Finding the Right Key

Dear Member of The Waldorf School of Santa Barbara Community,

If you walk by the First Grade classroom in the morning you might hear a delightful concert of well-orchestrated clapping, finger-snapping, and reciting of numbers.

The children, led by Ms. Witcher, are somatically (and joyously) learning their times tables. Afterwards, the children will write down what they have absorbed during their clapping, snapping, and reciting. Then they might look at a "100 chart" or "number line" (helpful visual math tools). Later on the playground, while doing jump-rope, they will "hop their threes."

Waldorf education approaches math from different angles to find -- borrowing from Ms. Witcher -- "which key belongs to which child." Ms. Witcher continues: "It is important to get the math into their body unconsciously through rhythmic work; then have them bring it to consciousness by writing it down."

One could say the beauty of such pedagogy is that it helps the child learn useful everyday knowledge while also tending the child's soul. We are "rhythm beings," Ms. Witcher says. And we know how much of a salve rhythm can be -- especially in times of stress -- be it a rhythm in a song at school or the rhythm in our home life. Indeed, Waldorf education, as Astrid Schmitt-Stegmann reminds us, is a "force for healing."

In gratitude,
The WSSB Admin Team

PS The thought of the day -- which delves into the healing influence of rhythm -- is by marine biologist, conservationist, and (great) writer Rachel Carson:

"What is the value of preserving and strengthening the sense of awe and wonder, this recognition of something beyond the boundaries of human existence? Is the exploration of the natural world just a pleasant way to pass the golden hours of childhood or is there something deeper?
I am sure there is something much deeper, something lasting and significant. Those who dwell, as scientists or laymen, among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life. Whatever the vexation or concerns of their personal lives, their thoughts can find paths that lead to inner contentment and to renewed excitement in living. Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of the birds, the ebb and flow of the tides, the folded bud ready for the spring. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature — the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter."