Kaleidoscope

The South Shore Waldorf School and Kindergarten Newsletter – March 2006

 

 

Dear Parents,

Thanks to a suggestion at our fundraising/brainstorming meeting in January, the South Shore Waldorf Association (SSWSA) is embarking on a new, innovative fundraising program. Please take a moment to peruse the following information.

Shop & Support Fundraising

We all do our grocery shopping at one of the local supermarkets, buy gas, hardware and/or drugstore items every week, totaling hundreds of dollars a month. Have you ever calculated your yearly grocery bill? Your gasoline bill? Your children’s clothing bill?

This adds up to tens of thousands of dollars a year. Through the Shop & Support Fundraising Program, each and every family can contribute to our school with no additional out-of-pocket expense.

Now you can raise money for our school and kindergarten every week by simply shopping using gift cards & certificates from over 80 brand name retailers that we all shop at, such as Sobeys, Superstore, Shoppers Drug Mart, Zellers, The Gap, Winners and many more! SSWSA receives a percentage from each card & certificate purchased, ranging from 2%-15%. For example, when you purchase a Shoppers Drug Mart gift card through SSWSA, we will receive 5%. Using a gift certificate to go to the movies will give us 5%, and so on. Plus, if you have a store rewards card, you will still earn your points!

They can be used as cash for just about any household purchases including food, clothing, entertainment, gasoline and even dining out. Everyone can participate – parents, neighbours, grandparents, friends and local businesses.

It is simple. Here are the steps:

Online ordering:

1.       Go to www.shopandsupport.ca and click on Supporters, then choose Join Now to register. You will get a validation email to activate your account.

2.       The group ID code is 0100548323. Once your account has been activated, you can login and shop. You can choose to have your orders shipped directly to your address or with the weekly bulk order.

3.       Now you can invite your friends and family as supporters as well.

Bulk/group ordering:

1.       Each week you will receive an order form to purchase gift cards & certificates for your everyday shopping. Include a cheque payable to South Shore Waldorf School Association with your order form and put it in my mail pouch at the school. Order deadline is Monday.

2.       Orders will be couriered within the week, ready for you to pickup, along with a new order form on Fridays.

3.       Simply shop using the cards & certificates instead of cash for your everyday purchases. Use them yourself or give them as gifts – there are so many possibilities!

If you have any questions, please call me at 527-9127 or email rlandgraf@lbserv.com.

Thank you for your support!

 

Rita Landgraf

Treasurer

Rudolph Steiner’s Birthday

 

February 27th was the 145th anniversary of Rudolph Steiner’s birth.

 

I didn’t celebrate it although I had meant to bring it to the teachers’ attention as a way of introducing Steiner to the children of the school. (I could blame it on the excitement of the filming but in truth, I just forgot.)

 

I’ve “read” a couple of Steiner’s books: a collection of his lectures and Truth and Science his doctoral thesis. I don’t recommend reading anyone’s doctoral thesis for light reading but frankly, almost all of Steiner’s work can be daunting. Whether it is the translation from the original German, the differences in time and culture or just that anthroposophy itself is a dense subject, I’m not sure. But the experience is worth the perseverance required.

 

Steiner was brilliant and his philosophy, an extension of the work of Goethe influence by Schopenhauer, Nietzsche and others, is a compelling approach to human existence and purpose. Steiner sought to apply all his training in mathematics, science, and philosophy in order to produce rigorous presentations of the spiritual nature of humankind. He also sought to bring a consciousness of spiritual life and non-physical beings into many practical domains—medicine, education, science, architecture, special education, social reform, agriculture, drama, among others. In short, he set out to use the scientific methodology to examine spirituality.

 

There are scientists who regard his methodology as irreproducible and thus unscientific. Many other scientists and intellectuals have admired Steiner's efforts to transform ordinary thinking gradually into a higher thinking have acknowledged his influence on their work.

 

According to Steiner, a real spiritual world exists out of which the material one gradually condensed, so to speak, and evolved. The spiritual world, Steiner held, can in the right circumstances be researched through direct experience, by persons practicing rigorous forms of ethical and cognitive self-discipline. Steiner described many exercises he said were suited to strengthening such self-discipline so that a practitioner's consciousness could enter the 'spiritual world'. Details about the spiritual world, he said, on such a basis could be

“discovered and reported, not infallibly, but with approximate accuracy.”

