Your child's school photos are ready!

To view the photos and and make a purchase click here. 

http://georgeilles.smugmug.com/School/Waldorf-School-2011-2012) 

After you browse and order photos, they will be delivered by mail directly to you. 

• Two standard packages are available, as well as a la carte prints. 
• Cards, framed prints and other merchandise are also available.

If you have any questions on how to make an order or use the website, click here. 

http://www.smugmug.com/visitor-help/digital-prints) 

The Make-Up Day Form must be delivered to the front office no later than  

4 PM on Friday, November 4.    

Make-Up Day is Monday, November 7!     

The Make-Up Day Form must include:

• Child's name and grade
• Your name, email and phone number (the photographer, Waldorf father George Illes, may contact you to ensure your wishes are met)
• Reason for re-take (include some examples)

If you would like to contact George directly, email him at george@jargonhunter.com.

 

Our kindergarten parents did a spectacular job on the Autumn Festival (Oct.25), transforming the kindy yard into a wonder of autumn color and activity.

All of the games, crafts and décor were positively magnificent. A huge thank you goes out to all the volunteers who decorated and hosted the crafts, under the guidance and supreme coordination of Kim Eijpen. Kim doesn't even have a child in kindy, but loves this event and does it wonderfully. Thank you Kim! Our friends from Miss Ramos' class at Wilson Elementary visited the Autumn Fest and had a great time (pictured above).

The New York Times has been running a series on the pervasiveness of technology in classrooms,  the lack of results from these massive investments, and most recently, the Waldorf approach as a successful alternative. One of the most fascinating aspects of this series is the increasing number of parents working in Silicon Valley, the heart of the global digital technology revolution, who agree that computers do more harm than good in a child's formative yearscomputers do more harm than good in a child's formative years. Despite this, governments are cutting school budgets for arts, music and physical education classes, all the while investing billions of dollars in classroom technology not proven to have any positive affect. It turns out that  this approach benefits only one group: tech companies.  

It is very striking that the highest concentration of Waldorf schools in North America is in the very same place where personal computers were invented, where silicon chips are advanced, and which Apple, Google, Twitter, and Facebook call home. In the past week the blogosphere and comments to articles have been alive with parents and teachers attesting to this phenomenon. Many note that senior Waldorf students excel in modern technology and communications precisely because in their early years they used their time more productively by engaging in imaginative free play that develops their psycho-motor, creative problem solving and social capacities.

In Waldorf classrooms, as the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA - the body that accredits Waldorf schools) states, "even seemingly dry and academic subjects are presented in a pictorial and dynamic manner, eliminating need for competitive testing, academic placement and behaviouristic rewards to motivate learning." Once the students are in high school, they embrace the fruits of the modern world, when they know that computers are a tool to be used and mastered, rather than a crutch they cannot do without. What a refreshing contrast to the argument that because we live in a wired world, our children must also be wired as early as possible. Indeed doctors are claiming this is dangerous thinking, and we should keep our children away from screens altogether when their brains are still developing so rapidly.   

It was Rudolf Steiner's original intention, and one that the Waldorf movement globally continues to uphold, that Waldorf schools  should be independent. This independence protects us from the pitfalls inherent in a government-directed pedagogical program where the politics of election-winning, deep-pocketed lobbying tech companies or educational fads influence what happens in the classroom. When Waldorf educators need inspiration for adjusting our rich curriculum, we look to a single important source: the children. As the children grow and change, we do too. It is the children who lead us to implement and refine a curriculum that best serves them, their healthy development, their will to work and learn and ultimately their capacities for moving humanity forward. This does not require being wired. It requires loving attentiveness.

Who knew that revolutionary could mean staying the course?