BWS Now a Full Member of WECAN

This year, our school applied and was accepted for Full Membership to the organization WECAN, the Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America.  The process involved a self-study and a visit by a WECAN evaluator, who wrote a report about our school and our early childhood programs as a part of the application process.  This was a joint effort between the EC department, and the office faculty, and was undertaken with the approval of the Leadership Team.  You can find more about the process and what it means in the WECAN Membership Handbook.  We're proud to be a full member of WECAN!

Upcoming Workshops

In March, Bright Water School faculty will attend the 2012 Special Education Conference in Shoreline.  Pedagogical Chair Trish Bondurant and Educational Support Teacher Marla Smith will attend all three days of the workshop. 
Below are the areas of concentration.  I will attend 'The Big Four':


Wednesday, March 7, 2012

• Evidence-based Interventions for Students Struggling with Reading, Writing, and/or Mathematics: Basic Reading &

Science and Creativity

Board member Barry Shuman helped the Science Task force get creative yesterday morning when he visited the new science room.  Barry imagined how best to form the main classroom and storage space, along with a special room for optics experiments.  This will involve removing some walls, which means a fun work party for those of you who enjoy demolition work!  We hope to begin the demolition in either the February break or spring break, dependent on removing some of the existing electical from the walls slated for destruction. 

Barry also schooled us in a creative exercise designed to create the lists of equipment we will need,  the best confiugration of the furnishings, and to delinieate specific space uses throughout the rooms.

In keeping with the theme of science and creativity, here is an interesting blog entry.

What's the Leadership Team Been Up To?

The Leadership Team (see 'School Organization and Roles) meets every Wednesday afternoon for two hours to take care of some of the business of the school. Each Leadership Team member commits to attending two Board meetings per year.   Leadership Team members are:

Trish Bondurant, Pedagogical Chair
Laura Crandall, School Director
Andrea Eichinger-Wiese, Salmonberries Lead Teacher
Mia Fioravanti, Grade Eight Teacher
Bryan McGriff, Movement Teacher
Cindy Weinberg, Grade One Teacher

Due to the demands of the eighth grade year, it is our group's policy that the eighth grade teacher rotate off the team in spring.  A new member will be selected by the faculty to join the group after Ms. Fioravanti's departure.

Our group routinely reviews the policies of the Board making a particular policy the topic of review and

Regional Waldorf School Leaders' Meeting

Today, I attended a meeting of regional Waldorf school leaders hosted by Seattle Waldorf School and held at the Seattle Waldorf High School. In attendance were school leaders from Tacoma Waldorf School, Whatcom Hills Waldorf School, Sunfield, Whidbey Island Waldorf School,  Madrona School, Three Cedars Waldorf School, and Olympia Waldorf School.  Among the topics we discussed were areas of future collaboration, and the region's relationship to The Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA).

Possible areas of collaboration within our region are mentoring and evaluation, shared adult education events, and shared faculty events.
  Last year, Seattle Waldorf School hosted a

Pogo A-Go-Go

Grade Five is featured again today, as they enjoy the gleeful exuburance of pogo stick races with Movement Teacher Bryan McGriff.  The pogo sticks were a donation from a grandparent and come in a number of different sizes to fit our grade school students.  This morning at recess, kids were lining up for a turn.  All of our grade school students are very thankful for this donation!

Winter Spiral With Seattle Waldorf School's Board of Trustees

Seattle Waldorf School's Board of Trustees hosted a winter spiral for current and former board members and administrators of area Waldorf schools on December 5th.  The spiral was held at Seattle Waldorf High School and was a welcome opportunity to build relationships between schools. This was my third winter spiral at SWS, and I always appreciate the opportunity to celebrate the season with beauty, light, and friendship. 

On Monday, December 12, SWS is hosting a regional administrator's conference, during which we will discuss such topics as collaboration between schools and AWSNA membership.

Geometry Lessons Applied to Gnome Roof Construction, by Guest Authors: Grade Five Class

Part of Grade Five with class teacher Beth Simpson and Handyman Dave DeShaw.

On Monday, December 5th, part of the fifth grade applied our geometry skills to the construction of the kindergartens' gnome house roof.  To do that, we measured the radius of an arc to establish the roof's dome shape.  Unfortunately, we ran out of tape measure space, so we determined the radius by means of a 'magical' string that ended up being the perfect length.  To complete our task, we measured the string, which was 32' 1/2" long.  Handyman Dave then asked us what the diameter of that arc would measure; the response was 65'.1", no sweat!--Grade Five

Below is an additional shot of the gnome house under construction.  This is a final phase of the renovation of Honey Hollow, paid for in part by the Fund A Dream at last year's auction.  The house will have a 'green' roof, with plants growing on top of it.  I'll keep you updated as the house construction continues.  Thank you for your generous donations that helped us fund the renovation of the playspace for our youngest students.

Workshops: Differentiation in a Brain-Friendly Classroom

On Friday, December 2, I attended Gayle Gregory's workshop  Differentiation in a Brain-Friendly Classroom with Pedagogical Chair Trish Bondurant and two  members of the Education Support committee, Nazneen Kateli-D'Souza (Grade Three Teacher), and Marla Smith (Education Support Teacher).  Hosted by Hamlin Robinson School, this day-long workshop provided educators with practical tools