Education for the 21st Century |
|
Dear Families,
We have some wonderful events lined up for you, starting this evening! Our Fall Community Forum will open with beautiful Eurythmy and musical performances led by our performing arts faculty, our first Room Rep meeting of the year on Tuesday morning, and a special evening with Waldorf educator Patrice Maynard this Wednesday. We are also excited about our Parent Tour of the high school being offered in early November. Please see below for details.
A special warm welcome to our five Waldorf students from Myanmar who just joined us this week! We are so happy they are here, and so grateful to our host families for giving them a loving place to stay this year.
There are lots of wonderful photos of Michaelmas and other school happenings, along with a community spotlight on the fabulous Yasmine Mason of local favorite Fermentation Farm. Enjoy!
Reminder: don't miss the bottom half of your newsletter! At the bottom it will say "unclip"- that will unfurl the rest of it.
Happy Monday!
Warmly,
Alyssa Hamilton
Communications Coordinator
|
|
|
|
WSOC acknowledges that land beneath us and around us is Acjachemen and Tongva land. The people indigenous to what is now Costa Mesa were part of a group of Native Americans who crossed over the western mountain ranges from the “Great Basin” of Nevada, Utah and Western Oregon. They were hunter-gatherers and considered themselves stewards of the environment, "Keepers of Mother Earth." Instead of cultivating crops or raising livestock, they used what was readily available in nature for food, clothing and shelter. They used grasses similar to some still found in Fairview Park to weave elaborate baskets and construct shelter (wikiups). They also used local plants, stones and animals for such things as food, medicine, tools and clothing. For items that were not available locally, they traded with other tribes, traveling on land by foot or on water by canoe. Beginning in the 18th century, their culture was profoundly and irrevocably impacted by contact with Spanish settlers. |
|
Leadership Message:
Safety & Security Updates
|
|
Dear Community,
In late August, I attended the Orange County School Safety Summit, a gathering of safety professionals and school representatives that focused on strategies to keep school campuses safe and secure. The half-day session focused on how to monitor, assess, and intervene against a wide range of school safety concerns, including emergency planning, threat assessment and reporting, cyber security and cyber bullying, and many other areas that require attention to assure we preserve our commitment to maintain a safe and protective school.
Last spring, WSOC engaged a security company to upgrade our school security systems as a first step to improving school security. Unfortunately, the demand for this work is so high at this time that the upgrades at our school have not yet begun, but we are continuing to push for this work to be completed as soon as possible. In the meantime, we continue to lock gates and the school office during school hours. Thank you for your patience in waiting for us to open the door for you when you need to enter the school.
Improving campus security is only a small portion of the efforts that we are taking. In order to assure a safe environment for students, staff and visitors, the Board has established a new Health & Safety Mandate Group represented by Board members, faculty and administrative staff. The group will operate in an advisory capacity to the school administration, which is primarily responsible for carrying out health and safety compliance tasks. The first meeting of the mandate group was held last week.
As was reinforced at the OC School Safety Summit, 90% of the efforts that the school needs to make to protect the school occur by ensuring that “a shooter never arrives at your door.” As the designated Safe School Coordinator at my former school, I have completed many days of training in basic and advanced Violent Risk Assessment and Digital Risk Assessment. We are currently working with the OC Intelligence Assessment Center (OCIAC) to provide a school-wide assessment of our needs to improve school safety. We will also be establishing relationships with the Orange County School Threat Assessment Team (OCSTAT) and the Orange County School Mobile Assessment and Resource Team (SMART), all with the intention of responding to and resolving safety concerns before they escalate.
The established school culture at WSOC of social connectedness and inclusiveness is a great start, but it is important that we attend to these issues on an ongoing basis to ensure continued safety for our students. We will continue to make every effort to ensure that we are addressing all issues that may affect the safety of our students and staff.
Kevin McDuff
School Administrator
|
|
Tonight at 5:30 pm for all families! |
|
We are excited for our Fall Community Forum this evening! The event will begin in the Eurythmy Hall with several artistic offerings in Eurythmy and Music from our Arts Faculty. There will be refreshments served. Childcare for Grades 1-up offered by Mr. Jay- please email him at jbriand@waldorfschool.com. We look forward to seeing you there!
|
|
Parent Enrichment for Parents of All Ages |
|
WSOC High School
Click image to register
|
|
EXPERIENCE THE WALDORF HIGH SCHOOL IN ACTION! This unique opportunity to visit during the school day provides parents an insider’s look at what makes our classes, teachers and students unique. You’ll see that Waldorf high school students are engaged throughout each day actively, emotionally, intellectually and thoughtfully.
Because Waldorf education requires inner responsiveness on the part of the students, graduates leave school with a clearer sense of who they are and what they believe to be important, making it possible for them to give direction and purpose to their own lives. – Jack Petrash
|
|
|
|
Homecoming Dance
for all High School Students
High School students, join your classmates for an enchanted evening of dancing, food and fun.
