Cover my earth mother four times with many flowers.

​Let the heavens be covered with banked-up clouds.

Let the earth be covered with fog; cover the earth with rains.

Great waters, rains, cover the earth. Lightning cover the earth.

Let thunder be heard over the earth; let thunder be heard.

Let thunder be heard over the six regions of the earth.

Zuni Prayer​ ​

From the 21 to the 23rd of May our fourth graders will be attending the annual Potlatch Gathering at Silver Falls State Park. They have made beautiful rawhide drums, practiced their singing and drumming and their teacher has prepared them well. The following interview is from the newsletter at the Eugene Waldorf School – a beautiful description of the details.

As the deep, resounding voice of the Potlatch drum, (named “Drumble Thunder” many years ago when it was received at a Potlatch) calls together over 150 curious and excited children, the “Chief Teacher” greets each class and welcomes them to the ever-widening circle. Terry Courtney, Jr., an Elder of the Wasco and Tlinget tribes, gives a blessing in his native language. Terry’s quiet connection with each child has gained him many fans over the years! He loves this gathering and plans to continue “for another hundred years.” He is very honored to be able to share his heritage with children.

A wide, grassy meadow, surrounded by tall firs, in a remote corner of Silver Falls State Park, has been witness to the gathering of Oregon Waldorf fourth graders for many years. Just as native tribes in the Pacific Northwest held Potlatch gatherings, we strive to evoke their mission of meeting in community and sharing abundance. As each child joins their voice in native songs with the “Chief Drummer” Marion Van Namen, they have their first opportunity to look around and see that they are a part of something larger than just their Waldorf class or their Waldorf school. After dinner, classes meet in Clans, and share a getting-to-know you game. Within the safety of friends from their own class, they are encouraged to reach out and make friends with children from other schools. This may be their first acquaintance, but not their last—they will likely see each other again at the Fifth Grade Olympiad and the Sixth Grade Medieval Games.

Both evenings we gather to hear stories of the native peoples who traveled this land before us. And we listen with pleasure as each class presents an offering of poetry, music, or song. Drumming and songs weave us together. Our Clan Day is filled with discovery—of one’s own capacities, of the native craft and lore, and of meeting new friends. Each clan learns a song that represents their clan spirit animal—the Bear, the Eagle, the Coyote, or the Salmon—that the clans will perform at the Giveaway Ceremony. Each child fashions a headband representing his clan using the a button blanket technique long ago adopted by native craftswomen. Excitement builds in anticipation of the Giveaway Ceremony on the last day. Kelley Springer, Butterfly Woman, leads our ceremonial Giveaway. She is a native healer and story teller and has been influenced greatly by her Cherokee ancestors and her supportive Shaman Elders. Students have made a class gift using inspiration from and knowledge of their native studies. Perhaps a drum has been made, or native plants gathered and dried for teas, or a mask has been created, or baskets woven… every year the gifts are thoughtful and beautiful. With great ceremony they are presented and laid upon a blanket. As class teachers listen carefully to each gift, they are inspired to choose just the right one for their class. And so we close another Potlatch and Giveaway with a deeply moving native song and say our farewells for another year.

The post Annual Potlatch for our fourth grade class appeared first on Corvallis Waldorf School.

In the fall I asked for volunteers to help create six-session courses in various skills for a small, mixed grade group of students. Our community is full of creative and generous folks ready to share what they love.

Let me brag about each of the sessions just a little bit, sprinkled with some pictures.

Some students had a great time in a cooking class here at school.  They had three weeks of Japanese cooking with Seishiro Hokozano  and three weeks of Thai cooking with Stephanie Bernell.  Any class that involves eating is popular with middle schoolers but eating such delicious food that they were learning to prepare was an extra treat!

The Home Repair class, led by Kevin Burton, got a great start on learning repairs for basic problems in plumbing, wiring, drywall and more.  I hope these skills can be useful at home!

You may have seen the display of work from the Clay Explorations class taught by Sam Hoffman and Liz Riley in our glass case.The students were able to shape and glaze several pieces and the fired items looked great.  Liz’s first grader, Jackson, got to play with clay on Friday afternoons with the group and liked making tiny items.

Real ping pong was a big “hit”.  Taught by competitive ping pong player Huaping Liu (joined sometimes by his young sons – both nationally ranked champs) our students got a taste of what ping pong is like as a sport. Several students signed up for this class with the goal of being able to beat their parents at the game and I have heard that this goal was definitely reached. This was definitely the sweatiest class.

Several groups went off campus for their classes. Kathrine Sanders of Downtown Dance led a high energy Hip-Hop dance class, Tyler Bushnell and Aiyanna Cameron-Lewis took a group cross-country running  and we also had class specially designed for a group of our students at the Merry Inksters printing studio.  They were able to set type by hand and operate hand presses to create cards with their own poetry and each student received a hand-made book with each other’s work.

This was our first attempt at an elective program.  I wanted to provide some interesting short classes and have opportunities for the students from each class to work together and build social connections. There generated a lot of positive feedback from the teachers and students so we will look into doing it again next year.

The post Middle School Elective Program appeared first on Corvallis Waldorf School.

This is a special tour that enables prospective parents to visit several classrooms and watch part of the day to day activities in various grade levels. Truly experiencing what happens in our classrooms will give you a clearer understanding if our unique education is a good fit for your family.  After we have been in the classrooms there will be time  for discussion. RSVP by calling 541-758-4674.

Wednesdays, April 10, or May 8, 8:30 am – 10:30 am. (Note: shorter individual tours can be scheduled at other times.)

The post Walk Through the Grades appeared first on Corvallis Waldorf School.

While working on this project I had some opportunity to sit right in the middle of a paradox. I was creating a lot of online content and thinking how different elements would look on a screen. At the same time I am the administrator of a Waldorf School and raised my children with no screen time till after puberty. I know that I rely on computers, smartphones and the like everyday, like most of the families in our school. This isn’t going to change anytime soon. I was reminded of a series in the NY Times in 2010 about how the deluge of data that we are subjected to is affecting the way people think and behave when I opened (“clicked”) the Waldorf Today Newsletter and read this interesting article about the risks of Parenting While Plugged In by Julie Scelfo. The final quote in the article from a mother and blogger who instituted a screen-free time from 4pm to 8pm every night for herself to the relief of her children made an important point:

“You can’t really do both,” she added. “If I’m at all connected, it’s too tempting. I need to make a distinct choice.”

So I guess I am saying – check out our new website!  Like us on Facebook! but, after the kids are asleep. Enjoy this short video: Disconnect to Connect.

The post Our New Website appeared first on Corvallis Waldorf School.