Gateways

Download the article: He Spoke of Beauty

Life brings us experiences - some we want to tuck quietly away in our hearts and others we want to shout from the rooftops. A recent experience compelled me to want to do both.

Last week a tragic accident happened that involved the death in a car accident of a small child and her grandmother. I had the privilege of attending the memorial service this week and left feeling that, while I had come to extend support and sympathy, I left with a gift beyond anything I could have given.

About halfway through the service a young man spoke to us about beauty. He asked us, “How do you find the beauty” in those everyday encounters with one another, even the frustrating ones. Where is the beauty in a mother who insisted upon doing certain things her way (like the way she cut your hair) yet was also the one who cared for your basic life needs. who fed you and tucked you in at night? Where is the beauty in a small child who doesn't always want to cooperate, like in the grocery store check-out line when everyone behind you is beginning to wish they had chosen a different lane?

Download the article: For Anastasia and Her Dear Grandmother...

Once upon a time not very long ago
A dear little family loved each other so,
They created a wish that went traveling far
Until at last it went up to the stars.

In the heavens the star children worked all day on matters of great importance. When they had worked very hard, they were given the gift of beautiful music - so beautiful that it brought great joy to their hearts. Sometimes, when they were not working or listening to the music, they were able to play heavenly games like Catch a Falling Star or Chase a Comet's Tail.

Download the article: Letter from the Co-Chairs

Our Name
What's in a name? We've been asked "What happened to the "A" at the end of Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America?" We started out as WECANA but the shorter version sums up our nature as a will-filled organization, serving children in the first seven years, the time of the will: WECAN!

WECAN Board Meeting
WECAN held its annual board meeting in the first weekend of November. We met in Wisconsin, at the new site of Cynthia Aldinger' s Lifeways Center. Four years ago Cynthia began talking to us about her longing to establish a multi-age childcare center to serve as one model of how to best meet the needs of day care children on this continent. Last year her actual work with the children began. It was wonderful to see it in action.

Download the article: An Update from the Alliance for Childhood

The Alliance, which works with a broad group of partners on a growing number of childhood issues, has had a busy fall. We were fortunate to receive some gifts that have helped us move from the slow track of development to the middle range. We would love to raise more funds and move to a faster track, for it seems that the world is more open than we had expected to the message of the Alliance. The tragedy at Columbine High School has raised many fundamental questions as to what has gone wrong in the lives of our children. There is now talk of Congressional hearings on the subject of what cultural changes are needed to create a healthier environment for children and youth.

Coincidental to this awakening in Congress, we prepared a letter for each member of the House and Senate asking for hearings on a number of childhood issues such as the impact of computers and electronic media in the lives of children. Through the services of a volunteer courier, these packets were hand-delivered on Michaelmas at the end of September. We hope they will help give Congress the courage to tackle the difficult issues facing children.

Download the article: Threshold Experiences of Children and Adults...

These notes were taken by Sandra Czemnel-Södergren at the International Kindergarten Conference at Michael Hall on September 3, 1995. They were printed in Autumn/Winter 1996 by the Waldorf kindergartens in the United Kingdom in the third issue of their newsletter. They have been newly edited for this edition of Gateways. Dr. von Kügelgen was the deeply loved leader of the International Waldorf Kindergarten Association for many years. He took on this work after leading four elementary classes through the Stuttgart (Ühlandshöhe) Waldorf School. He died on February 25, 1998 at age 81.

Let us picture a certain third grade boy. His father is a physicist, mathematician, and Waldorf teacher. In some respects this boy is very awake, for he is interested in anything mechanical and he has great technical dexterity. But, this boy is also a dreamer. When in the woods he still seems to live with the elemental beings. The doll he made in handwork class is alive for him, and he holds it tenderly and takes it to bed with him at night. This child exists in a continually mobile present. One moment he is wide awake, and the next he is dreaming.

Download the article: The Practice of Child Observation

From notes taken by Lynne Oldfield at the Waldorf Kindergarten therapeutic conference, Kings Langley, August 1997. Reprinted from Star Weavings,Autumn/Winter 1999 newsletter of the Australian Waldorf kindergarten movement.

