This Week at WSRF

As mentor at WSRF, I am continually amazed by the dedication, striving, and beauty that the teachers bring to their work each day. I am afforded the rare opportunity to see classes in action and often get to see the cross section of the school.

Just last week, I was in awe as I walked up the field after visiting with the third grade. They had just finished reciting the beginning of the Torah and the sounds of Mr. Allen’s second grade practicing their play drifted over the hill. Further along, the fourth graders were scattered throughout the field drawing their “place” as the beginning of a local geography block, the first graders were learning their numbers, and the seventh graders were learning to diabolo juggle. Despite all the strife in the world, our school remains dedicated to what is good and true --- the lesson of Michaelmas made manifest.

As I walked, there was no anxiety of the pandemic present. Instead there was joy, gratitude, tremendous learning and love permeating every acre of our campus. I am deeply grateful that we have been able to learn in person these last few weeks. We have made it to October! Thank you teachers for your creativity, flexibility, and dedication. The campus shines daily with the light of your love for the students before you and your dedication to your craft. Thank you!

We wanted to share a sample of what some classes are working on, so that you can also appreciate all that was unfolding on campus this week.

Heather Handy

for the Faculty

First grade is studying how each of the numbers 1-12 are expressed in the patterns in nature, in rhythm, in geometric forms and in our own bodies. They discovered “oneness” in our one sun, one moon, one earth, and, most especially in the unique oneness of each of us. They were amazed at the abundance of twoness in our world...day-night, open-closed, happy-sad, two arms,…and awed by the discovery of the five-pointed star hidden inside the apple and within us with our one head and four limbs. They are drawing geometric forms for the numbers, stepping and speaking the rhythms of 2 (short, long), of 3 (short, short, long), etc., and using their other senses to count smells, touches, and sounds. With all this exploration, the children are finding the magic and music of math!

Patti Connolly

Second grade is on the trail with Fox Boy, Bear, Antelope Woman and Baby Quail. Trass trass trass… We are traveling to the ocean where we will eventually find and collect so much sea glass that we’ll need to learn how to keep track of huge numbers, but along the way, we’re meeting many different clans. The Owl Clan loves the number 2 (whoo whoo!), and the Spider Clan favors the number 8. Despite being so different, we’re finding the clans have more in common than one might think. The magic of math is coming alive in song, story and movement, and the mysteries and connections between the times tables are revealed through geometric patterns. In celebration of this time of year, we’re dancing harvest dances, singing spooky songs and watching and painting the colors as they change right before our eyes.

Clay Allen

Currently, Fifth Grade is happily immersed in the world of plants for their first Botany block. We began the block by hearing the evolutionary progression of plants as they relate to humans; so we now have an understanding as to why mushrooms are the babies of the plant world while algae, lichen, and moss are more like toddlers, and so on. We enthusiastically grew, harvested, and cooked three different kinds of oyster mushrooms and enjoy finding and trying to identify mushrooms that we see around school and our homes. For our written work, we are reviewing how to take notes from a lecture that we then transform into beautifully written paragraphs with decorative borders. We are also engaged in a daily plant observation where we draw sketches, take notes on our observations, and make hypotheses about the plant and how it may change as winter approaches.

Julie Hall

The Sixth Grade class is in a geometry block. This block requires precision, patience and persistence to accurately draw these phenomenal geometric forms. The students have been introduced to the compass and the importance of a straight edge and have heard the ancient stories of these historical tools. Simultaneously, the students have reviewed and worked with the writing process through their recapitulation of several stories. All in all, the sixth graders are challenged in a healthy way during this block and there are many a-ha moments that come when the students put forth their best work. It is with this perseverance that the students are deeply rewarded by this geometry block.

Samara Noll

Fifth and Sixth grade continues the foundation for the higher-level math courses that the students will begin in Seventh grade. Fractions, decimals, angles, edges, formulas, percentages and ratios serve as the foundation for the study that these two years bring. In addition, helping the students to form a firm foundation of basic numbers is right there at the top of the list. Multiplication tables, basic facts, basic percentages, square roots, prime numbers and composite numbers all make up the course of practice and learning during a week. Sometimes, though, all of the practice and learning must be placed into a practical and perhaps fun activity. This week, the assignment for both classes has been to turn a can of Pringles into an oval. The task looked daunting and yet pictures tell a thousand words! A moment like this in the picture perhaps reminds the students that all of those basics "add" up to prove to them that the world of science and math combine like a double helix. They accomplished something that appears to be impossible but as they reflected, "with patience, a strong foundation, will and working together as a team", the impossible is indeed possible.