 

Rudolf Steiner is certainly remarkable for the breadth of his achievements. As a young man, Steiner already supported the independence of educational institutions from governmental control. In 1907, he wrote a long essay, titled Education in the Light of Spiritual Science, in which he described the major phases of child development and suggested that these would be the basis of a healthy approach to education.

 

In 1919, Emil Molt, on behalf of workers of the Waldorf-Astoria cigarette factory in Stuttgart, invited him to lecture on the topic of education. This, and subsequent lectures, formed the basis for the Waldorf Education movement, known in some countries as Steiner Education — including, perhaps, the largest independent schooling system in the world. Today there are about 900 Waldorf schools around the world; 170 in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

 

Biodynamic agriculture is one of the two pillars of the modern organic farming movement, and is easily as important today as the ideas of Sir Albert Howard (recognized as the other founder of modern organic agriculture).

 

Anthroposophic medicine has achieved as broad a range of medicinal remedies and a broad range of supportive therapies have arisen out of Steiner's work. The Camphill Movement, homes for the handicapped based on his work, are as successful as those of L'Arche. His paintings and drawings have been exhibited in famous museums and galleries, and his pupils include Joseph Beuys and other significant modern artists. His two Goetheanum buildings are accepted to be amongst the masterpieces of organic architecture, and other anthroposophical architects have contributed thousands of innovative buildings to the modern scene. One of the first institutions to practice social banking was an anthroposophical bank. The Rudolf Steiner Foundation (RSF), incorporated in 1984. With estimated assets of more than $70 million, RSF provides "charitable innovative financial services" which according to the independent organizations Co-op America and the Social Investment Forum Foundation, is "one of the top 10 best organizations exemplifying the building of economic opportunity and hope for individuals through community investing."

 

There are probably as many stage groups practicing his movement art, eurythmy, developed with his wife Marie von Sievers, as those practicing Martha Graham's contemporary dance style. His book on social questions, Toward Social Renewal, published after World War I, was a best seller. The list could go on considerably.

 

It is recommended by students of Steiner that one remain “in the process of Steiner's thinking” rather than the results; to gradually learn through his works how to live consciously at the threshold where conceptuality comes into being. There one would observe more than the things that already are – one would begin to see realities emerging into being, see to some extent into 'non-being' itself, and discover there more than mere nothingness: a hidden life of creative non-material beings and processes in a non-material world.

 

--- Submitted by Dana Doiron

 

 

 

 

Veseys Spring Fundraiser

 

If you haven’t received your Veseys spring bulbs fundraising kit, look for it in your pouch before March break.

 

As an additional offering this spring, Veseys has included seed collections for container plants, sunflowers, cutting flowers, perennials, vegetable gardens and herbs, as well as their Summer Savoury Cookbook.

 

As usual, the prices are very competitive. Veseys guarantees the bulbs upon arrival: If you or your customers are not satisfied with the bulbs, they will be replaced (see guarantee on the back of the brochure). Once they are planted, however, there is no exchange and no refund.

 

In the past, this has been a very successful fundraiser for our School. Not only do we get to keep 50 % of the proceeds – our families, friends, and neighbours get to enjoy beautiful gardens.

 

It’s easy:

When you take orders enter your customers’ information on the back of the brochure. Enter the order quantities and the totals per row. Orders are prepaid. Please put the money in the collection envelope. Cheques should be made out to The South Shore Waldorf School Association. Before you hand back your sheet and money, please also add the columns under each letter to make sure that order totals and dollar amounts match.

 

Please return the order sheets by Thursday April 13 to my pouch at the bottom of the stairs. The bulbs will take about 2 weeks to get here after I place the order. If you have any questions, you can call me at 527-9127 or send an email to rlandgraf@lbserv.com.

 

This is the time of year when gardeners are studying seed catalogues and planning their planting for the upcoming growing season. Let’s give them something to work with!

 

Thank you for your support!

 

Rita Landgraf

 

South Shore Waldorf School’s Tsunami Drawings

 

 

We recently received an interesting letter concerning what has happened to the drawings our students made and sent to Sri Lanka people in an area affected by the tsunami of 2004.

 

 

Dear Judy and SS Waldorf School,

 

Here is an update on the pathway your drawings took from the South Shore Tsunami fundraiser last January 8th to their final destination in Sri Lanka.

