We appreciate everyone who came together on Monday to join in our morning of service! We assembled more than 200 weekend food packs, made dozens of blankets, cards, and knit items, and participated in the "On the Same Page" program engaging with and responding to poetry written by incarcerated individuals.

Special thanks to those who led activities and assisted with clean up and strike, including: Ava Beckman, Vanessa Beckman, Carly Blackstone, Taylor Blackstone, Emily Bliss, Keith Brooks, Danielle Koslowski, Christen Leonard, Lauryn Morley, Justin Pyles, Kellye Quirk, Jesse Travis, and Vanessa Vargas.

A reminder that we still need volunteers to deliver the food packs to Food for Others in Fairfax (you will need to drive a large SUV or the school van), food pantry donations to Saint Cyprian Roman Catholic Church in DC, and cards to local first responders.

Our collection drives continue through Friday:

• Food Drive in partnership with Holy Comforter - Saint Cyprian Roman Catholic Church (Stacey Kornegay's church) to stock their local food pantry, helping DC neighbors in need. View needed items.
• Grocery Gift Cards - WWS has long supported the Samaritan Ministry of Greater Washington. They welcome donations of $25 grocery gift cards to Giant, Safeway, Walmart, or Target.
• Essential Clothing & Supplies - Assist refugee families by donating to the Migrant Solidarity Network, 20 local nonprofits organized under a single umbrella to assist refugees arriving at Union Station. View needed items.

We are thrilled that our High School "Clowning" elective was selected as an editor's pick "Coolest High School Courses" in the current Bethesda Magazine "Best of Bethesda" issue. Teacher Laurent André was interviewed for the profile and was able to share how Clowning class is an example of the opportunities we offer our students to build skills that will serve them in many capacities as they venture forth in the world.

January

19/ Thursday

• MS/HS Morning Tour, 9am
• G8 Evening with the High School, 7pm

21/ Saturday

• CG Open House, 10am

23/ Monday

• G2 Parent/Guardian Evening, 7:30pm

25/ Wednesday

• Lunch Music, 12:10pm & 12:40pm (see below)
• Songbirds Parent/Guardian Evening, 7pm
• Waldorf in the Woods Parent/Guardian Evening, 7pm

26/ Thursday

• Whole School Morning Tour, 9am
• G1-12 Pep Rally (during school)

27/ Friday

• Senior Night Basketball Games at Burke, 4pm & 5:30pm

27-28/ Friday-Saturday

• Green Meadow Basketball Friendship Games (No Classes G7 & G8)

View the Calendar of School Days for the 2022-2023 School Year

The Music Faculty cordially invites you to our next Lunch Music offering.

Wednesday, Jan 25, HS at 12:10pm & Grades 3 & 4 at 12:40pm

The program for Jan 25 will include High School Strings Ensemble and High School Choir, followed by Grades 3 and 4, songs and dances.

Please feel free to come to the auditorium, bring your lunch and stay for the music. Due to the staggered schedule for HS and LS lunch periods there will be a 20 minute pause in the middle of the program. All are welcome and may come and go (quietly please). Masks are optional and will be provided. We recommend that community members mask when not actively eating or drinking as the auditorium can be quite a full house!

Any questions can be sent to Jennifer Robinson.

"Teaching in a World on Fire"

talk by David Barham (Visiting High School Teacher)

Thursday, Feb 2 at 7pm at WWS

Join us for a talk about Waldorf high school education and the worldwide Waldorf movement with David Barham. David recently completed the American Transcendentalists morning lesson block with the Class of 2023 at WWS. He has taught for 29 years in Waldorf grade and high school classes at Pine Hill Waldorf School & High Mowing School in Wilton, NH, at El Papalote in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, and at Maine Coast Waldorf School in Freeport, Maine.

Now, David is no longer full-time in the classroom but serves as the Leader for the Northeast/Quebec region and on the Leadership Council of the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA), and as of September, has become the Director of the Waldorf High School Teacher Education Program (WHiSTEP) through CfA. He writes, consults, mentors, and dreams of a world where more children and families have access to Waldorf education. His children all attended Waldorf schools and his wife, Kelly Marie, is the Faculty Chair at Acorn Hill.

Help Celebrate the Faculty at the Appreciation Luncheon on Feb 3!

Once a year, WWS families honor and appreciate our hard-working, dedicated and beloved faculty by offering them a delicious luncheon. This year's event is on Friday, Feb 3, in the school library.

