Gateways

Download the article: Leo

A Mother's Gift to a Waldorf Kindergarten Teacher

The story of Leo was sent to us by Margret Meyerkort who lives in England. The kindergarten teacher and parents of Leo wish to remain anonymous. We thank them for their permission to publish Leo's story. The names of people and places are fictional but the story is a true one.

I will tell you how Leo came to us. We had moved to Sunrise House, our family with five children between three and eight years of age and a few adults in need of special care within our larger community setting. I felt after we had settled in that there would be room for one more child if there was one who needed us. This lived strongly in my husband and me; we did not look for it, but were open to the idea.

Leo came to us in a wonderful way. Pauline joined our house while she was expecting him. She had had meningitis as an infant, had developed convulsions and had not developed as children of her age did.

Download the article: Calendula Salve Recipes

Dear Kindergarten Colleagues,

So many of you have recently expressed an interest in a workshop on kindergarten medicinals that I was inspired to reorganize my notes for you. Enclosed you will find Calendula Salve recipes which I have used in my kindergarten. I have included recipes for stove top preparation and a solar infusion. Each suits a particular situation better. Both require time, devotion and focused attention. Both give a wonderful, rich experience and a lovely end product.

The solar infusion requires assurance of warm, sunny weather over several weeks while the oil is imbued with qualities of the sun. The infusion method gives the children the added picture of the sun's blessing and warmth and an experience of a relationship developing over time. It invites one to witness a process of becoming. It is reminiscent of a time long ago when women actively embraced the rituals of healer. The solar-infusion can take place either indoors on a warm, sunny southern windowsill or outdoors in the garden on a large flat stone for a minimum of two weeks. Steeping longer creates a stronger infusion. The stovetop preparation might be more practical depending on the weather and the duration of your program.

Download the article: New Steps in Natural Dyeing

Almost ten years ago, as I finished the teacher training at Rudolf Steiner College, one of my classmates, Lisa Olmsted, invited me to participate in her natural dyeing session. We used the draft of Joan Almon' s “First Steps in Natural Dyeing” as a guide, and, of course, were enthralled with the outcome.

Since then, almost every year I have gathered dye and pots to color silk for my kindergarten or to offer a workshop for sharing what I had learned with others in the community. The feelings of wonder and joy remain undiminished each year as we drink in the feast of color that results. I know many of you have also been journeying on this colorful path and have many stories to share. Joan Almon and Lydia Roberson have offered me the opportunity to gather these stories together and weave them into a second volume of the book on natural dyeing. Joan suggests that our emphasis be in the following areas:

Download the article: Advent Cookies

2 cups or 400 gr. Flour
1 cup or 200 gr. Butter
3 egg yolks
scant 1 cup or 100 gr. Sugar
1 package vanilla sugar or 1 tsp. vanilla extract
Grated rind and juice of one lemon
1/2 cup or 50 gr. hazelnuts (filberts)
1/2 cup strawberry jam
1/2 cup icing sugar

Sift flour into a big bowl, distribute butter flakes over it. Put egg yolks, sugar, vanilla sugar, lemon peels and nuts in center. Knead until you have a smooth dough. Put wrapped into the refrigerator for 2 hours. Heat oven to 200° C (375° F). Roll out dough, cut cookies and rings of even number. Bake on greased cookie sheet for 10 minutes. Cool.

Mix jam with lemon juice, spread on each cookie, sift icing sugar onto rings, place on cookie. Presto done!

(Vanilla sugar is often available in specialty stores and delicatessens.)

Download the article: Advent Table Play

This advent table play, an archetypal birth story, is a working draft from Nancy Foster of Acorn Hill Waldorf Kindergarten in Maryland. The words were inspired, in part, from the song in Wynstones, "From Heaven's Arch So High", and another poem which contains the words, "sun, moon, and stars are weaving a crown." The rest of the play is written by Nancy as is the first tune. The second tune is a traditional Christmas carol. (The angel was made of deep gold roving, as was the baby's wrapping).

