What do you wish for your child in 20 years?

The world is changing so rapidly, the best way to secure a child’s future is to provide them with the
opportunity for deep, meaningful learning experiences that build capacities. Capacities to learn, think,
communicate, problem solve and innovate, while also fostering the development of self-knowledge and purpose in life.

It is then that they are ready to meet the world.

Find out about how our education prepares children for life, led by Master Waldorf teacher Renate Kurthe

Please join us for this free informative discussion, Wednesday, January 14th, at 5:00!

Childcare is available, please call 941.927.3711 to reserve your space. Thank you!

The Mangrove School of Sarasota Wishes You A Happy Thanksgiving!

From us to you!

We return thanks to our mother, the earth, which sustains us.

We return thanks to the rivers and streams,

which supply us with water.

We return thanks to all herbs,

which furnish medicines for the cure of our diseases.

We return thanks to the moon and stars,

which have given to us their light when the sun was gone.

We return thanks to the sun,

that has looked upon the earth with a beneficent eye.

Lastly, we return thanks to the Great Spirit,

in Whom is embodied all goodness,

and Who directs all things for the good of Her children.

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Please join us in celebrating the coming of winter and the holiday season with our Holiday Faire, the antidote to the rampant commercialism that often overwhelms children and parents alike during the holiday season. A day filled with magic and wonder for all ages.

Activities include: Beeswax candle dipping, silk dyeing, ornament crafting, jump rope making, magical puppet stories, live music, shopping handmade items from local artisans, organic refreshments and more!

It is a family event for all, where children and adults alike can make beautiful, meaningful handmade gifts.

For updates to this event, please join us on Facebook, here:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1500290666913290/

We hope to see you there!

Brave and True

Will I Be

Each Kind Deed

Sets Me Free

Each Kind Word

Makes Me Strong

Fight for the Right

Conquer the Wrong

As autumn begins, we begin to turn inward to prepare for the shorter days of winter ahead.  In our school, we focus on the figure of Michael and his conflict with the Dragon during this time.

During the days leading up to our Michaelmas festival, students hear stories and sing songs of St. Michael, who inspires us to take courage against darkness.

At our festival, the grades students perform a play that depicts the story of St. Michael  and his battle with the dragon.  The children learn that with great valor, dragons can be beaten. All students are then welcome to compete in games that test their own will, strength and spirit.

Michaelmas is a time for our school to join together and shine a great light in the impending darkness of winter.

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This is simply too cool not to share.  Check out these amazing artistic and educational pancakes made by Nathan Shields, a talented illustrator and math teacher currently living as a stay-at-home dad in Saipan.

The details are just mind blowing.

He even shares his technique in the video below.  SO amazing.  We are definitely going to have to try this.

The New York Times sparked national media coverage with its front page story on why Silicon Valley parents are turning to education that delays the use of technology.  This film picks up where that story left off.

“Preparing for Life” takes viewers inside the Waldorf School of the Peninsula where the focus is on developing the capacities for creativity, resilience, innovative thinking, and social and emotional intelligence over rote learning.

Entrepreneurs, Stanford researchers, investment bankers, and parents who run some of the largest hi-tech companies in the world, weigh-in on what children need to navigate the challenges of the 21st Century in order to find success, purpose, and joy in their lives.

Our classrooms are characterized by their calm, soothing atmosphere: wooden desks, natural materials everywhere, and at  the focal point of the room, a beautiful chalk drawing depicting the main lesson of that day.

 Such drawings  awaken the interest of the students, encourage them to enter their lessons imaginatively, and settle deeply into each child.

 By making everything into a picture  –  the material is not defined in concepts but portrayed in vivid descriptions.   The teacher must fill the pictures he/she presents to the souls of the children with inner conviction and warmth.

The lessons stream from heart to heart rather than head to head, thus, they are more meaningful and tend to stay with the children throughout their life.  (Rawson And Masters 2000)

Check out the video below by Brian Wolfe, Waldorf teacher at Davis Waldorf School.

In our classrooms, movement is just as important as our main lesson work. The two compliment each other beautifully. Incorporating age appropriate play and movement strengthens the child’s foundation in postural control; spatial awareness; good body geography and coordination among other basic developmental skills.

Our classroom transforms, using the furniture to create a safe space of obstacles and balancing exercises. The children are willing and happily crawling under benches and walking both forwards and backwards on tables and chairs sometimes while counting or singing.

These movement activities aren’t just for fun, they contribute to developmental capacities of language, mathematics, enhance focus and attention, practice spacial integration and strengthening of the will.

We live in a time when so many other schools are cutting recess, but we believe by emphasizing movement time both indoors and out we will enhance the learning potential and interest of each child.

At the same time, the children love coming to school, because it is engaging, dynamic, and fun.

The kindergarten class is enjoying several activities to welcome and celebrate Spring. They are listening to new Spring stories and songs, such as Johnny Appleseed. They are molding beeswax in the classroom and working with clay in the play yard. They also continue to enjoy their weekly watercolor painting, bread baking, and finger chaining and weaving.

The teachers provided a wonderful gardening activity for the children in April in which they created their own Spring fairy gardens by planting marigolds and strawberry plants and decorating them with moss, gemstones, small wooden animal cutouts, felt eggs, rocks, and items they found in nature.

Upcoming events include the May Day Festival on April 27 and an end-of-the-year class trip to Mote Marine on May 29 for the Sarasota Bay Explorers Tour. This is a boat tour in Sarasota Bay with a guide who will help children and their parents watch for dolphins and examine and learn about sea creatures. The tour also includes a stop on an island to play and hunt for treasures. The class is looking forward to both of these events!