Still more evidence from the scientific community  that the wisdom of Waldorf is right on target. When engaged in what looks like child’s play, preschoolers are actually behaving like scientists, according to a new report in the journal Science: forming hypotheses, running experiments, calculating probabilities and deciphering causal relationships about the world.  Read the full article here.

TV Time an Indicator of Future Health Problems

In a world first study researchers have found that six-year-olds who spent the most time watching television had narrower arteries in the back of their eyes, increasing their chances of heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes in later life.

The study, reported in “Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology: Journal of the American Heart Association”, showed the increased health risks from each hour a day of television were similar to that associated with an increase of 10 mm HG in systolic blood pressure.  http://www.wmi.org.au/ournews/Pages/Kidsscreentime.aspx

In a world first study researchers have found six-year-olds who spent the most time watching television had narrower arteries in the back of their eyes, increasing their chances of heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes in later life.

The study, reported this week in “Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology: Journal of the American Heart Association”, showed the increased health risks from each hour a day of television was similar to that associated with an increase of 10 mm HG in systolic blood pressure, researchers said.

The study looked at one and a half thousand 6-to-7-year-old children in 34 primary schools in Sydney. Those who regularly participated in outdoor physical activity had wider average retinal arterioles (arteries behind the eyes) compared to children with the lowest activity levels.

“We found children with a high level of physical activity had a more beneficial microvascular profile compared to those with the lowest levels of physical activity,” said Dr Bamini Gopinath, lead author and senior research fellow at the University of Sydney’s Centre for Vision Research.

“This suggests unhealthy lifestyle factors may influence microcirculation early in life and increase the risk of heart disease and high blood pressure later in life.”

Physical activity enhances blood flow and has a positive effect on the linings of blood vessels. Retinal microvascular diameter is a marker for cardiovascular disease and high blood pressure in adults, but this is the first study to show a sedentary lifestyle in childhood is linked to a narrowing of the vessels in the retina.

On average, the children spent 1.9 hours per day in screen time and 36 minutes a day in organised physical activity. Children with the highest levels of physical activity, just over an hour or more, had significantly wider average retinal arteries than those who spent less than half an hour a day being physically active.

“Excessive screen time leads to less physical activity, unhealthy dietary habits and weight gain,” Dr Gopinath said. “Replacing one hour a day of screen time with physical activity could be effective in buffering the effects of sedentary lifestyles on the retinal microvasculature in children.

“Free play should be promoted and schools should have a mandatory two hours a week in physical activity for children. Parents need to get their children up and moving and off the couch,” Dr Gopinath said. “Parents can also lead the way by being more physically active themselves.”

Co-authors are: Louise A. Baur, Ph.D.; Jie Jin Wang, Ph.D.; Louise Hardy, Ph.D.; Erdahl Teber, Ph.D.; Annette Kifley, M.B.B.S.; Tien Y. Wong, M.D., Ph.D.; and Paul Mitchell, M.D., Ph.D. Author disclosures are on the manuscript.

The Australian National Health and Medical Research Council, the Westmead Millennium Institute and the Vision Co-operative Research Centre funded the research.

Thank you for your kind words, hugs, and positive expressions of what our school year together has meant for your child and family. Your gratitude is such a gift for me as is the love I feel from your children. That is my greatest reward for this work I do. Thanks to all who donated to the Faculty Education Fund in honor of Ms. Nicole and me. The teachers in our school work tirelessly and for very modest pay. This fund helps to see that anyone wishing to attend training and professional development workshops has funds available for this. This gift gives right back to our school and children!

Our departing kindergarten students have gifted us with new placemats for the classroom and a new carpet sweeper. Thanks to the Peterson, Stokes, DePue-Renollet, and Howard families for this.

I wish you all a wonderful summer full of much joy and adventure. I’ll do my best to rest and replenish so I can return to your children in the fall with fresh energy and enthusiasm for another year!

In closing, I share the closing words of our morning circle:

“The Earth is firm beneath my feet. The sun shines bright above,
And here I stand so straight and strong. All things to know and love.”

Good-bye.

Blessings,
Donna Brooks

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Today the Sunflower Garden Early Childhood class celebrated the students who will be going to the First Grade in the fall.  Each child holds a puppet that they sewed for the puppet show they performed for their classmates and parents as part of the festivities.  These students will share a classroom with the current first grade students who were also in attendance for the celebration.  The students stand with their teacher, Donna Brooks (left) and her assistant, Nicole Griffith (right).

