Parent Bulletin, November-December 2009

Ru d ol f S t ei ne r S c ho ol

B ULLETIN

November/December 2009

Fall Fair 2009 Saturday, November 21st 10:00 am – 4:00 pm

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

Reflections from LS and Early Childhood

Pgs. 2-3

THE APPLES ARE RIPE

The Meaning of Michaelmas

Pg. 4

“Hard Science”

Pg. 5

Glimpse of Fall Main Lessons

Pgs. 6-7

Cooking with Chef Li

Pg. 8

HS Student Council

Pg. 9

School News

Pgs. 10-11

Important Dates • Drama Club: ―Importance of Being Earnest‖ — 11/6, 11/7, 11/12 (7pm) — 11/13 (6:30pm) — 11/14 (2pm) • Community Education – Why Waldorf? 11/10 • Thanksgiving Holiday begins 11/25 at 12pm • Advent Garden 12/6-12/7 • Winter Vacation 12/18 - 1/4

With just a few weeks until the Annual Fall Fair, the efforts of parents, faculty, staff, and students promise to make Saturday, November 21st a beautiful day. Co-chairs, Jamie Carter and Dawn Rhodes, along with numerous other volunteers and workshop leaders, have been working hard to AND READY TO FALL... bring you an unprecedented day of handcrafted gifts, fine woodwork, knitted items, games, food and fun. The annual Fall Fair celebrates the School community while serving as a major fundraiser in support of the Tuition Assistance line in the School’s operating budget.

Ways to contribute: Trip Raffle; raffle tickets have been sent home so sell, SELL, SELL! In the past, the raffle has generated close to $15,000 in revenue. This year’s lucky raffle winner will receive two round trip airline tickets to San Francisco and four nights at Campton Place Hotel courtesy of Taj Hotels, Resorts and Palaces.

A much coveted pizza party will be awarded to each class that sells 1,500 or more tickets. In addition, ice cream will be served for desert to those classes that sell 2,000 tickets.

Silent Auction; In past years almost a ¼ of the Fair proceeds were generated by the silent auction but we need your help! Please think of an item(s) that you can donate or solicit. Hot items include: gift certificates to restaurants, weekend get-a-ways, clothing, jewelry and accessories, gifts for dads and children.

Volunteer your time; if you have not already done so, please contact your Fall Fair Class Liaisons to find out how you can help. Each parent at the School is requested to volunteer at least two hours (and more if you can!) on either Friday, November 20th set up day or Fair day.

We look forward to seeing you, your family, and friends at the Fall Fair!

Do you have a favorite room or activity at the Fall Fair? If you are interested in underwriting the Fall Fair by sponsoring a room or activity, please speak with Shannon Williams in the Development Office by phone (212-535-2130 x206) or email (swilliams@steiner.edu). Sponsorships help offset the cost of the event so that all proceeds can directly support the School .

MESSAGE

FROM THE

LOWER SCHOOL

A Conference on Education with the Dalai Lama and Our Work Together at the Rudolf Steiner School

By Cat Greenstreet, Lower School Chair Many of the core principles and values that I bring to my work as the interim Lower School Chair were deeply validated at a conference that Linda Sawers and I had the opportunity to attend in Washington, D.C. in early October, thanks to the generosity of the Novo Foundation. We joined some Waldorf colleagues along with about 2000 other educators for this unique two-day gathering, entitled ―Educating the Global Citizen of the 21st Century.‖ Organized by the Mind & Life Institute, the days were structured conversations between His Holiness the Dalai Lama and individual educators, scientists, physicians, and activists. Many of the presenters are active in the contemplative education and social-emotional learning (SEL) movements, currently working toward implementing national SEL standards.

The audience felt powerfully united around the paradigm that the human being’s soul and spirit need as much intentional cultivating as the physical body and intellect, and that education will never succeed nor will culture improve until the whole human being is acknowledged and creatively addressed. While all of the presenters were engaging, I want to share three lasting impressions, which directly relate to our work together at the Rudolf Steiner School.

