As our faculty continues the important work of creating an anti-racist and inclusive curriculum, we are exploring deep and rich ways to discuss history, activism, and social justice with children across ages and grade levels.

Incorporating a wide range of media and ideas, grades handwork teacher Ms. Piderman has led our grades students in creating beautiful pieces that they are proud to share with us and take home to their families. See some of their creations!

For young children, there's so much to learn from time spent outdoors. Guided by curiosity and confident that their raingear will keep them warm and dry, preschool and kindergartners learn about the world through observation, experience, and play.

Every morning, students in Marin Waldorf School’s preschool and kindergarten gather around wooden picnic tables to share a warm snack with their classmates. From oatmeal to honey buns, snacks are made from scratch in the classroom and they are always served with just a touch of ceremony: There are fresh flowers on the table, real plates and silverware to eat with, and cloth placemats for each child. The children wash their hands, take their place around the table, and wait to eat until teachers and students are served. Everyone joins hands to sing a song of gratitude—and then it’s time to eat!

As the nights lengthen and the weather begins to cool, it is time to shine our inner light, finding the courage and strength to carry us through the darkness of the winter months. At Marin Waldorf School, we celebrate the autumn season and the kindled light of our community at the Michaelmas pageant, held annually in late September.

Babies and children love math. Give them some wooden blocks and they will happily spend long periods of time building and arranging them—and knocking them down. Children will look up at the sky and be delighted by the V formation of birds flying overhead. They are fascinated by a daisy and happily pull off each petal in turn. Split a treat to share and you can be sure a child will ensure it is exactly in half.

In Waldorf school, every day begins with the “main lesson”—a two-hour class taught by the class teacher, with subjects like math, reading, history, and other core topics taught in blocks for three to six weeks. Teaching subjects in blocks encourages students to engage more deeply with the material, building on the material with each passing day.

Adam Neale, Marin Waldorf School’s woodwork and outdoor education teacher, has always had a fondness for making things. He brought that gift, along with his genuine kindness and affability, to Marin Waldorf School over a decade ago, and today is one of the most beloved teachers on campus. An outdoor enthusiast and sportsman, he is a veteran of many MWS class trips, as well as an alumni parent and father to twin girls.

Music is an essential part of the curriculum at Marin Waldorf School. Throughout the day, children in the preschool and kindergarten sing with teachers and classmates, learning not only the songs but how to listen and to work together as a group.

A native East Coaster, Adam Stopeck met his life’s calling as a Waldorf teacher (and his future wife!) on a chair lift in Colorado. He joined MWS last year after decades as a class teacher in Carbondale, Colorado, and Vancouver Island, British Columbia, taking the lead in our now-6th-grade class. Read about his early days as a basketball aficionado, ski bum, and would-be Socrates, and what he loves about teaching the grades in the interview below.

Our extraordinary autumn began with power tools and wheelbarrows, hammers and hard work, as faculty, students, parents, and staff came together in small groups to construct our outdoor classrooms. Right before campus opened, we were joined by two members of the Miwok tribal council to talk about the land and prepare the campus to receive our students.

A native of the Netherlands and a graduate of the Waldorf teacher training program in Stuttgart, Germany, Marieke Duijneveld joined the MWS family two years ago as a mom to four students before taking a place on our faculty last year as a parent-child teacher. In the fall of 2020, Marieke took the lead in the Morning Glory kindergarten class, where she leads twice-weekly song-filled play-based hikes in the hills around school. Read on to hear how Marieke’s free spirit and a love for adventure has propelled her across the world and all the way to Marin County.

Raised in Zhangzhou City, China, Sally Li has followed her heart around the globe and through diverse careers before she joined the faculty at Marin Waldorf School this fall, where she currently teaches Mandarin to grades 2, 3, 4, and 5.

In the second installment of our interview series, we’re introducing the delightful Manzanita early childhood assistant teacher Rod DeRienzo. Mr. Rod is known to many children on our campus as the famous voice of the Gold Monkey and Jeremy the Giant, two characters from an original story series he created for his daughter (if you aren’t a fan already, you can listen to one of his stories by clicking here). To grades students, he’s Mr. DeRienzo, last year’s lead aftercare teacher and the creator of stories about Phillipe, Suzette, and the mice of Córdoba.

Today, we are beginning a new (mostly) weekly column in our school newsletter and on Grandmother Oak, focused on stories, lessons, and insight from our faculty and staff. For some, becoming a Waldorf teacher is a lifelong calling. For others, a more unexpected and circuitous path led to our school. We want to share these stories, as well as lessons and stories from our students in each classroom, from preschool to 8th grade.

Yesterday, Dean and Jason, two representatives from the Coast Miwok Tribal Council, joined our faculty and staff on campus. We gathered in the shade of Grandmother Oak, where Dean and Jason spoke their truth, told us about their ancestors, shared their knowledge of the land, and invited us to reflect more deeply on the place we live, the land our school occupies, and the history we teach. It was a fitting start to a school year that will begin during a global pandemic, and one in which the natural world (particularly the beautiful valley oaks and bay laurel trees on our campus) will play an outsize role in our experience. To conclude, they joined us in a walk-through of our school’s outdoor classrooms, in preparation for our students’ arrival.

As we mourn yet another senseless death of a Black man at the hands of police and continue to see the lives of Black, Brown and Indigenous people compromised and threatened, we are continuing to dedicate ourselves to the work of social justice and bringing your children an antiracist education.