 

Oxfam Canada staff delivered the drawings to Kushali Amartuanga, a Sri Lanka woman who we met while she was completing her masters at St. Mary’s University. Kushali returned to Sri Lank just after the tsunami and has been very involved with relief work ever since. It has been a very busy year in Sri Lanka.

 

Kushali gave the drawings to Mr. Kushil Gunasekera, founder of the Foundation of Goodness in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The foundation has several projects, including returning children to school. The drawings have been given to the school in the village of Seenigama, where they are now on display.

 

Seenigama is situated 96 km. south of Colombo, the capital city. Before the tsunami, the village was home to about 350 families, totaling approximately 2,000 people. The village lies on both sides of the Galle Road, which is adjacent to the coast. A main “business” area was on Galle Road, where grocery stores and other very small shops operated from.

 

The village has two temples associated with the Devale: one on an island about 100 meters from the coast and one on Temple Road, approximately 1 km. inland. There is one school catering from Grade 1 to completion of high school, and a community centre. Most of the homes have been destroyed in the tsunami as many were on the sea side of Galle Road. The homes that are still standing are badly affected, given that all possessions have been lost or destroyed.

 

The main industry in Seenigama was the manufacture of lime for construction. This involved harvesting coral, and burning it with wood to produce a lime powder (male workers mainly). Other income in the village was generated from small grocery stores, general labour (buildings), fishing and rope making from coconut husks (women’s activity).

 

The people are almost entirely Sinhalese Buddhist. They are generally warm and friendly. Their social activities are based around family and religious events. There was a clear social structure and some families were obviously a lot wealthier than others. Very little fluent English is spoken in the village, but a handful of people can partake in basic English conversations.

 

 

The other part of the story is that Geoff D’Eon, a producer with CBC TV in Halifax is on his way to Sri Lanka to gather footage for some CBC news items about a trip that the Illyas family from Halifax is making to Sri Lanka.

 

The Illyas family was the driving force behind the Concert For Asia that raised $110,000 for Oxfam Tsunami Relief at the Halifax Metro Centre last January 11. The family includes sons Asif and Sheihab, members of the band, MIR, and father Ifty of the Centre for Diverse Visible Cultures that sponsored the concert. They have family in Sri Lanka to visit and introduce some new family members, as well as visit Oxfam projects to see how the money they raised is being spent.

 

Thanks again for all your support.

 

Patricia Kipping

Major Gifts Officer for Atlantic Canada

Oxfam Canada

 

 

[Editors’ Note: Please visit their website at http://www.unconditionalcompassion.com for information about the Foundation of Goodness.]

 

 
Center for Anthroposophy Offers Renewal Courses 2006
 
The Center for Anthroposophy is pleased to announce our seventh year of Renewal Courses this summer on the beautiful campus of High Mowing School in Wilton, New Hampshire. These one-week courses allow teachers, parents, and students of anthroposophy to take up in-depth studies and artistic practice in a retreat-like atmosphere. We have courses that appeal to people on an advanced level as well as those who are just beginning their journeys. We try to keep our courses affordable: tuition for a 5-day course is $425, plus room and board. Both food and lodging are available on campus. We look forward to welcoming you to our annual circle of Renewal!
 
Week 1: June 25-30
 
Revisiting the Renaissance: Drawing, Painting, and Clay-Modeling for Grades 6, 7, and 8 (with Georg Locher)
Music, Movement, and Multi-Culture: Grades 1-8 (with Helena Niiva-Sawyer)
One Earth, One People, One Peace: Puppetry for Today's World (with Janene Ping and Jennifer Aguirre)
Christ and Mary-Isis-Sophia in World Evolution and World History (with Christopher Bamford)
The Magic of Wet-Method Painting (with Ted Mahle)
The Healing Art of Handwork (with Sandy Pearson)
 
 
Week 2: July 2-7
 
Nourishing our Inner Life: Meditative Exercises and Immersion in the Archetypes of Fairy Tales Found in the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily (with Joan Almon)
Imagine Inventing Yellow: Eurythmy, Speech, and Language Arts (with Barbara and Ron Richardson)
Art History Overview Through Drawing and Sketching in Pastels (with Ted Mahle)
Anthroposophy Foundation Studies Completion Course (with Georg Locher and Douglas Gerwin)
Pushing the Boundaries of Imagination Through Projective Geometry (with Jamie York)
Poetry and the Language of the Heart (with Patrice Pinette)
Personal and Organizational Renewal: From Survival to Success (with Leonore Russell and Torin Finser)
 
Please look for a brochure on your parent table or in the school office. For more information or to receive a brochure, please call the Center for Anthroposophy at (603) 654-2566 or visit our web site: www.centerforanthroposophy.org.
 