The most enduring is the deeply resonating example of the Dalai Lama himself with his profound humility and commitment to happiness through practicing compassion, kindness, and affection toward both friends and enemies alike. A deep intention of Waldorf education is that the children in our care will develop into human beings who will choose to live in this way in whatever they do in the world. How will there be any future without it? Our school community and our lives in general certainly give us ample opportunities to practice compassion, kindness, and affection whether or not we have a natural affinity toward a person. The Dalai Lama made it clear that while we are born naturally affectionate and compassionate and at one with the world, we soon lose that at around the age of 9 when we must begin to be taught through reason (and example) how to be compassionate by the adults around us. This charge requires conscious practice and cannot be done without inner transformation. I am humbled in the face of it and guess that you are too.

Linda Darling-Hammond, Ed.D., Professor of Education at Stanford echoed a number of others who urged that the national priority turn from war and weapons to work with dignity, quality health care, and strong education. She commented that while there are a lot of wonderful stand-alone programs in schools, what is needed is a vision for new schools where all children can learn the three Rs: respect for oneself, respect for others, and taking responsibility for our own actions. How blessed we are to be working out of the ideals of Waldorf education in schools that strive to embody those very values, schools that know that learning is for life and not for the next

Page 12

test, that have multiple ways to assess students, that see the whole child, that support teachers and students to work harmoniously together. There is no reaching the ideal; there is only the practice of creating the kind of school we want, based on our shared principles and core values. Many of us are excited that we are beginning to integrate the Social Inclusion work into the grade school and high school, which gives teachers and older students explicit tools and a process for cultivating the three Rs in an ongoing way in our student body. Of course, this requires that we model this behavior in our adult community as well.

The third offering I want to share came from Lee Shulman, Ph.D., president emeritus of The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. He reported on a study he had conducted, comparing the vocations of physicians and teachers in terms of difficulty of the task in relation to years of professional preparation. He pointed to the universal problem that no one will admit: that teaching is the more difficult of the professions in terms of its complexity and ever-changing challenges. Teachers must be routinely spontaneous, continually responsive yet non-reactive, and behave maturely and graciously in an endless succession of challenging interchanges with children, parents, and colleagues. Physicians have 13 years of mandatory training, at least five of which are in hospitals under supervision; teachers have, at best, one year of classroom instruction and are then hired into classrooms for on-the-job training with varying degrees of mentoring. An adjustment to this glaring discrepancy is nowhere in sight in education in general nor in our school movement in particular. Given this difficult, unchanging reality, how can we and must we support our teachers? I see my work as the Lower School Chair as one way to offer support to teachers who are daily faced with the many joys and challenges of the profession.

The gifts of conferences like this for Waldorf educators are many: 1) we learn we are not alone but part of a growing progressive educational movement, 2) we have a lot to share with other educators and a lot to learn from them, and 3) we are truly blessed to be in schools with the foundation of a comprehensive, spiritual view of the human being with teachers devoted to bringing this education to life for the children entrusted to them. We administrators are working with the teachers to make this the best Waldorf school it can be. Teachers and administrators alike need your support and your honest communication.

Thank you for all that you give to this school community; by working together we can make it what we want it to be.

Cat Greenstreet Interim Lower School Chair

MESSAGE

FROM

EARLY

CHILDHOOD

Page 3

A Morning in the Park

By Nadja Carneol and Louise DeForest, Early Childhood One of the great gifts that our school can offer the children, as an integral part of its programs, is our next door neighbor, Central Park. While the proximity of the park is a bonus for all of our classes, having this beautiful outdoor space makes our Early Childhood program possible.

A few weeks ago, Nadja Carneol and I went to observe some early childhood classes in the Park. Two nursery classes were playing on the grass together in a fenced, quiet area. We saw a small group of children with a hand-sewn horse harness taking turns being the horse or the riders and galloping around the yard. Others were busy making bouquets out of the fallen leaves and bits of asters blooming all around. A small, ever-changing group of children were gathered around each teacher playing finger games and singing songs. A rambunctious trio was alternately hiding behind the trunk of a tree and charging out onto the grass, running the perimeters of the fence. A few little ones were wiggling a rope in the grass while others delightedly screamed to the group that there was a snake. A lively and completely engaged group of children!