Gateways 35, Advent Table Play by Nancy Foster is only available as a pdf file

Keywords: Advent, Christmas, puppetry, puppets, kindergarten

Download the article: Standing Puppet Instructions

At the Toronto Waldorf School, this version of the stand up puppet is well loved. The stuffing does not come out and it stands up well.
Materials: Cotton knit, wool fleece, strong sewing thread, felt or fabric scraps.

Gateways 35, Standing Puppet Instructions by Nicola Tarshis is available as a pdf file only

Keywords: puppetry, handwork, craft, kindergarten, preschool

Download the article: Little Dawn Boy and the Rainbow Trail & Little Dawn Boy Circle

A Navaho tale

Little Dawn Boy dwelt in the Red Rock House by the side of a deep canyon. And there he lived with his father, his mother, his brothers, his sisters and a Medicine Man.

Every morning, when the Sun rose, Little Dawn Boy sat on the edge of the canyon and looked far in the distance at a purple mountain. Behind it stood a high, white cliff like a tower, which had its head in the clouds. Every morning Little Dawn Boy asked the Medicine Man, “Who lives on the top of the white cliff.” And Every morning the Medicine Man answered, “Learn the sacred songs, and the 'I' will tell you.”

Download the article: Letter from the Co-Chairs

As we prepare for a new century, it seems that changes are arising for the Waldorf Early Childhood Association, as they are for so many other groups and individuals. Last year, we were so pleased when Nicola Tarshis became editor of this newsletter and brought a fresh spirit and new insights to it. In late fall, however, a health problem flared up, and Nicola found she had to temporarily step back from work to give herself a full rest. We are grateful to Nicola for the inspirations she brought to the Newsletter, including its new name, Gateways, and we wish her a strong recovery. For the moment, the editorship has passed to Susan Howard and Joan Almon who look forward to developing it further while seeking a new editor.

Another change is that Lydia Roberson, who has faithfully and lovingly helped develop the administration and publications of the Association over the past eight years, is stepping back from this work. It is time for a change for her and her family as her youngest turns three and her eldest is ready for first grade. We have been closely united over the years, as WECAN occupied space in Lydia's basement and kept pace with the development of her daughters. This partnership has been such a rich and full one that it will surely evolve into a next stage, although we will all miss Lydia on a daily basis.

Download the article: As Ye Sow, So Shall Ye Reap

This article first appeared in Paideia, a research journal of the Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship in the United Kingdom. Sally works for the Fellowship on outreach projects in early childhood education and as a liaison between the Fellowship and the kindergarten movement. Part of her work is to be watchful of

U.K. requirements for pre-schools, such as the Desirable outcomes which she refers to here. Despite meeting most of the requirements set out in Britain's Desirable Outcomes document, the Steiner Waldorf philosophy differs in a crucial respect: we believe in developmentally appropriate education, in education which acknowledges the maturational stage of the child and provides a curriculum sensitive to each phase. We stand against the current tide of educational thinking which seeks to rush children through childhood at an accelerated pace. We feel that early learning is of more value and is more child appropriate than early instruction. In our view the Desirable Outcomes for Literacy and Numeracy place premature demands on the developing faculties of the four year old child.

Download the article: Self Development as a Basis for the Relationship...

From a lecture given 28 February 1998 during first international anthroposophical conference on “The care of the little child under three years outside the home”, held at Blangstedgard Rudolf Steiner School, Odense, Denmark. From notes by Barbara Paulsen, revised by the lecturer.

Michaela Glöckler opened the lecture by sharing her experiences surrounding the last hours of the life of her father, Helmut von Kügelgen, who had died three days earlier. She described him as being fully in life until the last moments, yet prepared and aware that his time had come. He was concerned about the coming conference about the little child, and Michaela Glöckler felt that his being was with us in these days.

