The Fall Festival of Courage: Embracing Tradition, Community, and Apples
At Gathering Waters, our Fall Festival of Courage marks the first major gathering of the academic year, offering a chance to welcome new families in an atmosphere of warmth and inclusion. A harvest of community, warmth, and courage to fortify us for the upcoming cold months of winter.
Astronomy in Waldorf Education
Astronomy offers an example of this scaffolding and progression of Waldorf education, bridging scientific observation with the developmental journey of the human being.
The Role of Handwork in Development
Why do students at Gathering Waters learn to knit, sew, embroider, and crochet across the grades? In Waldorf education, handwork is a living part of how children learn and grow, often revealing qualities parents recognize at home: patience taking root, confidence building, and pride in work done with care.
Movement in Education
Walk through the halls or step onto the playground at Gathering Waters Charter School, and you'll quickly notice something: the children are moving!
Integrating Science and Art
In the seventh grade physics block, students explore the concept of acoustics. One of the key experiments involves a monochord, a long, hollow wooden box with a violin string stretched across its length.
Head, Heart, and Hands: The Threefold Nature of Learning in Waldorf Education
In Waldorf education, learning is not confined to the intellect alone. Instead, it is a holistic experience that engages the whole human being—head, heart, and hands.
Everyone is a Musician!
The holiday season is always filled with music, everywhere you go—from Bing Crosby to Mariah Carey to Benjamin Britten. No matter our tastes, music helps us tap into moods and feelings.
The Class Play
Theater awakens both individuality and community. In Waldorf schools, the class play is a rite of passage for students and teachers. Everyone comes through the experience changed.
The Importance of Rhythm
For our students, we know that consistency and rhythm are the foundations for a healthy relationship with the world around them. Children are carried along by the rhythms of the world in which they live.
Why the Practical Arts Are So Central to Waldorf Education
The answer lies in the purposeful design of the Waldorf handwork and practical arts curriculum, which follows the developmental stages of the child through 12th grade.