Holiday Fair Time!
November 26, 2021
There’s no place like home for the holidays, and the same goes for Berkshire holiday gifts. Our Holiday Handcraft Fair Auction offers the best of the Berkshires – local gifts, get-away packages, treats, warm and cozy wraps, toys and handcrafts, all local and ready for the holidays!
Starting November 26, and running through December 12 at 9pm, click on the link below to register, place your bids for your favorite items, and check back often, as we’ll drop new surprises throughout the auction.
The best part? Berkshire holiday gifts mean no supply chain delays or shipping. So join the fun at the Holiday Handcraft Fair Auction, good for the environment and good for our local community. Click the button below to explore! We’ve brought the best of the Berkshires to you.
All gifts ready for pickup in time for giving. Happy Holidays!
Giving Thanks
Now our minds are one.
For the first time in many months, our community gathered this week to give thanks, for the earth and the Muhhekunneuw (Muh-he-con-ok) elders and land keepers who have lived in balance and unity for 10,000 years on the sacred land on which we learn together.
Now called the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of the Mohican Nation, the first nations people of our region are alive and well in Wisconsin, and are returning to their homeland. We strive to live in relationship, respect and shared values with their community. To do that, we open our hearts and turn our minds toward listening.
Living Stories
At the assembly, each of the grades classes shared a little of what they have been learning during Fall term. Waldorf teachers bring all they teach to the children through story. When BWS adapted Waldorf education for COVID times, much of our learning went outside. Starting in November, when temperatures dip below freezing, we light a fire every morning for outside classes. Hearing stories around the fire is ancient learning technology, both essentially human and unforgettable.
Second grade has been learning stories from the Muh-he-con-ne-ok (Mohican, now known as the Stockbridge-Munsee community) and the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Confederacy). Our teachers feel strongly that Berkshire Waldorf students should learn the stories native to this land, before extending out to stories of cultures across the world, putting these stories at the center of the here and now.
Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address
Third grade has also been learning from the Haudenosaunee. At the assembly, they recited a portion of the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address.
Today we have gathered and we see that the cycles of life continue. We have been given the duty and responsibility to live in balance and harmony with each other and all living things. So now, we bring our minds together as one, as we give our greetings and our thanks to one another as people.
It’s important to know that the Haudenosaunee thanksgiving is not a once-a-year event. Just as the Haudenosaunee do, Waldorf students and teachers begin their days with a blessing, preparing to work together and do their best, and building collective strength in this way.
Many of the grades hung turkey feathers in the apple trees in the big backyard – each feather a blessing of gratitude. These are ways to begin to reclaim the meaning of Thanksgiving. Seventh grade smudged with sage around their fire, to purify seeing, hearing, speaking, hearts and minds. These actions are the beginning of reframing Thanksgiving in our diverse community.
We are Grateful
So you might be wondering, What do I tell my children about Thanksgiving?
To reiterate from our blog post last year, start with learning together about Thanksgiving and ways to practice gratitude from Indian writers and storytellers. Learn about food sovereignty, and consider adding diversity to your celebration with a dish that includes rich indigenous flavors like corn, beans and squash. More learning resources are listed below.
As adults, learn that not everyone is feasting and celebrating; indigenous people, especially in New England – especially in Massachusetts – are fasting, and meeting at Plymouth Rock to hold this day as a National Day of Mourning.
While it’s important that parents know and acknowledge the truth of history, fourth grade teacher Victoria Cartier points out that you will want to tune what you say to your child’s age and development.
For example, with early childhood students, the focus is on making food and saying a blessing for all the good gifts of the earth.
“And I would add, give gratitude to nature,” Pumpkin Patch Kindergarten teacher and Pedagogical Lead Christianna Riley suggests. “Take walks in nature, be in wonder together and admire its beauty. Young children are so good at finding ordinary rocks or sticks as beautiful and special treasures. We can learn from them.”
With third graders, Ms. Cartier says she would emphasize generosity, working together for the good of all, and gratitude. In eighth grade, children are ready for and seek the truth, and that’s a time to share more details. In high school, students will want to act for justice.
