Author: Laura Purdom
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Ashwood Student Handcrafts for Sale at Common Ground Country Fair Youth Enterprise Zone
Ashwood’s upper grades students are learning about entrepreneurship by offering handmade products as a cooperative makers group, now through January 8. With the help of their teachers, they are designing and creating a variety of high-quality handwork items. Materials include natural fibers, gathered wood, watercolor paints on paper, cotton embroidery floss, and more. The students collaboratively…
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Early Childhood News: Parents Enjoy a Rare In-person Gathering; Children’s Mornings Filled with Play
Marianne Bockli, Early Childhood Teacher On a still warm September evening, early enough for daylight, one parent for each early childhood student, joined in an in-person parent evening. We sat outside under the canopy with some distance between each chair and shared children’s names, their places of birth, and why we are all here at…
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Getting to Know You
In upper grades language arts, students are kicking off their studies with a get-to-know-you exercise. Each student will interview one other student and then write a profile of that student. Lots of good skill work here: listening, speaking, note taking, organizing a narrative, and it’s a chance to get to know the new students and…
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Grades 1-3 Begin Making Their Cob Oven
Our first interdisciplinary learning block of the year is The Built Environment, and Ms. Doshi’s first, second and third graders have plunged right in to the task of building a cob oven. What, you might ask, is a cob oven? It is a wood-fired oven made from a clay, sand and straw. Today the children were mixing…
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First Day of School 2020
It was a very special first day of school! After a summer of planning and meeting, it was wonderful to have the children with us at last, laughing, playing, and learning on campus.
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“A Way of Connecting”: Faculty Completes Introductory Nonviolent Communication Course through UMaine
By Elizabeth Doshi On July 13-16 Ashwood faculty took part in the introductory training for Nonviolent Communication, through the University of Maine/Hutchinson Center. This online course was taught by Peggy Smith, cofounder of the Maine NVC Network and a certified trainer with the Center For Nonviolent Communication. I came away from this course with the conviction…
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Energized for Fall Re-opening, Ashwood Welcomes New Board Leadership
by Val Shepard As excitement builds for the 2020-2021 school year, Ashwood Waldorf School is pleased to welcome a new president and vice president of our board of trustees. John Morin will take over as board president from Betsy Morrell, who has served with dedication and skill since 2014. Dick Weeks will be stepping into…
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Inspired Learning: A Virtual Open House
On August 12 from 6:30–7:45 p.m., Ashwood Waldorf School will host Inspired Learning: A Virtual Open House for adults interested in learning more about Ashwood’s programs for ages 3 through 8th grade. This hour-long, informal, virtual gathering will be interactive, offering attendees a chance, if they wish, to introduce themselves and say a bit about…
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Commencement Speech Offers a Message of Hope in Unsettled Times
We’d like to share a clip from Ashwood’s recent commencement ceremony. Class Teacher, Jeremy Clough, sends off the Class of 2020 with a message of hope, acknowledging the pain, anger, and uncertainty that is around us at this time, taking a moment of silence in memory of George Floyd and all those who have died…
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Class of 2020 Steps Out for Graduation
With, as they say, “an abundance of caution”—including face coverings and physical distancing—the Class of 2020 gathered with faculty on the Ashwood campus on June 5 for a live, in-person graduation ceremony. Scroll down for pictures. The ceremony began with a keynote from school director Jody Spanglet celebrating the students’ journey through Ashwood. This was…