Advent - Marin Waldorf School

WINGS
BRINGING NEWS TO THE MARIN WALDORF SCHOOL COMMUNITY
December 6, 2013
Volume 13: 2013-2014
difficult it is to collect oneself, especially in the time right
before Christmas, when outer light and a hectic pace
prevail. But the children, for whom we create life space
and prepare festivals, reward our efforts with their daily
joy and inner involvement, and strengthen us in our resolve to see it all through to the end.
One possibility for us as adults to use such stolen moments meaningfully, and allow them to become sources
of strength, is to focus on a beautiful verse. If we allow
such a verse to be our focus for a few minutes, it can
throw its light over the day or week or several weeks,
and help us find the right attitude. Perhaps ''a light will
go on" for us, or something will be illuminated that we
did not understand before, or we might begin to glow
with enthusiasm. The child will be able to experience our
right attitude through our behavior and gestures, rather
than through words. Children have an unconscious and
very fine sense for the thoughts and feelings with which
we surround them.
Advent
In the Christmas festival a process that has been quietl y building for months finds its culmination. As the sunlight wanes, the human soul retreats ever more into itself after having given itself up so happily to the light
and warmth of high summer. The balance between light
and dark in autumn is like a threshold, and in the darkest time of the year an inner light wants to be kindled.
Each year, when Christmas is very close, we make a new
effort to bring the outer light in, to transform it so that
we are illuminated within and can radiate outward. Others can then sense that tranquility, love and warmth
stream out from such a person as a blessing.
Advent means arrival, from the Latin advenire, and it signifies that we may attempt yet again to allow something
of the high divine to come into us. Each of us may experience how such work on oneself can only be done out of
inner tranquility, in quiet moments we have stolen from
our everyday lives. And we all know how much more
Page 1
At the Ringing of the Bells
To wonder at beauty,
Stand guard over truth,
Look up to the noble,
Decide for the good:
Leads man on his journey
To goals for his life,
To right in his doing,
To peace in his feeling,
To light in his thought,
And teaches him trust
In the guidance of God,
In all that there is:
In the world-wide All,
In the soul's deep soil.
-Rudolf Steiner, Truth-Wrought Words
(Article continues on page 3)
Please help us give a
warm welcome our new
friends on campus:
Max Conkling 4th Gr
Lucas Conkling 1st Gr
Hitoshi Chiyoda Kindergarten
And a very special welcome
back to our dear friend
Aodhan MacDermott, also in
Kindergarten.
ON THE HORIZON
Friday, December 6
 Advent Spiral
Saturday, December 7
 Christmas Tree Sale, 9am—3 pm
Monday, December 9
 Parent Craft Circle, 8:15 am
 Friends of Social Inclusion Meeting, 8:30
 Ping Pong, 3:30 pm
Wednesday, December 11
 Last Day for Ping Pong, 3:30 pm
 Board Meeting, 6:30 pm
Friday, December 13
 Parent Toddler Open House, 9 am
 Preschool Lantern Walk, 4:30 pm
Monday, December 16
 Parent Craft Circle, 8:15 am
Thursday, December 19
 Winter Assembly at Dominican U., 6 pm
Friday, December 20
 No Preschool Classes
 Shepherd’s Play, 11 am
 Early Dismissal for the Grades, 1:45 pm
Winter Break: December 23—January 3
+
A Peek Inside…
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Advent continued Page 3
Annual Fund Update, Page 4
Fourth Grade Stars, Page 5
Social Inclusion Corner, Page 6
Message From the Parent Association, 7
And More!
Page 2
We warmly invite all of you
to attend our
Winter Assembly
at Dominican University on
December 19 at 6 pm.
Advent
(Continued from Page 1)
Another way to put oneself in an appropriate
mood for Advent and Christmas is to work
with the different virtues. If we practice these
on a small scale we can even include the children. We must not yet allow the virtue we are
practicing to become conscious for them, but
we can help them be well-disposed toward
good habits through our example, which they
will imitate.
Advent is a time of anticipation. Waiting is often not easy for us. We want to be finished
quickly, and see a result immediately. Waiting
teaches us to deal with time . Wishes and fantasies hurry ahead into the future. To fulfill
them we need time, and we must wait and
overcome impatience. For example, the children experience waiting in connection with
the Advent calendar, since they may not open
all the doors at once, or with the baking of
Christmas cookies, which they may only eat
on Christmas or thereafter.
Another virtue is listening. Only one who can
listen experiences silence, and can endure it,
as well. It might be possible to listen with the
children in the quiet of a forest, and keep
them from making noise, without reflecting
on it with them. They especially like to listen
to a fairy tale or a story, and all the better if it
is told in an intimate atmosphere.
