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March 3 2014 Newsletter
Mulberry is Twitter-less
Chalk Drawing by Charlotte Schurer, Grade 6, 7 & 8 Teacher

Upcoming Dates

Wed. Mar. 5, 3:30pm
Bake Sale

Wed Mar. 5, 3:30pm
Board Meeting

Thurs. Mar. 6, 3:30pm
March Assembly

Mar. 10th to 21st
Two Week March Break 

Mar. 17th to 21st
March Break Camp
Please sign up in advance at the Office


Mon. Mar. 24
School Resumes


 
                   
 
The Bear and the Giant Bird
By Mhairi Gray, Grade 4 & 5 Teacher
During the snowy weeks of January, the grade four and five class were exploring the growing of a play named The Bear and the Giant Bird. Madam Talbot and I wanted to create something meaningful for the class to live in to. Songs were collected, books read, interviews conducted and discussions held on the theme which investigated what the first meeting might have been like between the French explorers and the First Nations Tribes. Mutual curiosity? Mutual trade possibilities?
 
Working both in French and English, the class sang and played with words, tempting the relationship between sound and meaning. There was an distinct contrast between 
the rowdy and adventurous Frenchmen and the steadfastness of the First Nations. Over the course of three weeks, we found many possibilities to play with form, shadow puppetry, costumes and simple props.
  
I found many things in this project including meaningful work with a colleague, a deeper experience of Kingston's beginnings, children helping and supporting each other and a generousspirit from parents and faculty.
 
If I close my eyes, I can see gentle firelight illuminating the faces of deerskin clad men and women and I can hear the distant sound of a french melody coming from the place where the sun rises... 
Lunar New Year
 The Lunar New Year is an important festival celebrated in many countries in Southeast Asia. The festival is celebrated for fourteen days with food, time with family and friends, dragon dances, lantern parades and fireworks. Families prepare for the New Year by cleaning their homes and making specialty foods to share with friends. It is a time to start anew: arguments are forgiven and debts are paid.
On the first day of the New Year, children wear new clothes and pay respect to their elders. How we act on the first day foretells the whole year. No one sweeps so as to not sweep away hope. Food is plentiful on New Year’s day: whole chickens and fish are eaten to symbolize abundance; eating noodles symbolizes long life. There always has to be food left over after the New Year’s feast because it means you’ll have more than enough for the year.
Holly, our wonderful Morning Garden teacher, made this festival come alive at Mulberry by decorating the classrooms and halls, telling stories and preparing delicious dragon noodles!



Grocery Cards

Please help us raise money while doing your groceries! 
What are they? They are gift cards to grocery stores. Cards are the equivalent of cash and come in $250, $100 and $50 denominations.  They can be used at Loblaws, No Frills, Independent Grocer and Valu Mart stores. You can use up the total value of the card or retain a balance for your next grocery trip.  
The very best part about the cards is that the school receives 5% of the value of the cards. 
Remember even a $50 card helps. 
Drop by the office before shopping and stock up on cards!

 
Grade School visits Market Square!
Links We Like
Inform - AWSNA February Newsletter
Article - Great Kids, Great Outdoors
Article - Kids Can Handle Fewer Rules, Can Parents?



Grade 6, 7 and 8 students are supported by a community of bakers to help raise funds for a field trip.

Queen's Teacher Candidates Noor Iqbal (the spinner) are sharing some meaningful work in the Kindergarten.

 
Enrol at Mulberry
 What kind of educational experience do you hope for your child?  We invite you to learn more about Mulberry’s educational philosophy and curriculum by coming to a tour or open house.  Tour dates are April 24th at 9:00 am.  Open house dates are April 12th from 10:00 am to noon.  The Administration will be present to chat about finances.  We welcome all questions! Enrolment is reserved for current families, including Parent and Child families, until March 3rd after which enrolment is open to the public. 
 Skating at Market Square
Mulberry Waldorf School is looking for a part-time French Teacher for our Grade School. For more information see our website
Be a Parent Rep!
By Jessica Bosso, Parent Rep Coordinator.
The responsibility for the success of every activity of a class lies with the teacher. However, the quality of that success is greatly shaped by the support each teacher receives from the school and from the parent body. Parents have a wealth of experience, talent, and dedication to offer a teacher and, as a way to best access this resource, each class at the school has a Parent Rep who volunteers to help the teacher for the year. 
The role and tasks of the Parent Rep vary from year to year, and teacher to teacher, but may include:
  • Organize volunteers for field trips, laundry, cleaning, festivals, etc.
  • Plan class social events, for example potlucks
  • Send out reminders of upcoming events
  • Help the teacher with any needs as they are able
  • Coordinate end of year thank you baskets for all school staff
  • Helping facilitate communication between parents and the school, for example:
  • If a parent has a question or concern linking him or her to the correct resource in the school whether it is a teacher, the administrator, faculty chair, etc.
  • Collecting ideas/suggestions for parent talks
  • Being a support person for both parents and the teacher
Parent Reps for the early childhood classes are usually volunteers solicited by the teachers in September.  The grade school parent reps usually volunteer for the next school year by the end of the current school year; some stay with the class teacher for multiple years as the class moves up through the grades.  Some classes may also have multiple parent reps to help share the work. 
If you are interested in volunteering for 2014-2015 approach your teacher with your idea!