Don't forget to buy your tickets in advance.
|
|
Celebrating Michaelmas in Green Park |
|
It was so lovely to celebrate an all-school Michaelmas for the first time in two years! The day began with a story about a dragon and courage, and then our students in Grades 1-12 journeyed to Green Park - part of Fairview Nature Preserve - to participate with mixed age groups in games of courage, skill and creativity led by Grade 12 students. St. Michael was seen on the bluff ridge in the distance, announced by trumpet, and Grade 2 demonstrated bravery as they collected tokens from the cave of a growling dragon.
|
|
The story of St. George taming the dragon symbolizes the inner courage it takes to face our human challenges. |
|
|
Click to watch our Michaelmas slideshow! |
|
1st Graders Meet Their 8th Grade Buddies |
Grade one met their eighth grade buddies recently as they joined together on the field for games with Mr. Brad! |
|
|
|
High School Girls Volleyball |
|
Our girls volleyball team is a small, but mighty group. Coach Steve brings a wealth of professional experience and an abundance of inspiration.
"I am very proud of the Waldorf Girls Volleyball program this season. In such a short amount of time, they have shown incredible determination, dedication, and growth, as they compete against veteran high school programs with over 11 weeks of practices & games under their belt. I am excited to watch this program finish strong in the coming weeks and hopefully take home a few wins for the Wildcats down the stretch!"
- Brandon Gonzalez, WSOCHS Athletic Coordinator
|
|
|
Grade 3 Moon Festival Fun with Luo Lau Shi (Teacher Luo) |
|
The Moon Festival is a very important holiday in many Asian countries and is rather like an Asian Thanksgiving. The Moon Festival, also known as the Mid-Autumn Festival, is the second most important festival in Chinese culture (the most important one is the Lunar New Year, or the Spring Festival.) Just like the Lunar New Year, the actual date is different every year. It is celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month in the Lunar calendar and coincides with the full moon, which often falls in late September or early October. This year, the Moon Festival fell on September 10th.
Of course, no festival is complete without food! Mooncakes are the most abundant treat at the Mid-Autumn Festival. These tasty pastries vary in style and flavor depending on the location. The students helped to peel the sweet potatoes, mashed the sweet potatoes, mixed the ingredients, rolled the dough into balls, and pressed the balls with a mooncake mold -- A round mooncake with a beautiful print was formed!
|
|
Grade 3 Experiences Shabbat
Grade 3 recently enjoyed experiencing elements of a traditional Sabbath. Known in Hebrew as Shabbat and in Yiddish as Shabbos, it begins at Sundown on Friday and ends on Saturday evening with Havdalah, a short ceremony that separates the Shabbat from the rest of the week. Inspired by the Torah's story of God resting after creating the world (Genesis 2:1-3), Shabbat celebrates creation and offers a respite from the hectic pace of the rest of the week.
Grade 3 is developmentally on the verge of experiencing themselves as separate from their parents and may feel "cast out" in certain ways. They are met with stories from The Old Testament, exploring stories of the Hebrew people being cast out of the Garden of Eden and navigating the world in a new way.
|
|
|
Crafting Fun in Playgroup
Simple crafts provide Play Group parents the opportunity to share parenting stories, tricks and questions in conversation. These autumn babies, made of wool in seed pods, spark imaginative play and imagery for young children, and add to seasonal tables or holiday decor.
-Holly Richards, Early Years teacher
|
|
|
Disco Car Wash a Success!
Thank you to all of those who came out to have fun, clean their car and support our 8th grade trip fundraising efforts. Donna Summer, the Bee Gees, Kool & the Gang and ABBA serenaded our 8th graders and drivers as they washed. What a great class community!
|
|
|
Community Spotlight:
Dr. Yasmine Mason, Fermentation Farm
|
|
Close to a decade ago, Dr. Yasmine “Dr. Yas” Mason, a Waldorf School of Orange County (WSOC) parent and chiropractor in Huntington Beach, CA, noticed that there was a throng of people complaining of gut issues streaming into her practice. She started fermenting vegetables for her patients, teaching them how to create and maintain a healthy gut biome with the good bacteria found in lacto-fermented (the process by which bacteria break down the sugars in foods and form lactic acid) products. Before she knew it, she was overrun with jars and equipment.
“I was running out of space in my own kitchen! I needed to expand,” she laughs. She landed on a space in Victoria Square in Costa Mesa – a stone’s throw from WSOC – (the square now houses like-minded socially conscious vendors The Water Brewery, featuring water with biodynamic, mineral-rich ingredients on tap, and Fill Up Buttercup, a zero waste refill shop) that had formerly been a pizza joint. The already installed commercial kitchen meant she had a head start in getting her shop up and running. In 2014, Fermentation Farm was born. She stocked the refrigerated shelves with fermented products and house made kombucha, and business boomed.
