For educators and educators-in-training, administrators, parents, caregivers of infants and toddlers, and anyone interested in including this work in their practice or their school

We have reached maximum capacity for this event. If you wish to add your name to a waitlist should any openings occur, please do so here.

Birth to three is a critical period of child development. During this time, children experience extraordinary change and growth as they learn to navigate relationships with parents, family, and the world beyond. Adults have a special responsibility to properly and consciously support young children during this period, with a careful and kind approach that understands and values this time of life.

Dr. Emmi Pikler, a pediatrician who worked in Budapest during the mid-20th century, developed a groundbreaking approach to early childhood care and education. Her approach, widely practiced and recognized as an exemplar of high quality caregiving, emphasizes the importance of children’s autonomous play and movement, and the role of respectful caregiving in the development of young children’s personalities.

Applying Emmi Pikler’s main principles, as well as insights from Waldorf Education, participants in this workshop will deepen their skills and knowledge to provide peaceful and respectful care to very young children, while also learning how birth to three work fits into the bigger picture of Waldorf pedagogy and school organization.

Topics covered will include:

• • The sequence of natural motor development
  • The importance of self-initiated free play
  • Choreography of care – the dance of cooperative caregiving
  • How to support secure relationships between adults and infants
  • Creating an unhurried rhythm of the day
  • The inner work of the caregiver
  • Embracing birth to three in the Waldorf pedagogy

Presented over Zoom, this interactive workshop will include lecture, discussion, hands-on practice, video footage, and experiential activities.

Participants will leave with a basic theoretical foundation, as well as practical skills to care for very young children.

Instructors

Anna Ruth Myers, founder of The Nurtured Child in NYC, is an infant development specialist with over 15 years of experience supporting families and children. As a certified doula, childbirth, and breastfeeding educator, she has supported over 100 families through the pregnancy, birth, and postpartum periods.  Anna Ruth is a certified RIE® Associate and highly trained Pikler® infant care specialist who has completed multiple trainings at the Pikler Institute® in Budapest. In addition to her diploma in Waldorf Early Childhood Education from Sunbridge,  Anna Ruth holds 0-3 and 3-6 teaching diplomas from the American Montessori Society, a diploma from The Child in the First Three Years training course at Sophia’s Hearth Family Center, and an MA in human development with a specialization in early childhood development, and has completed study groups in the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education.

Meggan Gill is currently lead toddler teacher at City of Lakes Waldorf School. Between 2009 and 2020, she was on the faculty of the Brooklyn Waldorf School, leading parent-and-child and kindergarten classes and being active on the school’s Faculty Council and Board of Trustees. Prior to joining BWS, she taught parent-and-child and nursery classes at NYC’s New Amsterdam School. Meggan, who is also an adjunct faculty member in Sunbridge’s teacher education programs, first learned about Waldorf Education when she visited the Olympia Waldorf School as part of her “Arts and the Child” class at Evergreen State College and soon thereafter began working in OWS’s extended day and early childhood programs. She earned her undergraduate degree in health sciences at Evergreen State and her certificate in Waldorf Early Childhood Education from Sunbridge.

Schedule

Friday, March 5, Zoom session:  7pm-8:30pm Eastern Time
Saturday, March 6, Zoom sessions: 10am-11:30am and 12:30pm-2pm Eastern Time

Cost
$150

Discount Options

• 10% off if you are a Sunbridge program alum OR for schools sending two or more registrants
  Discount codes for Sunbridge program alumni will appear on your registration form once you identify yourself. Use discount code VOLUME if your school is sending more than one registrant; qualification for coupon use will be verified when the workshop begins. Only one discount may be applied.
• 100% off if you are a current Sunbridge program student. Please register as soon as possible, while spaces are still available, using the code provided you.

REGISTER

Questions?

Please contact Barbara Vitale, admissions and summer coordinator, at [email protected] or 845-425-0055 x20

Sunbridge reserves the right to make faculty substitutions when necessary.