Golden Bridges School

View this email in your browser

Summer 2016 Newsletter

This Season...

Our Mission
Upcoming Events
Plant a Party
The Children
Site Update
Annual Fund
Enrollment

Golden Bridges School seeks to provide affordable, developmentally appropriate education, presented by Waldorf-trained teachers, to the southern neighborhoods of San Francisco. We offer an education based on the teachings of Rudolf Steiner that nourishes childrenâ€™s capacities physically, emotionally, and intellectually, cultivating skills of head, heart and hands. We are also focused on bringing urban children into the outdoors and using nature as our classroom for all ages. In building and sustaining bridges between the school, families, and the local and global communities, we are preparing children to be productive global citizens and stewards of the Earth.

School-wide weaving project completed!

Bike to School Day

Preschool Beet Harvest

Graders knitting in the Canyon

Upcoming Events

Summer Break!

First Day of School - Tuesday, September 6

Back to School Events to be announced later.
Enrollment open house dates will be posted in August and included in a separate newsletter.

Plant a Party

The 2nd Annual Plant a Party was held on Saturday, April 30th. Hundreds of silent auction items were on display, including a wide variety of handmade items created by our families and greater community.
We raised over $75,000 with over $28,000 raised specifically for our scholarship program. A great success.

The Children at School:

Preschool

This spring at Dandelion, the children worked hard to care for our garden and thoroughly enjoyed the blooming flowers. Each day new roses seemed to wake up, while others begin to dropped petals. The children collected the fallen rose petals from the ground and used them for projects, like fairy houses, weddings, birds' nests, decorating our stump circle, and even to make little sashes for mamas on Mother's Day. The children also been nibbled away at ripe raspberries and sweet strawberries, and developed a very keen eye for spotting when the berries were ready to be picked. They are eagerly awaiting the blackberries that are slowly waking up by the sandbox.
During our Hiking Day at Glen Canyon, the children became very strong hikers. All spring, we hiked a skinny and bumpy path along the wild oat and rattle grass hillside. As we walked and collected rattle grass, we listened. We heared the birds sing their sweet songs of joy and the wind children play amongst the wild oats. The children watched the forest change throughout the year - from fall to winter, and now into spring. We saw the creek slowly begin to flow down through the canyon again after months of being dry. We now know the calls of the hawks, the owls, and the doves.
Inside, the children became master vegetable choppers and bread bakers. They know how to clear the table after our morning work and to set the table for snack. They eagerly swept, washed dishes, and rolled oats. In the playroom, they set up elaborate puppet shows and had camping adventures. Our oldest children are wholeheartedly getting ready for kindergarten, while our youngest children are keenly working towards taking on the role of big sisters and brothers for next school year.

Kindergarten

Wind, fog, and spring light illuminate the children's discoveries and gestures of friendship this season in Kindergarten. Imagine starting at the highest peak of the canyon on hike day; we walk into the clouds. After a juicy bite of an apple slice, we notice the sun glowing behind the thinning clouds. Suddenly a child sees a friend in a new way. One with keen sight notices an iridescent beetle on the trail; they point it out to a friend they don't usually gravitate towards. The mutual discovery forms a new closeness. A child begins to build a structure with long fallen branches; a friend that has never built with them before finds the branch to create the perfect balance for the structure. The builder looks at this friend in a new light. One child attempts to harvest garlic at the farm. The root gnomes hold on tight and the child can not pull it out. Another friend holds onto the garlic stalk and together the pull the garlic out of the earth. The harvester looks at this friend in a new light. Indoors, a younger child watches an older child effortlessly form a perfect braid of bread. The younger child sits next to the elder and learns by watching. Together they make braids of bread to feed their friends. They laugh, smile, and enjoy each other in a new way. A close friend helps another fold all of the aprons in the classroom. Together they make perfect color organized stacks of folded aprons. When finished, the shared feeling of accomplishment helps the close friends see each other in a new light. With the help of mother nature, through all the seasons of the school year we learn to listen and see. This spring, the wild flowers reveal themselves to us in full color and the children's experience of friendship is in full bloom.

