"This is an astonishing, impressive and magnificent work. ... this is must reading for every parent, would-be parent and teacher world-wide."
- Joseph Chilton Pearce, author 'Magical Child'
"Pure inspiration for teachers and parents."
- Nancy Mellon, author of Storytelling with Children
"Every once in a while one meets a 'real' Kindergarten teacher - one of those rare souls who shake their arms and Kindergarten magic comes flying out. Betty Peck, whom I've known and loved for years, is one of those."
- Joan Almon, US Alliance for Childhood
Dear Betty and Anna,
I learned so many useful activities in such a short time last night at the Kindergarten Forum. Since I teach full immersion Spanish to young American elementary school children, the counting and clapping activities, the circle dances, and a game in Spanish will all be very useful and fun for my students. Thank you so much for the inspiration and the know how. I know the activities will be very successful. The fellow teachers were also very inspiring.
Sincerely, Anne Lamborn
Dear Mrs. Betty Peck,
Thank you for asking me to write about the Spring Equinox Kindergarten Forum. Here are a few words that have surfaced over the last few days since spending that lovely evening with you, your amazing dancing daughter Anna, and everyone else who seemed to be as much in awe of the gift of this event as me.
Springtime brings out how even the most delicate and simple things in life can strengthen and nourish the soul. I was standing under a pink rain of plum blossoms yesterday wondering if I would be as appreciative of this fabulously blooming season if I hadn't managed to twist out of the suburban stranglehold for a few hours of singing and dancing with Anna Rainville at the Kindergarten Forum last Friday. Just two dawns past the Vernal Equinox, teacher and author Betty Peck once again took up a group of teachers to her home and provided the kind of refreshment that makes the word, 'spring' belong to 'green.' The great Waldorf teacher, Anna Rainville, who has recently published an acclaimed book on the subject, lead us all in singing games of the season. Under the trees, between the creek and Saratoga Avenue, each gradually made their way down the path to Anna's dancing circle and learned how to bring this naturally healing and integrative teaching technique alive for our children.
I could have danced all evening, but there was more to come! Gathering in the great room brought us all an experience of Betty's teaching as she shared details of how she brought spring celebrations to generations of children while we cuddled live goldie colored chicks popping around the room. Betty is Beauty; in her teaching all is beautiful. She recalled for us a golden ring, a table covered in white veils and flowers, the Zorastrian fire offering of seven candles, and of course the classic fire jump, safely orchestrated for young children. Bringing the sacred rites of spring from the ancients to the children, in beauty and the thrill of new life is an education to nourish the soul.
After a delightful potluck dinner, Pamela York offered up a comprehensive presentation about movement and child development, covering many practical games and activities for kindergarteners. Her work as a HANDLE (Holistic Approach to NeuroDevelopment and Learning Efficiency) practioner has brought her to the insight that, "nature is our best sensory support experience." And now, in this suburban afternoon, I naturally find myself rushing off to find more plum trees to rain on me this fine spring day!
Many thanks again!
Warm regards,
Joanne Margalit
KINDERGARTEN FORUM—Spring 2007
Although warm spring weather had not quite caught up with the recent turning of the Vernal Equinox (March 20th), we gathered outdoors three days later for singing and dancing games with Anna Rainville, at the Peck residence in Saratoga. It is always exhilarating to begin Kindergarten Forum sessions in this traditional way, but it seemed especially so on that March 23rd occasion, given that Anna's much-anticipated book, Singing Games for Families, Schools, and Communities has been recently published (now available through Rudolf Steiner College Press, as well as through Anna herself), and that the evening's featured speaker, Pamela York would be sharing her professional insights on the subject of the role of movement as a vital pathway to overall health and learning in children.
Anna led us through several familiar and not so familiar singing games, each time talking about how to adjust the content and approach for various age-groups, and noting how certain movements help to balance children at different stages of their physical and cognitive development. Among the many energetic singing games that warmed our bodies and put smiles on our faces, we enjoyed: "Jim Along Josie," "Fie, Fie, Fie," and "Sally Go ‘Round the Sun" for the very young; "The Blacksmith," and " The Washerwoman" action songs about occupations; the circle dance,"Bow Down, Belinda"; "Water, Water, Wallflower," "Jenny Jones," and "Branch of May" for Spring, the last of which occasionally generating a kind of kinetic confusion that I observe tends to go with May Day territory! (Adults are possibly more inclined to over-think directions for movements that involve the figure-eight motions and weaving movements through arches, to include maypole dancing.) The outdoor session concluded with summer songs, "We're Floating Down the River," and finally, "My Pigeon House," which combines a balance of circles, arches, and a sense of haven and community. From the "Message for Teachers" in the back of Anna's book, I found this excellent description of our participation: "Holistic methods strive to integrate the mind and the emotions with physical activities that are rooted in history."
