment." "Self-knowledge is a lifelong pursuit and begins early on; I attempt to serve each child in assisting in the discovery of their particular destiny. If I am open to realizing given strengths, aptitudes, interests, as well as helping to overcome hindrances, then I can support each one to realize their potential." When she's not teaching, Mrs. Morrison's own interests are wide-ranging. She spends time at home with her husband, Seth Morrison, a therapeutic eurythmy therapist, and rides horses with her daughter Syona, who is in the 8th grade. And she is in the last year of completing her sculpture training. "Getting dirty and forming things never loses its allure," she says.
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GRADE 3 Ms. Marks
STRINGS
with Mrs. Mitchell and Mrs. Ludwig In the 3rd grade strings are introduced in to the music program. At the end of second grade, I tell the students a story about a little boy who becomes an apprentice in the studio of Antonio Stradivari. The end of all his work is that the master gives him an instrument. The students try out the instruments, violin, viola and cello, and we talk about the differences as they draw them; I ask them to draw the instrument they think they'd like to play. Then, in the fall, they whisper to me which instrument they've chosen. The beauty of our program is I've been teaching them music since 1st grade, and everything they learn on their violin or their
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cello they are also playing on their recorders and singing. We teach them music as if it were spelling or math part of the discipline that's required to succeed, but it's also fun. It builds the ritual and rhythm we want to establish for homework in the upper grades in 5-10 minutes a night -- muscle building. The instrument becomes an extension of the student's body, as a way to make music. Playing an instrument involves all of the senses and focus, but it is still a soul expression. It's also a huge social force! by Mrs. Mitchell
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GRADE 4
Mrs. Cartier The 4th Grade has entered into the world of fractions. They learn to experience fractions using manipulative and visual aids like apples, clementines, paper cut-outs and pizzas to learn “the whole to the parts” and then “brought back to the whole” as in all Rudolf Steiner teaching.
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GRADE 5 Ms. Suberg
POETRY FROM BOTANY BLOCK Fall by Owen K. Plants have stopped growing, And it is almost snowing, Even the rivers soon will stop flowing, The fire in the hearth is flickering The squirrels fighting over nuts are bickering This season comes year after year, and winter is almost here.
Fall by Isaiah B. The leaves fall to the ground Little animals scamper around When I look up to the trees I see all the colorful leaves I looked to the beautiful mountains tall and I know it's fall.
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Preparation by Alice M. Tip tap, chit chat, leaves fall, Winds blow, white snow, winter calls, "Here here chickie dear", says the breeze, "So so your time has come, now fly with ease." Deep down underground, nuts and leaves, Skitter here, scamper there, jobs to achieve, Crisp frost on the grasses, sparkling white, The sun has set, it's getting dark, so say good night.
Leaves by Andrew C. In autumn leaves fall Off trees great and tall The leaves can be big and small And that is why we call it fall.
Dance of the Leaves by the Ocean by Katherine H. Autumn by the ocean is a wonderful thing, Against the shore, waves are splashing, The air is cool and crisp and clear, Autumn is leaving winter is near. Colorful leaves fall quickly, Like little boats in an endless sea, The wind is blowing fast and furious, Always swift and always curious, Colors swirl and dance and sing, Like actors and actresses performing, All dancing at the great premier Of the ballet, "Fall is here!"
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GRADE 6
Ms. Franco
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The 6th grade geometry curriculum opens with a review of plane geometric forms that were, in years past, drawn and explored as part of free-hand form drawing lessons. Now, with a compass in hand, we construct parallel and perpendicular lines and bisected angles. Through careful division of the circle, we construct precise geometric forms to complement our study of the properties of polygons. Other areas of exploration and study included measurement, construction, and types of angles, a continuation of area and perimeter that include irregular shapes, and a short introduction to geometric proofs that will be further explored in the seventh grade.
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GRADE 7 Mr. Eurich
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The 7th grade creative writing block is the culmination of years of writing exploration in the early grades, bringing creative expression to a new level, and into greater consciousness. Students learn figurative tools such as simile, metaphor, alliteration and onomatopoeia, tools which they use to create the 5-paragraph form in essays, stories and compositions. They'll build on these tools and skills for the remainder of 7th and 8th grades. "When they were younger, I'd give them the form and they'd often give it back to me in their own way," comments Mr. Eurich. "Through their work in the 7th grade creative writing block, when I gave them the form, they filled it with their own expression, using figurative tools to express their personal experience. At a time of feeling vulnerable and exposed, they are 'held' in the form."
