CANCELED * Second Play Date for Parents of el Rio! * CANCELED

THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELED DUE TO WEATHER!

Come out to Sycamore Grove Park on Saturday July 17th to join other interested el Rio parents and el Rio Development Team members and our kids for an informal get together.

This will be our second get together like this, we hope to do this monthly so we can all get to know each other and to begin to organize el Rio volunteers.

Saturday, July 17th – 11:00am look for Development Team member Kim Ilas at Sycamore Grove Park – 4702 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA 90042 – at the newer playground in the back of the park.
Kim is striking and tall and mocha-skinned and has long dread locks and twin daughters.
<—— There she is now!

See you there!

Parents of el Rio – this Saturday, June 19th!

Come out to Sycamore Grove Park this Saturday to join other interested el Rio parents and el Rio Development Team members and our kids for an informal get together.

We plan to get together like this regularly so we can all get to know each other and to begin to organize el Rio volunteers.

This Saturday, June 19th – 11:00am look for Development Team member Kim Ilas at Sycamore Grove Park – 4702 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA 90042 – at the newer playground in the back of the park.
Kim is striking and tall and mocha-skinned and has long dread locks and twin daughters.
<—— There she is now!

See you there!

Television :(

The only reason i don’t have a ‘Kill Your Television’ sticker on my bumper is because I don’t know where to get one. I try not to proselytize to my parent friends who find nothing wrong with TV in their homes, and of course I understand what a handy tool an age-appropriate DVD, TV program, or a YouTube can be when you just need a little time to get something done or on a road trip or airplane flight.

photo credit MikeWebkist

Lately, fellow development team member Julia P. has been getting me all riled up about television’s assault on children’s minds. It’s becoming more and more difficult to keep my dirty secret that we don’t watch TV in my house.

Especially when I run across an article like this – I read a brief snippet in a magazine on recent research that links toddler aggression to too much television exposure. I followed the link they gave and found the root article online, which I share with you here – and especially you, Julia P!

“TV is not a benign influence. It does have impact,” said Richard Gallagher, director of the Parenting Institute at the New York University Child Study Center in New York City. And, while content may impact children, he pointed out that children’s behaviors may also be affected by the “opportunities lost.”

That about sums it up for me; not only does television have a negative influence, it also keeps kids sitting indoors passively when they could be outdoors playing in the sunshine.

What do you think? Please share with me your links to other research and articles about the hazards of television for developing minds. Opinions and research of dissent are totally welcome too. Let’s hear it.

Trash for Teaching! AWESOME

Development team member Sheila sent this link to a program in LA; Trash for Teaching

They collect cast-off materials from manufacturers, organize them into bins in a mobile “Treasure Truck” and visit schools to do art workshops with the kids. Sooooo cool. Check it out. I joined their mailing list and watched their video. This is something that el Rio will definitely want to do!

“I learned about that… um… you can make anything out of stuff instead of throwing it away.”
-anonymous kid in the video.

An LA Charter School implements Edible Schoolyard

I was just catching up on my Ramshackle Solid reading and found this article from a last week about a charter school right here in LA who have implemented an Edible Schoolyard for their students.

This is something that el Rio hopes to be able to do on our campus too.

Can’t wait to hear more about Larchmont Charter School‘s experience.

Summer Waldorf Teacher Training Courses at Steiner College

Just got word that the Rudolf Steiner College Summer Session is open for registration.

Explore our exciting, diverse summer session workshops, conferences, and Waldorf teacher trainings.

We have a course for you if you are a teacher (early childhood through high school), administrator, artist, gardener/farmer, Spanish teacher, craftsman, parent, meditator, or spiritual seeker.

Whole Children, Whole Planet Expo – April 24th, 2010

The Whole Children, Whole Planet Expo is coming up on Earth day Weekend; April 24th, 2010 9:30 am – 6:00pm at Highland Hall Waldorf School in Northridge.

With workshops on Creating Healthy Eating Habits, Media’s Influence on Children, and many, many more. Also featuring the Yoga Lounge and Free Childcare!

Check it out.

Great NYTimes blog post about Rudolf Steiner

An article from the New York Times Blog paints a well-rounded portrait of Rudolf Steiner, the philosopher who created the Waldorf School. And it tells of a traveling exhibition organized by the Vitra Design Museum; “Rudolf Steiner: Alchemy of the Everyday”

By age 12, I had a rote reply for grown-ups’ quizzical looks when they heard I went to a Waldorf school: “It’s based on the ideas of Rudolf Steiner.” Blank stare. “He was an Austrian philosopher who believed in teaching the whole student — mind, body and soul.” Luckily no one ever asked me to elaborate, because I’d have been at a loss for words — except to say that we students got to do lots of drawing and painting, which I loved, but we couldn’t skip eurythmy class (yuck).

Scary

An editorial in Education Week Magazine talks about Obama’s Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s plan to overhaul No Child Left Behind. Is Duncan’s plan just as bad or worse?

Thank you for coming out on a rainy Saturday for our third public meeting!

Thank you very much to our guest Lisa Duarte of Ninth Street Elementary School in Boyle Heights for sharing her experiences and, at times, her personal struggle with applying Waldorf methods to her Kindergarten class in a public school that is demographically similar to our own. You rule Lisa! Thanks so much for your input.

Last Saturday’s public meeting was a little different than the meetings that we’ve held in the past. We decided to do a workshop this time. Joan led a “Conversation Cafe” and we broke into groups of 5 and discussed our topic for the day, “Meaningful Diversity.” We got a lot out of this meeting; ways to move forward in the planning of the school that will allow us to reflect and respond to the needs of our culturally and socio-economically diverse neighborhoods in North East LA. Thank you very much to you all for sharing your experiences, advice and insight into a subject that, I think, can be a bit challenging to talk about sometimes.

Here’s the meeting report in numbers: 35 adults, 2 teens, and 14 darling kids with excellent whispering voices. We sold 10 handmade birds and received $259.00 in donations! Fan-freakin’-tastic!

A big Thank You to The Audubon Center for continuing to host us in such a lovely space.

A big Thank You to Blue Hen Vietnamese Kitchen for donating a platter of delicious spring rolls for us to snack upon.

A big Thank You to Ruth Ortiz and Mary Crist for offering their spanish translation services.

And a last quick note; we found a red children’s art case and a blue water bottle/jug with a sport top after the meeting. Please email us if they belong to you.

Our next Public Meeting will be on Saturday, June 5th, same time, same place – meeting topic to be announced so stay tuned, or email us and let us know what you’d like to talk about next time!