Feature Story

Camp Glen Brook

Social Inclusion

Student Council

Development Committee

Sports Update

Community Marketplace

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Table of Contents

Every Monday morning before our four classes go to main lessons, the high school students and faculty gather together in the Upper School Assembly Room to open the week together. Faculty mem-bers take turns leading the opening with a talk, which is followed by the Morning Verse. The openings bring us together as a community in a way that cannot hap-pen in the regular classroom setting.

This year, the faculty set the trend to share biographical stories and reflections in the openings. These brief talks share deep im-port in learning about what moves us as hu-man beings in all of its great scope. Some have been quite introspective and shown serious inquiry, while others have a more light-hearted note. As the depth of win-ter sets in, what follows here is an excerpt from a talk given by Samantha Margles re-cently on her sense of winter and an appeal to the angels. It was a heartwarming mo-ment and we wanted to share it with you. -- Linda Sawers A Letter to the AngelsSam Margles

Winter is a hard season for many people. I’m a person whose energy directly relates to the number of daylight hours I experi-ence and the short days in the winter can leave me tired and uninspired. Interesting to me is the fact that in many places this season of darkness is seen as a time to turn inward and reflect. I first learned of this in my training for nutrition counseling when we were instructed to use grounding, warming foods (root vegetables, beans, baked goods) to help strengthen ourselves against the cold and to help us focus on our self-reflection. We were encouraged to use this season to do lots of journaling as a way of positively channeling the effects of the light and weather. This is a theme I met again in yoga practice, and again in my readings, lectures, and conversa-tions connected with Waldorf education.

At one point I was exposed to an idea fur-ther along these lines. The idea was that not only is the winter a time when we may look closely at ourselves, but it is also a time when the sky and heavens are nearer to the earth and the angels who watch over us are also able to get a closer look. For some this may be a comforting, reassur-ing thought, but when I first heard this I

Monday Morning Openings in the High School:A Letter to the AngelsLinda Sawers, Upper School Chair | Sam Margles, Biology/Math

January - February 2011BULLETIN

was experiencing the fairly regular low point in my year that comes with the winter season—the thought of be-ing observed closely at this time did not appeal to me. What follows is a letter I wrote when I returned home that night.

Dear Angels,

It was brought to my attention this evening by a col-league of mine that this is the time of year when all of you get together and take a close look at all of us down here on earth. Apparently the cosmos are nice and low to the ground at this point and it’s very easy for you to see us in all this compact, distilled space down here.

I can’t say this surprised me. I guess I’ve felt your eyes on me for some time now. There’s that kind of tickle on the back of my neck or a sense of a presence that is far more overt now than at other times of year. And I suppose since all of us are likely to be turning our eyes inward—with so little light with which to look outward and so much less to draw us out of our homes and distract us—that it makes it that much easier for you to get a good view of what’s going on. Things are quiet. People are quiet. A much easier situation for trying to make some observations.

But, Angels, I’m writing to you to request just one simple thing: Please, stop looking at me. I mean it.

It’s not that I don’t understand your interest or see the value in making some observations, but, really, you could not have chosen a worse time for this. I know that in the summer when there’s all that light and the sky is pushed away from the earth for so much of the day that your view isn’t nearly as clear. I know that the dis-tance between you and us at that time of year is cum-bersome. But wouldn’t you rather see something beauti-ful from far away than something ugly from so close up.

Why do you come when I’m at my worst? My introspec-tion isn’t anything worthwhile. I’m faithless and fragile and needy and sad. You come when I’m forced to be around my family and all my weaknesses and flaws are out in the open. You come when my skin is dry and brittle and itchy and pale. You come when I close my-self off to the world, hunkering down at home with

the blinds closed and buried in layers of blankets. If you come when I am so lost in the whirlwind of use-less thoughts that are spinning through my mind, how could you possibly see anything that’s worthwhile?In summer you could see me at my best. I’m content and hopeful in summer. I’m active and inspired. I walk happily by myself in summer and go unaccompanied to hear music. I’ve danced with strangers in summer and been given chills by the fireflies as they flash their lights at one another. In summer my windows are wide open and my bare skin is shiny and smooth with humidity and perspiration. In summer my blinds are pulled back because I get all the privacy I need from the leaves of the trees on the street. In summer my nose isn’t running and I have a freckle for every minute I spend in the sun.

