March 2012 - Green Meadow Waldorf School

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Nurse’s Corner (continued) worthy movements to imitate. Allow them to participate in wholesome, whole-body activities as cleaning, gardening, raking leaves, baking bread and hiking. These are activities where they can find a deep connection to the world around them. Their sense of movement is strengthened and heightened by such activities. A good guideline for parents with children age seven and under is “don’t say it, show it”. Another essential to any kind of movement for the child is that it be rhythmical. Wholesome activities such as gardening or raking leaves naturally have a rhythm. Other activities that have rhythm are swinging and bouncing a ball. Rhythms for the week, the month, etc., are also helpful in regard to the activities. The connection to the movement or activity in this way will become a habit. Children are very connected with the four elements (earth, air, water, and fire). In working with the four elements, the child is taking up the most ancient task of mankind, that is, stewardship of the earth. Children will, for instance, play in sand for hours making tunnels and sandcastles. This is an activity that fosters their connection with the earth. The watery element is very important for the young child as there is a real connection here going back before their birth, when they lived in the watery element. Outings to the ocean, skipping rocks by the stream, or playing in the snow are great things to do with water. A connection to the airy element can be had by flying kites or bird watching. Children are always fascinated with fire. Lighting a beeswax candle at night is a wonderful ritual for children to have a connection to the fiery element. Every child should experience a bonfire, which is especially nice at the summer celebration of the St. John’s festival. When they are older, they can have the experience of lighting and putting out the fire. These activities with the elements really engage their will in connection with movement and form a connection with the earth and the cosmos. This connection to the earth is very much related to plants. Digging and planting in a garden are wonderful activities for children, and they are also very enticed by making things out of plants such as flower crowns in the springtime or necklaces made of berries in the summer. Caring for an animal, especially a farm animal, also really engages them. Lastly, play acting is an excellent movement activity. Children often make up their own plays. Through play with soft, simple dolls and puppets, the child can come to find himself or herself. The important thing in all of these activities is to kindle the imagination which is a movement activity in itself. d Handwork projects in Grades 1 and 2. Images courtesy of Madeleine Wuergler 10 • The Bulletin • March 2012
Kimberton Trip The Parzival Adventure By Green Meadow High School Faculty Member, John Wulsin For years the high school faculty searched for an appropriate pedagogical trip for the 11th grade, equivalent in some way to the ninth grade overnight in Mystic Seaport during Moby Dick and the 12th grade week on Hermit Island during Zoology. (We recently started having 10th graders survey on Cape Cod.) We used to joke that we should go looking for the Grail castle somewhere in the Czech Republic. Five years ago, we finally found the answer to our search. In Wolfram von Eschenbach’s medieval epic of Parzival, the 11th graders followed a young, innocent fool’s journey through ignorance and dullness, through shame and doubt, toward becoming a knight. Yet many were the consequences of his actions, from which some suffered pain and some joy. Doubt, shame, and isolation became necessary stages toward a humility without which it is impossible to actually meet a fellow human being’s suffering, to heal the ailing Lord of the Grail, and hence to help heal all humanity. This year, for the fifth time, the class spent one week of the whole main lesson in two Camphill villages in the area of Kimberton, PA, eating, working, and playing with people with special needs (children, young adults and mature adults). What follows includes some student reflections on their experiences in the Camphill Villages. During the four weeks of the main lesson, the 11th graders learned by heart the following three passages: “On a green Achmardei She bore the Prize of Paradise The holy Root, stem and fruit Es war ein ding das hiess der Gral (That was a thing called the Grail) A treasure of wonders without measure. Repanse de Schoye was her name Whom the Grail allowed to bear it.” “The sword will withstand the first blow unscathed; at the second it will shatter. If you then take it back to the spring, it will become whole again from the flow of the water. You must have the water at the source…If the pieces are not lost and you fit them together properly, as soon as the spring water wets them, the sword will become whole again, the joinings and edges stronger than before.” Both—Book V, Parzival, Wolfram von Eschenbach Parzival and Camphill By Green Meadow 11th grader, Armand Miele-Herndon It seems that Camp Hill, Beaver Run, and Soltane all share a common goal: to help those who are less fortunate, both physically and mentally. The coworkers, specifically, have all embarked on this quest. They strive to work and create a community with good values. Similarly, Parzival and Page from Parzival Main Lesson Book, courtesy of Sarah Chichetti. other knights worked their hardest to provide for others a community with equivalent values, granting protection for those less fortunate and healing for the injured. Obviously, knights did not hold any anthroposophical values, which are very deeply embedded in the core values held at Camphill. Yet there are Continues on page 13 The Bulletin • March 2012 • 11
Page 1 and 2: March 2012 A “beacon of light”
Page 3 and 4: From the Development Office As I wr
Page 5 and 6: School News, continued from page 2
Page 7 and 8: Community Service Corner The ABCs o
Page 9: Nurse’s Corner The Importance of
Page 13 and 14: Kimberton Trip (continued) Continue
Page 15 and 16: Kimberton Trip (continued) Continue
Page 17 and 18: Do you Co-operate By Hungry Hollow
Page 19 and 20: Community Announcements, continued
Page 22: FREE MONEY, GET YOUR FREE MONEY!!!

March 2012 - Green Meadow Waldorf School

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