A commitment to the process of child study can become an important element in the spiritual training of the teacher. It can also become a source of healing for the child. In the process of child study we enter a realm where we leave behind the security of all that is sense perceptible. To accomplish this we must develop both our feeling capacity and our will forces so that we can have confidence in those aspects of our soul life. With this confidence we then step into the unknown, a crucial threshold for mankind.

Download the article: A Visit to RIE (Resources for Infant Educarers)

In January, leaving the New England winter behind, Rena Osmer and I traveled to Los Angeles to pursue our interest in the work of Emmi Pikler. Each of us had discovered her ideas and writing though different avenues, and had become increasingly certain that this approach to understanding infants and very young children had a valuable contribution to make to Waldorf early childhood teachers. Emmi Pikler’s research on the early motor development of the child has inspired Helle Heckmann, founder of the Nøkken child care center in Copenhagen, among others.

A practicing pediatrician in Budapest, Dr. Pikler made an early mark through her deep personal engagement with the families of her young patients and her advocacy for the child’s freedom to develop the early motor stages without intervention or unnatural encouragement from well-intentioned adults. It was said that if one visited a playground in Budapest that the “Pikler babies” could be easily identified because of their fluid, graceful, and confident physical movements. Out of the recognition of her experiences in her private practice, she was invited to create an institute that would serve as an orphanage for young children from birth to three years of age. This she did, and became an intimate observer of the babies and a thorough researcher. Her studies demonstrated clearly the value of attentive care giving, unrestricted motor movements, and respect for the child.

Download the article: An Interview with Helle Heckmann at Nøkken

The author is a Waldorf Kindergarten teacher on sabbatical this year from teaching at Pleasant Ridge Waldorf School in Viroqua,Wisconsin. She visited Helle at her Kindergarten in August of 1999.

This past summer I was fortunate to be able to take a class on “Care Giving the Young Child: Birth-Seven Years” with Helle Heckmann, offered by the Waldorf Teacher Development Association, Early Childhood Education Program in Detroit, under the direction of Lora Valsi. Margaret Rosenthaler, an anthroposophical nurse from Ghent, also presented. This was a long-awaited opportunity for me as I had been anxious for more information on Helle’s daycare/kindergarten called Nøkken ever since I heard Helle speak at Pine Hill Waldorf School during the International Waldorf Kindergarten Conference in 1996. A mixed age kindergarten, where the children were outdoors for most of their day, with an age range of 1 1/2 years to nearly 7, was intriguing to me.

Download the article: The Children's Oasis

The author is a Waldorf Kindergarten teacher on sabbatical this year from teaching at Pleasant Ridge Waldorf School in Viroqua,Wisconsin. She visited Helle at her Kindergarten in August of 1999.

This past summer I was fortunate to be able to take a class on “Care Giving the Young Child: Birth-Seven Years” with Helle Heckmann, offered by the Waldorf Teacher Development Association, Early Childhood Education Program in Detroit, under the direction of Lora Valsi. Margaret Rosenthaler, an anthroposophical nurse from Ghent, also presented. This was a long-awaited opportunity for me as I had been anxious for more information on Helle’s daycare/kindergarten called Nøkken ever since I heard Helle speak at Pine Hill Waldorf School during the International Waldorf Kindergarten Conference in 1996. A mixed age kindergarten, where the children were outdoors for most of their day, with an age range of 1 1/2 years to nearly 7, was intriguing to me.

Download the article: Stirring the Bubbling Pot

Leanne works with family playgroups and with a four-year-old kindergarten group at the Melbourne Rudolf Steiner School. This article was inspired by Joan Salter's new book, Mothering With Soul. The article first appeared in Star Weavings, Autumn/Winter 1999.

Stirring a pot of bubbling plum jam, I recall joyful summer days of freshly picked fruit, warm jars, cellophane tops, labels and a shelf ready to receive the delicious jams. My small legs got tired doing this work, but every jar of jam opened throughout the year was greatly appreciated.

Jam making is one of the many gifts I carry from my mother to my family. When my mother was growing up the only jam you would have eaten was homemade. Today everything sits waiting on the shelf, our consumer society has made it so easy, but at what cost to family life?

Growing up in suburban Melboume in the sixties, a lot of my friends' mothers stayed at home or worked part-time. Today many women choose to work full-time. With the availability of a crèche on every corner, after school-care, the high cost of living, single parent families, and freedom to continue careers, many women have retumed to the workplace out of necessity.