More Resources:
Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address:
americanyawp.com/reader/british-north-america/haudenosaunee-thanksgiving-address
Learn more about the true story of Thanksgiving:
https://berkshirewaldorfschool.org/rethinking-thanksgiving/
Visit Berkshire Museum (through 1/9/22) to learn more about the past, present and future of the Mohican Nation:
http://berkshiremuseum.org/portfolio-item/muh-he-con-ne-ok
What you can do now to promote healing:
New BWS Leadership Team
On October 18, the Berkshire Waldorf School Board of Trustees appointed a new threefold executive leadership team. Collectively, this collaborative team replaces the role of a school director.
Over the past 18 months, Berkshire Waldorf School has self-governed through waves of transition and deep, reflective work. In addition to an all-hands-on-deck response to the ongoing pandemic, two collaborative committees explored and brought to fruition a threefold leadership model to address the changing landscape of Waldorf School leadership and non-profit governance. This would not have been possible without the patience and resolve of the whole community.
Changing Infrastructure and the Selection Process
Leadership Transition Team Recommends Collaborative Structure
Between February and June of this year, a ten-member committee of faculty, administration, trustees and Council members formed the Leadership Transition Team. This group carefully reviewed a proposal to migrate from a school director model to a three-person leadership model. Of the course of many meetings, they studied the relevance, application, and implications of such a change in the school’s context. Following thorough deliberation, the Leadership Transition Team recommended the change in governance infrastructure to the Board of Trustees, advocating for a partnership model of leadership to meet both the leadership needs of the school and the ideals of Waldorf governance.
Selection Committee Recommends Candidates
Next, a second, seven-member committee, the Selection Committee, was launched in June to recruit and vet candidates for the leadership roles and to make a recommendation to the Board of Trustees. Their rigorous and deeply thoughtful process sought to balance individual capacities and group dynamics. The Selection Committee’s recommendation was accompanied by the following list of priorities:
Partnership
The Leadership Transition Team, who spent many months studying the governance patterns of Waldorf schools and BWS specifically, recommended collaborative leadership, and charged the Selection Committee with recommending a team who would bring to life a model of partnership to unite the pedagogical, administrative, and community functions of the school, in service of its mission.
All three candidates indicated the development of this partnership as their primary motivation for pursuing the role. All three candidates demonstrated a strong default to collaborative work. While they are individually skilled in their domains of expertise, they also demonstrated crossover skills with the other domains, which will help forge tight bonds across domains.
Commitment to Waldorf Education
The selection committee sought a values-based leadership team, who would find strength in a common commitment to Waldorf education. Each selected candidate came to the process having freely and individually pursued an interest and commitment to Waldorf Education to significant depths. All three selected candidates have previous roles or work experience in diverse Anthroposophical environments. Specifically, the three also value the dynamism of these values, and are intrigued and inspired by the contemporary implementation of their ideals.
Leadership Capacities
In addition to specific expertise, the selection committee prioritized a set of leadership capacities that correlate with leading through change, chartering a new model and enhancing collaborative culture.
Bringing Experience to the Task
Pedagogical Lead Christianna Riley
Ms. Riley has a deep commitment to Waldorf pedagogy, most recently demonstrating her leadership as the Co-Chair in Early Childhood and as a member of both the BWS Board of Trustees and Council of Teachers. Ms. Riley has a pioneering spirit, not only chartering the Pumpkin Patch outdoor kindergarten at BWS, but also serving as a founding teacher, EC Director, and Board member at the Primrose Hill School, a Waldorf School in Rhinebeck, NY. Ms. Riley is a Waldorf graduate herself, and has been an early childhood teacher for thirteen years. Ms. Riley was a member of the Leadership Transition Team that proposed the form of leadership BWS is embarking on. It was during this process of discernment that she felt called to step forward to serve as a member of the leadership team. Ms. Riley is an active member of the DEI committee, and has engaged in curriculum development and implementation of a Peace Education Program with the United Nations NGO World Peace Prayer Society.
