Blog Archives

Byron Youth Theatre

26/3/2020

Students from Years 9 and 10, as well as Year 11 Drama students, enjoyed an interactive performance about bullying by Byron Youth Theatre last week. Developed by actor and activist Augusto Boal in the 70s, Forum Theatre is a kind of theatrical game in which the audience become spect-actors. After the first performance, audience members are invited onto the stage to take on a character, in order to change the outcome in a way that can be empowering for both bystanders and victims of oppression, but which is still realistic or possible.

Our students responded enthusiastically to the performance, putting forward ideas of other possible outcomes and sometimes getting up and taking on a character role. The performances were humorous, empowering and thought provoking. Here is what our students had to say about the experience: It was great how they involved the audience; Really interesting; Very engaging because it allowed the audience to become involved and therefore it became more personal; The acting was great; I really liked it because those situations really do happen and it's good to be shown in a safe way; It was very entertaining and the acting was very good.

It was also wonderful to see many of our students participating in Byron Youth Theatre. Director Lisa Apostolides is doing a wonderful job of creating important theatre.

April Galetti
Drama Teacher

Playgroup

25/3/2020

With all the welcome rain, at Playgroup this term, we have been trying to grow Salvias from cuttings - potting up some Cats' Whiskers which have developed a strong, healthy root system; placing the cuttings ever so carefully in little pots and tucking them skillfully into their cozy beds. We are growing some purple Salvias in mind of attracting some native bees, like the beautiful Teddy Bear Bee and Blue Banded Bee (pictured above). We are hoping to create some bee hotels which I am sure will bring many new stories to our Playgroup.

This term, we have had a few indoor days, leading to some interesting and creative play. The children enjoyed setting up the train track and discussing what needed to be built next in order for the train to roll on. At one stage, I think just about every toy had been taken off the shelves and used to create a new imaginative story.

Packing up our play and putting all the toys back in their rightful places often takes more time and encouragement! Our packing away song ‘The Little Dusty Gnome’ is very helpful as the children already know what is coming. With the adults modelling the careful return of all our toys to their homes, the children learn through imitation how to help put our Playgroup back in order. Shells, seeds and rocks all have their own special places. Sorting these items into the appropriate baskets is an early step towards mathematics.

During one wet outdoor play, some of the children were fascinated to find that catching raindrops in different sized pots made different sounds. What a wonderful wet-weather discovery! Steeped in wonder, these precious early years of learning will carry these children through their lives.

Carina Halliday
Playgroup Coordinator

Class 2

23/3/2020

The children climbed to the top of the Mighty Mountain just as the colours of the sunrise filled the sky. They knew it was their task to help find the Little Letters. From the top of the mountain, they could see the ocean stretched out to the horizon. In the heat of the summer sun, the children went to greet the ocean. First, they had to follow a stream that joined a river. In following the river, they would reach the ocean and, it was told, the letters had been blown across the ocean. What wonder! There in the stream was a "feather-finned fish, able to do whatever you wish". In following him, the children found the Little Letters and the Singing Star Sounds (the vowels). Thus began their next adventure in uncovering words.

Following on from this, Class 2 have been visiting the Circus of the Sun. Here, the Ringmaster and Storyteller has many incredible performers who help him sort out everything, as well as bringing wonder-filled acts and tricks. Adding-up, sharing, giving and grouping makes for a circus loved by everyone. There are tight-rope walkers, high swings, cartwheels, back flips and clowns (everything Class 2 love to perform at play time). Writing numbers, counting, writing sums and number patterns have all been a part of our happy journey.

In addition to this, we have been putting a big effort into our knitting, which most children have completed, ready to transform into an owl. Apart from out love of hand craft, is our love of Japanese with Katsuko, Indonesian with Emily, Eurythmy with Kira and Gardening with Nadia.

The children enjoy each others' company. They love morning tea and lunch time play and going home at the end of each day. We are indeed fortunate friends.

Jenny Lott
Class 2 Teacher

The Art of Knitting

11/3/2020

Knitting has been gathering a lot of attention lately by crafters and scientists alike. It turns out knitting and handwork provides a host of brain and wellbeing benefits to people of all ages. For students, in particular, knitting provides an essential learning medium.

A child who is knitting a hat or a toy kitten sees their will transformed into art. They see their focused, detailed work turn into something beautiful and purpose filled. They experience how the conceptual becomes concrete.
This is why Waldorf education founder, Rudolf Steiner, lectured on the importance of handwork for students: From Play, through Beauty, to Work: This is a golden path for education. In later life the most abstract tasks, the most difficult techniques, do not arouse antipathy if this path has been followed during childhood.

But knitting teaches and offers more than abstract concept mastery like creating art from will or tangibles from follow through. It also teaches simple and complex mathematics; hand, eye and brain coordination; sensory integration; and resiliency of habit... all while promoting peace of mind.

Mathematics
Counting is required in knitting. Students must count stitching and rows often in complicated ways. There are different colours and different row lengths based on what’s being created, which force children to think flexibly about patterns that emerge and transform. Those patterns and pattern thinking impressed electrical engineering professor, Dr. Karen Shoop, of Queen Mary University in London. When she took her first knitting class, she immediately saw a connection between computer coding and knitting. As she says in this MindShift article — Can Learning to Knit Help Learning to Code:

“We ‘code’ in our outside world... Computers ultimately started off partially inspired by weaving and the Jacquard loom, or earlier Bouchon’s loom... Knitting instructions are largely binary [and] read just like regular expressions [of code], used for string matching and manipulation.”

