Mother Earth, mother earth, take our seed and give it birth

Father sun, gleam and glow, til the roots begin to grow

Sister rain, sister rain, shed thy tears to swell the grain

Brother wind, breath and blow, then the blade all green will grow

Earth and sun, wind and rain, turn to gold the living grain

Just like the growth we see all around us at this time of the year, our K6 children are “ripening” in readiness for the next phase of their school life.  The fruits of their time at Kindergarten are apparent as they work on their hand-stitched craft bags in which they will store their Class One handwork projects.  This year they have been stitched completely by the children, including the casings for the drawstrings, from two pieces of felt.  A “lucet” or knitting fork as used by the Vikings to make rope is our method for creating the drawstrings.

“What does it mean when we say the child shows the first signs of first grade readiness, or as the Germans so wisely say, that the child is schulreif (ripe for school)?  There are many changes in the child’s physical, emotional, social and mental life that one looks for, which can be listed and observed in a fairly objective manner.  But there is also a qualitative difference that is more difficult to describe, yet very important to sense.  The good gardener knows from one day to the next when a piece of fruit is ripe for picking, and when this process is translated into childhood, it relates to Rudolf Steiner’s statement that a whole new aspect of the individuality is born around the age of six or seven.  This new birth is not as physical and clear-cut as the physical birth of the child, but it is an important time in the growth of the child.  It is the underlying reality for the many changes that are visible around ages six to seven." - from “First Grade Readiness” by Joan Almon.

The etheric birth, sometimes know as the change of teeth, is a transformative time when the child’s many unfolding capabilities mean he/she is ready to learn and absorb knowledge in a different way than before.  The six year olds often become less harmonious in the dreamy atmosphere of the kindergarten… they are outgrowing the play-based imitative stage and moving towards looking to an authority… the class teacher, who will guide them in the primary years.

In the last weeks of the year, the K6 children will have lunch and play in the school playground on several ocassions, as they prepare to leave the sanctuary of Kindergarten.  The last day of Kindergarten is marked with a special ceremony, “Stepping Stones”, which signifies the end of the kindergarten years, and meeting with the class teacher, Sarah.

With warmest wishes,

Denise