Hours: 8:30am - 12:45pm

Note: For an additional fee, Aftercare is available until 3:15pm

2008-2009 Annual Tuition:

5 Days: $12,965

Life in the Waldorf Kindergarten:

                                                                                            

Play, Rhythm, Imitation & Imagination

Enter the calm, home-like environment of the Waldorf kindergarten and experience the warmth and beauty of the room; touch the natural, simple toys, the soft, colorful silks, and cotton cloths; notice the subdued lighting. In this place your child plays contentedly and creatively, his or her imagination guiding the way.   The teachers speak softly but firmly, and move with quiet purpose, as ones whose actions are worthy of imitation.

Regular rhythms - alternating vigorous activities with quieter ones - guide the structure of each day.   The kindergarten week includes arts and crafts, puppetry, movement, woodworking, painting, story time, cooking, bread baking, singing games, healthy outdoor physical play, and the learning of social courtesies.   With exquisite attention to language, the teacher recounts fairytales and stories over and over; children drink in the images and thereby strengthen the innate human capacity for forming inner pictures. This capacity, when properly nourished, becomes the basis for language arts and future critical thinking skills.

During nature walks and outdoor play times, children experience a sense of wonder and a love of nature.   Celebrating seasonal festivals emphasizes the greater rhythm of the year.   These festivals not only remind children of the cycles of the year, but also hold them in the larger Marin Waldorf School family.

Play

From birth to age six or seven, children experience the world and learn primarily through physical activity and the effects of physical stimuli.   Thus, the Waldorf kindergarten environment is conducive to learning through exploration and play.   Healthy sensory motor integration and creative play in the early childhood years are keys to laying the foundation for later academic work.

 

Rhythm

The idea of a consistent rhythm is central to a Waldorf kindergarten: purposeful activity, movement, indoor and outdoor play, snack time, story time and daily artistic activity, allow the whole child to blossom.   A dependable sequence for the day and a consistent pattern to the week, offers the child a sense of security and well-being.   As night yields to day, as spring becomes summer, as the breath moves in and then out, so, too, children unfold best physically and emotionally when there is a healthy rhythm, "a time for all things."   The rhythm and joyous mood in the kindergarten day nourishes the young child and allows the child to grow in all capacities.

 

Imitation

At Marin Waldorf School, kindergarten is based on the conviction that the young child learns best by imitating what is beautiful and meaningful. Each child's innate capacity for wonder, reverence and awe is valued and nurtured in a carefully planned program and environment.   The teachers model beautiful movement and speech; refined table manners and social courtesies; peaceful conflict resolution and joy in daily activities - all of which are carefully observed and imitated by the children. The teachers perform real tasks with the children: grinding grain, baking bread, sewing, making soup and seasonal crafts, all the while empowering each child to contribute in meaningful ways.

Imagination

"Once upon a time," the story begins.   And sitting in a circle, the children drink in their teacher's words.   Over a period of days, the story is repeated so that a multiplicity of images can build and live in the children. Their concentration is visible, focus is on the teacher, and stillness pervades the class.   Inner pictures arise again and again. Here is the foundation for reading in grade school and for creative problem-solving and critical thinking in adolescence.

The Marin Waldorf School Early Childhood department has a Preschool classroom for children ages two years nine months to four years old (Sunflowers), and two kindergarten classrooms (Hollyhock and Morning Glory).  

Each kindergarten class welcomes a maximum of 20 children, ages four through six and a half, and is guided by a lead teacher with an assistant. Children may join the kindergarten program if they are age four by May 31st.   Kindergarten is a five-morning a week program from 8:15 a.m. to 12:45 p.m., Monday through Friday.   Limited, extended aftercare is also available.