Irving Chernev once said, “Every chess master was once a beginner.” A game of strategy, it was known as “the royal game” from about the 15th century in Europe as it was quite popular amongst the nobility. Nowadays many from all walks of life around the world enjoy the game, including the Voyagers who have crafted their own personal chess set.
The Voyagers started by sanding down their circular wooden boards, then accurately measured out the board grid with their rulers, before painting the alternate coloured squares.
Next they had to make the chess pieces out of clay, observing the differences between each type of piece and modelling their own miniature versions. This came with its own challenges with the brittleness of the material drying too quickly. Some had to remake a few pieces, learning a bit about using the medium of clay. Afterwards an origami box was created to keep the pieces together neatly.
For an added touch, the Voyagers hammered nails on the other side of the board to help them with their times tables. Evenly spaced in a 10 pointed star formation, the string can be moved around the nails to visually see unique patterns in each times table. With the equipment all made, the next step was to understand how to play the game, so the Voyagers wrote their own instruction manual.
Finally all that was left was to enjoy playing the game with each other!
As part of their Roman block the Discoveries got to make Roman flatbreads. The recipe for the dough had no measurements and was presented in Latin, so the children had to make it intuitively! The children were creative with the ingredients to meet all dietary requirements and the results were delicious.
Candlemas, Imbolc, or Brigid’s Day, whichever name resonates with your beliefs, the Oakens joined with the younger Hawthorns to celebrate it.
To embrace the symbolic transition from winter to spring as the days grow brighter and the chill of winter fades away the groups immersed themselves in the spirit of the season. They ventured into the woods, coming together to create a special Earth Candle that would bring warmth to the emerging seeds and sprouts, marking the promise of impending spring. The children and their grown ups sang songs and filled shells with wax in the woods and tucked into delicious baked goods the Oakens had prepared the day before.
Earlier in the week the Oakens spent time candle dipping, keeping one candle for their lunch breaks and one to take home to share with their families.
The first topic of the new year for the Discoveries is Geology. For the first three weeks of the term they focused on mountains, rocks, Pangea, plate movements, earthquakes, volcanoes, the rock cycle, coal, petroleum, metals and gems.
Their second week back finished with a wonderful workshop held by Mark Smalley (BBC Radio 4 presenter) and Tom Walmsley (from Nature Connection and Eco Lab), who shared with the group their geological knowledge and expertise. The children wrote poems inspired by the rock collection and, choosing a rock each, they conversed with it and asked it questions! They also learned about fossils and Tom’s pet kestrel ‘Sandy’.
To supplement this learning at home, the children needed to complete one of the following projects…
Mountain Study Choose a mountain, or mountain range, to research. Focus on how it was formed, as well as other features. Present to the group in their chosen format (could be a poster, a booklet, a 3D model…)
OR
Rock or Metal study Choose a type of rock, or metal, to research. Focus on its properties and origin. Present to the group in their chosen format (could be a poster, a booklet, a 3D model…).
🏆 Bonus credit was awarded for anyone that rewrites the words of a rock song to be about mountains or rocks!
The children enjoyed presenting their projects to each other using a variety of mediums and presentation styles!
The Voyagers have recently enjoyed trips to see two plays. In December they travelled to the Old Vic Theatre to see a production of The Four Seasons.
With use of music from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, interspersed with modern day seasonal pop songs such as Cliff Richard’s Summer Holiday, the small cast wove various stories set throughout the course of a natural year. The vivid image of an acorn growing and changing each season was central, amidst the high energy acting and astounding amount of props that allowed for a constant flow of transformation.
There was a lovely humorous atmosphere that invited audience participation (most of whom were children) in just the right amount, inspiring wonder of the natural world as well as engaging excitement. At the end of the performance, each child was given an activity sheet and wildflower seed paper, to continue the natural cycle of seed to full grown plant.
The second theatre trip was to see a production of Oliver Twist at The Tobacco Factory. This adaptation of Charles Dickens’ beloved classic was reimagined from Victorian London and instead set in a somewhat modern day Bristol. All the cast and production crew are specifically from the South West and there were many local cultural and geographical Bristolian references interspersed throughout.
The audience were kept on their toes by the 7 player cast playing multiple character roles (and sometimes providing musical accompaniment). The Voyagers were certainly gripped by the storytelling, most of whom were experiencing this classic tale for the first time.
On the last day of term, the Apple Tree gathered together for the Celebration of Work, a sharing of each group’s learning to the community.
After a rousing rendition of People Look East from parents, teachers and children, the youngest group, the Oakens started off the presentations with songs and poems that they had been learning. Their gleeful exuberance charmed the whole audience and it was a joy to see their confidence, feeling undaunted and welcomed by the community.
The Voyagers, who had been recently focusing on the measurement of time in their Main Lesson maths block, recited a poem about the seasons. They then performed a quodlibet piece Don’t Put Your Trash In My Backyard with their Choroi flutes and sang The Twinkling Stars, a translation of the German lullaby Weißt du, wie viel Sternlein stehen.