Some passers-by would occasionally stop and observe the children, smiling fondly at their antics or perhaps remembering their own children when they were small. Others did not even glance our way as they rushed to the next appointment or finished their jog around the park. One could simply say of this little scene, ―they’re just playing‖ and leave it at that.

To teachers, this scenario is not ―just play.‖ It is a wonderful opportunity to observe each child, to notice where they have grown and where they are still challenged. Each teacher, while being totally present in her interactions with the children, is also observing each child and the movement of the group as a whole. The way they move, or speak, or with whom they play or even what they play, is significant and these observations guide the teacher in her understanding and support of each child in the moment and over time. Through play, children are able to digest their experiences and share their reality. They have the time and space to experience the natural environment first hand and countless opportunities to grow socially with the careful guidance of their teachers.

If young children have been able in their play to give up their whole loving beings to the world around them, they will be able in later life to devote themselves with confidence and power to the service of the world.

-- Rudolf Steiner

INSIGHTS

Page 4

The Archangel Michael – More than a Metaphor?

With the celebration of Michaelmas behind us and Advent upon us, this seems like a good time to reflect upon what the Festival was all about. In particular, we might ask about the apparent belief system that places an Archangel at the center of a festival.

Setting aside, for a moment, the whole question of religion in education, a broader inquiring would focus on the ―reality‖ of Michael. In various articles and letters of the past years, we have heard of the ―deeds of Michael,‖ as if he were here to be perceived among mortals -- one of our neighbors. Yet, as no historical evidence is available, it seems fair to ask on what basis, other than faith, claims of Michael’s existence are to be made.

Rudolf Steiner’s contributions to anthroposophy address realities beyond the sense perceptible world. For him, one assumes, such realities – we call them variously esoteric, spiritual, and supersensible – could be perceived. Furthermore, one assumes that when he spoke of such supersensible perception, nothing was based on faith. It was based on experience and observation.

For those of us who lack such experience, discussion and knowledge of archangels remains rather abstract.

Anthroposophy is free of ―beliefs,‖ and we do Steiner a disservice to believe him. Belief and disbelief become obstacles to understanding. The inquiring mind holds within it the possibility to comprehend the world in its exoteric and esoteric dimensions. If we stay within the confines of intellectual understanding, Michael is indeed no more than a metaphor, an encouraging image of that capacity of soul that allows us to overcome any number of inner demons we encounter. The ―Michaelic balance‖ we strive for, between fear and euphoria, for example, is the first step toward inner freedom. Just as we experience the threat to inner, psychic balance, so we can also experience that sense of self or ego-hood Steiner associates with the impulse of Michael.

To the religiously inclined, the image of Michael as archangel may be helpful and comforting. What we hoped to clarify here, though, is that religious faith or belief in archangels is not expected of students of Steiner’s work. In the absence of faith, Michael is mere metaphor.

INSIGHTS

Page 5

Hard Science Marisha Plotnik, Middle School Math Teacher During my year as a Klingenstein fellow, I had the chance to chat with the head of the science department of a large, selective, New York City private school. She was lamenting the poor preparation of some of the incoming 9th graders. ―Some of them don’t even know about atoms!‖ she despaired, ―we teach atoms in the 6th grade!‖ Yikes. I sure won’t be teaching there anytime soon.

What can a 6th grader possibly know about an atom? The overwhelming consensus among cognitive scientists is that truly abstract thinking does not emerge before the age of about 14. Anything that could be clear to an 11-year old about an atom must necessarily be highly concrete. And anything concrete about an atom is, in the viewpoint of modern physics, simply incorrect. Thus 6th graders who learn about atoms are accumulating, at best, 19th century ideas that will have to be uprooted and discarded before any serious science can take place. It’s not just a waste of time, it actually undermines the hard science I need to do.

So what’s my idea of hard science? Start with experience.

For science is nothing more than the work we do to make sense of our sense experiences.

Hard science in a Waldorf School begins long before high school. For the young child, science is experience like the experiences of weight and balance in the Kindergarten.

Later, science is imaginative like the contrasting pictures of the cow and the mouse in 4th grade animals. Next, science becomes observation when 6th graders watch colors emerging from darkness in the Physics Main Lesson. Finally, when the time is ripe, science becomes conceptual.

