“Our highest endeavor must be to develop free human beings, who are able of themselves to impart purpose and direction to their lives.”
– Rudolf Steiner
Wellspring School is an educational community committed to the development of the emotional, practical, intellectual and spiritual qualities of the child through the Waldorf model of education. Wellspring strives to build a thriving school community through providing:
• A high-quality Waldorf education for children preschool through grade eight;
• A relationship with parents to build harmony between the school and home. The School strives to establish a common understanding of child development, the tasks of parenting and teaching, and the Waldorf curriculum;
• A contribution to the social, cultural, civic and educational life of our local communities by sponsoring workshops, lectures and concerts as well as actively contributing to local activities in our sending towns;
• Support for the growth of the Waldorf educational movement by our membership and participation in the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA) as a Developing Waldorf School.
School News

Amazing Preschool Crafts Concepts In 2021
Especially painting actions for youths are my favorite. You can find over 500 youngsters’ arts and crafts activities and ideas right here on The Artful Parent. This kindergarten art project retains the paints confined to a plastic bag, so kids can create over and over again wherever they like. Here’s one other method to turn recycled cardboard right into a kindergarten art project. Then drizzle skinny paint rigorously excessive to create mesmerizing patterns.
There are also so many great toddler themes to explore throughout Spring. “Working with beads or buttons might help with counting abilities, gluing objects or portray can help with naming gadgets, shade selection, numbers, and vocabulary,” she says. Perhaps most significantly, toddler crafts give little ones a way of accomplishment that boosts their vanity. We have greater than 25 for you here on The Artful Parent, together with toothpick sculptures, constructing with cardboard, plus both wooden sculptures and ice sculptures.
There are so many inventive ways you may make stamps with your toddler that it’s inconceivable to record them all here. Invite your baby to lie down on a big sheet of paper. Trace their physique after which supply them pens or crayons to decorate. Fold a bit of paper in half, add dollops of paint to 1 half, and fold.
Students draw designs with glue, then dump coarse salt excessively. When it’s dry, they add watercolors for a fair creation. Circles are one of many first shapes children study to identify, but in addition, they play an important position in many kinds of art. Show youngsters some of the more well-known circle art pieces, then create your personal utilizing empty bathroom paper rolls and tempera paints. There is a complete part of paper plate craft concepts on our website. Paper plates are really frugal which makes them fantastic crafting materials for classroom crafts or for crafting at home.
Sponge portray is an enjoyable and simple craft that improves toddlers’ fantastic motor abilities and hand-eye coordination, in addition to introducing them to color mixing. The third benefit is that tons of preschool crafts promote recycling by way of their utility of old, used supplies, such as toilet paper rolls and bottle caps. This capacity to reuse things sometimes considered trash can instill in kids a consciousness of the significance of environmental conservation.
The best part about these straightforward crafts for teenagers is that nearly all of them could be made with things you already have around your house, plus a touch of imagination, after all. So grab your crafting provides (and perhaps some pure elements, too!), and let’s get began. Creating patterns and prints with stamps is all the time enjoyable for toddlers, and these DIY yarn stamps help train youngsters about totally different textures and supplies. You can use play toy blocks to wrap the yarn around, and even minimize up floral foam, like Shaunna from Fantastic Fun and Learning did for this craft. Kids will love the bold, fascinating patterns they create once dipped in paint and pressed in opposition to a sheet of paper. This easy craft lets toddlers mix colors, make patterns, and have fun using the rolling pin to create a real mural.
It’s never too early to begin introducing inventive activities to children. Here are 12 enjoyable process art portray activities for infants and toddlers that will allow them to work together with paint in a large number of different ways. Quick and easy to do, our craft actions for kids don’t want any elaborate supplies. With things that are easily discovered at the house, watch kids get creative and use their time well.
We have lots of motion art and sensory art actions to keep younger kids engaged while encouraging exploration. Wow, Dad this 12 months with a self-made present that he’ll keep endlessly. From printable cards to cute customized magnets, these Father’s Day craft ideas for toddlers, preschoolers, and big kids make excellent presents. It’s good for coordination, coloring crafts help with pencil grip, hand coordination, most crafts for kids are great for fantastic motor coordination. Making crafts helps build self-confidence, particularly when it comes to straightforward crafts.
We have more than 50 collage art ideas for youths here on The Artful Parent, together with fundamental paper collage, contact paper collage, sticker collage, blended media paintings, and 3-D collage. From masks to flowers, piggy banks to piñatas, these enjoyable paper mache crafts for youths will maintain them engaged and assist them to get in touch with their inside artist. We dare you to not fall in love with these simple leaf, pine cone, and acorn crafts excellent for toddlers and preschoolers to do at home this autumn.

