Gateways

Download the article: A Tribute to Nancy Foster

When I joined the Acorn Hill faculty in 1979, Nancy was already a leading figure there, and she brought a unique blend of leadership and colleagueship. She carried a deep sense of responsibility for the school and an identification with it that was palpable. And while others of us came and went, Nancy remained, serving as a five-day teacher and later as a two-day teacher and parent-child teacher for more than thirty years.

While working together Nancy and I found that Our individual styles were very different, and this sometimes posed a challenge (or us, especially in faculty meetings. Very often we would see a question from opposite sides, and at firs[ this led to tensions, but gradually our differences became a strength rather than a source of divisiveness.

Download the article: Early Childhood Teaching and the Etheric

While working in my yard today, I was mulling over Margo Running's question in the last Gateways. Her query has to do with a perception of exhaustion of which many early childhood teachers/caregivers speak of, particularly if they work more than four hours with young children. I realized that the different ages and stages of life affect the energy levels of some individuals. In my thirties and forties, I was very energized by my work with young children, and I also loved the work of founding a school, being the faculty chair, the college chair, and everything in between at one time or another. At the same time, I was raising two sons and tending to a marriage. Yes, I believe I was energized by the forces of living in the present with the young children. In fact, I remember those times when I would steal away to my kindergarten room in the afternoons to re-energize before having to attend yet another meeting or deal with colleagues or parents who requested time with me. It was as if the room itself was filled with the health-giving forces I needed. But I also remember that it took a great deal of sheer will to tend to my household, to cook and clean, to be active in my community.

Download the article: On Learning Difficulties in the Early Years

The magical process of child development takes a long time. This is rightly so because, as human beings, we need a solid foundation to prepare and develop the faculties that will make each one of us unique and able to play a constructive role in society. Unfortunately, in contrast, the gestation period is too short and we are born as delicate and helpless little beings.

On a physical level, we have to be born almost nine months premature as our brains and heads are so large that it would be impossible to leave the bun in the oven until it was fully baked. So babies are delicate creatures that are really not ready to face life. This is why parenting is the greatest task that is asked of us as human beings.

Download the article: Overview of the International Kindergarten Conference, 2005

Over 1,100 Kindergarten teachers from all around the world attended this event at the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland. The theme of the conference was "Playing, Learning, Encountering" and reflected the concern amongst the International Steiner Waldorf kindergarten movement that children's play is being threatened by the trend to begin formal education increasingly early with emphasis on information technology skills and academic learning.

Download the article: Review of the LOGOS Conference

Who are we referring to when we speak of the "New Child?" This was the first question we explored in the LOGOS Foundation Conference at Sunbridge College in June, led by Georg Kuhlewind. He was joined by several other leaders in the field of education and health, who each offered us their wisdom from a unique perspective: Linda Garofallou, from her work with infant massage; Mariola Strahlberg, from her experience with Brain Gym; Will Crane, from his experience in spatial dynamics; and Gregor Simon-MacDonald, from his work in caregiving. After days of delving into the various qualities found in this new state of consciousness, it became clear that we are not referring here to the child who is incarnating too quickly due to dietary, environmental and other influences, but rather to the child who is remaining was between the Nordic and African styles of music! Sweden is supporting Russia, and the kindergartens in the United States are supporting Waldorf schools in China the first one has just begun! Australia and New Zealand are supporting initiatives in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines and Nepal. In some places, it is just the very beginnings, the first parent-toddler group in the Philippines, for instance. Even now, just remembering the joy on the faces of some of these teachers who were able to bring this education to the children of their country, brings tears to my eyes. Jan Coles is a teacher at the Bristol Kindergarten in the United Kingdom. Her notes are from the Interna­tional Kindergarten Conference in Dornach, March 29-April 2, 2005. This article was printed in Kin­dling, Journal for Steiner Waldorf Early Childhood Education, October 2005, Issue 8 and is reprinted with their permission. exceptionally open to the spiritual world and thus has great perceptual gifts. But many of these new children are living quite outside of the (physical) body and are having trouble orienting to the world of space and time. As a result, they are having difficulty attaining healthy ego integration.

