Weekly News from WECAN - May 29, 2020
Dear WECAN Members and Friends,
 
Greetings! This is our fourth issue of the new  Weekly News from WECAN  that we send out each Friday. The Weekly News includes a variety of resources and listings of opportunities for collaboration during this challenging time of the Covid-19 crisis.

Please visit the  WECAN Community Hub for engaging in conversation and sharing resources, with subgroups for Parent Child, Birth to Three, Home Programs, Early Childhood Teacher Educators, California Programs, Mid-Atlantic, Northeast and Southeast Regions and and a closed group for WECAN Organizational Members. We now have more than 750 members and would like to invite you to join as well.  To subscribe, please go to   WECANCommunity+subscribe@wecan.groups.io .

We are also offering a variety of  zoom calls for early childhood educators.  Some calls take place on a weekly basis and others are scheduled as needed. We also list other webinars and events that might be of special interest to you. Please see the listings below for the coming week.

The Weekly News also includes thoughts to ponder and resources from WECAN . This week we share some thoughts from Stephanie Hoelscher from the Orchard Valley Waldorf School in Vermont, out of her participation in an ad hoc WECAN research group working on questions related to the current Cov id-19 crisis.

Our  WECAN Spring Appeal  is still taking place! We are so grateful to so many of you who have offered such generous gifts of support for our work. We hope others will want to participate as well! See below to make a donation. 

And we invite our WECAN Community Groups io. participants and our colleagues throughout the Waldorf early childhood movement to join WECAN as Individual Members for the upcoming school year. New Members will receive copies of our spring Gateways newsletters in addition to other membership benefits. See link below.

And finally: Our Spring Book Sale continues for one more we ek, and we are delighted to add a new book by Helle Heckmann, Five Golden Keys, just a few days before her zoom talk on Sunday, listed below.


With warm wishes,
Susan Howard
WECAN Coordinator  
 
Looking Ahead - Our Journey

" Do the best you can until you know better. 
Then when you know better, do better.”
-Maya Angelou

Schools around the country began to close. Our nation’s largest cities emptied. Life as we knew it ceased as people – people everywhere -- stayed home. We had to stay home to stay safe. And amidst the swirl of fear and uncertainty and alone in our isolation, a single question beamed out from the confines of our homes to bring us together: “What about the children?”

On March 27, 2020 Susan Howard recreated our online WECAN community group. This technological reimagining of community and its power channeled the tsunami-like force of our steadfast commitment to be in service to the children and families in our care. Now sixty-one days later our group has 751 members. At the time of this writing, sixty-one days later, 753 members have shared on 112 different topics with 432 messages.

I encourage you to linger with those facts and figures for a moment. Hidden within their objectivity lives, I believe, an image of a collective striving more potent than the fear of the unknown and more lasting than our questions about how and what to do. Polarities of place, form, personal and institutional biography that otherwise might separate us have dissolved in a way to allow for a reforming of a collective consciousness that has brought a shower of light and protection to each and every child and family in our care. Unceasing, ever-changing, searching, questioning and challenging.  This living digital archive of our community is a treasure.

Whenever the dissonances of this new reality get too big, read what we have done. Trace the path along which we have traveled. What is revealed in the end are not questions but unchanging truths of love, hope, and courage.

Stephanie Hoelscher

Steadfast I stand in the world 
With certainty I tread the path of life 
Love I cherish in the core of my being 
Hope I carry into every deed
Confidence I imprint upon my thinking. 
These five lead me to my goal 
These five give me my existence. 

-Rudolf Steiner


Join WECAN as an Individual Member! Click here for more information.


Resources from WECAN and the Community Hub

When in WIlderness - Applying Wilderness Research to Navigating the Current Pandemic
by Karl Johnson

Reopening- recent experiences from New Zealand and Australia : Two short video conversations from Melanie Reiser - AWSNA Community Hub and Password required:

A short interview with Kathy MacFarlane in New Zealand, where the kindergartens have been open again for five weeks. Kathy has lots of great advice to share with us!
AWSNA username and password required to view this video.

And an interview with Virginia Moeller of the Steiner Education Association in Australia.
AWSNA username and password required to access interview.
New from WECAN Books

Five Golden Keys - Embracing life with the child under 7 years

Sleep, movement, mealtimes, rhythm, and care: with these five golden keys, Helle Heckmann offers a simple and practical approach that addresses the young child’s needs in the best possible way. Helle, founder and director of Nøkken Kindergarten in Denmark, has worked with parents and children in over 50 countries.  

Order Now - WECAN's Spring Book Sale ends June 5th - See below for details!

Upcoming Zoom Calls and Events
 
TODAY, FRIDAY, MAY 29

Great Lakes Region I  - Ontario and Northern New York
Hosted by WECAN
With Laurie Harper Burgess and Heather Church, WECAN Great Lakes/Ontario Sub-Regional Reps
Weekly at 1 pm ET
Meeting ID: 893 0974 2662
Password: GreatLakes

SUNDAY, MAY 31

Our Uncertain Times: Finding Inner Resources
With Helle Heckmann and Stephen Spitalny in conversation
5 am HI, 8 am PT, 9 am MT, 10 am CT, 11 am ET, 5 pm Denmark
Tel: (408) 650-3123
Access Code: 494-307-661
maximum 250 participants. The meeting will be recorded and listed on the WECAN Community Hub.
 
MONDAY, JUNE 1

Teachers’ Imagination: The Inner Strengthening in Our School Community
Hosted by AWSNA
Leading thoughts from Ina Jaehnig from the Pedagogical Section Council followed by group discussion with Melanie Reiser
12:30am HI, 3:30pm PT, 4:30pm MT, 5:30pm CT, 6:30pm ET

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3

Reopening – What can we offer if children don’t return to school? Alternatives to our usual programs, including off-site activities, small group home programs, support for parents at home, and creative ideas
Hosted by WECAN
with Susan Howard, Magdalena Toran, Laura Mason, Cynthia Aldinger, and Sarah Arnold
9 am HI, 12 pm PT, 1 pm MT, 2 pm CT, 3 pm ET
Join Zoom Meeting:  https://zoom.us/j/92814450704
Password: WECAN
Maximum 300 participants. The meeting will be recorded and posted on the WECAN Community Hub.

Birth to Three - Opening up with Toddler Groups
with Katherine Scharff, Waldorf School of Saratoga Springs, NY and Heather Church, WECAN B-3 Coordinator
8 am HT, 11 am PT, 12 pm MT, 1 pm CT, 2 pm  ET
Meeting ID: 811 9684 6830
Password: Birth-3


 FRIDAY, JUNE 5

Great Lakes Region I  - Ontario and Northern New York  (Weekly at 1 pm ET)
with Laurie Harper Burgess and Heather Church
Meeting ID: 893 0974 2662
Password: GreatLakes


LOOKING AHEAD
Links and details for these calls will be posted next week.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10

Reopening - Electronic communications in the coming school year
with Susan Howard and Magdalena Toran, and a panel of presenters
9 am HI, 12 pm PT, 1 pm MT, 2 pm CT, 3 pm ET

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17th

What Have we Learned? What Do We Leave Behind? What Do We Keep as We Go Forward?
with Susan Howard, Magdalena Toran, Holly Koteen-Soule and members of the WECAN EC research group
9 am HI, 12 pm PT, 1 pm MT, 2 pm CT, 3 pm ET
Final Zoom Call this school year.
 

Click Here for Updated information on Summer 2020
Teacher Education, Courses, and Workshops
for Waldorf Early Childhood Educators

Click Here to view titles included in our current Book Sale