Last Friday, Orchard Valley celebrated Michaelmas, a festival dedicated to human striving and to transcending the "dragon" of our time. Rudolph Steiner saw this ancient festival as promoting inner strength and initiative. The image of Michael piercing the darkness with his sword of light and transforming the dragon's fire into inspired deeds is a very real picture of the soul's task at this time of year. It celebrates "the human struggle of good over evil, of enthusiasm and devotion over indolence and cynicism."

The grades classes spent the early afternoon pressing cider from the bursting orchard, making vegetable soup, and baking apple crisp—for 150 people! The grades pageant was followed by a warm community gathering—the kind that reminds you how important it is to come together on this beautiful campus and revel in the enthusiasm and devotion of the teachers and staff, in the hard work of the families who give so many volunteer hours, and in the joy of the children who call Orchard Valley “my school.”

The Times Argus recently ran a wonderful article about our new On The Land program.

From Orchard Valley Class 4/5 Teacher Claudia Reinhardt: The fourth and fifth graders are reading the book One Crazy Summer as their first class reader for this school year. Not only is the book a great read written by award-winning author Rita Williams-Garcia, but it also features non-white main characters, which allows students of color to experience a reader as a mirror in a society that rarely provides one, while white students get to read a book that serves as a window into the experience of others.  

Eleven-year old Delphine and her two younger sisters travel to Oakland, California to spend the summer with a mother they barely know. Their mother, a poet and printer, gives them a cold welcome and wants them to attend a nearby Black Panther summer camp. The book explores some great themes, such as race, prejudice, friendship, abandonment, identity, and art and culture. It requires one to check one’s assumptions continuously along the way.

Our language arts periods have been dedicated to discussing the book, learning vocabulary (from civilized to wino), and working on reading fluency. The book has brought up a lot of great questions by the students. Fortunately, some of these questions can be answered by people who lived during these times including their grandparents.

The fourth and fifth graders have thus written letters to grandparents, as well as colleagues and friends of their teacher. They are eagerly awaiting responses via snail mail to hear firsthand accounts of how it was to live during the tumultuous 1960s.

We'll post some of what they learn in another blog post soon.

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From Grade 2/3 Mentor, Mary Fettig. Mary is a long-time Waldorf teacher working with new grades teacher Laurie Kozar this year.

Cursive writing is traditionally taught in Waldorf schools in grades two or three. After an imaginative introduction to the alphabet given in grade one, students are then ready for more writing challenges, and writing in script, known as cursive writing, allows them to work with greater speed and dexterity.

But cursive writing is so much more than that! It is a brain builder. Neurologically, learning to write in script, verses printing or keyboarding, strengthens eye-hand coordination, aids in visual and tactile coordination, and builds lifelong muscle memory. Since all lowercase letters begin at the same baseline, it is less difficult for students to reverse their letters. The spacing of words is controlled by the lifting of the pencil as each word is finished, thus helping students to see the form of words and the natural pauses in our language. 

Studies have found that writing in script, since it is faster, has a direct correlation to future essay writing, as the student is able to get ideas out and onto the paper more rapidly. Writing in script boosts cognitive development by supporting functional specialization--the capacity for optimal efficiency. Also, with all the looping and crossing over in cursive writing, pathways between the left and right sides of the brain are opened up and reinforced.

Let’s not leave out historians who cite the importance of cursive writing as it is needed to read historical documents. Lastly, it is truly an art form, one that we should not let fall to the wayside. A handwritten note is a treasure as any parent or grandparent can attest to. A will-building, brain-building activity that helps unite us is a win-win for all.

We welcomed the entire school community for the start of the school year on Tuesday, September 6. On the East Montpelier Main Campus, the special day was marked by the Rose Ceremony, during which the rising First Grade students are welcomed in and meet their Grade Eight buddies for the year. What a sweet way to begin the new year for all!

Orchard Valley's Farm & Forest Kindergarten program has a great new shed, thanks to a wonderful connection with UVM's Natural Resources School!

Each year the Senior Capstone Class takes on a project that involves creative problem solving in the real world. The students form groups, and community partners pitch their projects to the students. Farm & Forest Assistant Teacher Kelly Davis, a graduate of the UVM program herself, contacted the school to pitch 51�Թ�������'s need for infrastructure for the Farm & Forest program as a possible project. The school was chosen by a three-person student team who determined the program could benefit from a shed and set about to build it. The pole timbers came from one of the student's family's property, and the roofing and windows were recycled from an old sugarhouse. The siding came from trees harvested from the UVM/Jericho Research Forest.