The closer a child is to birth, the less individualized he is. Babies are similar to each other and easy to mix up. A care giver, relating to a group of infants, will have more difficulty in recognizing them from one another, than for instance if he/she had been relating to a group of elderly people, where the individual personality is very pronounced. The little child lacks self-consciousness; the individuality is not yet born. We meet the child in this delicate phase of life, where he possesses qualities which can be called generally human.

Download the article: Diagnostic, Pedagogical and Therapeutic Tasks

A report of a workshop at the Kolisko Conference with Bruno Callegaro, M.D., from Kassel, Germany, and Bonnie River, remedial educator and kindergarten teacher from Boulder, Colorado.

This workshop was attended by some 60 people, including many kindergarten teachers, three physicians, several therapists, and people involved with teacher preparation. For a part of each session, Dr. Callegaro and Bonnie River gave presentations, but a great deal of the time was spent in discussions during which our workshop leaders tried to help us to think differently about case studies of children in our care. At times we were disappointed and even stretched to frustration that more “answers” were not given. Yet this was, of course, the point of the leaders' approach - opening doors and inspiring us to investigate and research further - to come to a fuller understanding of what they put before us. We all were given a direction, and many tools and jewels to carry away with us.

Download the article: Working with Children's Drawings

During the Kolisko conference in Sacramento this past August, I attended a five day workshop on the environmental and constitutional influences on the child as expressed in their drawings, particularly the house, tree and person pictures. This workshop was presented by two women from the Netherlands, Christie Amons-Lievegoed, who teaches at the Waldorf Teachers College and Thea Giesen-Huyg, who works at the Zonnehuir Clinic.

We were privileged to be allowed a glimpse of their work as they shared with us the fruits of their study of the drawings of some 300 children over the past years. The aim of this workshop was to help us improve our perceptive ability. In meeting an unknown (to us) child through his or her drawings, we were challenged to build up an image of that child without knowing any information whatsoever about that child.

Download the article: Crayons in the Kindergarten: Block or Stick?

Just now, one of the questions actively circulating in the kindergarten movement is whether it is better for young children to use block crayons or stick crayons. The question has primarily been raised by remedial educators in Waldorf schools who see growing numbers of children in the elementary school with writing problems related to poor grip of the pencil or pen. Grip problems are often associated with learning disabilities, which is on the rise in children today. The concern of the remedial educators, is that the use of block crayons rather than stick is interfering with the development of grip, and they have actively encouraged kindergarten teachers to switch to stick crayons. The following article by Monica Ellis makes this point strongly and even passionately. The subsequent article by Kate Gage raises a second concern about crayons as well: is it possible that block crayons make it more difficult for children to draw the basic motifs associated with early childhood?

In the past I have twice examined the crayon question, and both times felt that block crayons were wonderfully appropriate for young children. It is time to open the question again for examination but this time we should do more in-depth research.

Download the article: Commentary on Crayons

In our Waldorf Schools' kindergartens the “tradition” for many years has been to use the Stockmar block crayons for the children for drawing. This has been carried into the first, second and sometimes even third grade for drawing and even (Oh, horrors) for writing.

The way we learn to hold a pencil/pen is a very complex neurological developmental achievement. It involves correct “opposition” of the thumb and forefinger. It also involves the sense of balance and the sense of self-movement. Therefore, we need to learn the correct pencil hold right from the beginning! If you see a child holding a block crayon, he or she uses the most primitive hand gesture which then becomes habitual.

Download the article: Crayoning - Blocks or Sticks A Beginning Research

Drawings in early childhood are an expression of the physical and spiritual growth processes which a child is experiencing. In Understanding Children's Drawings, Michaela Strauss states that, 'Formative processes... underlie the most varied organs and... determine the structuring of muscles and bones... In the child's drawing, the shape appears to form itself out of processes governed by the laws of growth." (page 16)

In the first seven years, the drawings follow a progression of form, from the earliest whorls and spirals, to a circle, to circles with crosses, ladders, "tree men", and on to other forms which represent the consolidation of the incarnating ego of the child into the physical body. Developmental milestones have their counterparts in children's drawings -- the "archetypal" forms.

