Windows into Waldorf April 17, 2026
THIS WEEK’S ISSUE INCLUDES
Director’s note
Key Dates and Happenings
Dispatches from our Classrooms
Dear Waldorf Community,
My paddle’s clean and bright, flashing with silver
Dear Waldorf Community,
THANK YOU to Julian Mulock and the Directors of the Cawthra Mulock Foundation for the grant of $20,000 towards repairs, maintenance and improvements to our outdoor play spaces. We are grateful to the Mulock Foundation for their continued support and generosity.
Congratulations to Mr MacKinnon and the Grade 3 class on their excellent production this week. The story of Moses was presented in a manner that was appropriately serious and reverent for the older students and parents, while allowing the younger grades to find humour as the cruel Pharaoh dealt with a plague of frogs. Well rehearsed choral pieces and movement were strong counterpoints to the confident individual performances. The play was an example of how our program looks when we are at our best. Thank you also to the many parents who contributed to the amazing props and stage sets - a burning bush, river of blood, and Red Sea that actually parted. The community support encouraged the students to take this to a new level.
Preparations are underway for our Gr1 - Gr8 Earth Day celebration next Wednesday. Without giving anything away I can assure you it will be a great day of adventure for our students. I look forward to hearing stories on my return as I will be in Calgary next week participating in an AWSNA accreditation visit. These site visits are excellent professional development for me as well as work in service to our larger organization and sister schools. Please, enjoy the weather here next week, Calgary had a foot of snow on Wednesday!
Warmly,
Conor
Be sure to Save the Date - it is May 2nd at Hillcrest Park. A larger venue to accommodate our growing community.
KEY DATES & HAPPENINGS
The school-wide Calendar of upcoming events can be found here.
- Friday, April 17 - Grade 3 Play - thank you for coming! Pictures below.
- Wednesday,April 22 - Earth Day Activities! (info below)
- Saturday May 2 - Mayfair at Hillcrest Park!
Please see all of these details on our community calendar: Waldorf Academy Toronto School Annual Calendar
MAYFAIR!
Save The Date
What: Mayfair!
When: May 2 from 9 am - 2 pm
Where: Hillcrest Park
Who: The whole Community! All Welcome
Details:
Schedule:
9:00 – 10:00 am Entertainment and free play
10:00 – 11:00 am — Mayfair Dances (youngest to oldest)
- Childcare Group 1
- Childcare Group 2
- Kindergarten
- Grade 4 (3 dances)
- Community Dance: Hal an Tow (a song celebrating the arrival of Spring!)
11:00 am – 12:00 pm — Games (organized by Community Council)
12:00 – 2:00 pm Picnic and free play — BYO blankets and chairs!
2:00 - 3:00 - Take down and clean -up
Summer Camp Registration (Spots are filling up fast)
Camp will run weekly for 7 weeks starting on June 15th and ending on July 31st.
Registration closing soon!
New for Next Year! Sports Practise 2026-2027 Schedule:
We are pleased to announce that Sports practice has a new schedule set up for next year! :
Grades 6, 7 and 8 students will have Sports Practise on Mondays and Wednesdays after school.
NEW next school year - Grade 5 students will have their own sports practice on Tuesdays. Please reach out to Mr. Ankamah for further details.
DISPATCHES FROM THE CLASSROOMS
Info for Earth Day Celebration - April 22 - 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM
Waldorf teachers are organizing an Gr1-Gr8 Earth Day celebration event for students! (shhh, This is a surprise for the students, so please do not discuss any details with them).
Students will be grouped across the grades and go on a journey through Nordheimer Ravine on a dramatic scavenger hunt.
This will take place during the school day from 10:00 - 2:00 PM. It promises to be a wonderful day of active learning.
Thank you parent volunteers for signing up for roles that include chaperoning, supporting an activity station in character, or assisting with logistics.
Please have your children dress appropriatly for the ever changing spring weather!
“It is definitely springtime in Toronto! While walking in the ravine on Wednesday, we could hear chickadees, robins, cardinals, and sparrows, and we even saw two hawks flying high in the sky.