In 9th grade we start with simple things: why can you easily reach you arm into a 250oF oven, but get terrible burns from 250oF steam? By 12th grade, we are tackling really difficult questions: why does laser light, passing through two narrow slits, create twelve or more bright spots – not just the two we might expect - on the blackboard? Now we can bring a whole world of concepts to meet our observations, concepts that have meaning because the students have encountered them again and again in myriad observations over the years. A hyperbola is essential for making sense of those bright spots, and by 12th grade the hyperbola is an old friend. We probably met it in 9th grade, drawing concentric circles about two different foci, then in 10th grade when we sliced into our clay cones with a wire, and again in 11th grade when we found the equations of those curves in Cartesian coordinates.

Hard science is not easy. My approach is not a warm and cuddly version of ―physics lite‖. Instead of simplifying atoms enough for a child to understand, I make space in my classes for what we do not understand, and we approach that thing together as far as we are able.

Ever wonder why there are all those colors in a soap bubble?

P age 6

MAIN LESSONS

Page 6

3rd Grade Main Lesson: “In the Beginning�

With Dena Malon

6th Grade Main Lesson: Geology With Dale Bennett

MAIN LESSONS

N e w s l e tte r T i tl e

Page 7

9th Grade Main Lesson: History Through Art Julia Hays „73 with Marina McGrew, 11th grade Advisor/Crafts The first Main Lesson for the 9th Grade this year was ―History Through Art,‖ taught by Marina McGrew. This sweeping survey course covers the visual arts from pre-historic cave art through the Italian Renaissance. One goal of the block is to teach students to see great art works as symbolic of the consciousness of the people living at that time. Cultures studied included Paleolithic, Egyptian, Cycladic, Cretan, Greek, Roman, Byzantine and the Italian Renaissance.

In their studies of each period, the students viewed images of relevant artwork and architecture. They also read and listened to descriptions of the religions, lifestyles, and geography of each group, as well as the groups’ relationships to neighboring peoples. The focus was to understand as much as possible about the people and their lives through their artwork as well as to gain insight into the history of visual language.

The morning Main Lesson was accompanied by an afternoon double-period class three times a week. The 9th Grade visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art to view and draw from selected pieces once each week, drawing and painting in the other classes.

I was pleased to accompany the 9th Grade to the Museum on two occasions. Although my main job was in a supervisory role, Ms. McGrew encouraged me to participate and draw with the students. The activity of rendering a section of an Egyptian sarcophagus with paper and pencil is humbling in and of itself – and compounded when, with five minutes to go, Ms. McGrew reminded the group, ―Now don’t forget the colors, then you can finish this at home.‖ I know I was not the only artist who would require a second visit to recreate the ancient color scheme.

P age 8

SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS

Page 8

IN THE KITCHEN WITH CHEF LI Leslie Li, Chef

H

alloween, the upcoming holidays and the Fall season have all inspired me to prepare this colorful and somewhat frightfully fun orange and black side dish that is both warming and festively appropriate. Lorna Sass, food historian and author of numerous cook books, developed this recipe, and it is a perfect complement to the colors of the season. Always on the lookout for unexpected food combinations, I find this dish stands out and it has become one of my favorites. I love the earthly aroma, the comforting textures, and the ingredients’ visual liveliness. The students simply think it is bizarre but tasty. Give it a try some cold evening or better still, on Halloween, and see if this doesn’t become one of your favorites as well.

Carrots with Garlic & Seaweed 1 tablespoon Grapeseed oil or other medium body oil 1 onion, peeled and chopped 1 pound organic baby bagged carrots A large handful of garlic cloves, peeled and left whole (seriously) 1 cup broth (I like Frontier brand vegetarian chicken broth) 1 teaspoon rosemary ½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper ½ cup pitted sliced black Kalamata olives ½ cup Arame seaweed Rinse the arame seaweed a couple of times that so the water clears a bit, and then let soak for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the oil and sauté the onions and whole garlic cloves a few minutes until the onions soften. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil. Lower the heat, cover and simmer about 10 minutes or until the carrots soften.