Finally, we can think of wonder, which we as
adults often must relearn. What a wealth of
things there are to wonder at when we sort
through our Christmas art postcards, and pay
attention to all the various ways the artists
here portrayed the adoration of the Child by
the shepherds or the kings. In some of the pictures of the "birth," it seems that the mother
is in conversation with the Child. And when
we create the scene in the stable for the children or our families, we may become aware
that we wonder at all the beings of nature
that greet the Child as it arrives: stones from
the mineral kingdom; moss, hay, and straw
from the plant kingdom; sheep, oxen, and asses from the animal kingdom; and alongside
them the great distinction of the human form.
Wonder is the first step on the way to
knowledge/recognition. Wonder also includes
respect for certain things. Thus, as we gaze at
the stable scene with the children and practice wonder at the events we see depicted
there, the children will not take the figures
out and use them as playthings.
Each of us may discover and practice other
virtues for ourselves. We are not concerned
here with quantity, but with helping guide the
children through Advent.
We can direct our seeing during Advent especially to the sky, which delights us after a
beautiful day with a sunset of strongly glowing colors. The stars shine particularly clearly
and close by.
Page 3
(Excerpt from Waldorf Education; A Family Guide)
Annual Fund Update
Written by Tim Daulter
Dear MWS Community,
Welcome back from Thanksgiving Break! As you can see from the
many leaves on our Giving Tree in the breezeway, Giving Week
was a successful kick off for our Annual Giving Fund Drive. Only
90% of the costs of running the school for a year are covered by
tuition, so we need to raise the remainder of our operating funds
through charitable giving. As a registered non-profit, all donations
to Marin Waldorf School are eligible to be deducted from your
taxes. In addition, many companies will match donations made by
employees to non-profits, so please check with your employer to
see if they have a matching program to double your contribution
to the school!
A key feature of our Annual Giving program is that we aim for
100% participation from all families, staff, faculty and the Board
of Trustees. This is especially important for when we are writing
grant proposals for extra funding. Many foundations will not even
consider a school's request unless they have 100% participation in
the Annual Giving Fund. So we ask each family to please make a contribution to the AGF at a level that is personally
significant.
After Giving Week our total of donations and pledges stands at $84,133 versus our goal of $140,000 to eliminate
the need for a faculty/staff pay adjustment in the second half of the year. We are well on our way and our AGF
Chair-Person Linda Spegar has a lot of fun planned to help us keep our focus as we continue towards 100% completion. Our current progress towards 100% by class is listed below.
Buttercup
Sunflower
Morning Glory
Hollyhock
Dandelion
32%
24%
53%
44%
44%
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
8th
30%
83%
58%
63%
33%
54%
42%
Meet our Annual Giving Fund Liaisons!
Our Liaisons are the faces, and the heart & soul, of our AGF Campaign. They are our fellow community members
championing our collective efforts to meet the goals!
Every Grade has a Liaison who is wiling to directly support the families when it comes to the Annual Giving Fund.
Your Liaison will be able to give you progress reports both class and school-wide*, send parent-to-parent emails,
and share their knowledge of how the program works, answering your questions about how to participate in this
important campaign to support our school.
Kindergarten & Early Education (here it takes a little village!) :
Grade 1: Melissa Monterossa Landis
Pam Byrd
Grade 2: Christine Coleman
Regina Mager
Grade 3: Tracie Pezzullo
Anna Meegan
Grade 4: Linda Bagneschi Dorrance
Melissa Monterossa Landis
Grade 5: Lisa O'Callaghan
Nicole Perrullo
Grade 6: Lisa Hecker
Tracie Pezzullo
Grade 8: Laura Eberhard
Michelle Robbins
*Out of privacy considerations, AGF Liaisons are never aware of actual donation amounts.
Page 4
Fourth Grade Stars
As part of their Human Animal Block, the Fourth Grade
discovers their relation to the stars:
Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running in them.
~Marcus Aurelius
Page 5
Social Inclusion Corner
Written By Christine Margetic
“We are all allies. There are no outsiders.”
What is the premise of social inclusion?
“Social Inclusion” is the name of a program we use to work with conflicts that arise between children. The social realm is a big part of a child’s school experience. Learning
how to get along is just as important as the academic learning that takes place. Our
program is based upon the premise that conflict between human beings is not only inevitable but it can be an instrument for growth and development—Kim John Payne
sees this as a modern day rite of passage. Our task as adults is to provide mentoring
and guidance for children as they experience conflicts so that they can understand it
and develop conflict resolution skills. We bring these concepts in age appropriate ways
from preschool right through 8th grade. Our program is
based upon the same principles used in Restorative Justice. Students are held accountable for their actions
through a process that helps them to see the feelings of
the others involved (development of empathy), own their
part in it, and “make things right”.