Later on in the Great Hall, Betty Peck talked about the ways she had celebrated the arrival of spring in her Kindergarten. Tammy Cermak and her two lovely daughters had brought six fuzzy two-day old chicks into the Great Hall, as Betty described the significance of bringing spring chicks into her classroom each year. She said the children were always delighted to touch and hold the little chicks, and to follow them around, just as all of us were doing on this occasion. She always reminded the children how these creatures are active expressions of new life, and asked them to answer such questions as, "How are they like you?", by way of helping them to notice the things they share in common with all living things, and the ways in which we are all connected.
The living connection is also powerfully conveyed by creating stories to go with plants. In this context she spoke about the how a child can learn to see the basic human form—two outstretched arms and legs, with a head at the top—as a five-pointed star. Then, because the anecdote she shared related to a Jewish child's question about her own culture's six-pointed Star of David, Betty described the way in which King David overlaid one triangle representing the Sun and Moon and Stars with another relating to Mother, Father and Me to create the six-pointed star. Each child was then given a single, unidentified bulb to plant in the ground, which in spring sprouted first a green King David's sword and finally bloomed with six petals--with a crown in the middle, as one child noticed.
Betty also provided handouts and a personal telling of how one of her kindergarten children, Ronak, and her parents celebrated their traditional Persian New Year—Norouz, which means "new day"—in the classroom. She reiterated how wonderful it was "to have the deep roots of culture come to us from such an ancient land," and "…how much our own New Year needs to look at ancient celebrations, when life was rich with mystery, awe, and wonder." She added that this celebration showed her "how much we need others to share themselves with us in order to make the balance that is needed to enrich our lives…This is what Kindergarten is all about."
At supper break, all were entranced by the egg-themed centerpiece (new life) and the bountiful presentation of foods spread out upon the lovely wood table. Everyone was excited to sample one of the "earth eggs" Betty had described earlier, explaining how a family custom can emerge as the result of finding a creative solution for unexpected visits calling for tangible celebration. There is something special about potatoes which grow in the earth standing in for Easter eggs, when there are no eggs available. Several attendees commented on the sweet, earthy flavor of them. Conversations bloomed all over the front rooms about the nature of ceremony and the joy of movement in a group, to which this Spring Forum was dedicated.
In the gathering dusk and candlelight in the Great Hall, Anna welcomed guest speaker Pamela York, the Educational Support teacher at the Waldorf School of the Peninsula. Pamela introduced her program by telling us how she had previously worked in the software industry and had also been a nursery school teacher. Her interest in discovering a more holistic approach to learning ultimately brought her to her current standing as a Transdisciplinary Therapeutic Educator (Waldorf Remedial teacher) and a certified HANDLE (Holistic Approach to Neurodevelopment and Learning) Screener.
The specificity and scope of her work soon became evident as Pamela addressed some of the key developmental concepts that inform her K-5 child evaluations. Beginning with the years 0 to 7, during which children enter into a relationship with the world around them though breathing, nutrition and the senses, Pamela described the intricate processes of growth and learning, palpably demonstrating ways to assess and access where children are in relation to the time and space each child individually inhabits. She repeatedly emphasized the importance of Nature as teacher and resource. Through her presentation we could readily make the essential connection between movement and a child's physical, emotional, and cognitive development. Most importantly, she showed us the way in which diagnostic evaluations and solutions can be holistically conducted.
