Outdoor Education Option
We want to take you and your children out into the deep dark magical woods.......this fall 2010, we offer Thursdays at Shining Star Waldorf School...come join us!
Do you have children ages five to ten? Come join us for a term of Outdoor Education. We will meet for ten Thursdays, 9 am to 2:30 pm, at various locations around and in the metro area, to take the children onto the farm, into the woods, out hiking, learning about our rich NW flora and fauna, a true schooling in the arts of life long wildnerness and earth-centered ways.
We have two marvelous teachers at our school who will lead the program: Mariyah Burns and Elisabeth Neely. These two bring tremendous experience and background working with children and adults, too, in a variety of outdoor and Waldorf settings.
Children may sign up for a term, which is ten weeks long, or for the entire year (30 weeks) of outdoor education. Each term is $400 which includes materials and site fees.
We are accepting a limited number of students for this first year's experimental program, and parents will be invited to attend a Parent Orientation prior to the start of each term and to set up carpooling arrangements. We will put together a mix of inner city and rural experiences for the class, starting out with a month of farming, harvesting, and exploration of a SE urban farm.
Parents are welcome to join the class as helpers and will be assigned duties. Younger siblings may be invited to attend certain portions of the program as long as parents are in charge of them at all time.
To learn more about our exciting new program, and to sign up for the Fall Term, email shiningstarschool@yahoo.com for an Outdoor Education Application.
Thank you for joining us in this pioneering adventure!
Dear Families,
We are pleased and excited to introduce Shining Star Waldorf School’s Nature Immersion program for the 2010-2011 school year! This is a special opportunity for our children to engage in inspiring, hands-on learning at local farms and natural areas throughout the year. We will be outdoors exploring in the fresh air, following our curiosity, discovering the skills, gifts, and lessons that time in nature has to offer, and supporting the children’s natural sense of wonder and caring for fellow living things. It feels like a great adventure is about to begin and we are so excited to invite others to join us!
Where will we be going and what will we be doing? The fall term begins at the historic Zenger Farm in SE Portland for a month of farm days. We’ll enjoy harvest time and learn hands-on about growing food with the wonderful folks at Zenger. The teachings include activities with soil, bugs, plants, and the ecology of the neighboring wetland. We'll begin our nature journals for the year, and have time to play together under the sunflowers. As the weather changes and cools down in mid-October, we too will shift and follow the wild salmon's journey upstream to Oxbow Park. This will be the furthest of our trips this year, but worth it for the opportunity to deeply explore a place that is within reach yet feels like wilderness to children (and grown-ups). Here we'll seek out the fall chinook salmon on their spawning grounds and see with our own eyes how they are connected to the life of the ancient forest and to human beings. Coyote, river otter, and other wildlife come to eat the salmon, and we'll look for and identify their tracks and signs. There will be a great adventure one day, where a story is told involving all the children in a quest to ensure the survival of their "village." Secrets may be revealed by the forest to assist us along the way--a certain plant might provide sustenance, or Winter Wren could teach us his call that warns of danger--we will see! When we return, we’ll have a feast to celebrate, and the story will be completed.
All of the Nature immersion days will have a rhythm that normally includes a circle when we arrive, followed by our active and more structured learning outdoors during the early hours. Snack and lunch are brought from home, and sometimes supplemented by the bounty of farm or woods–perhaps apples that we harvest in the fall, or fresh nettle tea in the spring. In the afternoon we write, draw, or paint in our nature journals, perhaps we'll craft with tools gathered from Mother Nature herself. And each day will of course include a time for satisfying play on the land. We will end with reflections and a closing circle. Our intention is that when you pick up your children they’ll be rosy-cheeked, muddy-kneed and happy hearted.
Please join us August 25th 7pm at our grades school, 2120 NE Tillamook, for our parent orientation where we will discuss further plans for the year and let you know exactly what this program is all about. Look forward to meeting you all!
Sincerely,
Mariya Burns and Elisabeth Neely
About your teachers:
Mariya Burns is a nature loving, music making, storytelling mother, teacher, and student who has spent the last few years studying child development and early childhood education while also undergoing Waldorf teacher training here in beautiful Portland, Oregon. This will be her third year working with Shining Star where her two children, 10 and 4, both lovingly attend.
Elisabeth Neely is a naturalist and environmental educator who loves helping people find their connection to the natural world. She has been leading nature classes for children and adults for the past fifteen years. Elisabeth completed her first year of the Waldorf teacher training last spring. She is the mother of two children, ages 5 and 8.