My child says she is being teased. How can I help her?
Research shows that the single most important thing to a
child who is experiencing something upsetting is the
warmth and proximity of a parent or a respected adult
who stays calm and stays close. It is important to convey
to your child that you love her and that she is safe. Remember that when you hear about an event that you didn’t witness that you are hearing one perspective that may be true for your child, but
not the full picture of what occurred. It is more important to keep your child close, listen carefully to her story, and let her know that you’ve heard her perspective. A simple
response such as, “My goodness, that sounds like it was very hard. Did you tell your
teacher?” It’s more important to support your child than to make phone calls to the
other child’s parents and everyone else involved. Calm understanding will comfort
your child, decrease her anxiety and allow her to utilize the resources she already has.
Of course, if you believe your child needs help resolving the problem, please report
what you heard to your child’s class teacher. We encourage you to request a brief
meeting or phone call with the teacher. This will help the teacher keep a close eye on
the situation.
Page 6
Message from the Parent Association (PA)
Welcome back from Thanksgiving Break!!
Below is a review of all things PA for
the month of December :-)
Festivals . . .
The holiday season is officially here and the PA is having
fun busily crafting, organizing and fulfilling all sorts of
magical tasks for December’s festivals :-)
Holiday Cards! We’re making handmade Holiday Cards
for our heartful working school administrative and faculty staff. All will be available for signing and end of
year contributions, along with the class made, class
teacher cards, in the breezeway by December 9th.
Human Kindness . . .
Faculty surprise! It’s fun to surprise our faculty with
treats! A batch of holiday fudge made its way to the
college and faculty meeting in mid November to end
the day with a sweet thank you for all they give. The
college meets every Wednesday afternoon and the Faculty every Thursday afternoon.
Beauty everywhere! Although this thank you has already been made, we have to offer a special thank you again to our fellow parent, Kris Brewer, for her beautiful donation of potted flowers that adorn our entryway and beyond! They have inspired many a smile of
appreciation and joy and definitely contribute to the PA’s commitment towards spreading kindness.
Hospitality, PA Style! The hospitality tables for the November Open House by the 4th Grade and Grandparents Day by 2nd Grade were also beautiful and over flowing with scrumptious delights! Such a reflection of
community in action - thank you parents!
Expansive Annual Giving! And to another fellow parent, thank you to Linda Spegar for her endless commitment and creative contributions to our school. This month it has manifest in the launch of our Annual Giving
campaign complete with donated granola by the Ladd family, Waste Conserve Lunch Trios by the Murphy
family, Fairfax Scoop by the Martin family, and Jen Sicha’s vibrantly painted giving tree! Linda, with the
bottomless help and enthusiasm of the fabulous Lisa O’Callaghan, along with the team of Annual Giving Class
Liaisons and Friends are holding this expression of support for our school with positivity and hope and that
makes all the difference. Thank you all!
And of course to all of the parents, staff and faculty who have donated to Annual Giving already - what an
inspiration! Your generosity nourishes us all.
Join us for the First PA Meeting of the New Year! Friday, January 10, 2014 at 8:30 am in the Eurythmy Room
We need you! Will you volunteer to be our PA Secretary to help us take notes and keep everyone informed? Also, if you are aware of other acts of human kindness around our school, please let me know so
we can all be inspired and pass it on :-)
Please contact Lori Wallace (lwallace@irvingtongroup.com) or Clyde Charlton
(c.charlton@comcast.net Charlton)
Thank you as always for joining us in community and making MWS all it can be for our children xo
Love, Lori Wallace PA Chair
Page 7
Announcements
A message from Shannon Weiler, our Eurythmy Teacher
Dear Parents,
You are warmly invited to a simple sharing of the students work during our
Eurythmy Classes in the grades on Tuesday and Wednesday Dec. 17 & 18. Please
be looking out for further details. The times of the classes will be listed in a
forthcoming email from your class teachers.
I also would like to let all of you know that I will be temporarily away from the
Marin Waldorf School Community for the months of January, February and the
first week of March. As I had a prior commitment to teaching Eurythmy in Idaho
before I was hired here, I will be taking a short reprieve from my work here to
work in Eurythmy with the community in Northern Idaho. The children from
MWS will be participating in a letter exchange with the children there, which will
provide a nice bridge during my time away.