Go. Go now and look elsewhere. Come back when the skies are high and the sun is bright and days are alive with possibility. Return when sunset comes so late that there’s no risk of canceling plans because be-ing at home is more appealing than being elsewhere. Come back when getting out of bed in the morning is joyful because the sun is up already, waiting for me to start my day. In summer your view may be more distant but it will be more valuable, more informative, more genuine. What are on display now are only the dismal remains of what flourishes and thrives in the summer.

Come back and see me flourish.Come back and see me thrive.It will be better then. You’ll see. n

It does not take much persuasion to get campers and students at Glen Brook to pay attention to anything related to food. Eating has a natural inescapability: it’s a large part of what we do, day in and day out. A new pro-gram, Eco-Gastronomy (biodiver-sity and pleasure on the plate) at this camp gives children (and adults) the chance to experience the pleasure of eating from the garden, along with the moral satisfaction of doing the right thing for ourselves and the planet.

Through the Eco-Gastronomy pro-gram, students and campers pre-pare garden beds, plant seeds and seedlings, tend crops, and harvest produce. By participating in these activities, participants begin to under-stand the cycle of food production. Vegetables, grains, and fruits grown in soil rich with the compost of last year’s harvest, are elements of sea-sonal recipes prepared by children in the kitchen. The program goes full circle with the children taking vege-table scraps back to the compost area at the end of each meal. As much as possible, we emulate the closed-cir-cle principles of both permaculture and biodynamic farming methods.

Glen Brook’s Eco-Gastronomy pro-gram involves a well-blended daily rhythm for all visiting programs: chil-dren partake in the transformation

of fresh products from the farm into ingredients of some of their favorite dishes. The kitchen session begins with cleaning the day’s fresh produce from the garden. They discuss the recipe that is to be prepared and have an opportunity to taste each ingredi-ent, which helps children have a better understanding of how a recipe can be different with the slightest changes. Through this hands-on experience in the kitchen and garden, they learn new vocabulary, basic concepts and social skills. Or, as the writer Wendell Berry puts it: “Eating is an agricultural act.”

Concerns about the social, politi-cal, economic, and environmental viability of rural and local commu-nities is part of why Glen Brook’s program is so necessary at this mo-ment in our history. Food ties us to all these issues and brings all these disparate forces together. n

Ash Sheehan, former manager of Mc-Crady’s Restaurant in Charleston, S.C., is Culinary Director at Camp Glen Brook.

Culinary pleasure at Camp Glen Brook

click the image to visit our website

Soc al Inc lus ionHappy New Year from the Social Inclusion Committee. As we begin a new year, we thought we would share an excerpt from an article written by Kim John Payne. We know that many of you have attended his lectures over the last few years and have heard him speak about dealing with social issues in teens and older children. This ar-ticle specifically targets managing social issues with young children. Many of these techniques are used by our early childhood teachers and in the lower grades, so some of these may be familiar to you. We hope that you will find them to be helpful techniques when dealing with social issues that arise during play dates or at home with siblings.

sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssSocial Inclusion in Early Childhood and the Early GradesBy Kim John Payne M.Ed.The question often comes up, “How do we work with social inclusion for the younger child?” We know so-cial issues and the opportunities for social learning span throughout the developmental phases and this is particu-larly true for the young child.

In this brief overview, you will see listed some of the key points in considering how best to work with the young child.

Putting things right through doing:Only speak briefly to a young child about a social issue. The tone is best when practically oriented and not focused on the child’s feelings. Of course the adult can recognize that the child is upset or angry, but that is usually enough before moving into what can be done in a practical, will oriented way to make things better.

Redirection:When young children are in a social “tangle”, it makes much more sense to gently ease the knot rather than pull-ing the rope and tightening it into a snarl. Moving in and leading the children into other activities can often help ease the situation and allow the children to “earth” them-selves through an alternative activity. Once the child is into the flow of the task, the adult can then invite other

children to join in, specifically the children who were in-volved in the social difficulty. Often they can now work happily together.

When to intervene:This is one of the hardest things to get right. In general, I find it is important to look for patterns. If a difficulty between children is unusual then re-direction is a good tool. If, however, the child involved is showing a habit of socially controversial behavior, more explicit interven-tions may be needed (see below).