Tim Connolly

School News

Travel Plans During the Fall Break and COVID

The school's Fall Break of October 9 and 12 are next weekend, and is a splendid time for relaxation, travel and enjoyment of the onset of Fall. We all have been cloistered for many weeks and months perhaps and travel plans are on the horizon, we ask that you review the school's policy regarding traveling out of the area. By next Friday, we will have been in school for eight weeks and all of us appreciating in the classroom learning. Those spring days of Distance Learning are not hazy memories for many of us and remaining safe and looking out for the health of the community remains high.

If you plan to travel, please check in with the Administrative Team first and understand that traveling by commercial airlines, to red states or red counties, could make it thus, that your family would need to quarantine for up to two weeks upon return.

If we can create dialogue around this, it allows for the kind of conversation we appreciate having and one that can be pleasant and something that we work on together.

Are students and teachers who have recently traveled to “red zone” states or internationally required by the school to quarantine prior to being back in school?

YES! According to the CDC, “Travel out of Colorado increases your chance of getting or spreading Covid-19. Staying at home is the best way to protect yourself and others. You can get Covid-19 during your travels. You may feel well and not have any symptoms, but you can still spread Covid-19 to others. You and your travel companions (including children) may spread Covid-19 to other people including your family, friends and community for 14 days after you were exposed to the virus.”

Accordingly, we require that after you return from travel to “red zone states” or an international destination, you must remain at home for 14 days upon return. Please report your travel destinations to Administrative Council and a determination will be made if quarantine is required based on the most current data regarding incident rates.

Curriculum Spotlight Series:

Why so much movement in Waldorf Curriculum?

Waldorf Education places an emphasis on how students can best absorb new knowledge. As a result, movement is a core curriculum element that supports students in synthesizing their learning and engaging more deeply with academic work; as research has shown, increased blood flow supports brain activity and neurological development. You’ll find all of our classes striking a balance between movement that encourages blood flow and outward energy exertion with the more grounded, inner working of academic learning. Movement is also entangled with multiple learning elements including math, language and rhythm as a way for students to more deeply engage by learning through their whole bodies.

Not to mention, movement, including jumping rope, class games, running and skipping all support fine motor skill development, coordination and spatial awareness for themselves and the world around them.

To learn more about how movement takes shapes in Waldorf Education, you can explore a short video here from fellow Waldorf School, High Mowing in New Hampshire, featuring our very own Movement Teacher, Julianna Lichatz.

Photo Day Retakes - Monday Oct 5

Mr. Borderick will be on campus this coming Monday, from 8:45 to noon, for retakes and additional sibling photos. Please mail Mark with sibling info and an order form at markborderick@gmail.com

A parent must be present for photos of children from Kinderhaus or Grade 1.

Cars Idling at Pick Up

As you arrive at school to pick up your students and while you are waiting, there are at times that your arrival time and that of your student arriving to your car can exceed five to ten minutes. If that be the case, firstly we offer our apologies if we are having the students arrive too late, and secondly from an environmental standpoint, might you consider turning your car off rather than idling? Thanks for being mindful about this and for thinking about this extra consideration.

Teaching Reading at WSRF

Our own Ms. Connolly was highlighted in the most recent issue of Renewal. Read the article here, or pick up a copy at the front office while they last.

An Early invitation to (Virtual) Grandparent’s Day!

Grandparent’s day is being re-imagined this year to allow families and friends to join from near and far in celebration of their support and dedication to Waldorf Education, plus enjoy a window into all the hard work taking place these days on our campus. Please mark your calendars and pass this early invitation along to grandparent’s and special grand friends who may be excited to hear about this upcoming event.

Stay tuned for more details and we look forward to this special opportunity!

Roaring Fork Healing

Thank you to parent Ann O’Brien for her desire to organize various service providers in the valley who would like to offer support to Waldorf families during COVID. If you are interested in learning more, click here for participating providers or contact Ann directly at: annobrien@rbox.co