We’re really looking forward to the time when we can be together in person again — especially as it’s May Day and time for dancing and lemon peppermints and cake walks and a giant school picnic. This year we are marking the occasion with remembering our festivals of past years. Enjoy this glimpse put together by our office, with music from strings teacher, Justine Jeanotte.
Mini Magic Challenge, Week of April 20
Announcing the Madrona School Mini Magic Challenge: As we settle into a longer period of at home learning we wanted to offer the possibility of a little bit of fun, playfulness, creativity and shared inspiration to our collective experience. The Madrona Mini Magic Challenge will be a weekly activity where community members seek to infuse their own home and our shared virtual community life with a bit of fun.
Each week there will be a new theme announced. Everyone in the community (current students and families, alums and friends of the school) is welcome to participate. There are no rules. You simply work with the theme to either paint, draw, photograph, craft or make a related offering. The theme is designed for families to collaborate or older students to work alone. It need not take more than an hour (except for those who go wild).
Our first week's theme is "flowers". They can be real or created, one or a field full. Using either the natural world or your imagination or both, use the theme of flower(s) to make some "mini magic" for Madrona School!
From Sofia
Madrona At Home
Hello to you all from our bedroom offices, our couch classrooms and our kitchen science labs! We wish you good health and lots of rest. We miss our in-person community very much and we look forward to a time in the near future when we can gather together in our classrooms and as a school. In the meantime, Madrona School is continuing to offer learning materials and community through our program, Madrona At Home. Please reach out if you have any questions or concerns — we are always happy to hear from you!
Our head of school, Deborah Newlen shared the following in our newsletter after our first full week of COVID-19 related closure:
A Few Madrona at Home Tips for Families From Deborah
As we all live into our new shared experience, we can discover what works and supports us and our children. What follows is my list of tips based on the last week of alternate reality. Please feel free to email me with your ideas and we will include them in next week’s newsletter. It would be great to have the “Madrona Brain” transcend sharing in individual classes and represent community wide thinking.
Absolutely get outside for an hour a day, especially if you are spending more time at the computer than is normal.
Take a bath with Epsom salts and/or an essential oils.
Do something to distinguish down time from “on” time and remember to still create dedicated personal and family time that is not about work or school or specific responsibilities.
Check out the many museums online that have posted some or all of their collections because of the coronavirus.
Write a physical letter to someone you care about.
Notice that it is glorious spring; nature’s shelter in place season has passed.
— edited from our weekly newsletter, March 24, 2020
Madrona School Alphabet (U)
‘U’ is for Madrona School’s unhurried approach to beginning school. Our youngest students attend Madrona with their parents or caregivers as a part of our parent-child program. This unique once-weekly class allows children a gentle, warm and nurturing introduction to school as a social setting outside of their homes, and it provides a community for their caregivers too. We offer a warm snack, lots of time to play with our open-ended and natural toys both indoors and out, a circle time with songs and story and some parent education. It's a mini-version of our preschool and kindergarten classes, in effect, and serves to introduce families to Waldorf education, as well as support them in creating a rich, nurturing home environment. As a parent, you'll find yourself learning songs for transitions that you'll still sing years later! This class is also often the beginning of a class community , and some of our grade school students (and their parents!) "met" in parent-child.
