Thursday, October 03, 2013

A day at Alpenglow...


Last month Isobel started preschool. It's a Waldorf inspired school here in Canmore and I really love it! The school itself was started a couple of years ago by a group of local families inspired by the outdoor focused Forest Schools of Scandinavia and has grown hugely in popularity in a short time. When they started out the school only offered early childhood programs but this September they began offering Kindergarten and grades classes for the first time. We were hoping to register Seb for Grade 1 but weren't quite quick enough with our registration. He's on the wait list and I'm hoping that next year he and Bel will both be there. In the meantime, Bel gets to go to school three afternoons a week in the early childhood program. Alpenglow is an outdoor immersion school which means that they spend at least half their time outside no matter what the weather. The Waldorf philosophy focuses on physical activity and learning through creative, hands-on tasks. Music, movement and story telling are used as teaching tools. There is a strong focus on the natural environment and every activity is influenced by the changing seasons and the natural world. There are no high tech toys or gadgets, no i pad's or screens. The classroom is simple with lots of simple, natural wood and woollen toys along with home-made playdoh, felting supplies and beeswax crayons.  It's such a warm and comforting environment and really does have an almost magically calming affect on the kids. The idea is that this form of early education helps children develop their natural ability to learn in any context, through communication, interactivity and creativity.

 Here's a typical day at Alpenglow.....


We meet in the back yard for a welcome circle and songs. Usually we'll head straight out for a nature walk. This particular day we started with some gardening, the kids have all been helping prepare a bed for planting bulbs. We picked up dry leaves and added it to some soil and turned the earth in the beds ready for planting the bulbs. 



Then we headed out for the walk. We took the wagon with the aim of collecting rocks to edge the planting beds. Along the way we stop and look at the ducks and the squirrels and pick rose hips and crab apples.



Sometimes we'll stop by the creek and simultaneously throw in little stones and listen to the music these sounds create. 


We collected lots of rocks and filled the wagon before heading back to the classroom. 
We stopped to watch a cheeky squirrel nibbling pine cones on the fence.


Before heading in to the classroom the kids go to the bathroom and all wash their hands then hang up their coats and take off their shoes. 




They each sit on a cushion in a circle ready for story time. Each change in activity is introduced with the singing of a pretty song. The story is quite a magical experience with the whole thing enacted in little wooden figures using play silks and props from nature.



The story is followed by another song to the children offering blessings on the their play. Each child waits patiently to be rubbed on the shoulder by a magic wand before rising from their cushion and heading off to play. 


During play the kids are free to play with any of the wooden toys, play silks, costumes, pebbles, pinecones, blocks and fabric dolls. They can also choose to colour with the beeswax crayons, play with the home-made playdoh or take part in another craft activity. 
















When play time is over the kids are all involved in putting everything back in it's place while we sing the song "Many hands make light work". We wash our hands again and then it's snack time! My favorite part! Each child bring a washed and chopped piece of fruit or vegetable to class and at snack time these are shared out for all the class along with some gluten, dairy, sugar and wheat free muffins provided by the school and baked by the parent volunteers during baking bee's. I love this idea! We always end up with a great selection of tasty and healthy snacks, a little different every day. On Thursday's we have a soup day. Each child brings a cooked and chopped vegetable which they each get to stir into a vegetable stock in a crock pot at the beginning of class. At snack time the delicious shared surprise soup is served!


Before every snack a candle is lit in the middle of the table and we sing a song thanking mother earth for her fruits.


At the end of the snack one child is given the special task of snuffing out the candle. It's amazing how much excitment and pride comes along with such a simple gesture.


Finally, class finishes with a goodbye song and rainbow hugs!



You can see that Seb was here on this particular day which is another wonderful thing about this program, siblings and parents are encouraged to stay and join in whenever they can. 
I honestly am so happy that we found this lovely little school, it has inspired me in so many ways to keep my parenting simple and focus on the magic and wonder of nature and of the small things that awaken the imagination in these precious kiddies of mine.  

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Beautiful! You captured truly what this program is about. Thanks for sharing this.
cheryl (Linnea's mama)

Spring said...

Sophie, your blog is beautiful! Love how you have captured the quite reverence of the Alpenglow program.
Warmly, ~Spring

Anonymous said...

Wow. Yes, this is really beautiful. Your descriptions are lovely and your photographs are stunning.
Thank you, Shannon =)

Anonymous said...

Tofino misses your family! <3

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