As a professor from York University explained to faculty a couple years ago at a staff development day, the tale of St. George and the dragon is an archetypal, universal tale found in many permutations in cultures around the world. Michaelmas is one version of the same old tale of meeting a challenge and through an odd combination of brave action and faith, transforming it into a positive outcome. There is no more perfect a note to strike at the beginning of another year of school than with this ancient call to “Be brave little one, you will face many fears and challenges through the coming school year but with a little help, faith and bravery you will make it through and overcome your difficulties.”

Why repeat the same thing, year after year? So that each grade can witness and can anticipate, looking forward to a more important role in the next year in the play. I suppose we could do a different cultural version of the tale every year, although that would undermine the anticipation of knowing what role you would be playing next year which is an integral part of engaging the young child in the celebration. If you listen to our young budding troubadours, you will find it is very much a topic of conversation among our young students what they will be doing next year in the play. Michaelmas is a collective marking of their growing competence and our growing faith in their abilities, culminating in acting out the story in Grade 4 when the curriculum will be introducing homework and projects and substantial challenges after the gentle preparations of Grades 1 to 3. The acting out of the story of St. George and the dragon is the collective coming of age for the new grade 4 students. They are now ready to launch their school ships on seas that will provide the opportunity for growth on many levels unseen at other schools.

In the end, if you have faith in yourself and your world and you persevere, whether your dragons are outer manifestations or inner challenges, you will successfully conquer them. That is an important piece of wisdom that still guides my life and I am very grateful to be part of a community that celebrates a reminder of that wisdom with their children every year.

Allison Hudgins, Grade 4 Parent-October 1st, 2009
Allison Hudgins was our Enrollment Manager and a parent at our school. She was instrumental in the opening of our Childcare Centre. She passed away 2 years ago and is dearly missed by our community. She was  passionate about Waldorf education and fortunately provided us with many articles that we wish to continue to share with our community.

Spring has returned.
The Earth is like a child that knows poems.

Waldorf Academy invites you to celebrate Spring on Saturday May 5th at our annual day of festivities that include a traditional maypole dance and picnic from 10-1pm at Hillcrest Park and a Family Square Dance at the school from 6pm- 8:30pm.

Maypole procession and dance is held rain or shine! (In the event of inclement weather, it may be shortened.)
The Maypole Festivities begin at 10 am. Please contact your teacher for further information regarding picnic and volunteer help for garland making and set up.

Later that day the Grade 3 class is hosting a square dance in the school gymnasium with a live band and caller;  a stompin’ good time and family favourite. Entry to the square dance is $20 per family.

What is a Maypole Dance

The May Pole is a tall wooden pole with a circular top decorated with flowers and ribbons hanging down to the ground. As the time draws near for dancing, each child takes up a ribbon and stands at its farthest reach. To begin, it is tradition that each person greets their neighbor with a bow and then greets the May Pole. Then the dancing begins. Leah Salomaa,a celebrated performer here in Toronto will lead the dancing and music as well as the Faculty.

The children sing their May Day songs and walk, skip, skip/step, or weave around the May Pole creating a wonderful swirl of ribbon around the pole. They keep going around singing and dancing, watchful of their ribbon creation until the ribbons are wound as much as can be. Then they turn and begin again as the ribbons are unwound and hang long once more.

Once everyone has had a turn at dancing it is time for playing in the park and eating. A pot-luck lunch with a spring blessing usually follows the festival.

At Waldorf Academy we understand that many home buyers in Toronto are not only looking for the right house, but the right community. They are also searching for the best childcare and school for their children or future family.

Waldorf Academy is a beautiful, small independent school nestled below Casa Loma on Madison Avenue next to the Corner House Restaurant. It is a home away from home, where children love to come each day because they feel known, respected and capable. We offer a whole child approach based on the stages of child development. We believe in teaching the right thing at the right time, an approach that is 90 years old and now gaining increasing support from the most recent scientific research on how children learn best. Waldorf Academy is often labeled as an Arts school but in fact we offer a rich, classical, academic curriculum. We integrate art in the main subjects along with music and movement, engaging the child fully in the learning process.

Our school attracts families from every corner of the city. Our families and faculty reflect the cultural and socio-economic diversity of this great city and all share a vision for a deeper commitment to education.

The grade school makes the most of our urban setting and the network of ravines nearby.  Whether it be through trips to the Canadian Opera or performing a play on the grounds of Spadina House, displaying art work at a local café in the Annex or cleaning the ravines, we are out there connecting to our city. The outdoor education program starts as early as Grade 3 with an overnight farm trip. By Middle School the students book end the school year with wilderness trips that complement the curriculum, challenge the individual and group dynamics and allow a strong relationship with the Earth to be formed in a very personal and profound way.