Ms. Riley remains the lead teacher in the Pumpkin Patch. The prioritization of placing an active teacher in the leadership team is an intentional application of Waldorf governance ideals. Ms. Riley’s continued full engagement with the children of the Pumpkin Patch ensures that all of our leadership decisions are anchored to these very special souls at the beginning of their journey with us, and by proxy, all of the children at the Berkshire Waldorf School.
Community Lead Renée Far
Ms. Far has demonstrated her leadership during the past year as the Director of Enrollment, developing more robust systems for securing our enrollment targets early, and partnering with families to sustain their commitment to the school. Ms. Far has demonstrated her capacity for partnership on the Admissions and Enrollment team, in addition to serving as the administrative coordinator for Early Childhood. Ms. Far is a trained Waldorf teacher, and has several years’ experience working in our business office, which uniquely qualifies her to help guide the creation of this leadership model with an understanding of the points of intersection between our threefold system. Ms. Far is a member of the DEI Committee and thinks critically about the role of the school in responding to our collective social mission.
Operations Lead Kendra Smallwood
Ms. Smallwood joins our school after holding a key leadership position in administration and operations at Stanton House, a residency program for diverse adults inspired by Camphill Communities. At Stanton Home, Ms. Smallwood has been an influential collaborative partner for the Executive Director and the Board of Trustees during years of robust organizational growth. Ms. Smallwood is a primary author of the Stanton House strategic plan, and has introduced new practices for vision-aligned financial planning. Ms. Smallwood has extensive experience in non-profit development and fundraising for Stanton House. She is a self-starting leader, who is accustomed to performing in continuously developing roles.
Going Forward
Berkshire Waldorf School celebrates a major milestone in launching the new threefold leadership team in the school’s 50th anniversary year; however, the work of transitioning our governance model continues.
Karen Fierst, who facilitated both the Leadership Transition team and the Selection Committee, will continue in a consulting role for the threefold leadership team, as well as continuing to play a lead role in the school’s COVID policy-making and strategic planning process. She will retire the title of Reopening Project Coordinator and assume the new title of Director of Strategy and Leadership Advisor.
The goal of Berkshire Waldorf School’s new leadership structure is to achieve greater clarity and representation in the school’s decision-making process. This is one key part of our school’s renewal, coinciding with the 50th anniversary and the re-accreditation process occurring this year.
First Nations Day
We humbly and gratefully acknowledge that our school is learning and gathering in the unceded homelands of the Muhheconeew (Moh-He-Con-Nuck, or Mohican) Nation, who are the indigenous people of this land. Despite the tremendous hardship of being forced from their ancestral home, today their community resides in Wisconsin and is known as the Stockbridge-Munsee Community.
We also honor the elders and land keepers, past and present, of First Nations in the four directions, including Schaghticoke and Lenape to the south, Nipmuc, Wampanoag and Massachuset to the east, Abenaki and Algonquin to the north, and Haudenosaunee to the west.
There are many celebrations and opportunities in the Berkshires this month to learn more about the First Nations of this sacred land.
Indigenous Peoples’ Day in Great Barrington
Drumming, traditional Native American songs, speeches, and a procession culminating in a ceremonial blessing of the Housatonic River will mark the local observance of Indigenous Peoples’ Day in Great Barrington on Monday, October 11. For details and to register, visit www.allianceforaviablefuture.org
First Nations Day at BWS
We’ll light the fires for First Nations Day, Tuesday, October 12, when Abenaki children’s book author, editor and storyteller Joseph Bruchac visits our school to share Northeastern indigenous nations’ stories, songs and drumming. You can find the extensive list of Dr. Bruchac’s books and stories here, and copies of many of them in the Mason and Ramsdell libraries, as well as at Bookloft and other local bookstores.
“We once called this land home, and while forced removal may have physically moved us, our hearts remain.”
-from the Berkshire Museum Exhibit Muh-he-con-ne-ok: People of the waters that are never still
Berkshire Museum
Muh-he-con-ne-ok: The People of the Waters That Are Never Still showcases the story of the Stockbridge-Munsee Communities past, present, and future.
Stockbridge Mission House and Walking Tour
Stockbridge Mission House now hosts a Stockbridge-Munsee Community-curated Mohican Exhibit.