Thank you in advance for your contributions of food and time. Those who come in to help on the day have a lot of fun arranging the room and dishes and getting to witness the faculty and staff enjoying themselves!

To produce the event, we need your help in two ways:

1. Setting up, staffing during the lunch, and cleaning up.
2. Food offerings.

Sign up to help with set up, staffing, and clean up.

Sign up to contribute food offerings. Each class has a type of food assigned, but they are merely suggestions; if you’d like to contribute a dish that is assigned to a different class, go for it! In either case, please leave a comment saying what you plan to bring.

WWS and the Undoing Racism Working Group are hosting an in-person Undoing Racism Workshop, led by PISAB at WWS

Saturday and Sunday, March 4-5, from roughly 9am-5pm.

The Undoing Racism Workshop (URW), created and offered by the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond (PISAB), has been a proven change agent for over 40 years. It has come to be recognized as “the Gold Standard when it comes to supporting people to understand how racism dehumanizes all of us, and how it can be undone" (pisab.org). We’ve seen the URW’s impact powerfully evidenced in those of us who have participated in a virtual session and gather monthly to use it as the foundation for our anti-racism practice.

The full cost of the workshop is $515, and we have sponsorship funds available. We will try to coordinate childcare among attending families. 

Please contact Jesse Travis or Dini Rao at jessetravis@gmail.com or dinivrao@gmail.com for additional details.

In the fall we happily welcomed Madeleine Corrigan as our Adjunct Cello Teacher for the Lower School. Madeleine's musical education began in Northport, NY where she started learning piano at age five, and cello at age eight through the Northport School District’s Summer Music Program. To pay back this great start to her musical career, she returned to the program as an assistant cello teacher in 2019, and continued for the past three years. Madeleine is Class of 2024 at American University with a double BA in Music and Literature. Currently, she is the principal cellist of the AU Symphony Orchestra, a member of various AU Chamber Ensembles, and a 2022 Koster Grant recipient. She is very grateful and excited to be working alongside Courtney Daley with the Washington Waldorf School’s string classes. 

We are delighted that Tina Walter has joined us as the Waldorf in the Woods Assistant Teacher. Tina is originally from Montreal, Canada where she received her undergraduate degree and then worked as a paraprofessional (as well as an arts and crafts teacher) before getting her masters degree in Social Work. She worked as an elementary school social worker and also provided counseling to women and children before taking a break from her career to raise her children. Tina has lived abroad for the past 5 years as part of a foreign service family in Nigeria and Myanmar. During her time oversees, she volunteered organizing activities for the embassy community and also did some consulting on community projects for the education of women and children. Tina is passionate about working with children and loves to spend time out in nature.

We are sad to bid farewell to Miriam Teitel Zarin who has served as our Director of Alum and Community Relations for the past year and half. We are grateful for Miriam's diligent work in our Development Office and for helping us return to in-person events like our Spring Gala, Welcome Picnic and, of course, the Fall Bazaar! Miriam has also laid groundwork for us to grow and maintain our connection with alums. We wish Miriam all the best in the next phase of her journey!

• BigSis Portal - keep your contact information up to date!
• Current Health Policy - updated Aug 29, 2022.
• Lunch program info for current families in ParentSquare.
• Map of the pick up and drop off flow.
• Magnus Portal for student forms.
• Bulletin newsletters.

If you cannot find the information you are looking for on ParentSquare, please email your department coordinator/administrator:

• Children's Garden - Cecilia Berg-Benson
• Lower School - Christen Leonard 
• High School - Bonnie McClelland

Upcoming Speech Workshop 

From Debbie Spitulnik (WWS Alum Parent & Former Faculty)

February 3rd - 5th, 2023

Unfolding the IMAGINATION

Unlocking the creative forces in the WORD

A pedagogical speech WORKSHOP

for all who seek to enliven their

speaking with Christine Burke & Debbie Spitulnik.

Location: Bethesda, MD

Cost: $275

Register: dspitulnik@gmail.com

or at www.theartofspeech.org

Richmond Waldorf School Benefit Concert

From Alexandra Porr Mazères (WWS Alum Parent)

Christoph Wagner & Joanne Kong will perform a benefit concert for Richmond Waldorf School in March. The Wagner & Kong Duo is praised for their musical sensitivity, impacting diverse audiences in transformative concert experiences.

