Clover and Meadow Gardens (two mixed-age kindergarten classrooms)
Parents often feel a deep sense of calm when they walk into a Waldorf kindergarten. The rhythmic, repetitive and reverent nature of the kindergarten allows children to spend time together unselfconsciously and with their senses fully engaged.
Each morning, children and parents are welcomed by the teachers in the garden. Free play in the yard is an ‘out breathing’ for the children. They make choices about where and with whom they play. Cedar stumps and wooden boards become houses, trains, boats, and obstacle courses. Other children play chase or rake leaves and make nests in the piles. The sand pile provides many opportunities for construction and investigation. We walk to the park each week, where the children love to climb, swing and slide.
Story time is when the children’s imaginations are nourished by an oral story told by the teacher. The ability to hear language and to create inner pictures is an important foundational literacy skill that is nurtured in the Waldorf Kindergarten. Once the children have heard the story repeated, they experience it as a puppet play or by helping to ‘pretend’ the tale. The child takes in the story and language deeply.
Each morning, children and parents are welcomed by the teachers in the garden. Free play in the yard is an ‘out breathing’ for the children. They make choices about where and with whom they play. Cedar stumps and wooden boards become houses, trains, boats, and obstacle courses. Other children play chase or rake leaves and make nests in the piles. The sand pile provides many opportunities for construction and investigation. We walk to the park each week, where the children love to climb, swing and slide.
Story time is when the children’s imaginations are nourished by an oral story told by the teacher. The ability to hear language and to create inner pictures is an important foundational literacy skill that is nurtured in the Waldorf Kindergarten. Once the children have heard the story repeated, they experience it as a puppet play or by helping to ‘pretend’ the tale. The child takes in the story and language deeply.
A healthy homemade snack comes next. The table is set, children have and washed their hands in preparation. They sit in their seats, take their neighbours’ hands and sing a song of thanks for their food. “Earth who gave to us this food, sun who made it ripe and good….”
Our snacks include delicious and nutritious foods such as, oats with cinnamon, brown basmati rice with tamari sauce, vegetable soup (which the children help to prepare), and homemade bread that the children have kneaded. There is also fruit contributed by parents, to accompany the snack.
Our snacks include delicious and nutritious foods such as, oats with cinnamon, brown basmati rice with tamari sauce, vegetable soup (which the children help to prepare), and homemade bread that the children have kneaded. There is also fruit contributed by parents, to accompany the snack.
“We dance with the flowers, we sing with the sun. The warmth in our hearts, we bring everyone. Goodbye.”
And so the morning has ended.
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