Grandma Charlie Hatting Day

A fall celebration of belonging…

Grandma Charlie Hatting Day is a tradition that began in our first year. Each year, in the fall, our children are treated to the amazing colors, textures, and patterns of unique, hand-made crocheted hats lovingly made by Grandma Charlie…. and we have hundreds of hats from which to choose! (Further, as a child joins “The Edge,” the newly-honored community member selects a hat and scarf.) We have written many thank you notes to Grandma Charlie over the years! And we continue to calculate the number of hours of love she contributes to us each year, symbolically, perched on top of our heads and surrounding our necks… 3 hours for a hat and 4 for a scarf. Do the math! It’s amazing!!!

Author’s Tea

A winter celebration of writers…

Our Authors’ Tea, a late morning sharing of our writings and responses in small multi-age groups, is held on (or near) Valentines Day. Our authors dress up for a formal tea setting and present word-work they have written and rehearsed to colleagues from across the school, in groups of about ten, hosted by a faculty member.

Appreciations

Grand Ball 2017

A winter tradition of community grace and connection…

What a brilliant day for dressing up and sharing our ballroom moves and specialty routines with dance companions across the school!

Grand Ball 2016

Grand Ball 2015

Learning Celebration Winter 2017

Water Week

Pajama & Soup Day

Field Day

Winter Solstice 2016

Winter Solstice 2015

Field Day

A spring-summer term celebration of skills and sportsmanship…

Foundation: It began with a man named Sudy, and we continue our field day with parent planning and support to honor his memory. This event is planned with humbleness, humanity, and old-fashioned delight of companionship, skills, and sportsmanship. Sudy kept the focus on the children.

Sudy created magic in a day of running, jumping, bouncing… He constructed games that were collaborative in nature, rather than focusing on competition. Even when there were “winners” who crossed a line first, that was not really the point of it at all. He generally used common-found, old-fashioned fun games and equipment instead of new-fangled, gee-whizz gear. Ribbons, hula hoops, sponges, parachutes, balls of all sorts, ropes, hankies, beanbags, water buckets, and a hose! The fun is in the team identity, with elders and youngers cheering for each other…. (Granted, there is a highly competitive parent-child kickball match!)

Community-building and celebration of clans!