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!

A Snapshot From the Minnows Preschool

Vegetable soup day in the Minnows class means plenty of work for all the students, and delicious results!

Time to Play: It's Fun and Fruitful

Our Parent and Child class enjoyed circle time one recent, clear morning. There is plenty of play to be had in our Early Childhood classes: Parent and Child, Preschool, and Kindergarten. In the November/December issue of Scientific American, in an article entitled, 'The Death of Preschool', by Paul Tullis, the fruits of childhood play are illuminated. More and more preschools and kindergartens are bringing in academic lessons via lectures and tests, despite research that shows these activities work against the learning process and can be detrimental to later academic work. Although most educators understand this to be true, they feel pressured by parents and by standardized testing to show 'results' at an early age. Bright Water School's early childhood program protects the younger years and allows children to grow and develop as they were meant to: through play, movement, and exploration.