Parent Bulletin, January-February 2011

BULLETIN

January - February 2011

Table of Contents 1-2 Feature Story 3

Camp Glen Brook

4

Social Inclusion

5

Student Council

7-8 Development Committee 9

Sports Update

10

Community Marketplace

Monday Morning Openings in the High School: A Letter to the Angels Linda Sawers, Upper School Chair | Sam Margles, Biology/Math

Every Monday morning before our four classes go to main lessons, the high school students and faculty gather together in the Upper School Assembly Room to open the week together. Faculty members take turns leading the opening with a talk, which is followed by the Morning Verse. The openings bring us together as a community in a way that cannot happen in the regular classroom setting.

This year, the faculty set the trend to share biographical stories and reflections in the openings. These brief talks share deep import in learning about what moves us as human beings in all of its great scope. Some have been quite introspective and shown serious inquiry, while others have a more light-hearted note. As the depth of winter sets in, what follows here is an excerpt from a talk given by Samantha Margles recently on her sense of winter and an appeal to the angels. It was a heartwarming moment and we wanted to share it with you.

-- Linda Sawers A Letter to the Angels Sam Margles

Winter is a hard season for many people.

I’m a person whose energy directly relates to the number of daylight hours I experience and the short days in the winter can leave me tired and uninspired. Interesting to me is the fact that in many places this season of darkness is seen as a time to turn inward and reflect. I first learned of this in my training for nutrition counseling when we were instructed to use grounding, warming foods (root vegetables, beans, baked goods) to help strengthen ourselves against the cold and to help us focus on our self-reflection. We were encouraged to use this season to do lots of journaling as a way of positively channeling the effects of the light and weather. This is a theme I met again in yoga practice, and again in my readings, lectures, and conversations connected with Waldorf education.

At one point I was exposed to an idea further along these lines. The idea was that not only is the winter a time when we may look closely at ourselves, but it is also a time when the sky and heavens are nearer to the earth and the angels who watch over us are also able to get a closer look. For some this may be a comforting, reassuring thought, but when I first heard this I

was experiencing the fairly regular low point in my year that comes with the winter season—the thought of being observed closely at this time did not appeal to me.

What follows is a letter I wrote when I returned home that night.

the blinds closed and buried in layers of blankets. If you come when I am so lost in the whirlwind of useless thoughts that are spinning through my mind, how could you possibly see anything that’s worthwhile?

In summer you could see me at my best. I’m content and hopeful in summer. I’m active and inspired. I walk Dear Angels, happily by myself in summer and go unaccompanied to hear music. I’ve danced with strangers in summer and It was brought to my attention this evening by a col- been given chills by the fireflies as they flash their lights league of mine that this is the time of year when all of at one another. In summer my windows are wide open you get together and take a close look at all of us down and my bare skin is shiny and smooth with humidity here on earth. Apparently the cosmos are nice and low and perspiration. In summer my blinds are pulled back to the ground at this point and it’s very easy for you to because I get all the privacy I need from the leaves of see us in all this compact, distilled space down here. the trees on the street. In summer my nose isn’t running and I have a freckle for every minute I spend in the sun.

I can’t say this surprised me. I guess I’ve felt your eyes on me for some time now. There’s that kind of tickle on the Go. Go now and look elsewhere. Come back when back of my neck or a sense of a presence that is far more the skies are high and the sun is bright and days are overt now than at other times of year. And I suppose since alive with possibility. Return when sunset comes so all of us are likely to be turning our eyes inward—with so late that there’s no risk of canceling plans because belittle light with which to look outward and so much less to ing at home is more appealing than being elsewhere. draw us out of our homes and distract us—that it makes Come back when getting out of bed in the morning is it that much easier for you to get a good view of what’s joyful because the sun is up already, waiting for me to going on. Things are quiet. People are quiet. A much start my day. In summer your view may be more distant easier situation for trying to make some observations. but it will be more valuable, more informative, more genuine. What are on display now are only the dismal But, Angels, I’m writing to you to request just one simple remains of what flourishes and thrives in the summer. thing: Please, stop looking at me. I mean it.

Come back and see me flourish.

It’s not that I don’t understand your interest or see the Come back and see me thrive. value in making some observations, but, really, you could It will be better then. You’ll see. n not have chosen a worse time for this. I know that in the summer when there’s all that light and the sky is pushed away from the earth for so much of the day that your view isn’t nearly as clear. I know that the distance between you and us at that time of year is cumbersome. But wouldn’t you rather see something beautiful from far away than something ugly from so close up.