The early years program, which includes Childcare, Parent and Child, Playschool and Nursery, is a hands on, rather than a head start, approach. Children develop a stronger foundation for academic learning when it is experiential, imitative and sensory based. By the time they enter Grade 1 they are well prepared physically and mentally for a challenging academic program but never rushed.

Rudolf Steiner, the founder, felt that the best way to teach children was to teach them with joy.  It’s not surprising that 94% of North American Waldorf graduates attend university and an astounding 50% of these pursue post-graduate studies including science, technology and business.

Waldorf education began in Germany in 1919 and spread across Europe. The first North American School opened its doors in 1929 in New York across from Central Park.

There are currently 2500 Waldorf/Steiner schools and kindergartens in 83 countries so be sure to mention us when an interested home buyer contacts you from overseas.

Please come by for a visit the next time you are in the area or call to book a tour of our school. 416-962-6447 ext 225

Grade 3 a journey not a race to academic excellence

While most schools are focused on delivering a standardized curriculum that prepares the child for the EQAO test, our Grade 3 teacher is preparing a dynamic and experiential year tailored to suit the children in the class because she/he knows a 9 year old child learns best when the approach is artistic and imaginative. By the end of the year the Grade 3 students will have participated in a farming and equestrian block, built and presented a model of a shelter, built a real shelter, learned cursive, knitted a hat, grown a garden, performed in a play for all the students and the community, continued with French, Mandarin and music and go on a two night farm trip.

The study of measurement in the mathematics and science curriculum allows the children to discover how human beings orient themselves on the earth. The children will learn about the earliest attempts to mark the passage of time by watching the cycles of nature to the later inventions of the water clock and sundial, which they may construct as a class. How distance is related to the measurements in the human body ( e.g., the king’s foot being “a foot”) is a fascinating discovery for how the human being is truly the “measure for all things”.

At the end of the year each child and their parent enters the shelter they built with their teacher to partake in a Native American ceremony that celebrates their ability to communicate-cursive writing, to feed themselves- farming and gardening, to provide themselves with a home- they build a shelter, and to provide clothing- they knit a hat.

Which curriculum do you think will nurture the whole child? The 9 year change represents a significant development in the child. Discover how the Waldorf curriculum meets the child and provides them with a deeper education.

Applications for 2012 Grade 3 are being accepted now. Tuition Assistance is available. We encourage those who feel they need financial assistance to apply.  To learn more about our Grade 3 program and tuition assistance please call Sara Anderson, Enrollment Manager at 416-962-6447 ext 225

January 18th School Tour 9:15-10:15 am Registration Required

February 16, Open House 6:30-8:00 pm

The Annex Eco-Park Alliance Inc

Present a proposal for the Mcpherson Eco-Park
Located at the east corner of Spadina Rd and MacPherson Ave and extending to Davenport Rd, “The Eco Park” will provide green space for the Annex Community and supply renewable energy to the surrounding neighbourhood. The park site is approximately two acres in size and is an active utility corridor.  The site was previously used as a parking lot but is now abandoned and no longer serves the growing community in a positive way.  Through the efforts of the local councilors, Hydro One has donated this site to the City of Toronto under the condition that it is used as a park.

The central concept behind The Eco Park is to transform this abandoned parking lot into a park space that will feature renewable energy sources and a full ecological restoration of the site.  The original plan was to install a geothermal heat exchange system, solar pavilion and wind turbine in the park space,  additionally, native plant species will be planted throughout the park to reduce CO₂ levels, increase Toronto’s tree canopy, and provide green space for the surrounding community.

That was an excerpt from the proposal.  Councillor Josh Matlow has announced it has been approved but there are many changes that had to take place as a result of the feasibility study and the many stakeholders involved.

For more info please contact Josh Matlow or Peter Griffin

1 cup warm water
3 tablespoons honey or sugar
1 tablespoon yeast
4+ cups whole wheat flour
5 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 ½ sticks of butter, warmed
Slivered and sliced almonds
Sunflower seeds
Raisins
Green, yellow, and/or red food coloring

Combine the water, honey (or sugar), and yeast. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; cut in the butter. Add the yeast mixture and stir until stiff. Knead 5 minutes. Place dough on a cookie sheet and shape it into a dragon lying flat (side view). Decorate dragon and bake at 450 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Serve him for dinner!

Michaelmas has been celebrated at Waldorf School Academy in many ways. The common themes have been facing challenges and preparing for the winter. It has become traditional for grades one to four to prepare and present St. George and the Dragon. Another tradition is the serving of dragon bread prepared by the parents of grade five. The eating of dragon bread symbolizes both the overcoming of the dragon and the assimilation into our own beings the wisdom and power of the natural world.