The three students spent four days onsite at 51�Թ������� building the shed, as well as considerable time offsite pre-cutting all of the pieces for it. They also learned a lot about Waldorf education as part of their work.

“The new shed is such a welcome addition to our Farm & Forest classroom,” said Farm & Forest Teacher Lindsay Miles. “It not only provides space to store our farm supplies, but it also looks great and lets people know they are entering into a space where good work and play are happening."

Foreign language instruction in Waldorf schools strives to impart a deeper connection with others. Rudolf Steiner's view of education was not one of human beings who are restricted by their sense of nationality, but of human beings who think—and therefore feel—in an international, multilingual way. Learning another language can also give us a deeper understanding of, and sympathy with, another people or nation.

From 1st grade through 3rd grade, all foreign language instruction is based on the conversation between teacher and pupils. Grammar is not taught explicitly in these first three years. Learning to speak, to listen, and to understand is the only goal. The children learn to speak the foreign language in the same way they learned to speak their mother tongue, through listening and imitation. From 4th through 8th grade, French lessons increase in depth through the addition of grammar, writing, reading, conversation, history and geography, and even a class trip to Quebec City to experience a French culture first-hand.

Why do Waldorf schools include Handwork in the curriculum? According to Handwork Teacher Kate Camilletti, "It's not just so the students know how to knit, it's so they know how to DO." Handwork is about learning how to meet a challenge (moving needles, gaining rhythm, following and creating patterns) and to move through it. Beyond gaining specific skills, students learn to use their hands to create something beautiful and practical from start to finish, helping them acquire the ability to persevere.

The progression of handwork lessons begins with knitting and crocheting and progresses to hand sewing, felting, embroidery, and carving soapstone molds for pewter casting. The handwork class circles back to knitting and crocheting with variations and increasing skill development (for instance, kittens in first grade, socks on four needles in fifth grade), and specific projects vary by class. Handwork begins with knitting because it awakens, enlivens, and strengthens so many different parts of the human being, including building neural pathways from the brain to the tips of the fingers. Childhood is the time to build these pathways, which will serve them throughout their lives.

51�Թ������� opened the doors to its new childcare center in Montpelier inSeptember 2016, and the wonderful staff have made this a warm and charming place for the littlest members of our school family.

Located at 203 Country Club Road in a private spot off Rt. 2, Little Lambs was designed to help meet the growing childcare needs in central Vermont. The location was custom-designed to our specifications and is filled with sweet toddler-sized furniture and Waldorf-inspired quality wooden and cloth toys.

This is a new adventure for Orchard Valley, bridging a Waldorf gap between our parent-child program and our Apple Blossom program at the Child's Garden for 2 1/2-year-olds, as it meets the childcare needs of working parents. Currently, 24 children ages three months to three years spend between two and five days a week with us, for the morning or a full day.

Santa Lucia Day (December 13) celebrates the life of Saint Lucy and light for the longest night of the year (under the old Gregorian calendar this was the Winter Solstice). Lucia thus shines as a symbol of hope and light during the dark time of the year as we turn our focus inward.

The traditional celebration of this day usually begins before dawn, with the oldest girl in the family preparing delicious saffron buns for the family. She often wears a white dress with a red sash and wears a wreath of candles on her head. Boys often accompany the procession as "star boys." While this festival is nowadays predominantly celebrated in Sweden, the origin is Sicilian. Saint Lucy is said to have brought food to Christians hiding in the catacombs. Wearing a candle-lit wreath to light the way left her hands free to carry a tray filled with food.

The class worked together and baked Lucia wreaths that were delivered (with singing accompaniment) to the kindergarten and grades classes on December 14.

Santa Lucia Bread

2 packages (or 4-1/2 tsp.) dry yeast
2 Tbsp. sugar
1/4 c. warm water
6 Tbsp. butter
2 eggs, lightly beaten (Eggs may be accidentally omitted & all will be well still!)
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cardamon
1-1/4 cup of milk, scalded
5 c. flour
1/4 c. dried cranberries
Grated rind of 1 lemon

In a small pot dissolve yeast in water and add sugar. In another pot add butter and salt to scalded milk, allowing the butter to melt. Sift flour and cardamon into a large bowl. Make an indent and add eggs. Add yeast-sugar mixture, then milk butter mixture. Form dough. Let dough rise, covered, in a warm spot for 1-1/2 hours. Divide dough, creating two long strands of dough. Twist strands, creating a round wreath. Place wreath on a greased baking sheet. Cover and let rise for 1 hour. Bake at 350-375 F for 25-30 minutes. When cooled, you may want to top with a powdered sugar glaze, dried cranberries and lemon rind—especially so if you accidentally omitted the eggs!