This year’s parent reps are:
Parent and Child: Jeni Juranics
Morning Garden: Christine Chapman & Sadiqa Khan
Clover Garden: Serena Manson
Meadow Garden: Stana Luxford
Grade 1: Nicole Denelzen
Grade 2-3: Jessica Bosso
Grade 4-5: Liz Grier
Grade 6-7-8: Leann Cunningham, Michel Belanger & Ned Dickens

Our meetings alternate between Thursday mornings at 9am and the school, and Monday evenings at 9pm via teleconference to facilitate parents who work in and outside of the home.

Block printing hand bills and posters for "The Tragedie of Julius Caesar". 
Thanks to Leann, Grade 6 parent.


Chalkboard drawing by Laura Gerrity, Grade 1 Class Teacher
 

Chalk Drawing, Mhairi Gray, Class Teacher Grade 4 and 5


Alumni News
by Nancy MacMillan,
Co-founder Mulberry School
I have written about my daughter Elena before –with respect to her being in second year kinesiology at U of T  – and far away from her early childhood days at Mulberry 20 years ago.  She recently called and excitedly told me about her class that day.  Her professor was speaking about education and that it was not providing what a child needed to develop their “self.”  He then, to her great surprise, put up slides of children playing recorder – and a classroom full of beautiful natural elements, children throwing beanbags while counting, and, well you get it – a Waldorf School.  He told these university students that at a Waldorf School children are allowed to be children and to play and develop a love and curiousity for learning, and most importantly to develop their “selves” – something he finds sorely lacking amongst youth today. 
Elena now has a new respect for her unique elementary years at Mulberry, and an understanding of what makes her a step ahead of many of her peers – a “self.”  Academic validation at its best!
 

Watercolour from Grade 4 & 5


CarPooling 101
By Jessica Bosso, Driver of the Bosso-mobile

For those families who don’t live within a short walk of the school, there is always the question each year of how to get to school.  As there is no bus, parents in the past have been left to find their own arrangements by word of mouth at the school, or some have taken to posting adverts in the front hall bulletin board to try and find another family to share a ride with. 
Living out of town up on Sydenham Road, the environmentalist in me cringes with the daily drive in and out of town five days a week.  With three boys at the school, spread over six years from SK to Grade Four, at times I’ve made the trip six times in a single day: in for morning drop-off then back home, back in for lunch pick-up, and then home, then back in for the end of the grade school day and back home.  Over the years what has made this easier to manage, has been finding other families to car pool with!
For example, last year we drove another child into school three mornings a week and in exchange they took our three boys on the PD Days.  Other families with fewer children, or bigger vehicles, have traded off school runs one for one.  For example one family doing the drop-offs and another doing pick-ups.  Other families with younger children in the half day programs have specifically paired up and signed up for Mary’s Parent and Child classes on different days so they could take turns with the lunch time pick-ups of older siblings in the half day programs.
This year, with another family who also lives out of town, on occasions when the family couldn’t juggle the school run due to the parents’ work schedule we’ve taken another child to school, or brought them home afterwards.  We also have a standing offer with our closest neighbour that if a parent is unable to drive due to illness in the family or car troubles, a phone call is all that is needed for a back-up driver to arrive!
The arrangements have evolved over time as we have gotten to know more families in the school.  Recognizing that particularly at the ECE level, it is harder for parents to meet, the Parent Reps have put together an online sign-up list to help facilitate carpooling.

There you can register if you’re looking for a carpool “buddy” or if you’re available for an occasional or emergency school run.

Did you know?  The office has three spare booster seats you can borrow if you find yourself short a seat!  Ask at reception if you need to borrow a seat for the day.

 



Queen's Teacher Candidates Christine Fisher (the miller) sharing some meaningful work in the Kindergarten.


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Our mailing address is:
25 Markland st., Kingston, ON
www.mulberrywaldorschool.ca