Speaking separately to each child:It is often one of our first instincts to bring young chil-dren together to sort out a dispute. However, creating a “pressure release valve” by separating the children and first speaking with them each individually is usually bet-ter. If they need to be brought together, the adult can then articulate the way she/he sees the situation based on what each child has said. Of course the children can add comments, but it usually is much calmer when the adult presence is felt strongly.

Perspectives:Following on from speaking to each child separately, the children feel safer and heard as the adult briefly gives each child’s perspective. When doing this it is important that there are no right and wrong stories, just different ways of seeing it. This is a fundamental social skill that children from the age of around four years can understand - with help.

Accountability without blame:Balancing accountability and blame is possible. I would even add that accountability is only possible when we don’t blame and force a child into defensiveness. If a child has used unkind words or actions, it is very impor-tant that he/she is briefly and firmly shown how this has hurt someone’s feelings. Equally important is gathering ideas about what can be done to make things better. For the young child I find it is far better to find an activity where the children can do something together rather than wringing out a less than heartfelt apology. n

StudentCouncilBy the Student Council Secretary

This fall the Student Council has kept busy by bringing back high school traditions that have fallen by the wayside in the last couple of years. We had the first Coffee House in two years. Coffee Houses are a great way for the High School to come together as a community and see the creative performer in their classmates. Our first Coffee House was so successful that we followed it with another one, which doubled as a canned food drive for City Harvest. Through these events we have also raised money for Student Council and Salaam Shalom Educa-tion Foundation which promotes Waldorf education in the Middle East. For Thanksgiving we sold pies throughout the school. This was a great success. The Student Council would like to thank all the people who donated pies to the Bowery Mission. With their help, we were able to bring twenty-five pies to the shelter’s Thanksgiving meal. Our next event is on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. On Mon-day the 17th, Student Council, along with other high school students and teachers, will be heading to Times Square. There we will hand out “Seeds for Peace” and promote the idea of “weeding out hate and planting seeds of peace.” Please feel free to join us on January 17th, 9:00am to 11:00am, in Times Square. Participation in the event is independent and voluntary and is not under the auspices of the school. If you are unable to attend the event but would like to support this program, please contact the Student Council. For more information about the “Weed Out Hate” program, check out weedouthate.org. Thank you for all of your support thus far and we hope to see you on the 17th!

Rudolf Steiner School

Book FairFriday, January 21st

& Saturday January 22nd

8:30am-4:00pmLower School Assembly Room

On Friday afternoon, Music Teacher Judith Bachleitner will read from and sign copies of the book Carnival of the

Animals, for which she provided the prologue.

Please bring your gently used books to the book fair to donate to

PROJECT CICERO. Project Cicero will donate these books to

under served NYC public schools.

No adult books or text books please.

1st GradeJanuary: Arithmetic IIFebruary: Writing & Reading III; Arithmetic III

2nd GradeJanuary: ArithmeticFebruary: TBD

3rd GradeJanuary: ShelterFebruary: Old Testament Stories

4th GradeJanuary: Norse MythologyFebruary: Fractions

5th GradeJanuary: Egypt; Play PracticeFebruary: Play (“Demeter and Persephone”); Freehand Geometric Drawing; North American Geography

6th GradeJanuary: PhysicsFebruary: Geography; South America

7th GradeJanuary: Physics February: Creative Writing

8th GradeJanuary: Physics & History: RevolutionsFebruary: January lesson continued

9th GradeJanuary: CombinatoricsFebruary: Physiology; Physics

10th GradeJanuary: World CivilizationFebruary: Chemistry; Ecology

11th GradeJanuary: Romantic PoetryFebruary: History Through Music; Advanced Geometry

12th GradeJanuary: ChemistryFebruary: Physics; History through Art

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5th Grade with Linda Ogden-Wolgemuth

I welcome January. With the joyful commo-tion of the holidays behind us and the dark-ness of the late afternoons and cold weather

upon us, it’s a welcome time of quiet and con-templation—which often leads to reflections on my children, their education and life at Rudolf Steiner School.

And reflections on ways of expressing my grati-tude to the school that provides a path of in-spired learning for our children, the protection of their childhood, their social and emotional intelligence, connection to nature, appreciation of beauty, and academic curiosity. Plus so much more….