Download the article: The Beginnings of our Waldorf Early Childhood Movement

This coming year, the Waldorf kindergarten movement will celebrate its 80th Anniversary! This brings an opportunity to reflect back on the origins of our work, to consider how this work has developed over the course of eight decades a rich lifespan in human terms and to ponder its renewal in the 21st century in light of the current needs of the child and cultural conditions around the world today.

The first "official" Waldorf kindergarten opened at the first Waldorf School in Stuttgart in 1926, a year and a half after the death of Rudolf Steiner. However, there was actually an early first attempt that is less known. I have looked through various articles, unpublished manuscripts and notes from conversations to piece together the following story of the very beginnings of our Waldorf early childhood movement:

Even before the opening of the first Waldorf School in 1919, Rudolf Steiner had spoken about the importance of the first seven years of life and his regret that the class teachers would receive the children only after this formative period was complete: "The teachers will take on children to educate who are already at a certain age; and they must consider thereby that they are taking on these children after they have already experienced the education or perhaps the miseducation of their parents in the very first stage of their lives. What we are striving for will only be able to be accomplished completely when humanity has progressed so far that parents understand that even in the first period of upbringing, modern humanity has special educational needs." (Opening lecture in The Study of Man, or Foundations of Human Experience)

Download the article: An Interview with Margret Meyerkort

I asked Margret Meyerkort if she would be willing to be interviewed for Kindling, and after much persuasion, she agreed. I visited her lovely home, and, over rosehip juice and nibbles, Margret spoke to me briefly about some of the background, history and some events during her many years as a Steiner Waldorf kindergarten teacher and trainer. Our conversation was so interesting and informative, that I often forgot to take notes, and I left feeling that we had only just touched the surface of Margret's fascinating life, so I will call this a "potted history" and hope that one day we may hear more from Margret, who kindly corrected my notes for me.

Margret came to England in 1950 from Switzerland (where as a nurse she had cared for an epileptic boy) to be trained as a Steiner Waldorf school class teacher at Hawkwood College in Stroud. The founder of Hawkwood College was Margaret Bennell, a friend of Margaret McMillan and a co-founder of Wynstones School. Among the other tutors were Dr. Ernst Lehrs and Dr. Maria Roeschl, both of whom had been direct students of Rudolf Steiner.

Download the article: Birthday Homage for Margret Meyerkort

Margret Meyerkort is honored in my book, Kindergarten Education; freeing children's creative potential. (Hawthorn Press) My daughter, Anna Rainville, was spending her junior year from University of California at Santa Cruz at Prior Weston in England. I wanted to come over to study that summer because there was a summer class being taught at Emerson College by Daniel Bittleston. I sat in his class hearing what I had believed and taught feeling all alone in my ways of teaching and was thrilled to hear that the Waldorf people had been doing just this for fifty years. At that time, we learned our trip to Switzerland had been canceled, so Mia (now Mia Michael), Anna and I all sat on a bench, with our voices and hearts saying, "Dear God, here we are with plenty of time and money. What is the next step?" It was that afternoon that Daniel said, "I think you would enjoy Margaret Meyerkort's workshop at Wynstones." So off we went! Never have I seen such beauty in a Kindergarten classroom. Never had I heard such beauty of ideas and heartfelt passion. She has since been the speaker at our Kindergarten Forum here in Saratoga, California, where we presented her with the Summer Rose Award. This award is given to one who gives her life to the teaching of the young child. Her gift to the kindergarten teachers of the world is priceless and I shall ever be grateful for her inspiration and sharing her passion for beauty of spirit with me.
Betty Peck, Saratoga, CA

Download the article: Remembering Joyce Schild

Joyce Schild crossed the threshold on August 24, 2005 in her home on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia. She was eighty years old. A founding Waldorf kindergarten teacher in the 1970s in Vancouver, B.C., she had introduced many families to Waldorf education. When she moved to Okanagan in 1982, she helped found the Kelowna Waldorf School. Joyce's studies in art, eurythmy and speech were gifts to the children and the community. She had a special love for puppetry, and this legacy lives on.