Next week concludes our time together. Please make sure to double check your child’s bag and belongings going home. If you can send in a paper shopping bag on Monday or Tuesday, that will help us with our packing. There will be laundry needs and ironing projects sent home for summer cleaning. Let me know if you’ll take a bundle! Thanks!

A special visitor came to our room on Wednesday to observe the work we do. Pat Grosso, a certified HANDLE practitioner and occupational therapist, visited our class to reconnect with Waldorf education and our school. Her now grown children attended school at Four Winds Waldorf School. She was very pleased with her visit and reaffirmed the good work we are doing…how good it is for children’s healthy development. She also reiterated the value of children spending time and growing up in the early childhood program. Like Pia Antonetti, who works with children from our school, Pat Grosso is an excellent resource for children needing extra support (especially before going into the grades) with attention, sensory processing, coordination/balance, and other work needed for children who may have neurodevelopmental differences. If you have any questions about this, feel welcomed to speak with me more.

Next week we’ll have our own classroom ceremony to bid farewell to our friends “crossing the bridge” and going on to first grade next year. This journey is never to be rushed, for if one is not fully ready now, it will often show more and more with progression through the grades. Though a child is “of age,” this does not always mean ready. With this I am grateful for the one family’s decision, in concert with me, to keep their child in our garden for another year. This student just came to us in January, and we considered this carefully, as I will with any child. We do what we should always do ~ that which is best for the child. So our ceremony on Wednesday will be a send off to five children leaving the garden. This ceremony is for parents and grandparents of these children only, along with our children who attend class on Wednesday. In the fall, they’ll be welcomed in a Rose Ceremony into the grades.

Next Week:

Kindergarten Ceremony ~ Wednesday, June 3, 11:30 a.m.

Where Do the Children Play? ~ Movie screening and panel discussion Thursday, June 4, 7:00 p.m.

Friday, June 5, School Picnic ~ Pizza and potluck, 12:30.

I’m actually enjoying working with the energy of these children during these final days of school. It is a lesson in adaptation and flexibility! We have to meet them where they are!

Warmly,
Donna Brooks

Miss Nicole and I are continuing the marionette puppet show of “Queen Bee” we shared at the May Faire. If you missed it that day, know that your child will have several opportunities to receive this story. I know some were unable to enter once the story was begun at the faire, and this may have felt hurtful or frustrating. These puppet shows require a good deal of focus on the part of the teachers, and the children are “dreaming into it.” If we have people entering late or disruptions, it interrupts this flow and can distract the focus and dreamy quality of the experience. Whenever story time or circle time has begun, the ideal would be to not interrupt. I appreciate your timeliness and consideration of this. Thanks for understanding.

Our kindergarten children have been having some adventures. They’ve finished the basic form of their puppets and next week we’ll embellish them with capes, crowns, and whatever else is desired. Then they’ll get a chance to play with their creations. From that comes a story. The six year olds also visited Mrs. Bowmen’s classroom twice this week for a first grade experience. We in turn invited the first grade class to come see our “Queen Bee” puppet show.

Home visits: Families of six year old/turning six next year children…please contact me about a time in the coming weeks and into summer when I might visit your home. I’d like to visit the homes of all my incoming kindergarten children within the next month. Thanks.

Last call for letters of interest, resumes, and applications for candidates interested in our assistant positions. We are setting up times for applicants to visit the classrooms/observe and interview in the next two weeks. Any questions? Just call my cell phone number (listed in the Handbook).

Enjoy the long weekend!

Warmly,
Donna Brooks

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Early Childhood Teacher Donna Brooks and Teacher’s Assistant Nicole Griffith perform the May Faire puppet show in the Sunflower Garden classroom. The beautiful story was featured twice during the event and was enjoyed by both children and parents alike.

It mentions a study of New York and Los Angeles kindergartens spending 2-3 hours per day on math/reading instruction and testing.

How different our Waldorf kindergarten is…

Comments are open!  Please share your thoughts on the article.

 I’ve concluded the telling of Three Billy Goats Gruff. We enjoyed telling it sitting in a circle on the floor and moving the goats around our circle until each reached the hillside. We also told it outside in the Memorial Garden, where children acted out the story. They put up a wooden bridge between the large stones and crossed over it…trip, trap, trip, trap. The Troll was bravely curled up under the bridge and would call out, “Who’s that tripping over my bridge?” I am now telling a nature tale about Bobby, who woke up on the wrong side of the bed. His contrary ways catch up with him as the Gnome King asks him to find three treasure chests of spring!

 In the story about Bobby, he goes off into the woods. No child left inside! How important that we give our children time outdoors to play…with our watchful, but not intrusive presence. They find places and spaces to make their own. The play is without adult agendas as they are engaged with nature and the elements. These are important aspects of play highlighted in Sally Jenkinson’s book, The Genius of Play, a recommended summer read!