Why do you come when I’m at my worst? My introspection isn’t anything worthwhile. I’m faithless and fragile and needy and sad. You come when I’m forced to be around my family and all my weaknesses and flaws are out in the open. You come when my skin is dry and brittle and itchy and pale. You come when I close myself off to the world, hunkering down at home with

Culinary pleasure at

Camp Glen Brook

It does not take much persuasion to get campers and students at Glen Brook to pay attention to anything related to food. Eating has a natural inescapability: it’s a large part of what we do, day in and day out. A new program, Eco-Gastronomy (biodiversity and pleasure on the plate) at this camp gives children (and adults) the chance to experience the pleasure of eating from the garden, along with the moral satisfaction of doing the right thing for ourselves and the planet.

of fresh products from the farm into ingredients of some of their favorite dishes. The kitchen session begins with cleaning the day’s fresh produce from the garden. They discuss the recipe that is to be prepared and have an opportunity to taste each ingredient, which helps children have a better understanding of how a recipe can be different with the slightest changes.

Through this hands-on experience in the kitchen and garden, they learn new vocabulary, basic concepts and social skills. Or, as the writer Wendell Berry Through the Eco-Gastronomy pro- puts it: “Eating is an agricultural act.” gram, students and campers prepare garden beds, plant seeds and Concerns about the social, politiseedlings, tend crops, and harvest cal, economic, and environmental produce. By participating in these viability of rural and local commuactivities, participants begin to under- nities is part of why Glen Brook’s stand the cycle of food production. program is so necessary at this moVegetables, grains, and fruits grown ment in our history. Food ties us in soil rich with the compost of last to all these issues and brings all year’s harvest, are elements of sea- these disparate forces together. n sonal recipes prepared by children in the kitchen. The program goes full Ash Sheehan, former manager of Mccircle with the children taking vege- Crady’s Restaurant in Charleston, S.C., is table scraps back to the compost area Culinary Director at Camp Glen Brook. at the end of each meal. As much as possible, we emulate the closed-circle principles of both permaculture and biodynamic farming methods.

Glen Brook’s Eco-Gastronomy program involves a well-blended daily rhythm for all visiting programs: children partake in the transformation click the image to visit our website

Soc al I nc l u s ion Happy New Year from the Social Inclusion Committee.

As we begin a new year, we thought we would share an excerpt from an article written by Kim John Payne. We know that many of you have attended his lectures over the last few years and have heard him speak about dealing with social issues in teens and older children. This article specifically targets managing social issues with young children. Many of these techniques are used by our early childhood teachers and in the lower grades, so some of these may be familiar to you. We hope that you will find them to be helpful techniques when dealing with social issues that arise during play dates or at home with siblings.

sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss Social Inclusion in Early Childhood and the Early Grades

By Kim John Payne M.Ed. The question often comes up, “How do we work with social inclusion for the younger child?” We know social issues and the opportunities for social learning span throughout the developmental phases and this is particularly true for the young child.

children to join in, specifically the children who were involved in the social difficulty. Often they can now work happily together.

When to intervene: This is one of the hardest things to get right. In general, I find it is important to look for patterns. If a difficulty between children is unusual then re-direction is a good tool. If, however, the child involved is showing a habit of socially controversial behavior, more explicit interventions may be needed (see below).

Speaking separately to each child: It is often one of our first instincts to bring young children together to sort out a dispute. However, creating a “pressure release valve” by separating the children and first speaking with them each individually is usually better. If they need to be brought together, the adult can then articulate the way she/he sees the situation based on what each child has said. Of course the children can add comments, but it usually is much calmer when the adult presence is felt strongly.

In this brief overview, you will see listed some of the key Perspectives: points in considering how best to work with the young Following on from speaking to each child separately, the children feel safer and heard as the adult briefly gives each child. child’s perspective. When doing this it is important that Putting things right through doing: there are no right and wrong stories, just different ways of Only speak briefly to a young child about a social issue. seeing it. This is a fundamental social skill that children The tone is best when practically oriented and not focused from the age of around four years can understand - with on the child’s feelings. Of course the adult can recognize help. that the child is upset or angry, but that is usually enough before moving into what can be done in a practical, will Accountability without blame: Balancing accountability and blame is possible. I would oriented way to make things better. even add that accountability is only possible when we Redirection: don’t blame and force a child into defensiveness. If a When young children are in a social “tangle”, it makes child has used unkind words or actions, it is very impormuch more sense to gently ease the knot rather than pull- tant that he/she is briefly and firmly shown how this has ing the rope and tightening it into a snarl. Moving in and hurt someone’s feelings. Equally important is gathering leading the children into other activities can often help ideas about what can be done to make things better. For ease the situation and allow the children to “earth” them- the young child I find it is far better to find an activity selves through an alternative activity. Once the child is where the children can do something together rather than into the flow of the task, the adult can then invite other wringing out a less than heartfelt apology. n

SCtudent ouncil By the Student Council Secretary

Rudolf Steiner School

Book Fair Friday, January 21st

This fall the Student Council has kept busy by bringing back high school traditions that have fallen by the wayside in the last couple of years. We had the first Coffee House in two years.