The Development Committee

Serving on the Development Committee is one of the ways I express my gratitude for this ex-traordinary education. Indeed, the school has given rise to a group of exceptional and pas-sionate parent volunteers and the Develop-ment Committee is home to many of them. I’m pleased to recognize these dedicated parents, listed in length-of-tenure order:

Members: Dawn Trachtenberg, Francesca Marc-Antonio, Mark Reed, Philip Carter, Chrisann Di-Donato, Rena Neville, Elena Cannon.

The committee is joined by School Administra-tor, Joshua Eisen, Annual Fund Director, Shan-non Williams and Alumni Director, Eileen Dis-kin. Our faculty liaison is the school’s beloved Music Director, Judy Bachleitner.

Annual Fund Progress

The school is nicely on the path to fulfilling its

fundraising goals, with Annual Fund donations at about $400,000 to date, representing parent participation of 35%(Note to the remaining 65%: Please pledge or give soon!) In fact, we are ahead in both dol-lars and participation from the same time last year, partially as a result of generous early giv-ing, and partially thanks to Tim Hoffmann who single-handedly raised $22,565 of that $400,000 through his “Riding for Steiner” odyssey to Van-couver last summer. (And no one will ever for-get his smiling bobble head likeness, beaming out to all in the Lower School lobby!)

100% participation of our parent body is enor-mously important. Four classes achieved it last year and four others were close.

As we start the New Year, the Board of Trustees is at 100% participation in Annual Fund Giving, as is the Development Committee. Please join us. We hope you’ll make you’re your child’s edu-cation, and their school, your top philanthropic priority.

News Flash! Online giving has made donat-ing simple and yes, even fun!

Click here to give it a try.

Grant Renewal: The Y.C. Ho /Helen and Mi-chael Chiang Foundation

We offer our deepest gratitude to Dr. Bessie Chi-ang and the Y.C. Ho / Helen and Michael Chi-ang Foundation for renewing the grant to RSS for the 2011-2012 academic year in support of the lower elementary school and teachers, partic-ularly in the area of Learning Differences. The award is for $161.600.

Gifts, Gratitude and Winter: A Development UpdateBy Joy Phelan-Pinto, Parent & Development Committee Chair

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This generous award last spring provided fund-ing for the creation of two new positions this year: a Waldorf-oriented Learning Support Teacher and an Assistant/Substitute Teacher who assists primarily in the second grade while substituting throughout the entire elementary school.

The grant additional provides financial support for Faculty Development Workshops on the subject of Learning Differences, ongoing men-toring for the Learning Support teacher, plus the acquisition of new Learning Support equipment.

We are fortunate to be the recipient of such meaningful funding as the school integrates these new positions into the budget for upcom-ing years. We gratefully thank the Foundation.

Fall Fair: Fun & Fundraising

Fall Fair is almost certainly everyone’s favorite day in the life of the school, and it warmly ful-filled its promise this year. It was a day of fond camaraderie, beauty, optimism, skill, hard work and plain old fun. Woven into this rich Waldorf tapestry too, was fabulous fundraising.

Some interesting tidbits: That sensational red Vespa parked on the sidewalk outside of school in November, teasing in its promise of Euro-chic cool, was an addition to the fair that raised over $10,000 in ticket sales. And the amazing $1 raffle ticket to Italy for four nights (includ-ing airfare for two, no less!) earned an impressive $15,500, which was $3,000 more than last year’s trip.

The fair was co-chaired by the co-amazing Ja-mie Carter and Dawn Rhodes who performed seemingly effortless feats of magic and wonder on a daily basis. Thanks are owed to too many people to list, but we hope you know we mean you Shannon, Laura, Bob & Carla, Gloria,

Susann, Natasha, and Susan.

The bottom line? Fall Fair raised nearly $68,000. Considering the wobbly economy, it’s a wonder-ful achievement and we are thankful. Unfortu-nately, though, the fair fell short of its fundrais-ing goal and didn’t match last year’s success of $83,000. The Silent Auction, along with a few other key areas, dropped to lower than usual sales. But not to worry! We’ll be sure to make it up at the Spring Benefit. So start planning your Live and Silent Auction donations, purchases and trips today! (PS: I’m serious!)