And stroll through Mohican History with this Walking Tour of Main Street, Stockbridge, MA.
Stockbridge-Munsee Archeological Dig
The Mohican Tribal Historic Preservation Office conducted archaeological digs at “Indiantown”—now known as Stockbridge—this summer, to try and locate the 1739 meetinghouse site and the site of the ox roast that George Washington ordered there in honor of Mohican soldiers, in gratitude for their support, at the end of the Revolutionary War.
Sheffield Historical Society – “The Mohican Journey: Homelands, History, and Hope”
The Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans has worked for decades in research, preservation, education, and governance to promote equality and programs that strengthen their culture and community heritage. Making connections to their ancestral homelands continues to be of sacred value. This exhibit combines a variety of art forms, artifacts, audio and video elements, including content from Dorothy David’s “A Brief History of the Mohican Nation” as well as many personal narratives. Outdoor exhibit on view through Oct 11, weekends 11a-4p and Indigenous Peoples Day, Monday, Oct 11.
First Nations Books
Elder-approved books from the Stockbridge-Munsee Arvid E. Miller Library:
- The Mohicans of Stockbridge by Patrick Frasier
- The Mohican World: 1680-1750 by Shirley W. Dunn
- Stockbridge Past and Present by Electa Jones (contains an oral history of the Mohicans from the mid-1700s)
- Medicine Generations by Misty Cook (medicine plants of the homelands, aka the Berkshires)
- The Arvid E. Miller Library also has great stickers of the Stockbridge-Munsee logo, “Many Trails,” symbolizing endurance, strength and hope.
Forge Foundation
The Forge Foundation, located in the Mohican homeland near Hudson, NY, has launched an indigenous fellowship program to support the work of indigenous artists and activists.
Papscanee Island in the Muhheakantuck (Hudson) River
Read the amazing “land-back” account of how this island in the Hudson River – with a preserve that remains untouched since 1609 – has been returned to its original owners, the Mohican Nation, and you can visit it.
The aim [of this year’s Indigenous Peoples’ Day events in Great Barrington] is to “acknowledge and heal the wounds of our past, honor the Native American ethic of respect and care for the natural world, and integrate indigenous values into our response to climate change.”
– Alliance for a Viable Future
Lear More from the mohican.com website
STOCKBRIDGE-MUNSEE HISTORY VIRTUAL TALKS
-We are Mohican Nation Presentation for Stockbridge Munsee Day
-PBS: Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican History
-Footsteps of our Ancestors – Virtual Walking Tour of Stockbridge
-Finding A Place Again: Honoring the Mohican Story of Stockbridge with Bonney Hartley
-CTSB: 2018 Mohican History seminar & tribal elder Judy Putnam Hartley talk
-History Presentation for NY Fish and Wildlife service in 2015
-Williamstown – Living on Mohican Homelands
“Long Journey Home” Story Map on Stockbridge-Munsee effort to reclaim Papscanee Island
-Homelands History Series from the Arvid E. Miller Memorial Library Museum
OTHER RELATED TALKS
-Decolonizing Language: In conversation with Heather Bruegl and Dr. Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti
-Perspectives in Archeological Collaboration
-The Power of Native Women with Heather Bruegl
Indigenous Histories:
-Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz: An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States
-Jean Maria O’Brien: Firsting and Lasting: Writing Indians out of Existence in New England
-David Treuer: The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee
2021 COVID Plan
August 26, 2021
COVID-19 Protocols for School Reopening
The Berkshire Waldorf School is pleased to share our Health and Safety Plan for the 2021-22 school year. The health and safety of our community is our top priority. We have worked diligently with the consultation of our Medical Advisory Panel (MAP) to put this plan together.
Click the button below to review our reopening plan for Fall.
BWS continues to closely monitor the impact of COVID-19. Thankfully, all the work we did last year to stay healthy and safe as a community is our best preparation for reopening school this year. We have a structure in place to implement policies that are deeply informed by experience.