Download the article: Crayoning Anecdotes

Kindergarten teachers taking part in the Association for Healing Education's Remedial Teacher Training course also experimented with stick crayons in the last year or two.

One teacher decided to offer her class only stick crayons. “The older children were frustrated with blocks. The (stick) drawings had the details they wanted. Even for the younger children, there were more archetypes. They didn't use the big sweeps of color, but they still filled the page.”

2 The sample of last year's (block) drawings is small and not strictly comparable. They were colored during lunch-time, rather than as a classroom activity.

Download the article: Lifeways Training

The author is taking part in a one year training led by Cynthia Aldinger. It is an activity of the Lifeways Center in Wisconsin.

I went out to dinner last night with the women from my playgroup - my lifeline, really. For years, we have been soul-mates in the journey of parenting. The conversation turned to our children, which it always does. Between us we have 19 children, and each of us has a 6 year old. The question at this moment was, “How are you explaining the President Clinton-Monica Lewinsky affair to your first grader?” I listened carefully as each of my seven friends discussed the conversations they'd had with their children about sex, adultery, and scandal. Most felt that it was too bad that 6 year old kids needed to be introduced to all that adult stuff, but they hear about it on the news, so what's a parent to do? Others felt it was a good opportunity to teach their child values. For me, this was like many other parenting discussions of this type. I had nothing to share, because Kyle, my six year old son, has no idea who Monica Lewinsky is, and perhaps only a very vague notion of President Clinton. He never sees the news. I must admit that for a moment I felt the all-too familiar twinge of self-doubt that I often have when I'm confronted by the fact that my children are very different than most of their peers. In this particular instant, once my common sense took over, I was grateful that Kyle did not have to deal with this adult issue, and scolded myself for thinking, even for a moment, that he might be better off immersed in the current events of the day. Still, questions and doubts remain. They creep up in everyday life more often than I care to admit. Having raised our children in more of a “Waldorf way” during the past five years, my husband and I are increasingly convinced that there is a fundamental truth in this philosophy of early childhood. The more ideas of Rudolf Steiner that I learn of, mull over for awhile, and then implement in our family life, the more I am certain that we are on the right track. So, why is it so difficult for me to explain, and even defend, the path we are choosing to follow in raising our children?

Download the article: An Autumn Play

Translated by Joan Almon with some adaptation.
Sheet music for The Autumn Play is available in the downloaded article.

Underneath a green pine tree.
Lives a gnome so small and wee.
Knocking, thumping day by day,
Making sounds of hammer play.

The pine tree makes a sound so soft
It stands and bends and listens oft.

Little people full of jest
Do not want to sleep or rest.
Dancing gnomes so small and wee
In a ring around a tree.

Download the article: 1998-99 Questionnaire Responses

In the Fall, WECAN sent out a questionnaire to all schools. We received many wonderful responses which we combined in a mailing to schools in February. However, there were a few longer responses which we wish to include in this issue and in the fall. The following was sent by Betsi McGuigan, Monadnock Waldorf School, Keene, NH.

1. Please describe any changes you have seen in today's children in contrast to those of five years ago or more.
The children seem to be strong individuals wonderful children who have great difficulty adjusting to a group consciousness. I call them prickly or edgy. Alone they are a delight, but melding into being part of a group seems ever more difficult. Part of this phenomenon is what we would call a lot of nerve-sense children.

I see tremendous courage in today's children. I hear story after story of children who fell or got hurt as babies and did not cry. I think of my classes beginning in about 1994 as “warrior children.” Parents have also told me amazing stories about little toddlers using berries in the woods to mark their faces with stripes like the Native American war paint and the tiniest children understanding cartoon kinds of weaponry - arrows in particular, and swords.

Download the article: An Open Letter to Colleagues

In the past quarter-century of working with parents, I seem to have noticed a significant change in the nature of their concerns about Waldorf early childhood education.