Joyce took up pottery, building a studio and selling her work widely for many years. She also developed a large biodynamic garden and orchard which kept her working vigorously into her seventies while she continued to support the school. These years in Kelowna were her golden years. We remember her with gratitude and love.

Download the article: Building Community through the Advent Garden

The following is an account of two women's experiences of the Advent garden, one indoors and the other outdoors.

An Indoor Garden
On November 6, 2004, my mother crossed the threshold. She would have been eighty-five on November 24. My mother lived a long life of devotion and dedication to her family, as did many women of her generation. During the weeks before Advent, I remembered how Mother had been so touched the first time she attended the Advent garden and saw my children walk the spiral at the Waldorf school they attended. "How special this is, how beautiful is this garden of light," she commented. Upon awakening one morning, I knew we should make an Advent garden in our home for the little children who attend Los Amiguitos, the nursery-kindergarten that takes place in my home, and for Mother to help light the pathway for her.

As I began the preparations, three days before the first Sunday of Advent, I was delighted by the offer of help from my nineteen year-old daughter, Ana Lucia, who had recently graduated from high school. Now she was ready to give back what had been given to her for so many years, and help to create a magical spiral of evergreens, flowers and crystals in our dining room for the children and their families who were invited to attend, and for Grandma.

Download the article: The Day Dusty Gnome Took a Nap

It started out as an ordinary Wednesday in Lilac Kindergarten with the children engaging wholeheartedly in their play. They began by deciding what game and which roles they would play. Usually, that's when a dividing line is drawn (with some negotiation and often teacher intervention) between the boys' and the girls' territory. On this day, when the conversations ended, I observed the children began playing as a group; they bridged the gender gap. There were animals and caretakers in the game; some animals were boisterous and others quiet, but the children were all playing together. Then, when the sewing baskets were set out on the table and the stitching song was in the air, they sat down and got to work.

After they had used up all their thread and put their baskets on the shelf, a few children got up from the table and started to clean up. Others followed while I was still working with some tangled thread. Then a child announced that they were giving "Dusty Gnome" a break. He's the one who comes down out of his basket above the Nature Table to lead the children in their room-tidying chores. He basically sings a song and delegates who cleans where. I wondered how it would work without any guidance during this time, but I continued untangling the thread, and, when I peeked up, it was quite a marvel to behold.

The children split up into small groups to put away the blocks, dress-up clothes and silks. They carried the play stands and boat back to their places, put the dolls in their beds and set our snack table with placemats, napkins, cups and spoons. They sprayed the plants with water, swept the floor and returned the saws and hammers to their place at the woodwork table. With my untangling done, I put my basket away and then brought Dusty Gnome down to thank the children before he returned to his basket to finish his nap. I am sure that Dusty Gnome will always remember that day and the kindness of the children.

Download the article: The Weekend of the Flood

On Saturday morning, October 8^th at 6:30 a.m., I left home in the pouring rain to drive two-and-half hours to Sophia's Hearth Family Center in Keene, New Hampshire to where Suzanne Down would give a workshop-Nursery Rhymes in Puppetry.

The room at Sophia's Hearth was a warmly welcoming antidote to the dismal, rainy, chilly weather. Seventeen women had driven from various parts of New England to attend. The large baskets in the middle of the floor were overflowing with carded wool dyed in delicious plant colors, and Suzanne's delightful finger and lap-top puppets gave a festive atmosphere to the room. Lovely, softly-colored silk and felted wool puppet aprons hung from hooks on the wall, waiting for puppets to peek out of their pockets in fairy tale and rhyme. We had lots of fun reciting nursery rhymes and singing verses as we moved the little puppets on our laps. The day went by in a hub of activity as busy hands made small wrapped and needle-felted wool girl puppets, each one beautifully unique. Lunch was served. Conversations were lively and animated amongst supportive colleagues, building community and nurturing relationship-the underlying theme at Sophia's Hearth-and why we all return again and again. And all day long, the rain pelted against roof and windows.