Download the article: The King of Waves

This game was shared at an Australian Kindergarten Conference by Jannah Walker of Kangia School. It was reported by Naomi Douglas in Star-Weavings, Autumn/Winter 1999, No. 21.

Preparation
One child is king. That child wears a crown and sits in the center of the circle with a treasure box in front of him/her. Over the treasure box is a blue silk with which the child makes waves at the appropriate time. Another child will be a swordfish. That child wears a finger-knitted shell pendant necklace and is gestured into the center at the appropriate time. All the other children sit in the circle and will be the clamshells.

Download the article: A Winter Hand Gesture Game

An Australian version of a verse seen on a visit to a kindergarten in Freiberg, Germany. Seen and experienced without understanding German.

We will build a house, strong and true,
With no cracks in the walls for the wind to get through.
A roof on high to keep us dry.
A veranda wide on every side.
Two little windows to welcome the light.
A big strong door to close each night.
Where are the children? Where do they hide?
Safe and warm at the fire side!

Download the article: Waldorf Steiner Education in Vietnam - A Beginning

Born and brought up in Vietnam, Thanh began teaching in the kindergarten at the Bowral Rudolf Steiner School in Australia when it was founded in 1983. She is currently also involved in the kindergarten teacher training program being set up in various parts of southeast Asia. The needs for the work in Vietnam, she says, are enormous. They include monetary donations, human and material resources, and (not least) genuine moral support and good thoughts. She can be contacted at P.O. Box 416, Bowral NSW 2576, Australia
Ph: +61-248-722520
Fax +61-248-713646
e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

After two prolonged wars this century, first with the French then the Americans, Vietnam is now, according to United Nations statistics, one of the poorest countries in the world. Contrary to what one might expect, however, it has an extremely high literacy rate – supposedly over ninety percent. Travelers speak of their encounters with people who are eager to learn and often self-educated. Many street kids can read and write; cyclo drivers and hawkers can be seen during siesta time reading a newspaper, sprawled in idle vehicles or on the sun-drenched pavements.

Download the article: Waldorf Initiatives for Young Children in South Africa

We are glad to report that Waldorf education in South Africa is reaching more and more children. Both in Alexandra/Johannesburg and in Cape Town intensive Waldorf training for kindergarten teachers is taking place. In the Cape, in the black township of Philippi, a straw-bale house was erected for the training to take place, which holds two spaces, one for the training and one for a kindergarten. Additional buildings house a second kindergarten and a first grade.

In Alexandra we concentrate on the training of the women living in the squatter huts around the Inkanyezi Waldorf School and the Baobab Community College. Twenty-two people have committed themselves to a two-year training. We have opened a fourth nursery group, which is meant for the children of the women who take part in the course. However, there is such an overwhelming need, that Fundie and Catherine, who are doing the training, write that they are at a loss as to how to stem the flow of people wanting to bring their children.

Download the article: Letter from the Co-Editors

Gateways readers will recall that a few years ago we announced a new editor, Nicola Tarshis, who unfortunately became ill and could not continue the work. Susan Howard and I then co-edited a few issues while we sought a new editor. We are pleased to announce that Stephen Spitalny, kindergarten teacher at the Santa Cruz Waldorf School, has agreed to take on this role. In this issue he has served as co-editor.

Steve is well-known to kindergarten teachers on the West Coast and to many others nation-wide through the articles and stories he has contributed to Gateways. In this issue Steve describes the path of a Waldorf teacher, and his article on small groups describes his work with the children. His lantern story sheds yet another light on his creativity and love for stories and festivals. We welcome Steve to this work and look forward to future issues of Gateways under his able leadership. — J.A.

Download the article: Notes on Three Lectures by Felicitas Vogt

Felicitas Vogt is a former Waldorf school class teacher who has taken a deep interest in the problems of students drawn to drug use. She travels throughout the world inspiring parents and teachers to develop a deeper understanding of children and youth and to find new depths of compassion in serving them. At present she is director of the Verein für Anthroposophisches Heilwesen, an anthroposophical organization for patients’ rights. She offered three talks at the East Coast Kindergarten Conference in February 11 – 13, 2000 and reviewed these notes of her talks. The notes were taken by Kate Gage and Sandi Chamberlin of Acorn Hill Waldorf Nursery/Kindergarten in Silver Spring, MD.

