Waldorf Education and the Nature Connection
The 8th grade class is up at Headwaters Outdoor School in Shasta to spend a week immersed in nature. At the Waldorf School of Santa Barbara, we consciously cultivate nature connection. Our students have gardening, games, and woodwork classes outdoors, ample recess times, nature walks, and field trips like the one to Shasta. Each age group of students connects in unique ways with nature according to their developmental needs and the curriculum. The benefits of nature connection are substantial and are worthy of another newsletter! (See links at the bottom of this post.)
In Early Childhood, the children are connected to all things, people, animals, and nature in a deep and unique way. Our Early Childhood teachers work with this consciousness to nurture a reverence and curiosity for nature. The children’s environment and experiences are designed intentionally to be rich with natural beauty and wonder. Children climb trees, play in the sand, gardens and creeks, and manipulate items like logs and mud. In the classroom, a nature table displays nature’s offerings for the season, and all materials - silks, stones, wooden toys, and puppets are crafted from natural materials. The children are one with nature.
Around age nine, children develop a sense of self that is separate from the world (Piaget’s concrete operational mode of being). They begin to study the things around them, including nature, in an imaginative and observational way. Students engage with their surroundings and cultivate a new interest in the practical, material and natural world. While elementary grades students still play and learn outdoors regularly, they shift now to also learning in and from nature with lessons about farming, gardening, animal studies, and earth science. At this age, open-minded observation is key as it paves the way for the next developmental shift when observation leads to inquiry.
As students move into middle school, they gain a sharpened perception of the world as they learn about their place within it, both socially and geographically. They are entering a newly rational phase, and we aim to cultivate meaningful inquiry with them. An experimental/experiential approach to science is introduced, beginning with observation and exploration of simple concepts such as the properties and laws of sound, light, heat, and mechanics, and then moving toward more advanced concepts in chemistry, physics and biology. With these new studies, ecology is also explored in depth, and its study comes with lessons of theoretical and practical nature stewardship. The sciences are approached with that deep connection, established back in Early Childhood, forefront in mind. Now the students' flexible and more critical perspective engages in caretaking of the earth they live on.
And so, in these developmentally appropriate ways, first, a profound connection is fostered with daily immersion into nature; then careful observation and manipulation of the outdoor world; and finally thorough inquiry, understanding, and stewardship. In this way, our next generation can contribute and take care of our deeply connected world.
While the 8th grade is off in the woods, the other grades have started new blocks for October. They are:
Grade 1: Consonants through Fairy Tales
Grade 2: Language Arts through stories of Fables and Shining Hearts
Grade 3/4: Language Arts with Norse Mythology
Grade 5: Ancient Civilizations - Mesopotamia and Egypt
Grade 6/7: Mathematics and the Knighting Project
Grade 8: Class Trip and American History
Something Good!
We have an exciting opportunity for the community. We are partnering with Something Good Organics to offer a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) to our families and staff. They will offer weekly boxes of fresh, organic produce delivered to our campus on Wednesdays. All you have to do is go online at https://www.somethinggoodorganics.com/csa to choose your box and select Local Pick Up at Waldorf School of Santa Barbara. They will give $2 per box back to the school.
A huge thank you to Jillian, Lisha, Natalie, and Stephanie for cleaning the Costume Room!
Important Dates:
October 7 at 8:30 a.m.: Fundraising Events Committee meeting
October 9 and 10 at 1 p.m.: Halloween Journey meeting
October 11 at 8:30 a.m.: Castle and Grounds Committee meeting
October 15 at 8:30 a.m.: POEM Committee meeting
October 17 at 8:30 a.m.: Steiner Study Group (details coming soon)
October 16 and 17 at 1 p.m.: Halloween Journey meeting
October 25: No School. Halloween Journey
With gratitude,
The WSSB Admin Team