I like to serve this dish with roast chicken, a hearty salad of raw and cooked vegetables and good crusty bread. Serve the carrots in a bowl with the broth and use the bread for soaking up the sauce.

As the weather gets cooler, I find myself longing for a good book and a steaming cup of hot cocoa. If you are like me and beginning to feel the desire to hibernate, pick up one of these books on food, cooking, the environment and philosophy. Settle in and enjoy!

Lorna Sass has written a number of wonderful cook books including Cooking Under Pressure, the quintessential book on pressure cookers.

Rose Levy Birnbaum has written a new book, The Bread Bible, and Isa Chandra Moskowitz is releasing a new vegan cupcake cookbook which is already on the charts on Amazon.

Other books I can recommend are: Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terry Hope Romero The Biodynamic Food & Cook Book by Wendy E. Cook Clean Food by Terry Walters Hope‟s Edge by Frances Moore Lappe & Anne Lappe Disease-Proof Your Child and Fit for Life by Joel Fuhrman, MD The China Study by T. Colin Campbell, PhD & Thomas M. Campbell ll Harvest for Hope by Jane Goodall In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan The Slow Food Revolution by Carlo Petrini If you ever have any questions about the food program, the kitchen, what your children may or may not be eating, or just want to talk about food, please feel free to contact me. I can be reached at lli@steiner.edu or calling by the lower school at extension 232. My office hours are usually between 2-3:30, Mondays and Fridays.

Rudy, Rafael, David, and I wish you all a happy fall and Winter Holiday Season.

SOCIAL

N e w s l e tte r T i tl e

CONSCIOUSNESS

Page 9

S T U D E N T C O U N C I L : I N C R E A S I N G E N V I R O N M E N TA L A W A R E N E S S Student Council President

It is time for our high school community to be transformed into an environmentally conscious community. This is one of the initiatives that the Student Council adopted this year. First the Student Council must educate our community about how certain products, deceivingly innocuous, can actually be very harmful to the environment. For example, plastic is very harmful to our environment and yet demand for it is projected to increase annually by 13%. Simply recycling the plastic is not necessarily the solution. It can take more energy to recycle a product than to send it to a landfill, therefore creating a more significant carbon footprint. But it is not safe to re-use plastic bottles, because they leak hormones, so what is our solution? We must use plastic as little as possible. The dangers of plastic is an example of something that would be posted on the Student Council bulletin board or announced during Student Association meetings.

The Student Council is responsible for monitoring the recycling program. Recycling plastic is safer than letting those chemicals disseminate in landfills, which then have the potential to leak into the natural environment. The Council has also encouraged transportation alternatives such as bike riding. In order to foster the growth of High School bike riding, the Student Council will be organizing a bike club for later this spring. The Student Council will also explore alternatives in order to manage the school’s waste. For example, investment of a compost bin. Modern compost bins are sterile and yield very nutritious fertilizer. Recycling, transportation alternatives, and composting are simple but significant steps towards environmental awareness.

Over the course of the summer I have done some research on solar panels. From my research I have found that solar panels are an investment that pays itself back in a matter of years. This is something that the Council will be working towards this year. One of the first steps that the Council has taken to pursue this prospect was discussing it with the Development office and various faculty members. As of now the idea is under discussion. Solar panels would not only benefit our environment, but would also signify how far we have come as a community.

Although details are still being discussed, the Student Council has voiced an interest in becoming more involved in Lower School activities. One of the opportunities that we have been given is the possibility of selling products during the Fall Fair at the Lower School Middle Nursery marketplace. It is a great way of voicing what it is that the Council strives for; creating a dialogue with the rest of the Steiner community and increasing environmental awareness.

The initiatives that we pursue this year, and the programs and fundraisers we establish, will be successful with a unified and dedicated Student Council. The Student Council has recently assembled, and based on the individuals that are a part of the Council, I know that it is going to be a productive year.

ATTENTION PARENTS! Do you have a question you’ve been dying to ask - a parenting topic you’ve wanted to discuss - a ―thank-you‖ you’ve been meaning to write to an instructor or staff member? If so, WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!!