Introduction
At the beginning of each of the talks I will share a poem written by Kristina, a sixteen-year-old German girl. This girl, neglected and unable to follow the goals of a normal public school, is in the tenth grade of a special needs school. Her class teacher has given her heart to support her students, and there being no tests, the child is free to be a human being. The teacher asks: “What is the human being?” This poem is the girl’s response.

Download the article: An Interview with Hermann Koepke

(Jane Johannson has been a Waldorf kindergarten teacher and class teacher in California and Michigan. She recently spent several months in South Africa where she met Hermann Koepke who was on a visit there. He has written several books about different stages of child development. We hope his book on first grade readiness will appear in English soon, and in this article Jane gives some indications of its content as well as the life of this dedicated teacher.)

Hermann Koepke has been a Waldorf teacher for thirty-five years. On first meeting him, one is struck by his kind, steady gaze and can imagine the sustenance and strength so many children have received as they shook hands with him each morning.

He was born in 1937 and grew up in Heidenheim, Germany, near Stuttgart. After the Second World War, Mr. Voith, a manufacturer, started a Waldorf school in Heidenheim. He had six daughters to educate and wanted them to have Waldorf schooling. Hermann’s father was an engineer in Mr. Voith’s factory and so it happened that Hermann was able to attend the Waldorf School.

Download the article: Feeding the Child's Soul in Nature

We hear from a growing number of kindergarten teachers that they are helping their children spend more time outdoors to engage them in movement and to help them participate in nature more fully. We asked Su to describe her own experience with this, and we encourage other teachers to share their experiences as well. — Ed.

Good morning dear earth, good morning dear sun,
Good morning dear stones and flowers, every one,
Good morning dear buzzy bees and flowers in the trees,
Good morning to you, friends, good morning to me.

This is the verse that we begin our circle with. I chose it for its simplicity and its emphasis on the natural world, for I was working with Steiner’s thought that, The child must not be sharply detached from nature, that his whole feeling must be that he is linked in a living way to the world around him.

Download the article: Questionnaire Response

In Fall 1998, WECAN sent out its annual questionnaire and later summarized its findings. A few responses were held aside, however, for they gave such rich pictures of kindergarten life today that we wanted to publish them in Gateways. One was published last spring and we now publish another.

Q: Please describe any changes you may have seen in today’s children in contrast to those of five years ago or earlier. Consider new capacities as well as problem areas.
A: The girls are strong and the boys are gentle to a larger degree. They play together easily, playing everything from hunting elk to house. Both boys and girls can switch sexual identity in a play — girls as huntsmen, boys as Little Red Cap or grandma. Also, food allergies are growing.

In what ways is your work with children different today than at an earlier time?
My work keeps getting simpler and deeper — fewer things, more awareness. I never did make a lot of things (my motto is “Us not stuff”), but I keep finding ways to be simpler.

Download the article: Working with Deaf Children

When I was eight years old, my brother was born and a year later diagnosed as deaf. This continues to be an enlightening experience for me. I remember my brother at an early age telling us he was glad he was Deaf and if he had the choice to hear, he wouldn’t. Gradually it has occurred to me that being Deaf is not a “hearing impairment” but a variation of being human.

A culture exists whose main identity is being Deaf. Because the word “Deaf” here represents a cultural identity, it is capitalized. It is not capitalized when it refers to a physical condition alone. American Sign Language (ASL) is the first language for Deaf people, and it differs from Signing Exact English (SEE). SEE is not a natural language; it is manually coded English, one sign for each English word. SEE and other manually coded language systems are not true languages because they attempt to represent a spoken language which is sound based and full of subtle meanings which are lost when signed as an exact translation of English. ASL has its own grammar and sentence structure which is different from English. It is a visual-spatial language. ASL is American.

Download the article: Brief Thoughts on Small Kindergartens

We would welcome articles by teachers on the advantages and disadvantages of small and large class sizes. One consideration, for example, is that in a smaller class such as Steve describes here, the children relate to only one adult. This creates a very strong and direct bond between children and teacher. An element that is not present, however, is the experience of being in a kindergarten carried by two adults who are sharing the care of the children and are working daily on their own relationship. At a time when so many children live in single parent homes, this social element also needs to be considered. — J.A.