 Our kindergarten children are beginning sewing of puppets. We will use these to create our own story and puppet show for the kindergarten ceremony on June 3. This project is three-fold. How much can the child focus on such a project and engage fine motor skills in its creation (and the child’s desire, willingness and connection to this group and the project), and to offer a project that meets the older child’s need to be engaged in purposeful and focused work at a time of year when they are inclined to FLY AWAY! It also is a chance for them to experience teacher in a more authoritative role. This is the work we will do. Kindergarten parents, help will be needed for the Kindergarten Ceremony, so expect more details from me soon!

 Below are excerpts from our Spring Circle. Enjoy! Our circle is transitioning into many songs of spring that we’ll sing as we dance around the May Pole on Saturday, May 16. See you there. Please sign up to help, especially with food service “Café” and the greeting table. We also need lots of cakes for the cake walk!  Thanks.

 Happy Mother’s Day to all of you very loving and good mothers. I can feel your love and connection to the children. I must be getting old, for I was called “grandma” today. I think I’ll take it as a compliment…or else I’ll cry! Enjoy your mother’s day and the gifts from your children. They love you dearly!

Spring Circle!

 Lady Spring ~Anonymous from A Child’s Seasonal Treasury

My lady spring, she’s dressed in green,
She wears a primrose crown.
And little baby buds and twigs
Come clinging to her gown.
The sun shines if she laughs at all
And when she weeps the raindrops fall.
My Lady Spring. My Lady Spring!

Rain Chant

Pitter patter. Pitter patter.
Look at all the rain.
Splashing on the windowsills
And on the window pane.
Sounding like the pitter pat of tiny fairy feet.
Washing off the garden path.
Washing off the street.
Washing everybody’s homes
And everybody’s shops.
Pitter patter. Pitter pat.
When will it ever stop?

The Heart of a Seed  ~from Dancing as We Sing

In the heart of a seed buried deep so deep,
a dear little plant lay fast asleep.
Wake! Said the sun and creep to the light.
Wake! Said the voice of the raindrops bright.
The little seed heard and rose to see
What a wonderful outside world might be.
In the springtime bunny rabbits go hop, hop.
In the springtime little birdies go chirp, chirp.
Daisies bow to daffodils little children run up hills
And fall down!

It’s Raining

It’s raining. It’s raining. The roof is getting wet.The roof is getting wet.
The rain will make the flowers bloom.  The mud we’ll sweep out with a broom.
It’s raining. It’s raining. The roof is getting wet.

It’s Raining… Fingerplay from Dancing as we Sing

It’s sprinkling. It’s sprinkling.
It’s raining. It’s raining.
It’s pouring. It’s pouring.
It’s hailing. It’s hailing.
It’s thundering. It’s thundering!
It’s lightning. It’s lightning.
Again the sun comes out.
Again the sun comes out.
Rain, rain, rain….rainbow! 

Rainbow Circle Game

Two little clouds one springtime day,
Went flying through the sky
They went so fast they bumped their heads,
And both began to cry.
Old Father Sun looked out and said,
“Oh never mind my dears. I’ll send my little fairy fold to dry away your tears.”
One fairy came in red, one orange, one yellow and one all dressed in green. 
One was blue, one indigo, and violet. A “fairyful” sight to be seen.
Their gowns in the gentle breezes did blow.
All seven little fairies made such a pretty row.
They wiped the cloud tears all away and then from out the sky,
Upon a line the sunbeams made, they hung their gowns to dry. 

The Earth Needs the Raindrops  adapted from the music by A. Wagner via Elizabeth Swisher

The earth needs the raindrops, the day needs a light,
And heaven needs little star when the day turns to night.
The tree needs a little branch where the bird builds her nest
And we need a little heart to love and to trust.

Children play best:

When adults are watchful but not intrusive, when safe ground lends courage to their discoveries and adventures.

When their trust in life is whole, when they welcome the unknown, and are fearless.

When the world is shared with them.  When there are places and spaces they can make their own.

When their games are free from adult agendas and when their transformations require no end-product.

When their senses are directly engaged with Nature and the elements.

When they are free to become gatherers, makers, and world creators in their own time and in their own ways.

When they can play with others and make relationships.

When they can play alone, be solitary and private.

When they can become new selves through their play with others and in their own imaginings.

When they can reveal themselves, their joys, sufferings, and concerns, without fear of ridicule, and when mystery and imagination are not denied by fact.

Sally Jenkinson, from The Genius of Play