The BWS Medical Advisory Panel (MAP) will continue as our ongoing advisors. Their expertise allows us to remain responsive to changing conditions. MAP is a collaborative trio of local family physicians with broad backgrounds in public health, first-line COVID response and Anthroposophic medicine, who are also current and alumni parents at our school.
Our school community met virtually for a Back to School Health & Safety Town Hall on Sunday, August 29. You can learn more about our school reopening plan by clicking on the button below.
We are looking forward to welcoming your children on the first days of school, Wednesday September 8 for the grades and Monday September 13 for early childhood classes!
May Day at BWS
May 1, 2021
Remember, Lords and Ladies, it is the first of May
In our 50th anniversary year, BWS continues a longstanding tradition of “welcoming in the summer” with the celebration of May Day. One of our most colorful festivals, Berkshire Waldorf School celebrates this outdoor event to shake off the last vestiges of winter and welcome summer with singing, dancing, music, flower crowns and an authentic Maypole.
For the first time in 40 years, last May we weren’t able to gather as a community. (There was fiddling, plenty of flowers and a food drive instead.) Our former Maypole became the tent pole for second Grade’s outdoor classroom, Maypole Cottage, during the pandemic. So this year’s celebration inaugurated our new 25-foot Maypole planted on the “village green,” in the center of campus, between the Betty Szold Krainis Early Childhood Building and the grade school building.
We were up long before the day
The ancient spring festival of May Day is brought to life at school with sprightly dancing and singing accompanied by musicians playing accordian, fiddles, flutes and guitar. Generally, the whole Berkshire community is warmly invited to bring blankets and picnic on the green; in fact, a local magazine declared BWS the “Best May Day in the Berkshires.” In prior years, country dancing included elementary students; performances by local Morris and Garland dancing teams; a dance for alumni, who came back to the school from all over the world; a faculty dance; and a dance for the whole community, followed by three rousing cheers of “Hip-hip-hooray” and May crowns tossed in the air.
To welcome in the Summer, to welcome in the May
May Day festivities started at BWS in 1981, when one of our teachers, Christopher Sblendorio, who had participated in May Day during his Waldorf teacher training at Emerson College in England, began doing country dances with his students. He realized that May Day made a perfect seasonal celebration in New England, too. After all, contra dancing has long been an important part of the social fabric here.
At BWS, fourth through eighth graders literally move through the end of winter by learning country dances during the weeks of waiting for spring, using ribbons, bells, kerchiefs and wooden sticks. Similar celebrations take place all over the world, with different music, different dances, but the same purpose; in nearby Columbia County, New York, members of the Mohawk Nation are also dancing with bandanas to wake the earth!
There’s a lot of strength in having something to look forward to. “When I’m in 5th grade, I will dance the Maypole, too!”
Living close to the land and seasons in the Berkshires, honoring May Day is one of the ways we mark transitions in the seasons of life. And celebrating together the transition from a New England winter (or a global pandemic) connects us to the Earth, our human past and present–our community. We delight in Second Grade’s spontaneous singing at the bus stop, and the early childhood children full of joy in their May crowns.
For summer is a-coming and the winter’s gone away
In our Berkshire Waldorf tradition, fourth grade performs a long and complex dance called “Goddesses,” an English country dance. Adults would have a hard time doing this one, because it’s so long, but fourth graders are overjoyed. It has a beautiful figure-eight chorus which is so harmonious, they can do it and do it, and they don’t get tired. Fourth graders are so light, and they skip easily.
In sixth grade, students do their first Morris dance, with bells and sticks. This tradition is called “bean-setting,” of putting beans in the ground, with wooden sticks rhythmically rapped together or on the Earth. It has the same weaving figure as in Goddesses, and in the Maypole dance, but a different kind of stepping. It’s not the light and easy skip fourth graders do, but step-hop, step-hop. Sixth graders are moving through adolescence; they’re starting to feel the weight of gravity, and they have to overcome it to spring into the air. The rhythm of the dance moves them to make that effort.
Through seventh and eighth grades, students learn more complex dances, using short or long wooden sticks, bells or handkerchiefs — and laughter is such an amazing part of it all.
