In this page you will find links to some relevant information. The information contained in those sites may not represent the opinion of Waldorf Academy.

Watch Grade 4 on Global News Friday, November 18

Most Recent Articles in the News

GRADING THE DIGITAL SCHOOL
A Silicon Valley School That Doesn’t Compute By Matt Richtel, October 22, 2011
NYTimes
Invitation to a Dialogue: Computers in School? Letters to the Editor, Published October 25, 2011
NY Times Sunday Dialogue
Despite being in the heart of Silicon Valley, Waldorf School of the Peninsula students are not caught up in the gadget frenzy that has consumed so many other school children nationwide. Computers are not used in the elementary school and they are used sparingly at the high school level. NBC’s Rehema Ellis has more. (Nightly News)
Go to the story Click Here

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Response across the country to the NYT article:
Are Waldorf Schools the Antidote For Tech-Saturated Families?
Posted by amywindsor on October 25th, 2011 at 10:16 am
Blogsbabble

Do kids need computers to learn? Some schools are saying no By Henry Aubin, October 26, 2011
Montreal Gazette

Do kids learn more without computers? Waldorf schools ban computers to help kids learn through creative, tactile tasks. Funny enough, many Silicon Valley bigwigs are on board October 31, 2011
The Week

Nashville school takes students off the digital grid: Some say screens dull young minds
By Nancy DeVille | The Tennessean, November 5, 2011
The Tennessean
Austin school says young minds don’t need computers (Includes video from news segment)
By Monika Diaz, November 9, 2011
WFAA News

Assignment: Education – No Screens in Class Waldorf education fosters a low-tech environment By Lisa Klein, November 8, 2011
Assignment Education

Students Learn Unplugged At Los Altos School (Includes video from news segment) November 10, 2011
CBS Local News

Play in Early Childhood:

Death of Preschool?: The trend in early education is to move from a play-based curriculum to a more school-like environment of directed learning. But is earlier better? And better at what? By Paul Tullis, November 2, 2011
Scientific American

Is Preschool Dead? By Lisa Belkin, November 2, 2011
Huffington Post

If We Don’t Let Our Children Play, Who Will Be the Next Steve Jobs?
By Darell Hammond, October 20, 2011
Huffington Post 2

All Work and No Play: Why Your Kids Are More Anxious, Depressed
By Esther Entin, M.D., October 12, 2011
The Atlantic

General Waldorf in the News:

Waldorf Education in Public Schools: Educators adopt—and adapt—this developmental, arts-rich approach By Laura Pappano, November/December 2011
Harvard Education Letter

Waldorf school offers unique approach to teaching physics and mathematics through art November 05, 2011
Conway Daily Sun

Charles Greenhalgh: Waldorf School can provide best education for your child Letter to the Editor, November 15, 2011
Conway Daily Sun Letter to Editor

Not Waldorf, but Waldorf ways:
The Mediatrician: Former Hollywood filmmaker Michael Rich of HMS studies how media affect youth. By Cara Feinberg, November-December 2011 Harvard Magazine

How writing by hand makes kids smarter October 6, 2011
The Week

Waldorf Partners:

• AWSNA- The Association of Waldorf Schools of North America. Find the latest research on Waldorf Education plus fabulous resources for Waldorf in the home. In addition they have a very exciting section on Global Waldorf that brings you articles and news from Waldorf schools and initiatives worldwide: GlobalWaldorf. Most recent was an article from the Telegraph: The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has launched an extraordinary attack on the oppressive system of state education in England. In a speech, he said that an obsession with repeatedly testing and assessing children undermined their personal, spiritual and emotional development. But don’t miss news on preschools in China, education in Tehran, Bogota and Forest Schools in Denmark.
• WSAO - Waldorf School Association of Ontario. The Waldorf Library has a compelling collection of articles online. In particular are the articles written by Jack Petrash from the Nova Institute Waldorf Education. “Our children will inherit a rapidly changing and surprising world. The best preparation we can give them is to provide a multi-dimensional schooling that develops the full range of their human potential. This is Waldorf Education.”  More on Jack Petrash below.
• Rudolf Steiner Centre - We are fortunate to live so close to a centre that provides Waldorf teacher training, courses on bio-dynamic farming, rhythm and movement, art classes, a book and gift shop and farmers market.  Current Programs
• WECAN Waldorf Early Childhood website: Our ECE- Early Childhood Education – is an accredited member of WECAN. WECAN’s mission is to nurture the work with young children from pre-birth to age seven, based on an understanding of the healthy development of the child in body, soul and spirit. Our goal is to protect and nurture childhood as the foundation for a truly human culture in the future.Waldorf Academy’s ECE will be hosting a WECAN conference in May.

Most Popular or current articles:

• AHWS (Waldorf Academy) Grade Six Media Manifesto hits the press: Students Pull Plug On Their Wired World
• The differences between Waldorf and Montessori- article in Globe and Mail Sept/09
• Do Schools Kill Creativity? presented by Sir Ken Robinson (youtube video, TED Conference)
• How Computers Make Our Kids Stupid Article in Macleans magazine by Sue Ferguson, June, 2005.
• Schooling The Imagination Article in The Atlantic Monthly by Todd Oppenhiemer.  A favourite for research although written in 1999.
• Alliance For Childhood New research shows that many kindergartens spend 2 to 3 hours per day instructing and testing children in literacy and math—with only 30 minutes per day or less for play. In some kindergartens there is no playtime at all. The same didactic, test-driven approach is entering preschools. But these methods, which are not well grounded in research, are not yielding long-term gains. Meanwhile, behavioral problems and preschool expulsion, especially for boys, are soaring.  Read and comment on the Alliance’s new report, Crisis in the Kindergarten: Why Children Need to Play in School.  September 2009.
• Ubuntu- Waldorf-South Africa Documentary A film by Michael Lovemore that explores the various Waldorf schools in South Africa and how they are meeting the challenges of poverty, multiculturalism and racism.
• Neuroeducation and Waldorf Academy A review of the Atkinson series in the Toronto Star on neuroeducation and how Waldorf education is ahead of the research.