Download the article: Lessons from a Hurricane

When I evacuated on August 28, I wasn't planning on being gone more than a couple of days. The day before, I had just conducted a friendly, productive work-play morning for my Kindergarten families. There was a little chatter about the approaching storm, but the main conversation was about the children, the coming year, and budding friendships. As my assistant and I bustled about, introducing people, directing work tasks, and greeting children, we kept meeting each others' eyes with a smile. It was our third year of Kindergarten, and for the first time, we weren't moving into a new building the day before school started. We still had a week ahead of us to devote to sewing, fairytales, and the first circle. The day was balmy, the parents motivated, the children funny and beautiful.

There were other things to be thankful for this year: a school phone, a small office for the teachers, and best of all, proximity to the rest of our school. The church from whom we rented had found space for our fifth through eighth grades, so for the first time our faculty would be able to begin each day together. The year promised unity and growth.

Download the article: A Report from the Hill School

New Orleans, Louisiana
We had just begun our sixth year at the Hill School, with a thriving Kindergarten, a first grade, second grade, fourth/fifth grade and a seventh/eighth grade when Hurricane Katrina came. Most of our staff had just returned from summer training with new hopes and dreams for a fruitful year. The seeds had just been sown for the new school year at the Kindergarten parents' meeting which took place just two days before the storm. Unfortunately, our kindergarten, first, and second grade classrooms were severely flooded, having two to three feet of standing water. We will not be able to salvage our beautiful handmade puppets, dolls, toys, desks, etc. that made our Kindergarten such a magical place. Although our upper grade classrooms were on the second floor, we are concerned about the mold and mildew that has taken over many buildings in the city.

Download the article: In a Nutshell

Reviewed by Ann Stahl
Published by Acorn Hill Waldorf Kindergarten, 2005. Distributed by WECAN.

A fine light of clarity based on long experience and deep understanding shines through each of Nancy Foster's responses in this "Nutshell" to thirty-five questions most often asked by parents meeting Waldorf early childhood education for the first time.

The questions encompass three areas; classroom environment, work and play at school and children at home.

Some of my favorite questions include: "Could you address the question of musical instruments in the classroom? Many preschools have them, yet I have not seen them in the Waldorf kindergarten." Nancy replies; "The human voice could be said to be the first musical instrument, and for the early years of life it remains the most important instrument for the child both to hear and to 'play.' Another important 'musical instrument' is the human body-we clap, pat our legs, stamp our feet, or drum our fingertips on the floor to create sounds."

Download the article: Eurythmy for the Young Child

Reviewed by Susan O'Reilly
Published by WECAN, 2005.

This wonderful book is a veritable treasure chest! It contains gems for the reader, from the parent who asks the question "Why does my child do eurythmy?" to the kindergarten teacher looking for ideas and guidance at ring time, and also for the eurythmist planning and reflecting upon the lessons with the young child.

As a guide or reference book, it works very well, clearly laid out and therefore practical and accessible. As a source of inspiration, it is packed full of original, imaginative rhymes and stories with movement indications for teachers as well as vowels and consonants for the eurythmists. These are preceded by an introduction for both kindergarten and eurythmy teachers on such subjects as child development, clothing, beginning and ending the lesson/ringtime, how to deal with disturbances, structure, music, the role of the kindergarten teacher in the eurythmy lesson and, most important, gesture and movement. The lessons are suitable for three- to eight-year-olds, and are presented according to the seasons and festivals, including beginning and ending verses, working with contraction and expansion and veils. There are many stories which are complete in themselves, such as "The Turnip" or "The Golden Goose," and include rhymes and songs. There are also verses for many occasions, from dwarfs to dragons!

Download the article: Letter from the Editor

More and more it becomes clear that it is all about the will!