Finding Age Appropriate Preschool Books
Find age-appropriate preschool books. While you’re searching for them, don’t forget about the time factor. You want to be sure they’ll enjoy looking at the book and reading it because it will help them develop a good reading habit.
It’s important to realize kids’ brains grow at different rates. Most scientific research says that a child’s brain grows by 5% every year. Well, that’s slower than a human hair growth rate. So don’t be too concerned about the fact that your child’s brain is not fully developed until about the age of about 7 or 8.
Early Readers
Some early readers as young as four or five can enjoy books on early reader concepts such as vocabulary and letter sounds. A child will often pick up more of the sounds and names of the letters as he gains proficiency with his parents reading list. Don’t be surprised if your child will refuse to read until he’s had the opportunity to sound out the words.
My Story
I discovered my own early reading success when I had a five-month-old son. While I was on the train one day with my son, I suddenly remembered a story I’d read to him when he was two.
The story was so engrossing I didn’t stop him from picking up the story from the train station and reading it to him. He picked the story up, closed his eyes for a moment, and commenced to begin to read.
It wasn’t long before he was completely engrossed. I encouraged him to read to his brother and the two boys ended up spending the day together reading and working on the vocabulary words.
George’s Stories
When you have children of your own, you develop a bond with your baby. You also ensure that your children have the opportunity to become fluent readers.
George, our son, was blubbering away in his car on the way home when he stopped me and asked what he needed for school. I knew George had read for years and often read for his mother.
I directed him to my station and purchased him a box of Saxon Stories. “Try these ones,” I told him.
I read the story to him and then asked him to tell me some of the words by asking me questions. Again, he had read the story for years.
George went on to tell me that he liked it when he read the story because it helped him focus on the words in the story.
Now, George read to their classmates’ children every chance he had. He loved the audio feature in the book that let him hear the story in Devanagari.
George’s teacher told him earlier that week that she was going to turn over all his homework in 15 minutes or he wouldn’t be allowed to speak. George was so excited he danced around his room shouting and joyously.
What George didn’t know at the time was that his mother, Rosa, planned to talk to him in his room at break and take him to lunch when he had done his best. She played her Russian roulette game as she told him.
The legacy that 15 minutes of tutoring gave George was to remain focused and enjoy the rest of the school year. His grades improved and this began to earn him an “A” throughout the school.
Usually tutoring sessions last from 2-5 hours, sometimes longer. Students feel more in control when they learn in a classroom set-up. The behind-the-wheel-tire-changing sessions give students a chance to apply what they have learned by practicing on a wheeled carousel. Or, the traffic-act-review sessions will have students plotting their routes to improve driving.
Before heading to a session, students first look for a tract of land to park. A five-minute tutorial on turning signals will have students learning not only how to change signals but how to safely merge with traffic.
Next, students will be taught their driving techniques including recognizing when other cars are stopped or passing, looking both ways of the road, parallel parking, making turns, coming around traffic signs, dumping the speed limit, random starts, skidding, and splashing into the tires of approaching cars.
The behind-the-wheel-tire-changing sessions for beginner drivers are especially appropriate for the first time behind the wheel. The students are usually keen to begin and end their driving lessons with a driving simulator. However, even instructors are sometimes nervous about teaching such a novice driver. The behind-the-wheel-tire-changing sessions make them more comfortable in dealing with a real-life driving scenario. And these are not the beginner drivers who are excited about all driving!
The driving simulator is not the same as driving lessons. The latter involves the physical interaction of students with a competent instructor. If students are not comfortable with physical lessons then they may miss out on acquiring fundamentals.

Exploring Music Education Opportunities for Gifted Students
For gifted students, music education offers self-fulfilling benefits
When it comes to music education, there are many choices. You could send your child to Music Connection, a Seattle-based non-profit arts organization dedicated to serving the needs of people and performers alike through direct services, strategies, programs, strategies, and materials. For a focus on Music Achievement, select another Seattle-based non-profit arts organization such as SoundStage 3000, focusing on and providing training and opportunities for artists of all ages and skills.
For students in elementary school, a music background can be pivotal. A good teacher with an enriching musical program will engage a child in the curriculum in ways that materials can’t always provide. And a child’s love of music will fuel their creativity as they study music’s many facets – not just playing it once.
Music education opportunities in elementary schools today aren’t limited to those found in Seattle schools. A number of quality programs exist throughout Washington and across the nation, with a substantial number of centers focused on K-12 academic music programs.
Every child deserves the best when it comes to education, but some may need more than others. What are Gifted Schools? How do I know if my child is in Gifted Schools? I have 3 questions I’d like to ask. What does my child look like? Can I help you? And finally, how do I know what Gifted Schools are like where my child will end up? This, I know will help you make a more informed decision.
I feel confident asking these questions because I’ve been in and out of special education for years. I currently have a client with an 18-year-old female student. She’s been “diagnosed” as both gifted and talented (GS), which means she’s IQ is in the top 1/10th percentile and she Often gets top grades. She’s also got two other clients with IQs in the top 1/10th and they also frequently get the top grades.
She’s also been diagnosed with a non-verbal learning disability (which means she’s a left-brain or non-primary language learner. This is why she gets by just fine using the public library. She does however have significant vision issues, and one of her strategies is reading eBooks.
In my experience working with students with disabilities from all over the world, I have found that students in schools with a culture or preference for one of these reading perspectives get a raw deal. Public school systems that are not culturally or preference-based have historically been very successful at getting students to adapt to these reading perspectives. However, schools that are “carefully tailored” to a small student population that is focused on a single perspective (such as Gifted and Talented) can get the most out of individualized techniques and strategies.
Nick’s perspective is not merely the perspective of being a middle schooler, but it is the perspective of being a human. The design of Nick’s schoolwork has been implemented by his non-English speaking teacher and the English teacher at his school. The unique work can focus on NCLB mandated subjects, but allows Nick to pursue areas of interest such as his passion for becoming a public speaker and artist.
The story of “vetting the tutor” illuminates how a person’s background or values can prime or displace their learning. What is the meaning of education?
I answer this question by studying the way in which students are socialized. What experiences do they have with the world? Are they teeing off on the piano like Mozart or wandering around the garden. What do you think makes for a great educational experience?
Public, parochial, and private schools can offer unique curricula or enhanced opportunities in participating students. Parents and students need to be aware that curricular methods are not necessarily the same in non-public and public schools. An agenda-based curriculum may be tougher to get through in public than in private, but there are many subjects and core values that are universal.
In short, educating alone is a perspective that is exclusive to the individual. Without the individualized interventions and strategies that individual students respond to, social education may amount to nothing more than government-mandated activities with a uniform curriculum and a friendly learning environment.