Beginning January, we would like to include a ―Parent’s Corner‖ in the bi-monthly bulletin. Submissions should be under 500 words and emailed to ediskin@steiner.edu no later than the assigned deadline date. If you are interested in writing an article for the bulletin, contact Eileen Diskin - Director of Alumni and Community Relations - at 212-535-2130 ext. 204 or via the above email address.

Our hope is that this article will help foster community relations amongst parents - providing a communicative outlet to express what’s on your mind. We look forward to hearing from you.

Page 10

SCHOOL NEWS

Page 10

Now that the school year is in full swing; schedules seem more or less in place and new faces are familiar we wanted to remind you of the many parents, faculty, staff and alumni involved in the various committees that help the School and the community do its work. As you run the stairs to drop off your child, volunteer your time at the Fall Fair, attend the Drama production or watch a school sports team you may meet (or already know!) some of the people listed. Now is your opportunity to ask them about the committee and its work as well as learn about the ways that you too can be involved. Committee Chairs as well as their members, welcome the conversation. The crucial work of these committees, together with the many faculty committees and the elected Parent Council, provides a good picture of School organization and governance.

Due to space constraints the committee descriptions are not printed in this bulletin but they can be found in your School Directory. Beginning this year, members of the Board of Trustees and the Committees of the Corporation (Enrollment, Development and Finance) will be nominated and approved by the Board. The other committees are either by nomination or open invitation. Consequently, please understand that these lists are subject to change. Any errors are the responsibility of the bulletin editorial committee.

Board of Trustees

Finance Committee

Diversity Committee Cont.

Mark Reed ◊: Chair Dale Bennett ‡☼ Nadja Carneol ♠ Philip Carter ◊ Joshua Eisen ◊♠ Gudrun Hahn ☼ Rallou Hamshaw ☼ Susanne Kastler-Knerr ◊ Allen Kraus ◊ Robert Lunder ◊ Irene Mantel ‡ April Pereyra ☼: Interim Secretary Joy Pinto ◊ Renate Poliakine †☼ Christopher Segrave-Daly ◊☼ Linda Sawers ♠ Denise Sharp ◊ Dawn Trachtenberg ◊: Treasurer Karyn Zieve ◊

Dawn Trachtenberg ◊: Chair & Treasurer Philip Carter ◊ Joshua Eisen ◊♠ Stacey Kelly ◊ Bob Lunder ◊ Irene Mantel ‡♠ Mark Reed ◊: Board Chair Linda Sawers ♠ Marina Lopatukhin ‡♠: Business Manager

Julia Hays ♠† Stephanie Hicks-Mbaye ◊ Tim Hoffmann ‡☼ Daria Illunga-Reid ◊ Jeanine Lobell ◊ Diana Marin ◊ Gabrielle Ortiz ◊ Sandra Reid ◊ Linda Sawers ♠ Chris Segrave-Daly ◊☼ Roxon Spense ◊ Abbey Wendorf Warsh ◊

Development Committee Joy Pinto ◊: Chair Allen Kraus ◊: Chair of Annual Giving Philip Carter ◊ Eileen Diskin ♠: Director of Alumni & Comm. Relations, ex-officio Joshua Eisen ◊♠: School Administrator, exofficio Suzanne Gregoire ◊† Beth Lee ◊ Francesca Marc-Antonio ◊ Claudia Stone ◊† Dawn Trachtenberg ◊ Shannon Williams ◊♠: Director of Annual Giving, ex-officio Legend †=Alumni ‡=Alumni Parent ◊=Parent ☼=Faculty

♠=Staff

Enrollment Committee Robert Lunder ◊: Chair Erika Allen ◊ Melissa Alter ♠: Admissions Coordinator Eileen Diskin ♠: Linette Dunbar ◊ Julia Hays †♠: Director of Admissions 7-12 Jennifer Hoyden ◊ Jeanine Lobell ◊ Carla Lunder ◊ Irene Mantel ‡♠: Admissions Director Michele Melland-Strassberg ◊ Kyra Robinov ◊ Lucy Schneider: Past Faculty Member Petra Singh ◊ Sara Switzer ◊ Georgiana Thomas ◊ Karyn Zieve ◊ Brad Zola ◊ Diversity Committee Justin Peyser ◊: Chair Dale Bennett ‡☼ Brooke Brosenne ◊ Nadja Carneol ♠ Amishi Desai ◊ Linette Dunbar ◊ Joshua Eisen ◊♠ Suzanne Grégoire ◊† Tamar Grimm-Feeser ◊ Maissa Hamed ◊