Fifth graders perform dances that weave bright ribbons around the Maypole. Because they are in that “balanced” place in our school, between being younger and being older, fifth graders are perfectly capable of a more complex figure, based on the “weaving” they learned in Goddesses the year before, yet they are still young enough to enter into the dance. They’re also just the right height to be able to dip under the ribbons at the very end. And then that look on their faces of “We did it!” Weaving together all those different strands is a metaphor for life. The teachers say, “We don’t tell them; they learn by doing it.”
Energy, joy, flowers and dancing – just what you want after a snowy winter in the Berkshires.
Since the BWS community wasn’t able to gather (even outside) on May Day last spring, both fifth and sixth graders shared the Maypole dance, weaving their ribbons around the pole in quite the seaworthy wind! The bright ribbons will remain woven around the pole until they are “undanced” on the last day of school, as we enter full summer.
Happy May Day!
Diversity & Inclusion in Kindergarten
Rainbow Room Kindergarten is celebrating Khmer New Year this week, singing a Khmer song and hearing a Khmer fairy tale in circle time. Did you know the third-largest Cambodian community in the world, after Cambodia and California, is in Massachusetts?
A New Friend
Teacher Charlotte Hoppe writes: ”A ‘new student’ named Kim Huoy joined our class this week. We are treating her as a peer because it’s important that the children’s relationship to this Persona Doll feel real and personal. By encouraging their imaginations to grow in this way, we can work with the values of empathy, sympathy and feelings as a shared experience.
“This work is based on the concept of ‘windows and mirrors’ when it comes to diversity, equity, and inclusion education. We want our children to have the chance to see themselves mirrored, but we also provide opportunities to see into someone else’s life, and what it’s like to live or look differently than they do. This helps us celebrate both the ways we are the same and the ways we are different.
“I introduced Kim Huoy (a doll that I made),” Ms. Charlotte continues, “And shared parts of her background story–not all of it, just little parts as they come up in conversation naturally. Here is the story as I created it for Kim Huoy:
- She is Khmer-American and just moved to Massachusetts with her mother and father.
- They moved here because of the virus and her dad’s new job. Her mom is Cambodian (Khmer) and her dad is American, from Massachusetts originally. They met when her mom was going to college here, then moved back to Cambodia to get married and work for awhile, so that her new husband could meet her family. Then they had Kim Huoy, who is now 5 years old.
- In Cambodia, Kim Huoy lived with both her parents and grandparents; since they have moved, she is missing her grandma and grandpa. She loves to jump rope and play hide and seek. But she’s a little nervous about going to a new school, and doesn’t love the cold weather because she isn’t used to it yet.
- She loves fruit, especially watermelon, and her grandma’s chive cakes. She even likes spicy food, but she doesn’t know if she will like our snacks at school.
- At her old school, Kim Huoy had to wear a uniform every day, so she is really happy to wear her own clothes to school now. In Cambodia, her dad used to drive a moto to take her to school, and she had to wear a helmet. Now they have a car, and she likes to look out the window.
- Wearing a mask is easy for Kim Huoy. People do it all the time where she used to live, even before the virus. It helped her stay healthy, and she likes masks with cool patterns and colors.
- She has black hair and brown skin, and can speak a little bit of Khmer, but mostly she speaks English. Her family is Buddhist. She loves visiting Angkor Wat, and being blessed by the monks.
“These details help build Kim Huoy’s personality,” Ms. Charlotte continues, “And help to inform how she might answer the children’s questions. Because I lived and taught in Cambodia, it’s easy for me to bring her story with true depth of understanding, authenticity and enthusiasm. Personal experience also helps to avoid stereotypes and assumptions.”
Story Circle with Kim Huoy
“Our first circle with Kim Huoy was a huge success,” Ms. Charlotte says. “The children were kind, welcoming, brave and had many great ideas. I was so proud of them! We will continue this work in circle time, and if we have a pattern of behavioral problems, or a social incident that causes someone to feel left out, teased, or embarrassed, I can bring out Kim Huoy to help the children work through their own emotions and find solutions as a team.”