Coffee Houses are a great way for the High School to come together as a community and see the creative performer in their classmates. Our first Coffee House was so successful that we followed it with another one, which doubled as a canned food drive for City Harvest. Through these events we have also raised money for Student Council and Salaam Shalom Education Foundation which promotes Waldorf education in the Middle East.

&

Saturday January 22nd 8:30am-4:00pm

Lower School Assembly Room

For Thanksgiving we sold pies throughout the school. This was a great success. The Student Council would like to thank all the people who donated pies to the Bowery Mission. With their help, we were able to bring twenty-five pies to the shelter’s Thanksgiving meal.

Our next event is on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. On Monday the 17th, Student Council, along with other high school students and teachers, will be heading to Times Square. There we will hand out “Seeds for Peace” and promote the idea of “weeding out hate and planting seeds of peace.” Please feel free to join us on January 17th, 9:00am to 11:00am, in Times Square. Participation in the event is independent and voluntary and is not under the auspices of the school. If you are unable to attend the event but would like to support this program, please contact the Student Council. For more information about the “Weed Out Hate” program, check out weedouthate. org. Thank you for all of your support thus far and we hope to see you on the 17th!

On Friday afternoon, Music Teacher Judith Bachleitner will read from and sign copies of the book Carnival of the Animals, for which she provided the prologue.

Please bring your gently used books to the book fair to donate to PROJECT CICERO. Project Cicero will donate these books to under served NYC public schools.

No adult books or text books please.

Main Lessons

1st Grade January: Arithmetic II February: Writing & Reading III; Arithmetic III

7th Grade January: Physics February: Creative Writing

2nd Grade January: Arithmetic February: TBD

8th Grade January: Physics & History: Revolutions February: January lesson continued

3rd Grade January: Shelter February: Old Testament Stories

9th Grade January: Combinatorics February: Physiology; Physics

4th Grade January: Norse Mythology February: Fractions

10th Grade January: World Civilization February: Chemistry; Ecology

5th Grade January: Egypt; Play Practice February: Play (“Demeter and Persephone”); Freehand Geometric Drawing; North American Geography

11th Grade January: Romantic Poetry February: History Through Music; Advanced Geometry

6th Grade January: Physics February: Geography; South America

12th Grade January: Chemistry February: Physics; History through Art

5th Grade with Linda Ogden-Wolgemuth

By Joy Phelan-Pinto, Parent & Development Committee Chair

I

welcome January. With the joyful commotion of the holidays behind us and the darkness of the late afternoons and cold weather upon us, it’s a welcome time of quiet and contemplation—which often leads to reflections on my children, their education and life at Rudolf Steiner School.

fundraising goals, with Annual Fund donations at about $400,000 to date, representing parent participation of 35% (Note to the remaining 65%: Please pledge or give soon!) In fact, we are ahead in both dollars and participation from the same time last year, partially as a result of generous early giving, and partially thanks to Tim Hoffmann who And reflections on ways of expressing my grati- single-handedly raised $22,565 of that $400,000 tude to the school that provides a path of in- through his “Riding for Steiner” odyssey to Vanspired learning for our children, the protection couver last summer. (And no one will ever forof their childhood, their social and emotional get his smiling bobble head likeness, beaming intelligence, connection to nature, appreciation out to all in the Lower School lobby!) of beauty, and academic curiosity. Plus so much more….

100% participation of our parent body is enormously important. Four classes achieved it last The Development Committee year and four others were close.

Serving on the Development Committee is one of the ways I express my gratitude for this extraordinary education. Indeed, the school has given rise to a group of exceptional and passionate parent volunteers and the Development Committee is home to many of them. I’m pleased to recognize these dedicated parents, listed in length-of-tenure order:

As we start the New Year, the Board of Trustees is at 100% participation in Annual Fund Giving, as is the Development Committee. Please join us. We hope you’ll make you’re your child’s education, and their school, your top philanthropic priority.

News Flash! Online giving has made donating simple and yes, even fun!

Members: Dawn Trachtenberg, Francesca MarcAntonio, Mark Reed, Philip Carter, Chrisann Di- Click here to give it a try.

Donato, Rena Neville, Elena Cannon.

Grant Renewal: The Y.C. Ho /Helen and MiThe committee is joined by School Administra- chael Chiang Foundation tor, Joshua Eisen, Annual Fund Director, Shannon Williams and Alumni Director, Eileen Dis- We offer our deepest gratitude to Dr. Bessie Chikin. Our faculty liaison is the school’s beloved ang and the Y.C. Ho / Helen and Michael ChiMusic Director, Judy Bachleitner. ang Foundation for renewing the grant to RSS for the 2011-2012 academic year in support of Annual Fund Progress the lower elementary school and teachers, particularly in the area of Learning Differences. The The school is nicely on the path to fulfilling its award is for $161.600.

