From Susan Howard, WECAN Coordinator |
Dear colleagues,
Here in the Northeast where I live, February brings new movement into our frozen world, subtle and hidden at first in the rising of the sap and the awakening life force in the trees, and more evident later in the month through the sweetness of maple syrup, the first snowdrops, and lengthening daylight. Despite the swirling snow around us, our hearts are filled with hope for warmer days and the promise of spring.
In this Winter News Update, we would like to share with you some thoughts on the power of hope from our Early Childhood Research Group, glimpses of the ongoing work of our circles of collaboration on the Board and in our working groups and committees, as well as recent and upcoming events - including, of course, our exciting upcoming conference February 11 - 13. We hope to see you there!
With warm wishes to all,
Susan
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Seeds of Hope
Holly Koteen-Soule and the WECAN Early Childhood Research Group
At the turning of the year, it is natural to look back at the past year and forward to the year ahead. What were last year’s lessons and what are we carrying into the coming year? Beneath our New Year’s intentions, resolutions and goals lies something deeper and even more fundamental to human life — hope! Hope is not wishful thinking. Hope is not optimism. It has a kind of ineffability, and at the same time, it is an act of imagination with real-life consequences. Hope is necessary.
Where does it come from? It seems to be an intrinsic element in the human soul. It appears at birth and, acknowledged or not, accompanies us through life’s joys and trials toward our individual and collective destinies! We can also find it in the world and other human beings, in pictures and images that remind us we can choose hope, even in the current confluence of challenges. An apricot sky on a frosty winter morning, a packet of seeds waiting for the soil to warm, a bitter scowl redeemed by a sudden smile, are fleeting images of hope.
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News from the WECAN Board
Louise deForest, Board Chair
The most recent WECAN Board meeting took place online on October 27 – 30, 2021, and prior to the meeting, Board members met with WECAN's Regional Representatives to hear their valuable perspectives on the health and challenges of our member schools and early childhood programs.
The Board has remained true to our intention to explore and reorganize our organizational structure in the light of our DEI work. The Board is systematically defining and taking up action tasks arising from the Living Questions document together with the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access Committee and Coordinators Lynn Turner and Leslie Wetzonis-Woolverton. The Board has tasked a small group to explore the next steps for our ongoing Board DEI training, including various possibilities for both individual and organizational training, and will bring recommendations to the Board.
We are striving to adjust our organizational membership dues structure to be a true expression of equity among our member programs, large and small, urban and rural. Further information on this process has been sent to our member programs. And the WECAN Membership Committee is looking at our Shared Principles with an eye to our commitment to DEI, a process which will include the Board and our Full WECAN Member programs in the coming year.
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Birth to Three
Magdalena Toran and Heather Church
We continue to share the responsibilities as the WECAN Birth to Three Co-coordinators, meeting weekly to carry out the work of our mandate. Please feel welcome to contact us with any thoughts or questions you have regarding the work with the youngest children in Waldorf Education.
On January 10th, we gathered via zoom with many of our colleagues (mostly administrators) in the US and Canada who work in WECAN recognized child care programs. This meeting was a wonderful beginning to what we hope can be a series of collegial opportunities for connection and support. It is our intention as co-coordinators to create a space for these colleagues to gather every other month or so to share the work they carry. Waldorf childcare centers are few in these two countries and the work they do is essential.
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Teacher Education Update
Ruth Ker, Teacher Education Coordinator
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This January and February we are beginning our monthly Teacher Training Institutes zoom calls with questions on gender issues, faculty evaluations and insights into what Steiner meant when referencing the “bodily religion” of the child. In this mutually supportive meeting environment, goodwill thrives amongst our Member Institutes.
The Teacher Education Committee has been meeting more regularly, taking up questions about institute membership processes and the revision of the Birth to Three Teacher Training Expectations. Consultation with WECAN’s Full Member institutes and edits to the expectations are in progress. Our current Institute Teacher Education Membership Handbook has gone through several updates. Here is the link to the current version.
We are grateful to WECAN’s Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access Committee, and further work with its members is prominent on our horizon.
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Welcome to our new Associate Member Institute, YaxKin, in the Riviera de Maya, the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico.
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From the Membership Office
Laura Mason, Membership Coordinator
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After a long pause in membership processes, we are delighted to be working actively with over 40 schools, centers and home programs on membership applications and renewals this school year. Those who have already completed those processes are as follows:
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Ak Lu’um Waldorf Community in Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, has completed a Full Membership application process. Please join us in welcoming them as new Full Members of WECAN. Ak Lu’um has been an Associate Member since 2014 and we’re delighted they’ve taken this next step in membership. As Full Members of WECAN they stand as representatives of Waldorf early childhood education in North America. Congratulations!
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Wildflowers Child Care and Nursery in Boise, Idaho, has completed an Associate Membership application process. We are also happy to announce that they’ve just been accepted as a new Associate Member. Wildflowers is a home program that has been providing Waldorf-inspired care since 2018. Congratulations and welcome to our colleagues in Boise!
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Anchorage Waldorf School in Alaska has successfully completed an Associate Membership renewal process. They hosted our first in-person site visit since membership activity came to a halt in early 2020. Thank you for helping us get back to work in schools, Anchorage!
We also completed Full Membership renewals last spring for three schools that started their processes prior to the pandemic. They are Santa Cruz Waldorf School, Honolulu Waldorf School and Housatonic Valley Waldorf School. Please accept our belated congratulations on your WECAN Full Member renewals!