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GRADE 8 MRS. GILES: WOODWORKING PROJECT: A STOOL by Se単or Orobio, Woodworking Teacher
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To choose the right woodworking project, I look at the developmental needs of each class. 8th graders have moved from 7th grade, where they were, developmentally speaking, explores, and studied the Age of Exploration. They ventured away from firm land onto the water: this surface is moving, and they needed a lot of courage because the known technology was limited. 8th graders have returned to firm ground with new knowledge, reflected in their thinking processes. As teachers of 8th graders, we need to help students integrate this new thinking with the feeling and willing processes developed in the younger grades, while giving them a practical application for their previous studies and skills. The stool project they create in woodworking class fulfills that need.
any glue. Students learn that glue is not so important: the gap is not fixed by glue. In a year, glue will dry and the stool will not hold. The precision of craft is another part of the whole learning process. When they are carving the top of their stool, students combine, in an active way, the nerve sense, their sense of touch and acuity, and the thinking process. They have to see what they are doing and go across the wood with the grain, and really see and think what they are doing. This provides more knowledge than mesimply telling them. The wood is teaching them. I ask them to make both the top and the underside of the stool beautiful. I tell them, “Beauty is inside you and outside you.”
Industrial Revolution: New Tools
Geometry
For the stool, students are given new woodworking tools and new responsibilities. This ties in with their study of the Industrial Revolution in 8th grade, as they personally learn to apply new technologies and efficiencies. For the first time, they learn to work with a tool that has a sharp blade—the block plane. They learn how to take it apart, sharpen the blade and put it back together. The block plane is used to shape the legs, which begin as blocky, square pieces. The students have to transform them, and put some “movement” (i.e., shape) into the legs. When they are using the plane, they have to be aware of how much blade is extended; if there is too much blade, it will get stuck in the wood and not move forward. If they are doing faster, fine work, they want to just take off a thin layer of wood. They always have to be thinking, feeling the wood, and assessing, am I doing the right thing? That's what the process of creation is all about, the connection between thinking, willing and feeling processes. 8th graders also use the square ruler for the first time in woodworking. Cutting the length of the leg is a very simple trick: measure using the ruler, and cut the wood in a square angle. A square ruler is 90 degrees: you mark it, and you cut it. But students should not use the first leg as a measurement for the second, third, or fourth; otherwise, you add and then the legs of the stool will be wobbly. It's methodical work.
Physics: Stability Stability is the number one requirement. A stool has to be stable. The second requirement is harmony. If the seat is 10 inches wide and the legs are 48 inches tall, the stool would be completely out of balance, out of harmony; the parts have to be in proportion. Students also need to consider the right size for their stool—it’s for them, not for me. As homework, they go home and measure the table height compared to the stool leg height and figure out the right height so their legs will fit under the table. Additionally, students find the angle of the stool’s legs. The legs have to lean at an angle, and it has to be the appropriate angle, because a certain angle creates stability. This is the practical use of their learning from seventh grade physics class about wedges. We cut the legs with a regular saw, and we make the wedge a little bit thicker than the cut, so when they attach the legs to the top, the wedge moves the wood, and the legs hold the top of the stool without
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I give them a clue about how to find where to put the legs; the practical part of what they are learning in class is geometry. How do you find the right place to put legs so that they balance? Students trace a circle with a compass one and a half inches smaller inside the perimeter of the stool. For three legs, they have to draw an equilateral triangle inside the circle, and for four legs they place a square. The stool is the first project students make out of separate pieces of wood, so it’s a great opportunity to mix types of wood and their qualities. 8th graders learn that the wood has to be able to hold the weight of their body, which is part of the equation. We assemble all the pieces and they sit on their stools, without any glue. When the whole stool can hold their weight, it's very well constructed. It's a complex and fascinating process when they put their stools together. Going back to the principles of 8th grade, developmentally we teachers are working to integrate the students’ thinking process. The act of fitting together the different pieces students fashioned to make a usable whole is the integration of feeling, thinking and willing with what they’ve learned in class. It's so engaging for them.