The challenges we face as early childhood educators are, by and large, the result of the diminishing will capacities of young children. One of the causes is the proliferation of technological gadgets that are promoted as necessary for modern life, and specifically those marketed for children. Consumer culture has conspired to create products that deliver to young children exactly what is most detrimental for their development, while advertising wizards spin same products in such a way that parents line up in droves to make sure their child is not left out. The gadgets take children away from their life of will activity.

Similarly, the so-called "food" given to so many children is lacking in nutritional value and life energy. Food is the substance the digestive system, the metabolic system, has to work with. This is the sphere of the will in the physical body. Another factor is the way young children are related to by most adults, especially in the realm of verbal communication. Adults offer explanations, instructions, and questions, questions, and more questions to the young child. This prematurely awakens the child in his thinking, and diverts him away from the developmental relating through the will. We see children who don't imitate, who haven't achieved mastery of their own bodies, and who don't (or can't) seem to do anything.

Download the article: Deepening Our Capacities to Meet the Children in Our Care

The content which follows comes from lectures presented by Dr Gerald Karnow at the 2010 East Coast Early Childhood Conference in Spring Valley, NY, on Feb. 12-14. This presentation concluded a three-year consideration of the young child's journey into incarnation of the "I" and how we can observe this unfolding.

Secretly, began Dr. Karnow, we should consider early childhood as the most important work in Waldorf education. The experiences in early childhood provide the foundation for all of life and are most crucial in facilitating healthy incarnation of the human being. Last year the work in our kindergartens was characterized as "priestly." A picture from Steiner's Cosmic Memory describes a grove where the priestess sings her listeners into becoming the vehicle for the incarnated spiritual "I." Her priestly deed was preparation for the human being to be able to say "I." Likewise, the task of Waldorf early childhood education is incarnation of the "I" in the children.

Download the article: Living with a Question

If the Christ lives in the etheric and the etheric is in the present and young children live in the present, if we as early childhood educators are asked to be present with young children, it follows that we live in Christ. If we live in Christ, we should be energized by our work.

I am wondering, as a caregiver of babies to three-year olds and a former kindergarten teacher, why so many feel that we should only be with children four to six hours, so our etheric won't be drained. The trainings and work should focus on how to live in the present. Is the drain actually from not really being present for the children? Not truly living in Christ? If caregiving in the future becomes needed more and more full time, we need to find a way to be with these children of the community in a natural way, so no one is exhausted, rather so all will be refreshed at the end of the day. I think, feel, and know it is possible.

Download the article: Observing the Six-Year Change

This article is written from the many observations that I have made over the past thirty years during my work in early childhood. For twelve of those years I have had the privilege of working in mixed age kindergarten settings where some of the children are going through their "first puberty." I have had much to learn from the "sometimes mystifying and formidable" older child in the kindergarten.

Download the article: The Secret Garden

In the children's classic, The Secret Garden, a little boy is described who may have been an anomaly in the early twentieth century, but is sadly reflective of various aspects of children in the kindergarten today. Colin Craven is a pale, peevish, demanding child whose restricted life has rendered him feeble and unable to move or play like other children. Regrettably, teachers of today are seeing more and more children who, like Colin, suffer from anxiety related issues.⁽¹⁾ Being fussy about clothing and picky about food, young children can display inflexibility around what parents once took for granted. Nationally, there is a rising concern about insomnia and depression in children under the age of six. Like Colin in the book, who was a fretful hypochondriac, children today are often beset with myriads of worries about health and safety. Parents and teachers notice a new alertness and verbal precociousness in young children. At the same time, these alert young children often have an irritable commanding presence with adults. Frances Hodgson Burnett refers to Colin as "the young "rajah." How many young rajahs do we teachers hear issuing orders to their parents each morning in the kindergarten cubby room! Today's parents are remarkably tolerant and chagrinned when the teacher speaks of "good manners" in the kindergarten.

Download the article: The Healing Art of Nursery Rhymes

Here is an introductory peek into the vast and wonderful world of the healing power of nursery rhymes and puppetry. The hope is that this research will grow and eventually be made available in book form.