Sun, March 12 at 4:30pm

Eternity Church 1200 Wilmington Avenue Richmond, VA 23227

Get Tickets

Maryland Lyric Opera presents Verdi’s Falstaff

Jan 20 at 7:30pm and Jan 22 at 2pm

Maryland Lyric Opera presents Verdi’s final masterpiece, Falstaff, which is more than just the composer’s successful "comic" opera, but is also a profound meditation on humanity from an artist reflecting back on his life and career. Shakespeare’s iconic characters come to vivid life as Verdi’s sublime music reminds us that “tutto nel mondo è burla” — all the world’s a joke!

Sung in Italian, with projected English supertitles. At the Music Center at Strathmore.

Running time 2 hours 20 minutes, with one 20-minute intermission

Get your tickets at www.MDLO.org

Donate Extra Beeswax! 

Do you have any extra/unwanted modeling beeswax or leftover beeswax candles? The third grade is planning an event where we melt and clean the beeswax, and use it to create new candles. If you have some you'd like to pass along, please leave it at the front desk by January 27th.

Sounder Sleep System®: A course to transform your sleep (online)

from Alison Babil (WWS Alum Parent)

The Sounder Sleep System® uses simple, gentle movements to calm your nervous system and bring you from an alert state to a state of deep calm. Sounder Sleep draws upon the Feldenkrais® method and ancient Chinese medicine. What people are saying: "I am having AMAZING results from the Sounder Sleep System course!! I am falling asleep without sleep aids, and it is deep sleep. I feel great!" -- Joni B., Sounder Sleep System® class participant.

Six Wednesdays, via Zoom, January 11th - February 15, 6:30 - 7:45pm

For more information and to RSVP: Email Alison and send payment in the amount of $145 via one of these - Venmo: @Alison-Babil | Zelle: Alison Babil | PayPal

*A limited number of discounted slots available for those who need it. Email Alison to inquire.

*If you miss the first class and are interested, please email to join the rest of the series. Classes are recorded.

-------------------

Free Sounder Sleep Introduction (in person)

In person at the Potomac Massage Training Institute in Silver Spring

Friday, January 6, 6:30 - 8pm

Register | Learn More

Alison Babil, GCFP, LMT, is the owner of True North Healing. She is a Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner®, a certified Sounder Sleep System® instructor, certified in Soul Lightening Acupressure, and has been a licensed massage therapist for nearly 20 years. She works with clients in person and via Zoom, focusing on movement education, pain, and sleep.

Helping Teenagers Though Music

From Leslie Brooks (WWS Parent)

Emma G, a colleague of mine, is a music coach, singer, and songwriter, and she has begun an initiative to help teenagers through music. Emma G's goal is to help young people live happier, healthier lives by staying connected with their parents and community.

Specifically, helping teenagers aged 13-18 with a 5-step process:

- Find their unique voice

- Step into their power

- Identify and overcome their struggles and anxiety

- Reduce their overwhelm to improve their studies

- Discover specific tools and language to reconnect with their loved ones & communities   

View Emma G's "Empowerment through Songwriting" newsletters on LinkedIn.

View her LinkedIn profile

DC Condo For Sale

From Tamara Minor (WWS Parent)

This exquisite two-level condo with an incredibly large open floor plan allows for well over an abundance of sunlight, fully renovated property with high end fixtures and appliances. Located near 14th St,16th St and Adams Morgan restaurants and entertainment, as well as downtown DC and Silver Spring. Garage parking. $1,199,000

Seller will entertain all reasonable offers and incentives such as closing help to buyer and/or byer agent bonuses. Developer has made arrangement with local lender for great financing.

Learn More

Cello Lessons

Christopher Fiore (Suzuki Cello Teacher with Waldorf teaching experince) has openings for private lessons and group classes in Rockville.

(860)-888-4453

www.satoritalenteducation.com

Doctors on Plastics, Wireless and Heath 

From Theodora Scarato (WWS Parent)

An expert talk about what parents can do about endocrine disrupters and wireless is now available online with Dr. Hugh Taylor, MD (Chair of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, Yale School of Medicine and president of American Society of Reproductive Medicine), Dr. Baldwin, and WWS parent Theodora Scarato. Stay tuned for more local webinars about environmental health. 

Published by the Washington Waldorf School

Copyright © 2023 All rights reserved

Picture of MLK Jr. photographed by Marion S. Trikosko, 1964. 

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