Development Committee

Gifts, Gratitude and Winter: A Development Update

Development Committee

This generous award last spring provided funding for the creation of two new positions this year: a Waldorf-oriented Learning Support Teacher and an Assistant/Substitute Teacher who assists primarily in the second grade while substituting throughout the entire elementary school.

The grant additional provides financial support for Faculty Development Workshops on the subject of Learning Differences, ongoing mentoring for the Learning Support teacher, plus the acquisition of new Learning Support equipment.

Susann, Natasha, and Susan.

The bottom line? Fall Fair raised nearly $68,000.

Considering the wobbly economy, it’s a wonderful achievement and we are thankful. Unfortunately, though, the fair fell short of its fundraising goal and didn’t match last year’s success of $83,000. The Silent Auction, along with a few other key areas, dropped to lower than usual sales.

But not to worry! We’ll be sure to make it up at the Spring Benefit. So start planning your Live and Silent Auction donations, purchases and trips today!

(PS: I’m serious!)

We are fortunate to be the recipient of such meaningful funding as the school integrates these new positions into the budget for upcom- Next? Dancing in the Spring ing years. We gratefully thank the Foundation.

At the Benefit, of course. While enjoying the Fall Fair: Fun & Fundraising quiet of these long winter days, many of us already have spring on our minds and, in particuFall Fair is almost certainly everyone’s favorite lar, a rousing Spring Benefit. It’s a jolly event to day in the life of the school, and it warmly ful- plan and we look forward to gathering a highfilled its promise this year. It was a day of fond spirited group of parents to plot some fun, mercamaraderie, beauty, optimism, skill, hard work riment and dancing. The Gala will be chaired and plain old fun. Woven into this rich Waldorf again this year by the fabulous Diane Mahiques, tapestry too, was fabulous fundraising. joined by Gloria Kelly.

Some interesting tidbits: That sensational red Vespa parked on the sidewalk outside of school in November, teasing in its promise of Eurochic cool, was an addition to the fair that raised over $10,000 in ticket sales. And the amazing $1 raffle ticket to Italy for four nights (including airfare for two, no less!) earned an impressive $15,500, which was $3,000 more than last year’s trip.

The fair was co-chaired by the co-amazing Jamie Carter and Dawn Rhodes who performed seemingly effortless feats of magic and wonder on a daily basis. Thanks are owed to too many people to list, but we hope you know we mean you Shannon, Laura, Bob & Carla, Gloria,

Keep the date free: Friday, May 20th at Bridgewaters at South Street Seaport. We can hardly wait!

PS: And don’t forget… Click Here!

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Dribble!, Pass!, Shoot!, & Score!!

The 2010-2011 Rudolf Steiner School Basketball Season is well underway and all 3 of our Basketball Teams have been working extremely hard to have very successful seasons. Our Girls Varsity Team has played some hard fought games and so far has come up a little bit short, with their present record at 1-5.

The Varsity Girls continue to work hard in practice, and are very hopeful to turn it all around in the 2nd half of their season.

Our Girls Middle School Team has been playing very well and has had some closely contested games with their present record standing at 2-2. The Girls Middle School team is very optimistic about their chances to qualify for the playoffs this year! Last, but certainly not least, our Boys JV Basketball Team is enjoying their greatest season in school history thus far, as they have jumped out to an “undefeated” 5-0 record, sitting in 1st Place in the ISAL “Big Apple Conference” Boys JV Basketball League!

There is a confident and fantastic team

spirit with all the participating team members and coaches, as they work passionately towards winning the Boys JV Basketball Championship this year!

We wish all of our Basketball teams the very best of luck and are hopeful for their continued successes as we enthusiastically support their dedicated efforts throughout the remainder of their seasons. Please continue to support all three of our Basketball Teams during the remainder of the season by attending an upcoming game and join us as we proudly cheer: “Go Dragons…Fight with Firepower!!!”

Check your weekly Parent Datebook for game times and locations. n Ging Vann Athletic Director

Sports at Steiner

Wonderful Winter Hoops

Services

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Lauren McGrath Within walking distance from If you have an adverParent of Eleanor, 2014 the school would be very tisement you would like much appreciated, but any lo- to appear here, please The Audray School cation in the Manhattan area email your entry to At Lincoln Center offers afwould be a great help. Please ter school classical and musicontact the school Therapeu- ediskin@steiner.edu. cal theater music programs tic Eurythmist, Linda Larson, All entries are subject for middle and high school at 610-933-2822 or larson7@ to review. Publication is students, and day and evening earthlink.net as soon as posclasses for adults. Start your not guaranteed. sible. Thank you very much. musical education off the right way by enrolling in the Audray School’s sight reading

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