As the soul descends from spiritual worlds to be born on earth, there is a sacrifice of the cosmic rhythms of planets and stars to enter earthly chaos. The newborn arrives with no rhythm; the first breathing is chaotic. The baby needs this inner rhythm restored from the outside life by the parents, especially the mother. The mother begins to establish a daily earth rhythm of feeding, sleeping, rocking, and soft lullabies. All through the early years, parents and first teachers work to bring this spiritual support on earth-rhythm. A rhythmic life from this new beginning helps build the forces of inner strength which later form the moral forces for the soul's future. This is essential today in a world that lacks rhythm and lacks morality.

Download the article: Relationships Between the work of Emmi Pikler and Waldorf Early Childhood Education

During the summer of 2004, I had the immense good fortune of attending the first English language course (with fourteen other women) offered at the Pikler Institute in Budapest, Hungary. I was also able to observe groups of children at Loczy, the residential nursery at the Institute.

It was a life-changing experience. Each day was filled with the wealth of a lifetime of experience which Anna Tardos, director of the Pikler Institute, shared with us-from the time when her mother, Dr. Emmi Pikler, was a family pediatrician during the 1930s and 1940s in Budapest, to the early days of Loczy in 1946, when Dr. Pikler was commissioned by the city of Budapest to organize and direct a foster home where children would live until they were three years old-to the present. This institute was called the National Methodological Institute, and later Loczy, for the street on which it is located.

Fortunately for the children who came to Loczy, the task of organizing this foster home was not given to a professional with experience in institutional care, but to a family pediatrician who was convinced that the key to the task was to be found in the principles and methods developed during her work with families. These principles provided a rich, happy, active and peaceful childhood for the children living with the families with whom Dr. Pikler had worked.

Download the article: Conversations with Parent/Child Pioneers

"Thank you for the parent/child class! I thought the school was for my son, but I think the bigger education happened to me." "After all my reading and listening to talks, I finally understand what Waldorf education is about." "My son's delight and the warmth in the classroom have been magical for me."

Every parent/child teacher is familiar with comments like these. Parent/child groups, by whatever name, have become the gateway through which many families first enter the world of Waldorf education. They have also provided a supportive community for parents who may otherwise feel isolated in today's fast-moving world.

The WECAN Parent/Child Working Group would like to recognize some teachers who were pioneers of this work in North America, creating new forms to meet the needs of families with younger children. We identified four such pioneers, based on information available to us, and they were gracious enough to share their experiences for Gateways. It is always good to remember our roots, and there is much to be learned from such retrospection. We interviewed Patti Wolfe of Toronto; Cecelia Karpoff of northern Virginia; Connie White of London, Ontario; and Erica Carnay Jayasuriya of Portland, Oregon.

Download the article: Transforming our Parent Meetings

In most Waldorf kindergartens that I know, when a class meeting nears, teachers feel burdened and apprehensive about meeting with the parents, and parents feel burdened by yet another thing to do in their already exhausting day. Many parents are reluctant to leave their children with babysitters or feel too tired by 8:00 p.m. to drive to school yet again, and teachers, who have given their all during the day, dread a late night when they have school the next morning. While we are all too busy for our own good, I think this holding back from one another also points to an uneasy relationship we have with one another; teachers may ask themselves, "What if a parent asks a question I can't answer?" or "How can I put into words what I do with their children everyday?" Parents can sometimes feel judged or guilty or, let's face it. . .bored.

Now that I have been teaching close to twenty years, I realize that one of the greatest gifts I've received (and the most unexpected) is to get to know adults I would otherwise never have known, either because of lifestyle or generational differences. I am so grateful to these courageous and intuitive parents who send their children to a Waldorf school, thus enabling me to unfold my life's work and giving me an opportunity to be intimately connected with their families during a very formative period of growth and development. As we know, each child "chooses" a particular family where he or she can best prepare for the tasks awaiting them in life; so, too, does each family that comes to my class help me develop capacities and overcome inner obstacles that I might otherwise never have the opportunity to do. Out of our mutual gratitude we can develop a relationship based on trust and respect, thus supporting the children in a way that we could never do separately.