Years ago, one of the most frequently-expressed concerns of parents was this: “Everything in the Waldorf kindergarten is so beautiful, peaceful, and gentle, and the children have so much time to play. Won't this make it difficult for them to adjust to the 'real world' out there? How will they ever learn to cope with the hard knocks and not-so-pleasant tasks that they will encounter?” Our response was that these experiences in the early years strengthen and nourish the children's forces to meet whatever comes to them on their path through life (or words to that effect).

Download the article: Program for the Deaf Child

Outside the stars twinkle in the night chill. The young children are tucked in their beds. The house is put in order and the tap water is warming - but the day is not yet done. Bundled against the chill, rosy cheeked, the kindergarten teacher arrives and with her that sense of cozy nurturing. But around that coziness another energy dances, a creative impulse, a determination, an inspiration. Two others arrive and strangely the silence is unbroken except for the swish of jacket sleeves, an occasional clap of hands or laughter as greetings fly about and news is exchanged in a language unspoken.

The two silent visitors are brave soldiers indeed, crusading on a lonely and often difficult quest. They are deaf teachers in training to become Waldorf teachers. Long distance relationships, long hours, enormous interpreter bills, low pay and no job security, isolation, prejudice and the pain of others' ignorance are endured to follow a dream: A dream of bringing Waldorf education to deaf children.

Download the article: Margret Meyerkort's New Books

A third edition of the Wynstones books for kindergarten teachers and parents is now being printed. Edited by Margret Meyerkort and Jennifer Aulie, the set again includes six volumes: Autumn, Winter, Spring, Summer, Gateways and Spindrift.

They have beautiful, four color covers painted by David Newbatt. The seasonal covers each depict different workmen. Each volume has been enlarged and the multicultural nature of the collection is quite evident now. There is also more emphasis on the work aspect in the choice of songs, stories and verses. Jennifer Aulie's article on the mood of the fifth is used as an introduction in each volume, and each includes a list of recommended books.

Download the article: The Kite Flying Festival

A Waldorf kindergarten teacher from Takoma Park, Maryland is spending a year in India with her family. She sends beautiful descriptive missives relating the strange and wonderful world in which they are living. This is an excerpt from a recent letter.

On January 14 and 15 the entire state of Gujarat comes to a halt each year for its kite flying festival, called Uttrayin. We learned eventually that this event falls on a Hindu festival day, but everyone was pretty vague about the exact nature of this one because they were paying far more attention to flying kites. People come from all over the world to compete in kite flying in one of the stadiums in town, but we thought that sounded too much like going to see the fireworks on the mall in Washington, D.C. on the 4th of July along with the rest of the country, so we celebrated the day by having lunch with friends instead. Hina's mother had made the meal, which is traditionally built around a hearty stew of eggplant, beans, and lots of masala, or spices and flavorings, called undia.

Download the article: Wild Goose Lake

This version was adapted by the editor from a tale in Folk Tales of China (1965), edited by Wolfram Eberhard. The story is not, in fact, “Chinese,” but comes from a minority group living in southwest China, the I tribes of Yun-nan. However, the Dragon King is frequently found in Chinese tales, and the importance given to folksinging is typical of many groups in southern and western China.

Long ago in China, a young girl lived in a small village at the foot of Horse Ear Mountain. Her name was Sea Girl and she lived with her father, a hardworking farmer.

No rain had fallen for many months; the crops hung limp and brown, dying for want of water. It seemed there could be no harvest, and food was already scarce. So each day Sea Girl went up to Horse Ear Mountain and cut bamboo to make brooms to sell.

Download the article: Grandma's Dream

This true story has given Sheila help and strength through the her own loss and has been a great help to those parents facing a loss with whom she has shared the story. It would not necessarily be shared with young children.

Grandma's faith was a personal one, built not on doctrine, but on her own experience. Her dreams held the deepest significance for her, and conveyed to her a certainty both of life beyond this physical one and of the bonds of love which transcend death. But these fruits came to her gradually in her life and not without great anguish.