Meeting Young Children’s Needs in a City Setting

In this two-day workshop, we will have the opportunity to come together as colleagues to explore and highlight the experience of working in an urban Waldorf early childhood setting. Through this exploration you will discover the singular advantages that urban settings bring to Waldorf early childhood education, learn how working in an urban Waldorf kindergarten contributes to the greater Waldorf movement, and walk away feeling even more confident in your work in using Waldorf pedagogy to meet the specific needs of urban children and families.

Among the topics we will consider as we identify and discuss some of the unique and formative experiences of city life, and the challenges urban Waldorf early childhood educators face, are:

– Finding creative ways to use the space you have for movement activities
– Creating stories and circle time activities
– Celebrating nature and the cycles of the year in a city setting
– Cultivating the will of the young child
– Exploring how speech and sound play a role in the lives of urban children
– Fostering a diverse community of parents

Instructor Meggan Gill is a Lead Teacher in the Early Childhood section at the Brooklyn Waldorf School, where she has taught Parent-and-Child and Kindergarten classes and has been actively involved on the school’s Faculty Council and Board of Trustees. Prior to joining Brooklyn in 2009, she taught Parent-and-Child classes as well as Nursery classes at NYC’s New Amsterdam School. Meggan first learned about Waldorf Education while earning a liberal arts undergraduate degree in health sciences at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, when she visited the Olympia Waldorf School as part of her “Arts and the Child” class. Soon thereafter, she began working in their extended day and early childhood programs and eventually earned her certificate in Waldorf Early Childhood Education from Sunbridge.

Schedule:
Monday, July 17: Registration opens at 8am and concludes by 8:30am; Classes run 8:30am-5:30pm
Tuesday, July 18: Classes run 8:30am-5:30pm
An hour is given for lunch, with shorter breaks for morning and afternoon snacks

Fee
$335 (includes all materials and non-refundable $30 registration fee). Discounts may apply; see registration form for details.

Visit https://www.sunbridge.edu for more information