Khmer New Year in Massachusetts
Rainbow Room kindergartners will celebrate Khmer New Year in their circle starting on April 15th, with a special fruit feast. Families are also invited to connect to the local Cambodian community of Lowell, Mass during this festive time of year. The celebration will include singing, dance and poetry.
Sour Sdey Chnam Thmey (Happy New Year)!“
To learn more, Ms. Charlotte recommends these books for children:
Colors of Cambodia highlights one thing from Cambodia for each color of the rainbow. It’s is written in English and Khmer. Many children noticed how the Khmer symbols look like Hebrew symbols and they all loved the painting of the Khmer dancers and the monks.
The Cambodian Dancer – Sophany’s Gift of Hope is about a young girl who was a dancer before the Khmer Rouge (“bad people”) came to Cambodia. This child-appropriate story tells how Sophany came to live in the United States, and how her gift of dance made her feel close to her culture, so she opened a school of dance for the Cambodian children in California. The story is told in a beautiful and artistic way, but highlights that there were people who didn’t know how to share, made lots of bossy rules that hurt peoples’ feelings, and forgot to act with love and kindness. Ms. Charlotte adds: “This story provides a great opportunity for talking about empathy. It helps to address some of the bigger problems of race and racial injustice in our culture today that many children in our class are aware of and trying to understand.”
Celebrating Black History
February 13, 2021
As we honor Black History Month in February, BWS is thrilled to be taking part in a webinar conversation with New York Times bestselling author Ibram X. Kendi (How to be an Antiracist). This program is sponsored by the Association of Independent Schools in the Northeast (AISNE), one of our school accrediting bodies. 95 independent schools across the Northeastern U.S. will join for a collective listening of parents, teachers, staff and trustees. Dr. Kendi’s talk, “Go Beyond an Awareness of Racism: Contribute to the Formation of a Truly Just and Equitable Society,” will take place online starting 5pm on Wednesday, March 3. Adult members of the BWS community will receive an email to register for this evening. After Dr. Kendi’s talk, all participants are invited to participate in community conversations and affinity spaces.
Unify for Change
During February, Berkshire Waldorf School teachers usually join 500 early childhood teachers at Green Meadow Waldorf School in Spring Valley, New York for the Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America (WECAN) Conference. Pumpkin Patch kindergarten teacher Christianna Riley writes, “This year, due to COVID, we combined East and West Coast WECAN Conferences virtually. There were over 800 participants, and the theme for the weekend was Black Lives Matter.
“I’m thrilled that my colleagues and the Waldorf Early Childhood movement have taken up anti-racist, anti-bias and social justice education as important and necessary. I came back to our Berkshire Waldorf School community inspired and humbled, with many ideas for how we can work together as a community for equity and justice. “
Learn Black History
Rose Room Nursery teacher Beth Oakley, who also attended the conference, recommends a resource from academic, writer and activist Rachel Cargle. Cargle’s project Discover Our Glory is a curated guide to educating oneself about Black History. It highlights the fact that Black History is inseparable from American History.
This worksheet includes prompts that you can research on your own to learn more about the rich history of African American people.
“Each item on the list is a part of Black history to research during February,” Ms. Oakley writes, “I’m taking it day by day, and I encourage our whole community to join in. Even if I know about a topic, I still make a point to read up and reflect on it. This is a simple and powerful way to educate oneself.”
Creating a Just Society
Mrs. Riley writes that she is continuing the journey she embarked on in January, with the AntiRacist 30 Day Challenge. “I have been exploring the platform,” she continues, “And found insightful and powerful information. I highly recommend both these endeavors.”
“Remember,” Ms. Oakley adds, “If we actively and genuinely pursue antiracism and social justice in our own lives and within ourselves, our young children will pick up on that gesture and learn–as they grow up–to do the same.”
Happy New Year! Celebrating our 50th Anniversary in 2021
In the midst of so much social and political upheaval, and an intensifying pandemic, we have one smile for today. It’s the 50th Anniversary of Berkshire Waldorf School – our birthday!