Waldorf Lifesyle-farming, nutrition, crafts:

• Living Crafts Magazine – a Waldorf inspired crafting magazine that is simply beautiful and dedicated to handmade, earthmade, homemade. Get your supplies at our School Store and drop by the community room to work on your crafts and chat over a cup of tea.
• What is Biodynamic Farming?

Child Development and Education:

• Joseph Campbell Joseph Campbell’s work The Hero with a Thousand Faces is a seminal work connecting comparative mythology (fairy tales, religions, myths of all cultures) to Jung archetypes and our psychological development or maturation individually and as a society.
• Dr. Stuart Shanker on human brain development in human evolution A video featured on TVO’s Parent website.
• Last Child In The Woods, by Richard Louv Hailed as “an absolute must-read” by the Boston Globe and “too tantalizing to ignore” by Audubon magazine, Last Child in the Woods is the inspiring work that proves children need nature as much as nature needs children.
• Gordon Neufeld – Fortunately we have an Waldorf Academy alumnae parent who teaches Gordon Neufeld’s course. Look for the next course being offered in our Voice newsletter. But if time is of essence his book, ” Hold On to your Child” is thought provoking and a must read no matter how old your children are. You may even find yourself reflecting on your own childhood in a new light.
• Kim John Payne – A Waldorf favourite of parents and teachers; Kim John has been helping children, adolescents and families explore issues such as social difficulties with siblings and classmates, attention and behavioral issues at home and school, emotional issues such as defiance, aggression, addiction and self-esteem. Drop by our community room and listen to his CD’s. His new book, Simplicity Parenting, is bound to become a family classic. Check out excerpts of interviews a parent filmed on his website and watch video excerpts from his lectures here  and at Halton Waldorf School; Parent Enrichment.
• Nova Institute – The Nova Institute’s parenting work began with the writing of Covering Home: Lessons on the Art of Fathering from the Game of Baseball, by Institute director Jack Petrash. This book on fathering, published by Robins Lane Press, helped launch their efforts in parent education in both the United States and Canada. Covering Home was widely acclaimed and received the National Parenting Publication’s Gold Award in the year 2001.
• Right to Play – Silken Laumen -If you think your child is going to be the next Wayne Gretzky then you should read this book! The case against over scheduling your child, the problem with specializing in one area at 5 and ditching the x-box!
• Gloria DeGaetano -Parenting Well in a Media Age. This book is an excellent resource for family’s struggling with media and its impact on children. “A media age makes it easy for global industries to send their messages to the masses using all forms of screen machines, influencing society, our parenting, and our children on many levels. Rather than being personally-generated, our mainstream culture is now an industry-generated one, created and maintained by business instead of by individuals. To parent well in such a culture means parents must tap the well of wisdom within them.”
• Stanley Greenspan, M.D. His research has been featured in all the major media, including Newsweek, Time Magazine, The Washington Post, New York Times, ABC, NBC, and CBS news broadcasts, and the subject of a PBS NOVA documentary, “Life’s First Feelings.” Find his latest book in our School Store.

Early Years:

• Lifeways – a branch of AWSNA that looks at the needs of the very young, why daycare institutions need to change, and offers support for home and encourages a new approach to daycare. Our daycare is based on their approach.
• Difference between Waldorf and Montessori by Rahima Baldwin Dancy This is an excellent article in Mothering Magazine that Rahima answers fully yet also encourages parents to visit the schools. She also provides additional links to read more about Waldorf, Montessori and Reggio methods. We also sell her popular book, You Are Your Child’s First Teacher, in our School Store.
• Heaven on Earth “Parents, do you remember…bbuilding sand castles, digging for hours at the foot of your favorite tree, swinging in a hammock or gathering stones, twigs and leaves to build fairy dwellings?” This is the evocative introduction to Sharifa Oppenheimer’s website. She was one of the founding members of the Charlottesville Waldorf School 25 years ago and now runs a playschool in Virginia. She has written the incredible and practical book, Heaven on Earth. A sufi, a mother of two grown men, an educator, a visionary; enjoy her ongoing work and passion for Waldorf Education.
• Kindergarten Cram Article in NY Times by Peggy Orenstein that is very well written and supports what we do at Waldorf Academy.
• Alliance For Childhood- New research shows that many kindergartens spend 2 to 3 hours per day instructing and testing children in literacy and math with only 30 minutes per day or less for play. In some kindergartens there is no playtime at all. The same didactic, test-driven approach is entering preschools. But these methods, which are not well grounded in research, are not yielding long-term gains. Meanwhile, behavioral problems and preschool expulsion, especially for boys, are soaring. Read and comment on the Alliance’s new report, Crisis in the Kindergarten: Why Children Need to Play in School.