Next? Dancing in the Spring

At the Benefit, of course. While enjoying the quiet of these long winter days, many of us al-ready have spring on our minds and, in particu-lar, a rousing Spring Benefit. It’s a jolly event to plan and we look forward to gathering a high-spirited group of parents to plot some fun, mer-riment and dancing. The Gala will be chaired again this year by the fabulous Diane Mahiques, joined by Gloria Kelly.

Keep the date free: Friday, May 20th at Bridge-waters at South Street Seaport. We can hardly wait!

PS: And don’t forget… Click Here! n

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Sports at SteinerWonderful Winter Hoops

Dribble!, Pass!, Shoot!, & Score!! The 2010-2011 Rudolf Steiner School Basketball Season is well underway and all 3 of our Basketball Teams have been working extremely hard to have very successful seasons. Our Girls Varsity Team has played some hard fought games and so far has come up a little bit short, with their present record at 1-5. The Varsity Girls continue to work hard in practice, and are very hopeful to turn it all around in the 2nd half of their season. Our Girls Middle School Team has been playing very well and has had some closely contested games with their present re-cord standing at 2-2. The Girls Middle School team is very optimistic about their chances to qualify for the playoffs this year! Last, but certainly not least, our Boys JV Basketball Team is enjoying their greatest season in school history thus far, as they have jumped out to an “unde-feated” 5-0 record, sitting in 1st Place in the ISAL “Big Apple Conference” Boys JV Basketball League! There is a confident and fantastic team

spirit with all the participating team members and coaches, as they work passionately towards winning the Boys JV Basket-ball Championship this year! We wish all of our Basketball teams the very best of luck and are hopeful for their continued successes as we enthusiastically support their dedicated efforts throughout the remainder of their seasons. Please continue to support all three of our Basket-ball Teams during the remainder of the season by attending an upcoming game and join us as we proudly cheer: “Go Drag-ons…Fight with Firepower!!!”

Check your weekly Parent Date-book for game times and loca-tions. n

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CommunityServicesPamper the lady in your life with handmade & revamped vintage jewelry by Lady Three. Unique pieces made from mixed metals, vintage remnants and semi-precious materials are the perfect complement to her unique style and are sure to make her smile. Customizations and special requests accepted.

www.LadyThree.Etsy.com LadyThreeVintage@gmail.com

Steiner parent can cater events for you in your home or else-where. Small or large family events, larger corporate dinners, expert wine pairing available, casual or elegant, always pre-pared and served professional-ly. I love food and source great ingredients to produce mem-orable events. Please call me at 917-239-6620 to inquire! Lauren McGrath Parent of Eleanor, 2014

The Audray School At Lincoln Center offers af-ter school classical and musi-cal theater music programs for middle and high school students, and day and evening classes for adults. Start your musical education off the right way by enrolling in the Au-dray School’s sight reading

course. Class starts in Janu-ary and occurs every Sat-urday. Call today and reg-ister for a free workshop. 646-678-1000

Shop with Dolma Fair Trade and find beautifully handmade gifts that support women, schools and entire communities in In-dia. Dolma specializes in high quality silk scarves, handbags, table linens and more. Dolma is a proud member of the Fair Trade Federation. Visit us at www.dolmafairtrade.com

Seeking Accommodations

Do you have or know of someone who may have a guest room or study that could be used on Sunday and Monday nights during term-time, and sometimes on Tues-day nights starting in March? Within walking distance from the school would be very much appreciated, but any lo-cation in the Manhattan area would be a great help. Please contact the school Therapeu-tic Eurythmist, Linda Larson, at 610-933-2822 or larson7@earthlink.net as soon as pos-sible. Thank you very much.

Helping Hands

AWSNA is calling all Waldorf community members to join them in rebuidling New Orleans during a service oriented trip on April 7-10. Read more about the project and other Waldorf news in their latest issue of In-form Magazine by clicking here.

Cats for Adoption!Owner seeks perfect home for her two cats, Simba - 4 and Misty - 7, due to newly devel-oped allergies. Searching for good home for one or both cats. Cats are both up to date on vaccinations and have been spayed. If interested, please contact Melinda Turner at melindabturner@gmail.com or by phone at 610-348-7332.

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email your entry to ediskin@steiner.edu. All entries are subject to review. Publication is

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