Objective Beauty After they apply the final coat of linseed oil and we put their stools around a high table, it's a beautiful achievement. This is the difference between the beautiful and the objectively beautiful. If you sit on a stool and it wobbles, that’s unbalance, and that feeling of instability takes away from the beauty. Objective beauty occurs when students sit on their stools and say, Ah, that is beautiful and it's usable. That’s objective beauty—beautiful in looks and utility. This is important for them, because somehow it comes together. They have applied many things they have learned in class and working, step by step, toward that moment where they all say together, “Wow!” They get to enjoy the moment of “I did it!”
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IN THE MEDIA GBRSS is featured in the current issue of Chronogram Magazine in an article called the “Infinite Classroom.” Thirty years ago, developmental psychologist and Harvard education professor Howard Gardner published Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. The book set off a depth charge underneath the comfortable Stanford-Binet IQ test-based academic world in which learning ability was widely regarded as binary—verbal and mathematical. Drawing on his research with both brain-damaged adults and "normal" child development, Gardner proposed that rather than two main areas of intelligence, there are eight: linguistic, logic-mathematical, musical, spatial, bodily/kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalistic. Gardner was careful to make the distinction that what he had developed was a theory of developmental psychology and not a theory of education per se. Nevertheless, his thinking offered a breath of fresh air to a great many educators, validating and organizing as it did something many of them had long intuited about the failures of cookie-cutter instruction. Steiner Got There First
Though she's also quick to point out that Waldorf educators have been working from a multiple intelligence point of view for almost a century now, veteran GBRSS teacher Nancy Franco can reel off multiple examples that dovetail nicely with Gardner's work. "We work with all of these aspects every day, both individually and en masse—you could say that the Waldorf understanding of these concepts is very honed," she says. "They're important aspects of the human being that deserve to be experienced by all students. And since the Waldorf way involves working with the same group of students for eight or 12 years [students advance through the grades with the same teacher], we become very aware of how the individual modalities operate within the individual kids. We seek to utilize the strengths as learning tools, and to develop the areas that might need work." For example, Franco says, a Waldorf school day begins with a musical interlude. "We sing, play instruments, recite rhythmic verse, do clapping games. Those activities touch on and elicit linguistic, spatial, musical, kinesthetic and interpersonal intelligence—so in that 15 minute opener, you're looking at four or five of the intelligences right there." The full article can be read here Chronogram, Infinite Classroom.
"In the Waldorf movement, the reaction was a big 'Yay! Wonderful,'" says John Greene, head of faculty at Great Barrington Rudolph Steiner School in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. "It was a sense of recognition that what Rudolf Steiner [founder of Waldorf education] was trying to articulate has merit and was being more widely recognized. Any teacher worth their salt recognized learning differences and their importance, but what he did was break it down—very impressive."
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GBRSS COMMUNITY MEMBERS LEAD LOCAL ECONOMY by Tracy Fernbacher, Director of Admissions and Marketing
Teaching children to be responsible and thoughtful members of a community is part of our work at the Great Barrington Rudolf Steiner School. Not surprisingly, GBRSS parents share this value, as demonstrated by their strong representation in the leadership of our local Berkshire economy. Our school’s parents and alumni play integral roles in our community, as demonstrated by a recent cable news station segment. MSNBC came to Great Barrington as part of their small business coverage. Your Business, airing Sundays at 7:30am on MSNBC, is the only television show dedicated to issues affecting small business owners. Reporting on the healthy “shop local” movement in Smithsonian Magazine’s “number one small town in America,” Your Business interviewed key small business owners in Great Barrington, most of whom are alumni and/or parents from GBRSS. MSNBC Host J.J. Ramberg introduces the segment, which aired November 17: “Great Barrington, MA is a beautiful town tucked away in the Berkshires, and shopping small is at its core. Just two hours away from both New York and Boston, the downtown area has an active buy local movement, its own currency, and plans to kick off the holiday shopping season with a bang on Small Business Saturday.” The Your Business segment begins with a profile of actress Karen Allen and her locally based business, Karen Allen Fiber Arts, which she established in Great Barrington in 2004. Her business grew out of an idea shared by many Berkshire residents, seeking a work/life balance. Karen decided to take time off from her acting career to raise her son Nicholas, who graduated from GBRSS in 2005. Nicholas is now a sous-chef at the awarding-winning local restaurant, Café Adam.