Facilities Committee Denise Sharp ◊: Chair Anthony Edwards ◊ Joshua Eisen ◊♠: School Admininistrator Mohamed Elwakil ◊ Morgan O’Shea ◊♠: Maintenance Manager Social Inclusion Committee Linda Ogden-Wolgemuth ◊☼: Co-Chair Leslie Li ♠: Co-Chair, Chef Dale Bennett ‡☼ Franca Bombieri ◊‡☼ Brooke Brosenne ◊ Denise Crane☼ Myra Friedman ◊ Stacey Kelly ◊ Deana Malon ☼ Marina McGrew ☼ Jennifer Rosenstein ☼ Linda Sawers ♠ Community Education Committee Ruthie Vengerik ◊: Chair Dale Bennett ‡ Eileen Diskin ♠ Irene Mantel ‡♠ Linda Ogden-Wolgemuth ◊ Robyn Watts ◊

SCHOOL NEWS

SOCIAL INCLUSION:

Page 11 UPDATE

Social inclusion Committee

By Christian Perry

Kim John Payne Returns in January

Student Committee (faculty/upper and middle school students, will work to “The healthy social life is educate other students on found Social Inclusion) when in the mirror of each Administration (faculty/ human soul the whole community finds its staff/parents) reflection

and when in the community the virtue of each is living.”

Rudolf Steiner: Motto of the

Social Ethic

Mark your calendars! Kim John Payne will return to the Rudolf Steiner School on Thursday evening, January 7, 2010 for a much anticipated discussion on the teen years. Last year’s evening with Mr. Payne drew a huge crowd and we look forward to welcoming him again this year.

All subcommittees report to the Core Group which meets every other week to continue this important work. We are practicing various social tools and looking at how a Social Inclusion process could best be applied in our school.

Our core group spent 2 days with Mr. Payne before school started in September learning more about the Social Inclusion process and how it can be brought to our entire community. Our student committee spent the day with him on October 16 learning about their role in this process. As always, his presence was met with enthusiasm and a desire to learn as much from him as possible.

The Social Inclusion Committee has been busy this fall organizing our group and training new members.

Our committee is now made up of a Social Inclusion Core Group, led by Leslie Li and Linda Ogden, and the following subcommittees: As we continue in our second year of this journey, we begin to see the many ways Social Inclusion that all of us will benefit (faculty/staff only, will work from Social Inclusion. We on social inclusion issues look forward to providing with students) you with further updates Common Concern about our work throughout (faculty/staff/parents, will the coming year. If you have work on issues arising be- any questions, please contact tween parents and faculty/ our either of our group leadstaff) ers, Leslie Li Community Education (lli@steiner.edu) or Linda Group (parents, will com- Ogden municate and educate par- (logden@steiner.edu). ents on Social Inclusion)

SPORTS The Girls varsity Volleyball season is coming to a close.

They will play their last game of the season on Thursday October 29th at The Green Meadow Waldorf School in Spring Valley at 3:30pm. Spearheaded by a new coaching staff of Diggs and Martin, the girls reached their season’s goal of a top 4 finish and performed very well throughout the season finishing in 4th place.

The Varsity soccer team just missed out on a 2nd place finish by 2 points to finish 3rd overall. The team performed very well with a season highlight beating LFNY (Lycee Francais de New York) 3-1 for the first time in school history.

Middle school soccer still have 2 games left to play and middle school volleyball play their last game today.

Well done to all the players and their coaches for a great start to the athletic school year.!

Basketball season begins the first week of November, so get ready and wish our team luck!

P age 1 2

WELCOME BACK ART STUDY

CONTINUED

Page 12

10th Grade study of Georgia O’Keefe with Rallou Hamshaw