Because of the complex nature of Pamela's area of expertise, and my concern to properly represent the content of her talk, I asked for her notes, which she has generously provided. They are reproduced below, following the closing of this Forum report. She said in her email to me that she is also open to questions regarding the content of her presentation, and the Waldorf and HANDLE training. (Directly following her "Notes" below is a registration for upcoming HANDLE training in April.) You may contact Pamela directly by e-mail: Pamelayork@earthlink.net
As the evening drew to a close, Anna proposed an Adam's Ale (spring water) toast "to the Equinox and Mother Earth, to the sense of life and the ways we learn: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic." Then around the candlelit room, at her suggestion, each in turn invoked a single word or phrase freighted with the capacity "to change the world." There is great strength in a gathering of this kind, and we departed, perhaps of a mind to take what we'd experienced that evening, through movement and listening, and to be grateful for what was clearly a "moveable feast."
Jade Bradbury
April 2007
Notes on Learning through Movement
Pamela York
The senses lead young children into a relationship with the world around them. By feeling, seeing, smelling, listening, and tasting, the environment becomes familiar, loved and manageable. The child's body depends on the integration of the senses to support the brain and develop a healthy intelligence, both cognitive and emotional. Careful tending of the five senses in addition to a sense of life, movement, and balance assures a strong foundation for all learning.
A program for young children requires lots of opportunities to move in order to help build the physical body and open the gateways to learning. The Spring Forum is dedicated to the joy of movement!
We are delighted to welcome Pamela York, the Educational Support teacher at the Waldorf School of the Peninsula. Her program includes working with small groups of children and whole classes on movement activities in circle time and pullouts. She will give practical suggestions for games and activities for the kindergarten and why they are important for healthy development.
Introduction
Infant inters the world through 3 doors, Breathing, nutrition, sense perceptions
From birth to the seventh year the child's forces are devoted to building the physical body and the will forces.
I know of no one whose senses are all perfectly healthy – we are all on a spectrum. We are not expecting these foundational senses to be fully integrated until the end of 2nd grade. We are watching to make sure they are developing and not so challenged that it hinders development of other senses, learning, and/or social relationships.
Senses ~ an overview
Touch – determining one's boundaries, a healthy sense of touch develops a healthy sense of the divinity in others, internal touch helps us understand how we are feeling/ what we are experiencing
Self-Movement – Handling/expressing oneself through body, an awareness of where our body is in space in relation to things and people around us
Balance – Gravitational orientation, vestibular system, inner state of balance
Smell – through smell we experience the quality of things (can't really close it), sweet chocolate, spoiled food. If good scents around us we open up to them (the world) in a positive way (bad smells will cause us to protect ourselves, keep out the world) Emptying oneself and being filled (materially)
Taste – Controlling the ponderable: what forms my body (microcosm), begins in the mouth, uniting with matter, chew and swallow food and it becomes part of us. Sour and salty foods have an awakening effect on the overly dreamy child, sweets may create a sense of well-being for the sad child, bitter foods may engage the will of the unmotivated child Offer children a variety of tastes unaltered to support our sense of taste, teaching us what is good for our bodies. Over use of salt, sugar, artificial flavorings may distort the relationship between our bodily needs for certain foods and our sense of taste. Taste is a threshold for bringing the world into our bodies, digesting it, then giving it back
Sight/Vision – Experiencing the imponderable (effect of sunlight) in the macrocosm, experience light, darkness, and colors.
From Plato, "in the process of seeing, our eyes stretch forth their vision like a pair of arms, extending and grasping the perception".
(Children see the compliments of colors, red overalls have the calming effect of green) Children need resting places for the eyes. Use watercolors so the children experience light radiating through color.
Ocular motility – focus on moving objects,
Accommodation – near / far
Binocularity – 2 eyes working together, teaming
Activities ~ being outdoors (focusing on near and far), blowing feathers (balloons) and sucking games (crazy straw), watching animals/insects
Hearing – Rising to the spirit of matter, ability to differentiate sounds. Children have very sensitive hearing and cannot filter out harsh sounds. We must protect them from over stimulation. Quality of sound is important – soft voices, lyre music, singing, and storytelling.