At the beginning of the article by Christiane Maria von Königslöw, “The Children’s Oasis,” (Gateways, Fall 1999) it was mentioned by the editor that the issue of small kindergartens had not appeared in the newsletter for some time. Hence, as a proponent of small kindergartens, I am responding with some of my thoughts and experiences on the subject.

Download the article: The Golden Lantern

This story came to me when preparing for a Lantern Festival. I told the story and wrote it down several days later. Since then, with colleagues, I have revised it and edited out words that seemed unnecessary, particularly adjectives and adverbs. The movement, the story, are the important part for me, not the soul coloring that adjectives and adverbs bring. I feel that this is a true story of a spiritual reality and potential that lives in every human being.

Once upon a time there was a girl named Sophie. Her eyes were shining. Her mother and father had died and she lived alone in a house at the edge of the forest. Her sole inheritance was a golden lantern. The light of the golden lantern was always shining.

Whatever Sophie put her hand to went well. Each day she brought fresh water from the stream for cooking and washing. She tended her garden. She collected fallen branches for her fire. She always took the golden lantern with her. The creatures of the forest were her friends. They were made welcome in her house and what food she had she shared with them.

Download the article: Games for All Occasions

This article and the following one originally appeared in the Summer issue, No. 12 of the Sydney Rudolf Steiner Association for the Care of the Young Child Newsletter. We would welcome games from North American teachers with indications for appropriate ages.

Games provide an opportunity for children to learn social skills and to become aware of each other while doing tasks. And above all, games are fun! They are entertaining and provide an alternative to television. Games play an important role at birthdays and may also be useful when traveling or brightening up the day for a sick child or just passing the time waiting for dinner. They range from quiet little finger songs for young children to noisy group events.

Each game is different; some contain children’s energy and some spread it around. At different ages the games that are satisfying change, but as a general rule the younger the child, the less competitive the game. Little children live in the moment and cannot cope with winners and losers. Interestingly, this can be especially hard for little boys who can become discouraged unless they are given non-threatening games.

Download the article: Sprouting Made Easy

Almonds
Soak 12 – 48 hours (soaking makes them easier to digest). They swell but don’t sprout. Rinse and eat.
Nutrition: Rich in protein, fats, and minerals (phosphorus, magnesium, calcium, and potassium).
Uses: breads (sprouted), cheeses, desserts, dressing, milks, yogurt, cereals.

Alfalfa
Soak 4 – 12 hours. If soaking for a longer period, watch for fermentation, bubbles on surface of water.
Ready in 5 – 6 days.
Length at harvest 1° – 2 inches. This also depends on water and light received during growing. Two days before harvesting, place in indirect light to develop chlorophyll. Nutrition: rich in minerals (calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium), trace elements (selenium, zinc), and vitamins A, B, C, E, and K. For anything that turns green, grow it in trays for air circulation, evenness of light, and even chlorophyll distribution.
Method: as for Fenugreek.

Download the article: Alliance for Childhood

The Alliance has been very busy this spring working on its computer project. More and more we are reminded of the Emperor and his new clothes which existed only in the minds of the faithful. The adulation being offered to computers in schools makes one feel that reason and common sense have flown out the window. There are growing reports of children suffering eye strain, musculo-skeletal problems, and carpal tunnel syndrome from excessive use of the computer over time. There are also mounting indications that using computers is making it harder for children to develop their social and emotional capacities, and in elementary school and younger there is little evidence of academic gains through the use of the computer. At the same time the enormous cost of hardware, software, and retraining of teachers is cutting into music and arts programs, libraries, and many other services needed by the children.

A parent of a two year old was telling us recently that she has been wrestling with the question of how much computer time her child should have. Since she and her husband work on the computer a great deal, it seemed only right to her that the child also should have time in front of the screen. Indeed, when her grandfather comes over, they spend their time together working a program about Grandpa and child. That was surely all right, wasn’t it? I commented that one problem was the child would always have her back to her grandfather instead of facing him or walking by his side. She suddenly looked as if blinders had fallen off, and she said, “Oh yes, when I was growing up my favorite time with my father was when we went for walks in nature. They were wonderful.” We are like a nation in a trance. The moment has come to wake people up, particularly as the computer epidemic is spreading to more and more countries.