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Holiday Waldorf Items
• Benefits the 8th grade Class Trip •
Stockmar Wax Crayons - 8 colours Stockmar Wax Blocks - 8 colours
Their size and flat shape mean they
Everyone has heard of Stockmar
sit well in the hand and are specially
Crayons and Blocks. It is no surprise. They meet the highest educa- suited for small children. What is
tional, aesthetic and artistic demands.more, children can draw colourful
areas easily, and arrive at interesting
Elegant design with an attractive
packaging and pleasant fragrance, effects. For example by dragging the
Stockmar Wax Crayons appeal to the long edge of the block in a wavelike fashion across the paper. $14.50
child’s senses. $14.50
Stockmar Opaque Colour Box 12
colours
Each square can easily be taken
out for quick replacements. The
Stockmar mixing palette is not attached to the box, so you can put it
down wherever is most convenient
for your work. In addition, your
Stockmar box of Opaque colours
contains a tube of Opaque white and
a top quality “Cat’s Tongue Brush”.
$26.00
Stockmar Watercolour Paint 6 Colours- made in Germany
Stockmar Wax Crayons - 8 Crayons
+ 8 Blocks in Wooden Box
Whether drawing, painting, generously applying, layering, scraping,
and melting colours, Stockmar Wax
Crayons promise years of pure drawing pleasure. Outstanding drawing
properties & non-toxic. $55.00
Mercurius Water Colour Pencils - 12
colours + 1 paint brush
From energetic drawings to light
• 6 PE-bottles each 20 ml (0.68 fl. oz.)
watercolours, these artist’s coloured
pencils can be used both for coStockmar Watercolour Paints make
louring and watercolour paintings.
their mark with their excellent
Using a moist brush, you can create
scumbling properties, natural transexciting watercolour effects, making
parency and lightfastness. These
these watercolour pencils ideal for
non-toxic paints are long-lasting and
sketching and illustrations, at school
remain completely water soluble
or while studying. $28.00
when dry. $45.00
Stockmar Modelling Beeswax - 12
colours
Experiencing art through all the
senses - this is what children achieve
with this Beeswax. With its pleasant
beeswax scent and perfectly clean
handling, it is an ideal material for
modelling. The warmth of the hands
melts the wax and makes it malleable
and when the wax hardens, the luminosity and fine brilliance remain. $22
Stockmar Decorating Wax 20x4
cm/7.87x1.57 inch - 12 colours
Wonderful decorative candles or
other objects like cans, picture
frames and boxes can be made using the Stockmar Decorative Wax
Sheets. They are just 1 mm thick
and come in 18 beautiful, light-fast,
colour pigments. The sheets can be
cut, kneaded and shaped and stick
well on surfaces. $15.00
Pentatonic Glockenspiel made from
steel - 7 tone
The Choroi-Glockenspiels (chimes)
have been developed mainly for
small children. They have a clear
and balanced sound, and are excellent first percussion instruments.
They are well suited to accompanying the soft tone of the children’s
harp. The body is made of fine
cherrywood. $100.00
Fairy Tale Wool plant-dyed - 10 Colours
Top quality uncarded and natural
dyed wool. Used for gnomes, angels
and fairy tale figures.
colours: gold yellow, lemon yellow,
spring green, forrest green, dark blue,
pale blue, lilac, red, pink, white
100% new wool, 100 g (3.53 oz)
$27.00
Stockmar Candle Making Set
cardboard box, accessories:
metal cylinder, 2 kg (4.4 lbs) pure
beeswax, wooden dipping tool,
25 candlewick 41 cm (16.14 inch)
length each, instruction manual
Greenfield Fountain Pen
4 colours available
A beautifully shaped and very
high quality pen with a wooden
barrel and plastic handle. It has
2 indents for the fingers which
help children, in a relaxed way,
learn the proper writing position.
Designed for both right and left
handers. Ink: Pelikan Standard
catridges or ink jars using the
Greenfield converter. $15.00
The set contains all you need to
make your own candles. $115.00
Holiday Waldorf Order Form
Name
Phone #:
Check #
Credit Card: Visa
Mastercard
Amex Discover
Name on card:
Card #
expiration date:
Price
Stockmar Wax Crayons - 8 colours
$14.50
Stockmar Wax Blocks - 8 colours
$14.50
Stockmar Wax Crayons/Blocks in a wooden box
$55.00
Stockmar Opaque Watercolour Box of 12 colours
$26.00
Stockmar Water Color Paint - set of 6 colours
$45.00
Mercurius Water Colour Pencils - 12 colours & paint brush
$28.00
Stockmar Modelling Beeswax - 12 colours
$22.00
Stockmar Decorating Wax - 12 colours
$15.00
Pentatonic Glockenspiel $100.00
Fairy Tale Wool - 10 colours
$27.00
Stockmar Candle Making Set
$115.00
Greenfield Fountain Pen w/ink
$15.00
Quantity
Total
—> To purchase online: https://squareup.com/market/mws-twenty-fourteen
Thank you & Happy Holidays from all the 8th grade families!