Earth who gives to us this food,
Sun who makes it ripe and good.
Sun above and Earth below,
Our loving thanks to you we show.

First Grade

The first grade has been basking in the love of music this Spring. Their nimble fingers have been playing their flutes and their bodies have been learning old folk dances to practice together. The letters and words of their stories came alive on their page as they learned to write and spell. Numbers and math began to have deeper patterns in the learning of the four processes and integrating the magic of math in all they do.

Second Grade

The Second Grade was busy integrating all they've learned so far and going further with their writing, reading and arithmetic. Cursive writing came in and now fills their composition books. They know can tell and write their own rich stories as they have laid the foundation for reading and storytelling. Math was rich with place values all the way up to the millions, tracking numbers as they grew, while still maintaining how they can be grouped and regrouped. Math worksheets were a big hit and allowed them to see how far they've come in their math skills with all four processes. At Golden Gate Park the 2nd graders learned more about plant identification, correctly pointing out in our own backyard all we can eat - blackberries, fennel, nasturtiums, and all that is poisonous - hemlock, poison oak, and irises. The goslings were born again and we followed their weekly growth and marveled at how, by the end of Spring, the goslings were grown and looking identical to their parents, and ready to fly from the nest much like our graders flew into Summer.

Farm

As we march our way towards Summer the energy of the earth sends children into the garden with delight. There are pumpkins hiding under vines, pea pods handing from the trellis, dozens of flowers to pick and smell and taste! Kinder farmers are now confidant with shovels, trowels, garden gloves and clippers. They have found independence in digging and discovering buried treasures, bits of bones or broken dishes are unearthed with excitement! Our stories 'round the stump circle tell of plants that heal and phases of the moon.
This time of year there is always plenty to do at the Farm. Graders are experts at fennel, blackberry and Bermuda grass removal and our carpentry project is now complete. It was all hands on deck this season: sand paper, saws, and hammers helped us to complete and install the new entryway trellis! Come pay us a visit and see what's growing on at the Farm!

Nouns, verbs and adjectives in 2nd grade

________________________________________

SITE UPDATE - 203 COTTER STREET

We have a new design!

Our campus at 203 Cotter Street is making its way through San Francisco's city offices. We are finalizing our Environmental Report and expect to have a date with the Planning Commission in the fall.

In the meantime, thanks to parent Jill Fehrenbacher, we got some great press on inhabitat.com that has been circulating around the world (we've gotten word from both the Netherlands and Israel at least!) The article talks about the school and the design.

We have also updated our website with more information and pictures. www.goldenbridgesschool.org.

Case for Support - You Can Help!

As we approach our Commission hearing, we are calling for emails of support from any San Francisco resident. Here is a link to instructions for who to send the email to and what to write. There is even a cut and paste template. The more letters the better from as many residents as possible. If you or anyone you know live in Mission Terrace or the Excelsior, please ask if they will also send a letter. We are aiming to collect hundreds of letters. We are close to 200 already! Thank you for helping us by taking 5 minutes to send this e-mail.

Annual Fund

Golden Bridges was created with a guiding philosophy - to make an outdoor focused, independent Waldorf education accessible to families who may not otherwise be able to afford it. As we grow our little school, we are committed to that principle. This year we kicked off our Annual Fund with a goal of raising $50,000. We surpassed our goal, raising nearly $60,000 with nearly 75% of our families participating, as well as friends and extended family. Donations to the Annual Fund contribute to our operating budget including programming, teacher salaries, tuition assistance, outdoor education, farm costs, the organic food program, and the general administration of running a school.

And it's not to late to participate! Let's reach $60,000.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

Enrollment update

Our enrollment is full for the 2016-2017 year for preschool and kindergarten. If you are interested in enrolling your child in the 1st or 2nd grade, please contact the Admissions department.
Thank you to everyone who came to open houses and expressed interest in our school! We'll be posting more information in late summer about the 2017-2018 year.

Click here for more information on our enrollment process.

Thank you for reading until the very end. Please share this newsletter with anyone you think may be interested, post it on facebook, whisper its contents into the ear of an ant. Thank you for all your support!

Forward