Great Barrington: “It’s a combination of a rural lifestyle with some cosmopolitan elements.” Brooke thinks it is not a coincidence so many local businesses are owned by GBRSS alums. “I’m a Waldorf student and Waldorf students tend to have an entrepreneurial spirit. The education teaches you to think and to find new solutions to better the world around you. A Waldorf graduate sees a need and fills it.” Another local business owner and alumna interviewed by Your Business was Jen VanSant. Jen, who graduated from GBRSS in 1986 and her sister Melissa VanSant, current parent and 1989 graduate, are partners in Off the Beaded Path, a bead and needle felting shop. In the MSNBC segment, Jen says of life and work in this community, “There is a feeling here of taking care of each other.” Peter Drucker, owner of Barrington Outfitters, a main-street apparel and furniture store, is a parent with two children at GBRSS. Peter notes in his interview, “We have a great community.” Adrienne Cohen of Crystal Essence, a gifts and tools of transformation shop, was also part of this program. Adrienne and Mark Cohen are alum parents whose son, Jonah, graduated in 1992. The Shop Local movement in Great Barrington is thriving, not only on Small Business Saturday, but throughout the year. The business owners in this news segment are only a small percentage of the GBRSS parents and alumni who own businesses and contribute to the leadership of our local economy. See our website’s business directory for more parent owned businesses. We are grateful to these wonderful business leaders who help support and create this wonderful community. Please support them and shop local! h t t p s : / / w w w. o p e n fo r u m . c o m / v i d e o s / c e l e b r a t i n g - s m a l l business-saturday-every-day-by-buying-local/ https://www.openfor um.com/videos/knitting-with-the-star sactress-karen-allen-turns-her-passion-into-profits/
Brooke Redpath, owner of Matrushka Toys and Gifts, is part of a multi-generational GBRSS family. Not only is Brooke a GBRSS alumna, but her mother is kindergarten teacher Michelle Kuzia, and her three children currently attend the school. During Brooke’s interview with MSNBC, she said of gbrss.org
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fine french wall paintings
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HAVE YOU HAD ENOUGH? > Embarassing “accidents” > Heavy, uncomfortable feeling “down there” > Sexual dissatisfaction
Sharon True is a seasoned, certified Pilates instructor AND mom of GBRSS alums. Mention this ad for a special discount of 10% per session for the GBRSS community. 413.528.2465 sharontrue@roadrunner.com
Could the “floor of your core” use some work?
PILATES—a tried and true method of body conditioning that helps you look and feel your best! Private workouts in Sharon’s fully-‐equipped, tranquil Pilates studio located near GBRSS are fun, challenging, and custom-‐ designed for your needs. Be truly seen by Sharon’s keen, professional eye and open heart.
PFilates™ (Pelvic Floor Pilates) to the rescue!
LET 2014 BE THE YEAR YOU GET YOUR LIFE BACK! Sharon True is a certified PFilates™ instructor offering a 3-‐step targeted program for strengthening and conditioning your pelvic floor muscles. Before you resort to drugs or surgery, see what you can achieve with a few minutes of daily exercise. This method goes beyond Kegels and is a real lower body workout!
Special 10% discount for private PFilates™ sessions available to members of the GBRSS community. ƐŚĂƌŽŶƚƌƵĞΛƌŽĂĚƌƵŶŶĞƌ͘ĐŽŵ 413.528.2465 28
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“In 10 sessions you will feel a difference, in 20 you will see a difference, and in 30 you’ll have a whole new body.” -‐-‐ Joseph Hubertus Pilates
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CONSCIOUS CLEANING & ORGANIZING Your safer, greener alternative to cleaning ERH SVKERM^MRK ]SYV LSQI ERH SJ½GI You will receive thorough, spirited work ERH JIIP YTPMJXIH F] XLI VIWYPXW 4PIEWI GEPP JSV VEXIW %REWXEWME 1 &PEMWHIPP
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Aurélien de Saint André
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VACATION RENTAL On the hill in Great Barrington
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Studio/one bedroom - (413) 854-3993 weekend, weekly, monthly rentals gbrss.org
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