Studies Support Waldorf Education’s Approach to Reading
Written by Holly Korbey, July 28, 2020 via Edutopia Early in the school year at John Ruhrah Elementary and Middle School, co-teachers Darene Parry and Megan Healy were already diving deep into a lesson about the human heart, showing their fourth graders detailed anatomical diagrams and introducing vocabulary like cardio and circulatory. Surprisingly, the unit on “having a good heart”—rich in scientific dialogue and writing practice—is not part of science class, but English language arts (ELA). “Students see the connections between what we are learning in ELA and other subjects,” said Parry of the interdisciplinary curriculum at their school in Baltimore, Maryland, […]
The Guardian: Instead of rote learning useless facts, children should be taught wellbeing
Written by Alice O’Keefe, March 2, 2020 via The GuardianIn his treatise on the future of humanity, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, the philosopher-historian Yuval Noah Harari offers the young people of today some advice. In order to survive and thrive in adulthood, they should not rely on traditional academic skills such as solving equations or learning computer code. These will soon become obsolete in a world in which computers can perform such techniques more quickly and accurately than humans. All information-based jobs, in fields as diverse as journalism and medicine, will be under threat by 2050.Instead, Harari […]
Children, Nature, and Play: Scenes from the Early Childhood Program
The connection young children feel with nature is innate whether it is with the fluttering butterflies, the delicate yellow blossoms of spring, the mighty oaks, a mud puddle, scampering squirrels or the first snow fall. For young children this connection is easily fostered through their own pure joy and wonder in the ever-changing, dynamic, beautiful living earth. When we observe young children, we can see that they not only want to be in nature, but it is as if they are a part of it or better said, they experience nature as if they are it. We’ve all seen […]
Learning and Unlearning: Bringing an Anti-racist History Block to Richmond Waldorf School
Waldorf education is designed to meet the needs of the developing child, intellectually, socially, emotionally, and physically. Each class teacher has freedom to adapt the curriculum to the needs of their class, and this year our 8th grade teacher brought a new, and intentionally anti-racist lens, to the study of history of our country and our city. We sat down with our 8th grade Class Teacher, Ms. Amey to learn how she has created an 8th grade history block that reframes the story of America to confront the hard realities of the founding of our country, and to highlight […]
Remembering John Moses
One year ago this week, we lost our dear friend and school founder, John Moses. We look back on his full and purposeful life on this anniversary of his death with such admiration for all he accomplished, and wanted to share with our community a bit more about his life’s journey. John was born in New York City in 1939, and became interested in the teachings of Rudolf Steiner while in high school. He spent the early years of his adulthood working at Waldorf schools around the world, including schools in Tubingen, Germany, New York and Washington DC. Once […]
Remembering Maria Butler
Earlier in December, members of our extended RWS community were surprised and saddened to learn of the recent death of one of our school’s primary founders, Maria Butler (pronounced Mariah). Her passing occurred over the Thanksgiving weekend and was announced with an obituary in Sunday’s Richmond Times-Dispatch. Many within our community are more familiar with one of the school’s original founders, John Moses, who passed away earlier this year in February. However, Maria’s role was just as critical to our school’s history and to whom we have become today. John and Sara Moses began the first iteration of Richmond Waldorf School […]
Music in Waldorf Education
In Waldorf schools, music is at the forefront of the education and brought to students in a variety of ways, from preschool years through middle school graduation. Kindergarten teachers and Class Teachers sing with their students and bring music to their classes daily. Additionally, formalized music classes begin with the Music Teacher twice a week from first through eighth grade. Richmond Waldorf School is fortunate to have Loretta Walker leading our music program since 2003. We asked Mrs. Walker to share her philosophy and to deepen our understanding of her work with elementary and middle school students.
Creating Your Own Lantern Walk
In mid-November Waldorf schools across the world celebrate the Lantern Season and Martinmas. The lantern is a symbolic representation of the seasonal change towards darker days and a metaphor to remind us to shine our inner light through dark days. While the times have led RWS to cancel our school lantern walk this year, we want to bring this festival to you in another way! To celebrate the Waldorf lantern festival at home, you need a few things… A lantern Songs and verses An activity Food to share