Her mission on her website is clear: “We are more than just a fermentation kitchen in Costa Mesa; we are a community of people that care deeply about reconnecting with handcrafted, traditional foods that are dense in nutrients. Specializing in probiotic-rich and restorative foods that also contain B vitamins, electrolytes, collagen, and minerals that are necessary for proper gut and immune system and overall body wellness, we serve the general public with the aim to heal."
She invited her daughter’s third grade Waldorf class, who were in the midst of working in the school garden as part of their block on shelters and housing, to come and learn firsthand about lacto-fermentation by making pickles.
|
|
Dear Community,
We welcome you all to FALL! What a wonderful time of the year...baseball playoffs, football and Halloween! We have our holiday up and on display in the store as well as a welcoming Fall display inviting a time of warmth, food and gathering.
Toy shelves will begin to fill in anticipation of the holiday season. Remember to shop LOCAL and shop small. We have stayed around for 31 years thanks to your ongoing patronage!
We have a new vendor - Generation Bee - who will not disappoint with products from candles to body lotion, body butter, lip balm, and body scrub: all ingredients are pure and in line with our desire to offer products with healthy, natural ingredients.
We have missed many of you...please come in for a shop about!
Happy Fall!
Love,
The Angels
|
|
|
Mon 10/3, 9:00a - 10:00a • Parent Study Group with Early Years Teacher Holly Richards (Parent-Infant through Grade 1 parents welcome)
Mon 10/3, 5:30p - 7:00p • Fall Community Forum and Eurythmy Performance
Tue 10/4 • Photo Makeup Day
Tue 10/4 - Girls Volleyball away game vs. Magnolia Charter, 4:00p
Tue 10/4, 8:45a - 9:45a • Room Rep Meeting
Wed 10/5 • Eurythmy Performance for Faculty and Students
Wed 10/5 • Girls Volleyball HOME GAME vs. OC Christian (at Pacifica Christian, 883 W. 15th St.)
Wed 10/5, 9:00a - 10:30a • Walk Through The Grades
Wed 10/5, 6:00p - 7:00p • Joint Kindergarten Parent Evening
Wed 10/5, 6:30p - 8:00p • Parent Enrichment Evening: The Arc of the Waldorf Curriculum Community with Patrice Maynard
Thur 10/6, 5:00p - 9:00p • WSOC Adult Education Program Grades
Fri 10/7, 5:00p - 9:00p • WSOC Adult Education Program Grades
Fri 10/7, 7:00p - 9:00p • WSOC Adult Education Program Foundation Studies
Sat 10/8, 8:30a - 4:45p • WSOC Adult Education Program
Sat 10/8, 11:00a • Girls Volleyball HOME GAME vs. Acaciawood (at Pacifica Christian, 883 W. 15th St.)
Mon 10/10 • NO SCHOOL: Indigenous Peoples Day
Mon 10/10, 9:00a - 10:00a • Parent Study Group with Early Years Teacher Holly Richards (Parent-Infant through Grade 1 parents welcome)
Mon 10/10, 5pm • Girls Volleyball away game vs. Newport Christian
Tue 10/11, 7:30p - 9:00p • Adult Education
Wed 10/12, 6:00p - 7:30p • Early Childhood Information Evening
Wed 10/12, 4:00p • Girls Volleyball away game vs. Bethel Baptist
Thurs 10/13, 4:00p • Girls Volleyball away game vs. Orange County Christian
Sat 10/15, 9:00a - 10:30a • Morning in the Kindergarten
Mon 10/17 - Fri 10/21 • Grade 9 Geology Trip
Mon 10/17 - Fri 10/21 • Fall Nursery parent conferences
Mon 10/17, 9:00a - 10:00a • Parent Study Group with Early Years Teacher Holly Richards (Parent-Infant through Grade 1 parents welcome)
Mon 10/17, 6:00p - 8:30p • Board Meeting (in person)
Wed, 10/19, 6:30p * Middle School Parent Meeting
|
|
AWSNA Waldorf Alum Instagram
Have you heard? We have launched the "official" AWSNA Waldorf Alum Instagram account celebrating the incredible work and undertakings of Waldorf Alums across North America.
Do you know of an alum (or are you one) doing great things out in the world? We want to know! Please share your news, great and small, with us by using the hashtags #WaldorfAlum or #WaldorfAlums.
|
|
|
Click here for WSOC College of Teachers, Board Members and Administrative Rotation
|
|
Waldorf School of Orange County
2350 Canyon Drive
Costa Mesa, CA 92627-3948
(949) 574-7775
wwww.waldorfschool.com
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