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Ak Lu’um Waldorf Community
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Wildflowers Child Care and Nursery
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Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access
Lynn Turner and Leslie Wetzonis-Woolverton, Co-Coordinators
We have had the pleasure of working alongside WECAN Board members, our fellow WECAN I.D.E.A Committee members, and WECAN Coordinator Susan Howard, in our continued work with Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access since being named Co-Coordinators this past September. As collaborative colleagues, together and with other members mentioned above, we continue to work with the I.D.E.A. Committee Living Questions document reviewed by the Board last spring.
Our work in Early Childhood remains crucial and reflective as we continue to work and grapple with issues and questions regarding Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access. And we continue to work with others in how we increase this work with a much wider lens and scope.
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Only 2 Weeks until our Online Early Childhood Educators Conference!
REGISTER TODAY TO ENSURE A SPOT!
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For more information and to register, visit the WECAN conference website. |
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International guests welcome ~ contact us if you have further questions.
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Please note, your Individual Membership must be up to date before registering for the conference. Retroactive discounts will not be issued!
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Click here to read the latest Newsletter from IASWECE, the International Association of Steiner Waldorf Early Childhood Education.
Articles include the following, along with many more:
- Moving with Soul: Supporting movement development in the early years
- Good Sleep and How Children Can Learn to Find It
- The Misbelief That We Are Never Enough: The challenge for parents and caregivers to reconnect with themselves
- The Māori and Pakeha and Their Different World Views
- Understanding Indian Culture through Anthroposophy
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Loving care for the child under three
By Helle Heckmann
Taking the child’s need as her point of departure, Helle Heckmann sets aside mainstream expectations. Twenty-first century pressures on families, imposing long working days on parents and much absence from the family and home, create the classic problem of our times: while creating economic safety and security for their families, how can we give the best we can to the children we love, while also satisfying personal needs as well as the demands of society? This book offers perspectives from several adults who care for young children in diverse ways.
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The Picture Language of Folktales
By Friedel Lenz
Fairy tales speak in a visual language—but what do these pictures speak of? In The Picture Language of Folktales, Friedel Lenz looks at fairy tales and their original images as part of the development of human consciousness. The characters of these stories are human beings living within two worlds—one which is physically visible and experienced through bodily senses and another that is not visible but nonetheless sensed. Friedel Lenz’s consideration of these twenty-five tales, originally collected and retold by the Brothers Grimm from 1812 to 1857, offers the possibility of limbering up our thinking and feeling to allow the pictures of these stories to speak.
WECAN extends deep gratitude to Clopper Almon for this translation.
$25 Available February 11th
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Eurythmy in Kindergarten - A contemporary approach to speech and movement
Eurythmy in Kindergarten is a beautifully illustrated answer to the question, “Why eurythmy in kindergarten?” This unique, artistic form of movement, with its deep connection to the formative power of speech, is especially important for young children’s speech development, which is increasingly under threat in our times.
This lovely booklet is written for kindergarten teachers, eurythmists, students in training programs, and parents. We will send a sample copy to each WECAN Member program and encourage you to order more for your colleagues and parents!
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Truer than True
collected and edited by Holly Koteen-Soulé
Truer Than True shares twenty-six wonderful tales from around the world for the home and classroom, and for all who love stories. Holly Koteen-Soulé collected these favorites of the Waldorf early childhood classroom and adapted them to enhance inclusiveness and understanding and to share beloved stories that can nourish families from many cultures.
"The fairy tale is unique . . . in its capacity to offer seeds of solace and social healing to the soul-in-becoming, and to be a wise and tender guide for us all, in both childhood and adulthood." - from the Introduction
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Hand Gesture Games by Wilma Ellersiek - Books and CD’s
In celebration of Wilma Ellersiek's 100th birthday, we encourage you to explore her work and the gifts of hand gesture games.
Order Now
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WECAN 2022 Early Childhood Resource Catalog
Copies of our current Catalog are complimentary, individually or in bundles of five.
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Donate to Support WECAN's Activities
Your contribution will help us continue to support our members with additional resources, more ways to connect with colleagues, and inspiration for their ongoing professional development. Your support will also help us collaborate with other organizations to keep a light shining on the ever more critical and precious treasure of the first seven years and protect the young child’s joyful devotion to everyday life and unmitigated hope for the future. We are grateful for any contribution you are able to make!
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Upcoming Events
Toward a Kinder, More Compassionate Society: Working Together Toward Change
February 11-13, 2022 - Online
WECAN 2022 Early Childhood Educators Conference
Keynote speakers Meggan Gill, Keelah Helwig and Joaquin Muñoz.
Care1: International Birth to Three Conference
"I feel good in your eyes"
Dornach, Switzerland, 15 - 18 June 2022
It is becoming increasingly clear how strongly maternal experience and professional support during pregnancy and birth affect the child. In the upcoming conference we will share our experiences, strengthen our relationships, and work together on central questions about the healthy development of the young child.
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Join WECAN by becoming an Individual Member!
Membership benefits include:
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A subscription to the Gateways Journal (includes the Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 issues)
- WECAN News Updates
- A 10% discount on WECAN book sales
- Discounts on registration fees at WECAN Conferences
- Regular email messages that include reports on activities, conferences, and events within WECAN and IASWECE (the International Association of Waldorf/Steiner Waldorf Early Childhood Education).
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