It’s not just coding, according to mathematics professor, Sarah Jensen at Carthage College. It’s geometry at its most complex. As she reports in her article in Smithsonian Magazine, What Knitting can Teach You About Math, the abstract, spatial oriented, concept of rubber sheet geometry is perfectly illustrated through knitting.

“One way of knitting objects that are round – like hats or gloves – is with special knitting needles called double pointed needles. While being made, the hat is shaped by three needles, making it look triangular. Then, once it comes off the needles, the stretchy yarn relaxes into a circle, making a much more typical hat. This is the concept that rubber sheet geometry is trying to capture. All polygons become circles in this field of study.”

She says knitting also teaches “abstract algebra and topology – typically reserved for math majors in their junior and senior years of college. Yet the philosophies of these subjects are very accessible, given the right mediums.”

Last, but not least, the simple act of working with hands in math results in better learning outcomes. Studies show that using physical materials, or manipulatives as they call them, improve math skills and learning.

Eye, Hand and Brain Coordination
Many essential developmental skills are required of children as they knit and do other handwork. These include engaging in small motor skills, eye tracking, eye hand coordination, crossing the midline, bilateral hand movement and spatial oriented thinking.

Playing a stringed musical instrument, also a standard curriculum component in Waldorf schools, is often the task studied for brain benefits from these types of brain building activities. But knitting is also a multisensory experience that requires much of the same coordination, motor skills and left and right hemisphere activity as playing an instrument, and so arguably, could offer similar benefits. Much is also written and studied about sensory engagement in brain development and knitting offers students an array of textures and colours that are pleasingly tactile and visual and offer perceptual feedback.

Resiliency Through Habit
There is a place in education for abstract concepts, but engaging students in hands-on relevant work that requires patience, persistence and follow through allows learning to really take hold. Students who knit must concentrate on the task at hand and must stay with it day after day. Then they are rewarded with a tangible, beautiful item. They learn to create something from nothing, they learn the value of hardwork and the value of the handmade all around us. Rudolf Steiner put it this way, “The value of such an occupation consists in the fact that on the one hand it introduces the world of mechanism and brings movement, while on the other it trains in the power of attention.”

Wellbeing and Self Esteem
Last, but hardly least, knitting is good for the soul and good for the esteem. According to [Waldorf] Handwork and Fine Arts Teacher, Nicole Nicola, “Mathematics are there. We know working with the hands develops specific parts of the brain that help with other kinds of learning. All of that is absolutely true and scientifically proven and it is so important to have that academic basis, but there is another level. The self esteem building. And that is what’s missing in a lot of young people today and a lot of education.”

The New York Times Article, The Health Benefits of Knitting, focused on qualities like these, with one study looking specifically at enhanced confidence and the sense of accomplishment that comes with knitting. The article cited many other studies as well that looked at cognition and memory benefits, but also other emotional benefits including reduction in anxiety and stress, alleviation of chronic pain and the self reported happiness and confidence.

Knitting, like recess, play, social emotional learning, music and art can seem like a softer skill to pursue during a busy academic day, and yet, it is clearly an amazing tool and medium for teaching these and other essential skills to school children, especially in our STEM focused world.

But, for Steiner and for Waldorf teachers like Nicole Nicola, it goes far beyond the practical. Handwork is a way to deepen learning, not to do well on tests or get a good job, but to educate the whole child. As Steiner said, “Headwork alone, which only occupies the intellect, does not reach the spirit.”

Reprinted from the Waldorf School of Philadelphia blog Loving Learning

Birdsong Kindergarten

11/3/2020

We have had a wonderful start to the year here at Birdsong Kindy. We have met many of the beautiful birds that give our Kindy it's name. Wrenny Blue, Merrily Magpie, Kooralie Kookaburra, Gala Galah and her family, and the Butcher Bird Brothers have all been to visit and welcome us with their songs.

We have also been singing about little Peaceful Poinciana, who is very happy in his garden because he has everything a little tree needs. Mother Earth wraps his roots in her warm, rich blanket so he feels safe. Father Blue Sky wraps his robe around him as he reaches his branches up, dancing and waving free. Sunny Sun watches over by day shining warmth and love, and Sister Moon wraps Peaceful in her silver cloak of moonbeams and starlight by night. The rain dancers visit as do the birds and animals and, of course, the Kindy children use their care when they play too. He is a very happy and healthy little tree.

Our hands have been busy with our craft, drawing, painting, baking and playing. There is lots of doing, lots of helping hands, and plenty of fun here in Kindy. It is a delight to be here.

Kat Barwick
Kindergarten Teacher

Year 9 English

10/3/2020

In Year 9 English this term, we started off exploring the importance of language choice in the expression of stories. We investigated the ways in which language shapes our understanding of ourselves and our world and how it is the primary means by which we relate to others. We experienced the way that expanding our vocabulary helped us to express ourselves more fluently and precisely.

We began our Short Story Unit with 6 word stories. These are the shortest of stories where the author is able to impact the emotions. The movement is based on Hemmingway’s famous six-word story:
For sale: Baby shoes. Never worn.

Our students examined a range of different genres and the conventions for some of the main groups we identified. We read short stories that offered us models and examined how these models could offer us insights into writing great short stories. We chose our genres, created our characters and experimented with how to build tension in our stories. We wrote our stories and shared them, had our peers offer constructive feedback and rewrote them until the movie of our story was running in the reader’s mind as they read it. Here are a few we would like to share with you…