Rudolf Steiner founded Waldorf education in Stuttgart, Germany in 1919. At a low point of hope for the human race, after the “war to end all wars” and a global influenza epidemic, Steiner’s plan for education provided healthy growing and learning for children as a system of social renewal. Now Steiner/Waldorf education is an international initiative. Berkshire Waldorf School is one of more than 1,000 schools worldwide which were literally made for these times.
Kindergarten teacher Betty Szold Krainis founded BWS (originally named the Pumpkin Hollow School) on January 13, 1971. The original schoolhouse, a handmade Berkshire timber framer from the early 19th century, is the same barn that now houses the BWS library, the heart of our school. Current BWS parents who were Mrs. Krainis’s students in that cozy space still get a shiver of happiness when they walk through the door!
Today we’re having a surprise party to celebrate the brave and creative teachers who are carrying on this legacy in the face of a global pandemic. And you’re invited to the party! At our virtual tours during the month of January, you’ll get a peek at gardens and grounds, including our new outdoor classrooms. You’ll learn more about our programs for toddlers through 8th grade, and how BWS has provided in-person, on campus learning for all of them this year. We’ll save plenty of time for your questions.
· Next meeting time Jan 13, 2021 7:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
· Register in advance here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZElcOiurDwjH9e-emzIVwcJNqKxb0hTGAnc
When you register, you’ll receive a confirmation email with a link to join the meeting.
BWS will host a few more virtual visits this month, before our February 1 application deadline for the 2021-22 school year. Check our Admissions page to register.
Once you attend Part 1: Virtual Visit, stay tuned and plan to attend Part 2: Getting Started, an interactive workshop for parents to learn more about joining a learning community that’s based on freedom, inclusivity, and mutual support. Both introductions are prerequisites to your family interview with your child’s prospective teacher. Interviews begin after Winter Break, February 22.
In the meantime, enjoy this look at our first big snow in December, and imagine a school where play is an important part of learning to be human.
See you soon!
The Season of Light
In the Berkshires, when the earth falls quiet under winter snows, we look forward to the sun’s return and lengthening days, and look inward to reflect on the passing year.
Do you remember the first weeks of school, when we welcomed Autumn as the Season of Courage? Stories, songs and plays about courage strengthened us all the way through those first brave months we were back together. Now we carry that strength into the Season of Light, ushered in with the lantern walk for early childhood and first and second grade students.
The Longest Night
BWS celebrates the Season of Light around Winter Solstice, the shortest day and longest night of the year. Joining many cultures in a spirit of joyful anticipation, we bring light and warmth into the darkness with candles, holiday lights and observance of the moon and stars. As a community, we take comfort in the light of family, food and traditions of giving.
Lighting the Darkness
BWS kindergartners participate in the Spiral of Light, which brings a mood of quiet reverence to the season. Each child walks a spiral path made of evergreen boughs strewn with minerals and crystals. As they reach the center, children light their “apple candle” at the central candle, and place it along the path home, to light the way for others.
Elementary and middle school students mark the Season of Light with age-appropriate festivals and rituals that come out of the content from each grade. These speak to children with soul-satisfying comfort and peace. Adjusting for social distancing, our celebrations will look a little different this year. Yet they are more important than ever. Practicing warmth and joy at a dark time centers us all in strength and hope.
Although safety restrictions prevent our annual celebration with BWS families, students will honor festivals of light in their classes. On December 18, the last day before break, grade school students will gather for a holiday assembly. (Students are able to socially distance in the natural amphitheater on the sledding hill.) We’ll share a video record with parents afterward, as a holiday greeting to enjoy and share.
A Sense of Wonder
Third grade knitting together around the fire, and a kindergartner’s delight at “glitter covering everything” in the recent snow, remind us how fortunate we are to be surrounded by nature. In a dark time, look up! The Season of Light offers more time to enjoy a sky full of stars. How delightful to learn with sixth grade that this year on December 21—coincidentally, the Winter Solstice—Jupiter and Saturn will align in a Great Conjunction. Together they will create a very bright “star” on the southwestern horizon just after sundown, a celestial event that hasn’t happened in 800 years!
Berkshire Waldorf School faculty and staff wish your family a beautiful holiday season, and memories that bring renewed warmth and light throughout the years.