Auditory figure ground
hyperacusive
Senses from a neurodevelopmental perspective
Smell, Taste, Tactility, Vestibular, Kinesthetic, Muscle tone, Proprioception, Audition (sound), Oral motor functions, Vision, Ocular Motility, Binocularity
Differentiation, Lateralization, Attentional Priorities, Interhemispheric integration
Four major Senses for early childhood – based on Anthroposophy and neurodevelopment
Sense of Touch – Tactility
Tells us something about the object and about your own boundaries
"what I touch also touches me" why we use natural materials
Touching tells the child something about self – enhances sense of self
Separating and connecting with others – value in relationships
Important to distinguish the difference in plastic/metal structures and play in nature
Indications of sensitivity ~ when a child flinches when others brush up against or touch them, you hit me!, likes body covered with fitted clothes or does not like long pants or sleeves or needs the body covered, tags, shies away from group play, sitting on knees/legs or edge of the seat, don't put hands down fully – minimizes touch
Activities ~ natural varied things in a bag, clay, dough, mud (for hands and feet), rocks and sticks building projects, water play, hand games like itnsy weensy spider
Sense of Self-Movement – Proprioception
Awareness of muscles and joints when we move, proprioceptors in our joints,
Knowing overall where we are in space in relation to objects and others
Letting a child have floor time and reach the upright position when he is ready, walking too soon puts too much strain on underdeveloped joints
Indications ~ When a child bumps into things, runs fingers along the walls as walks in an unfamiliar place
Don't want to join into group activities with other young children because young children are unpredictable
Suck on fingers and clothes (stimulates the trigiminal nerve), pinch cheeks, wrap legs around chair legs – to override the vestibular system
Can be fearful of dark, moves a lot in bed
Sense of Balance – Vestibular
3 semi circular canals at 90 degree angles in the inner ear, 3 dimensions of space and gravity, (wand demo) fluid and hairs in the canals, constantly adjusting and establishing our relationship with gravity and our surroundings, three planes of space (frontal, horizontal, sagital)
Effects balance, hearing and many aspects of our functioning, ocular and vestibular nerves run together – closely connected with vision
Static balance – ability to be at rest verses balance in movement
Should develop normally at child's readiness – not ours
Indications ~ Children who experience motion sickness, children who love fast rides or won't go near them, falls out of chairs, desk surfers
Often we use our eyes to compensate, more and more prevalent with children, can't balance with eyes closed
Ear infections have an impact on the fluid and its healthy movement
Activities ~ log crossing, 3 planes of space… burrito roll, teapot, row row your boat, trot little pony going to town, standing on one foot imaginations, balance beam
Related topics
Sympathetic nervous system – fight or flight (in a state of survival, frontal lobes not activated, muscles are in a high alert state, heart rate and breathing effected…)
Differentiation
Muscle Tone
Attentional priorities
How can we support a healthy development of the senses?
Natural materials and healthy smells (food, materials)
Circle time
Rhythm in their life
Calm visual environment, natural visual stimulation ~ especially outside
Moving to poems or music, circle time (self-movement, balance)
What can parents/caregivers do to support our children's maturing senses?
Avoid over stimulation of the senses of the young child. (media, cluttered room, florescent/loud/moving toys, organized activities…)
(Allow the child to come to uprightness and achieve milestones at their pace)
Search for holistic experiences i.e. baking/cooking, time outdoors in nature, helping tend the home (raking leaves, sweeping, washing dishes, picking up their room…)
Healthy diet – feeding the developing body, mylenation of the neurons with EFA's, water, protein…
Look at their behavior, are they compensating for challenged senses/systems?
How do we recognize /determine if one or more of the senses are challenged at any age?
Behavior – watch the child's behavior while thinking about the foundational senses. They are listening to their bodies and trying to maintain safety and success.
Skits – tactile ~ flinches when others brush up against or touch them, you hit me!, likes body covered with fitted clothes or does not like long pants or sleeves or needs the body covered, tags, shy's away from group play, sitting on knees/legs or edge of the seat, don't put hands down fully – minimizes touch,
Prorioception (body in space) ~ bumps into people and things, runs fingers along walls, chairs/feet on feet, seeks deep hugs and compression
vestibular (balance) ~ desk surfer, rocking back in the chair, loves to spin or hold very still, needs to move
muscle tone ~ collapses on desk, "I'm tired", poor modulation of muscle control (can be difficult to be with tactile sensitive)
Self-esteem - failure to succeed, failure to please
The information for this outline is from Beyond the Rainbow Bridge by Patterson and Bradley, Our Twelve Senses by Albert Soesman, and The Fabric of Autism by Judith Bluestone, and lectures by Bonnie River and the HANDLE Institute.
Bill Kalogeros