The air is rich with the fragrance of the soil, and green is beginning to blanket the forests and nature trails in the neighbourhood.” Ms. Agi
Kindergarten - Kortright Sugarbush Maple Syrup Festival Trip to enjoy Maple Syrup, Nature’s gift
The kindergarten trip to Kortright was a wonderful excursion to learn about the history of making maple syrup. We enjoyed seeing the syrup being cooked in pots over outdoor fires, the trees tapped for collecting sap, eating pancakes, and exploring the sugarbush. Thank you to all the parents that volunteered to come along on the trip to lend an extra hand when needed.
Photographs of the kindergarten maple sugar bush field trip on Friday highlights the joy in going on an adventure. Enjoy the photos where you can see each stage of the Maple Syrup making process was a moment of discovery and wonder for the students. There were explanations of indigenous history, plus tree boring, and sap carrying opportunities for the children as well as a boiler demonstration. Of course, the highlight was the taste test! (the group photo inside a wooden structure is the diameter of the largest currently living maple tree on earth!).
Grade 3 - Student Play gets rave reviews!
As a school full of storytellers we love a good play. ‘Graduating’ from fables and legends, Grade 3 learns stories from the old testament and performed the play Moses (Gr. 4 & 5 study Norse and Greek Mythology) emphasizing on moral, cultural, and spiritual themes that are meant to provide inner strength.
To a packed house, the students told the story of Moses with passion and humanity.
Thank you parents for all your help in making such a beautiful set!
Happenings in Grades 6 - Calligraphy is an Art
For the Main Lesson unit on China, Grade 6 students have been studying the Dynasties - some spanning hundred’s of years - from the Great Wall to the Silk Road to Forbidden Cities.
From Ms. Yu, students got a lesson in the art of Calligraphy. Chinese calligraphy, appreciated for its aesthetic quality, has a long tradition. It is regarded as one of the creative disciplines in China. Emphasizing harmony, nature, and mastery of technique, the most renowned traditional arts include calligraphy, ink wash painting, ceramics, jade carving, stringed instruments, opera, and garden design. Chinese calligraphy focuses not only on methods of writing but also on cultivating one's character and taught as a pursuit.
Such a venerated task, the act of copying down ancient calligraphy (and the thoughtful beauty employed in the process) is supposed to have a purifying effect on the soul.
"Calligraphy is sheer life experienced through energy in motion that is registered as traces on silk or paper, with time and rhythm in shifting space its main ingredients." Stanley-Baker.
Grade 7, 8 invited to high school application and successful acceptance support
Wednesday May 13th at 7:00 here at the school.
Educational Consultant, Sarah Claydon, OCT will present the process for high school application and successful acceptance.
This event is open to all but focussed on the parents of next years grade 7 and 8 students (current grade 6 and 7 students).
More details to come.
Teachers are Learners too: Story Sticks - A beautiful part of Waldorf education is “Meaningful Adult Activity as an Example for the Child’s Imitation.”
We all know that children do not learn through instruction, but through imitation. . . and as teachers we work to thoughtfully lay the foundations for a healthy, purposeful life(style).
This also means that as teachers, we participate in lessons that are being planned for the students. Grade 7 & 8 health and wellbeing teacher Ms. Grainger led teachers through a ‘story stick’ exercise allowing teachers to reflect on our own experiences of going through adolescence.
Using a colourful array of yarn, string, and textures this workshop invited participants to wrap a stick to visually reflect our memories, feelings, and stories of our life. The stick can become a natural emotional processing tool as each yarn represents an aspect of our experience or story.
IN THE COMMUNITY
Calling all Creators! Invitation from our Friends at Wychwood Barns to Exhibit at their EcoMarket
Market Date: May 24, 10 AM – 4 PM
Location: Wychwood Barns, 601 Christie Street, Toronto
Our friends Jane’s Walk are hosting their annual Walk Festival May 1-3
Since we are ‘Jane’s neighbours in the Republic of Rathnelly and we are a community of armchair urban planners who like to explore our city,
Tour routes to Janes Walk Festival will be listed here. Check out if there is one in your ‘hood!
Spadina Museum offering history themed summer camp
Our cherished Spadina Museum will be hosting summer camps this year. So if you are looking to mix it up a bit, information on their history centric camps can be found here.