The Discoveries’ Main Lesson has been focused on Ancient Rome. They recited the poem Romulus and Remus by Rudyard Kipling, which was dramatically enhanced by incorporating acrobalancing. They also performed the play Romulus and Remus by Pelham Moffat and sang a beautiful rendition of Dona Nobis Pacem as a round.
The Pippins performed a poem and sang the round Sure as the Wind as a whole group, and then a few students shared a report of some of the individual projects they had been working on. Two were focused on a particular artist they had chosen to study – Van Gogh and Hokusai respectively, talking about fascinating elements of their life and distinguishing features of their artwork. The students also showed a copy of a painting they had done from their chosen artist. Two other students talked about their chemistry projects and enthralled the whole gathering with their demonstration of mixing different elements together.
Singing together is a central part of Steiner-Waldorf education, as well as strengthening community bonds.
The Pippins, Discoveries and Voyagers sang a song If The People, and the Discoveries together with the Voyagers sang a pairing of the songs Shalom Chaverim and What a Goodly Thing, two Hebrew-based songs.
After the formal presentations, refreshments were served.
The Voyagers, who have been working on building a pizza oven since September as part of their homebuilding block, cooked dough balls and pizza to share with everyone. Other groups distributed the abundance of mince pies and mulled apple juice.
Parents had the chance to view bookwork and projects displayed from all the groups, admiring and appreciating the broad variety of subjects throughout the ages, as well as the effort put in by both students and teachers.
Oakens Work
Voyagers Work
Discoveries Work
Pippins Work
Celebration of Work is a massive highlight for the Apple Tree community, with mutual appreciation of each other’s work. It’s a chance for younger ones to watch older ones’ and aspire to be where they are in their learning journey – comments could be heard to the tune of “I can’t wait when we do that!”
The Voyagers and the Discoveries have been enjoying Eurythmy lessons this term from a specialist Eurythmy teacher. Unique to Steiner-Waldorf education, it is a form of expressive movement art, originated by Rudolf Steiner in conjunction with Marie von Sivers in the early 20th century.
Alongside an accompanying musician, the children are guided through specific movements that correspond to particular musical notes or spoken sounds. In addition, storytelling and poems are also used, enhancing the class’ Main Lesson content, helping to bring alive the stories and experience them in a different way. For example, with the Voyagers learning about Norse mythology, music pieces include Scandinavian folk songs as well as part of the Kalevala, epic poetry from Finland.
Benefits include improving coordination, spacial awareness and sense of rhythm, and together with the emphasis on group movement, can help stimulate a child’s social and emotional development. Steiner described eurythmy as an “art of the soul” and the children experience movement, music, poetry and stories in an age-appropriate joyful way.
This is how one of the Apple Tree teachers feels about Eurythmy: “I like that in a time when there is so much noise, Eurythmy teaches the children to listen deeply. As we know, plants will grow in the direction of beautiful music – I hope that Eurythmy helps the child’s growth forces, guiding them into the space around them and encouraging positive growth.”
The Discoveries invited their families and the Voyagers along to a performance of ‘What a Pity’. A theatrical performance of dance and movement of their own creation about a murder mystery! Advertised as a work in progress I can’t wait to see the second part.
The children end each week with Leeza, a talented artist, singer and medicine dance practitioner who holds an inclusive dance session with the group.
Inspired by an age-old Bavarian custom, where farmers adorned tables with moss and twigs, creating illuminated gardens with candles nestled in apples, the tradition of the Advent spiral traces back to the 1920s. Over time, this heartfelt festival found its way into Waldorf Schools across the globe.
In the serene ambiance of a darkened room, evergreen boughs, symbolizing life everlasting, are arranged in a spiral on the floor, centered around a large candle. The Advent spiral unfolds with each child, one by one, walking into the spiral holding a lantern with an unlit candle. Guided by teachers or parents, based on individual needs, they navigate the spiral’s path to reach the illuminated center. There, they light their own candles from the central flame, carefully placing their lanterns along the spiral’s course before returning to their seats.
The Advent spiral mirrors the human journey during this season—a transition into darkness, shorter days, and longer nights, all while carrying hope forward to welcome the sun’s light after the winter solstice.
For our own Apple Tree celebration each group gathered in the hall at All Saints in small numbers for a beautiful and magical spiral. We are lucky to have some talented musicians in our parent group who led the music and provided a serene soundscape to the evening.
Into Film Festival is a free, annual, UK-wide celebration of film and education for 5-19 year olds. Supporting a vision of putting film at the heart of children and young people’s education, the Into Film Festival is the largest youth-focused film festival in the world. You can read more about it here.
This year between the 7th and 24th November there was the opportunity to sign up to go to a local cinema to see a wide range of films including ‘Strange World’, ‘Trolls 3’ and ‘A Crack in the Mountain’. Each film comes with age appropriate educational resources looking at different themes to discuss with the children.
The screening of Lyle Lyle Crocodile attracted Children from the Oakens, Voyagers, Discoveries and Pippins. It was certainly very enjoyable for the grown ups too!
Into Film is a great education package with films available o stream, all supported with activities and resources online. What a great excuse to heat up some popcorn and get cosy over the darker months ahead.
