Waldorf to Montessori, Bank Street to Reggio, there's a lot of options when it comes to early childhood education. So this serial is a who's who and a what's what. Let's get started. Welcome to the Sunflower Garden. So "where are" we? We are in the Sunflower Garden at the Chicago Waldorf School. And who are you? I am Jackie Votanek. I'm an early childhood teach in a mixed-age kindergarten, and I'm also the current tier chair of our early childhood level. And what do the children call you? Teacher or Mrs. Votanek. Mrs. Votanek. Tell me a little bit more about the Waldorf philosophy. Sure. Waldorf education looks at the whole infant. We look at where they are developmentally, and we look at them regarding their physical development, their emotional development, their social development and their academic development. And that's all the way through from parent-child first-class all the way through 12 the grade. You are given the opportunity to be in a Waldorf school from birth until 18.
So it genuinely does follow you through all those transitions of life. Tell me how did this all get started? Well, this is based on the relevant principles of Rudolph Steiner who's a philosopher from the turn of the century in Germany for students of the Waldorf Astoria cigarette factory worker. The owner of the company wanted to have education for the plant laborers' offsprings and asked Rudolph Steiner to develop the curriculum. Tell me about such areas. This would be the kitchen doll field where "their children" will play dwelling, home-like games. So I learn genuinely thoughtful toys. They're so cute. All the Waldorf dolls are established lovingly by hand. So these would all be wool felt, hand-stitched and there's tiny detail on some of them, so that "their children" can bring their own features to it. Can you tell me about what's happening to inhere? There are many things to choose from in this area. There are the wooden blocks that can be made into anything on any passed period and then there are the most natural bumpy cubes that can also turn into anything.
Homes, stones, fund, whatever it may be. There is the biggest table I've ever seen inside of a classroom. This is taking up a lot of real estates. What happens at this table? This is where our snack is. This is where preparation for a snack is. So we make bread every week, and all the children help. We cut veggies for soup every week, and the kids help. We do crafts here, we paint here. Oh my goodness, more gnomes. Gnomes and crystals. So is talking about the crystals.
Crystals are also of the earth and have I entail I believe to have healing powers. So it's nice to have that within the classroom. May I touch this? "It's also" of the coat. So this is wet felted coat as opposed to the marionettes that were over there were sewn, this is made by laying tufts of the colored coat and then wetting it with soap and felting it down. Do the children make these? This would be an older class. I remember a high school level stimulated these. I was going to say, what? This is an insane project.
They could do that with...we've done smaller jobs but not something this big. That's awesome. Are there any significant delusions people have about the Waldorf philosophy? I think that sometimes people believe that we don't teach speaking until second grade. I've heard that you don't teach until your teeth fall out. And it's like genuinely? That's not true. I entail all the way along even if you're doing a parent-child class. If young children are in the pre-k classroom or the mixed age classroom it's all about speech regarding the circle that we're doing, the hymns, the poems or rhymes and then, of course, the narratives that we're telling are all rich in speech. But there's no alphabet on the wall. There's no alphabet on the wall. You're not doing the letter of the week. We're not making the notes. And so what we're doing is planting the seeds and planting the ability to see the tale and make the mental pictures of the story that are telling every day for one or two weeks at a time that children are can make that image themselves and then they're comprehending what this history is.
And so that afterward when they are learning the notes that all goes in deeper and they have that footing. Thank you so much for coming for a inspect today. I'll see you next time !.
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