            --- Submitted by Anne Greer
 
 
Cottage for Rent

 

Friends and Parents of the School:

 

If you know of someone visiting Nova Scotia this summer and are wondering where they could stay, please consider Periwinkle Cottage.

 

We have a beautiful cottage for rent in picturesque LaHave.  Water views, sandy beaches, forest trails, and local organic bakery await you. The cottage has a king size bed and double futon. A cot is available upon request. There is a full size eat-in kitchen and a deck with a barbeque. Our affordable weekly rate is $700.

 

Kimberley (902) 688-1649

periwinkleiloveyou@yahoo.ca
 

 
 

 
Donations are requested for cleaning supplies and other frequently used items, such as baking soda, Murphy's oil soap, toilet paper, vinegar, vacuum cleaner bags, facial tissue, garbage bags (blue and black/green), paper towels, etc.
 

 
Books in the library (entry to 1,2,3 Classroom) are available to borrow. Please place your name in the borrowing book and return items promptly. Thank you.

 

 

 

Parent and Tot Program

 

A time for toddlers to play while Mom or Dad is close by doing handwork.

 

Parents make toys or seasonal decorations for their children while sharing parenting concerns and exploring the Waldorf approach to early childhood. Previous handwork experience is not necessary.

 

A healthy snack will be served. Program includes a short circle time of games and songs as well as outdoor play.

 

Friday Mornings, 10 am – 12 pm

6 Sessions: April 28

May 5, 12, 19

June 2 and 9

 

$60 for six sessions or $12 per session

 

Pre-registration is required

 

For more information or to register phone 624-0874

Email: sswaldorf@waldorfns.org

 

South Shore Waldorf School & Kindergarten

64 School Road

Blockhouse, NS B0J 1E0

 

 

 

 

 

 

Editors' Note

 

We would like to thank all those who submitted material for inclusion in this edition of Kaleidoscope. A special thanks goes to Rita Landgraf, who provided answers to our many questions over the last few weeks about producing the newsletter.

 

We hope everyone has a great March Break.

 

 

--- Jane Henson and Ed MacDonald

 

News from Kindergarten

 

 

Our numbers each day have been lower than before Christmas, as some children are away traveling, and some have been sick. We wish everybody good health for the spring!

 

Once a week we bake bread in the kindergarten. We make enough bread for lunch for every day of the week we are here. This is a delicious

 substantial wholewheat bread, and the children love to make it. We often have visitors popping in from other classes on this day, drawn by the alluring smell!

 

The children have been hearing stories, songs and poems about King Winter. The seasonal table colours have subtly changed, now the days are getting longer and we are experiencing more light each day. King Winter’s reign will be over soon, and we’ll be looking out for the bulbs that we planted in the fall.

 

 

We hope you all have fun at March Break.

 

Best wishes to all from Judy and Linda.

 

Hollywood East

 

Dear Parents and Friends,

As I'm sure you all know by now the Waldorf School was the setting for three days of filming last week for our feature film, "A Stone's Throw." It was a real pleasure to feature our school in such a prominent way, and I believe the final results will be something of which we can all be proud.

The film is a true a collaboration that includes the amazing talent and energy of so many people from across Nova Scotia, and particularly from our extended family of the Waldorf School community. The culmination of this collaboration was witnessed by a packed house on Friday night as we filmed the Jacob and the Angel scene in the Grade 4 - 6 classroom. It was touching to see such a large number of you come out to partake in this project, and your involvement will have a significant and meaningful impact on the screen. As well, the children who appeared in the various other scenes that take place in the school should feel proud of their work in front of the camera.

I thank you all for your participation and patience in the process, and hope that the experience has provided you with new insight into the amount of effort required to create a feature film.

Thank you again for your continued support of our project.

 

Sincerely,

Camelia Frieberg

Photographs from the filming of "A Stone's Throw."