Tuesday News - October 9, 2012

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All submissions for the Tuesday News should be sent by Friday, 3:00 pm. to publicrelations@merriconeag.org

Upcoming Events

What do we mean by growing up from the inside out?

Wed, Oct 10, 7:00 - 7:30 pm., Community Hall

Douglas Gerwin, a renowned Waldorf high school teacher and Waldorf teacher educator, will open the grades 6, 7, & 8 parent evening in the Community Hall. This portion of the parent evening is open to any Merriconeag parent interested in hearing Dr. Gerwin's thoughts on this topic. Come one, come all!  

At the Early Childhood level, Tea and Play sessions will be offered from 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 11 and Thursday, October 18, and are an easy way for parents and young children to come for an initial visit. At these sessions, parents enjoy tea with an early childhood teacher while their children play nearby.

Eurythmy Spring Valley Ensemble

Monday, October 15, Community Hall

10:00 a.m. for Early Childhood - Grade 2

11:00 a.m. for Grades 3 - 12

Parents and friends of the school are welcome

to join us for both performances.

     On Monday, October 15, the Eurythmy Spring Valley Ensemble (a constellation of seven young and seasoned eurythmists, along with a speaker, musician, and lighting technician) will present two shows in our Community Hall.

     The first performance is at 10:00 a.m. for Early Childhood - Grade 2 and it will be the fairy tale, The Flea and the Little Louse. This is a charming and comforting tale from France with a running time of about 20 minutes. Little Flea is upset when he returns home to find that Little Louse is absent. Did Little Louse fall into the soup pot? (No, Little Louse is asleep under the rose bush.) However, the table, the baking trough, the door, and the tree all speak to comfort Little Flea and then go with himinto the wide world, where they discover that Little Louse is alive and well. They all laugh and laugh until they come back home to have the soup.

     The second performance will be at 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon for Grades 3 - 12 and it is the fairy tale, Gawain and the Loathly Lady. This tale begins at Christmas Tide at Camelot, and all the knights and ladies surrounding Arthur and Guinevere celebrate.
But suddenly in rides a noble lady and tells her woes of the giant of the northern waste who challenges Arthur to fight: and so Lady Adventure visits and Arthur must ride forth. Soon his life and honor are forfeited to a most loathly lady, and none of his gallant knights seem to be able to help him. Thus this new tale draws us into the rich
pageantry of one of the Arthurian legends.

     We look forward to seeing you there!

High School Information Night

Tuesday, October 23, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

Community Hall

Freeport Campus, 57 Desert Road

Our annual High School Information Night for parents and prospective students, is coming right up on Tuesday, October 23, 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. Held on the Freeport campus in the Community Hall, this year’s presentation will include a panel of Waldorf graduates who will reflect on how their education prepared them to take up college (and life).

Wednesday is Handcraft Day at Merriconeag!
      Every Wednesday up until the Fall Festival (Nov. 3) our handwork teachers will be offering free handcraft classes in our beautiful new Handcraft Building on the main campus. Everyone is welcome - whether you are a novice or a very experienced hand worker (knitting, sewing, felting, crocheting), a new parent or returning parent, this is a wonderful way to connect with other parents, deepen friendships, learn a new skill and get instructions and patterns for a new project. The items you make in this class will be sold at the Fall Festival, so on top of all these other reasons to come, you will feel good about supporting Merriconeag!
Fall Fair Crafts

Wednesday, October 10, 8:30 - 10:00 a.m. or 3:00 - 4:30 p.m. Join Susan Caron in re-purposing old sweaters and turn them into cozy cases for knitting needles and crochet hooks. No sewing experience is needed.

Wednesday, Oct 17, 8:30-10:00 am Learn a new wool felting technique and needle felt fairy mushrooms with Lisa Edge. 3:00-4:30 pm Wet felting rainbow balls and pin cushions with Sandy Pearson.

No little ones in the morning sessions, please, but children in grades 4 and up are most welcome to attend the afternoon sessions with an adult or on their own. Please sign up with Lisa in the grade school office so we can plan our supplies.
      If you have a suggestion for a project or would like to lead a session please contact Sandy or Julie.
We look forward to working and laughing with you as we prepare for the fair.
Handwork Teachers: Sandy Pearson, spearson@merriconeag.org and Julie Pennington, jpennington@merriconeag.org.

Doll Workshops
We are pleased to announce two doll making workshops for the fall season! Come join us if you would like to make a very special doll for holiday giving or just enjoy the experience of creating these beautiful dolls. Made from sheep's wool and cotton knit fabric these dolls reflect the inner softness and warmth of both their maker and their little owner.

Julie Pennington will host a Heavy (millet) Baby Workshop

beginning on Wed. Nov 7, 8:30 - 10:00am

and continuing for 5 Wednesday mornings.

This doll is the 12", 3 lb baby in a bunting and is suitable for a young kindergarten child. The cost of the workshop is $45.00 with all materials and instruction provided. Limited to 10 participants. Contact Julie with questions or to register at jpennington@merriconeag.org

Sandy Pearson will host a Waldorf Dress up Doll Workshop

beginning Wed. October 17*, 7:00 - 8:30 pm

and continuing for 9 Wednesday evenings.

This is a 16" soft doll suitable for older kindergarten and grade school children.

The cost of making this doll is $85.00 with all materials and instruction provided. Limited to 10 participants.Contact Sandy with questions or to register at spearson@merriconeag.org

* This is a date change.

Note: Some donated materials have made it possible for us to offer a few materials scholarships ($15.00)

to help defray the cost of the workshops. Please let us know if this would be help you attend.

Early Childhood Parent Chat Room

Wednesday mornings, 8:45 to 9:30 a.m.

Early Childhood Center, Bluebell Room

Join host Michael Fenderson, French Teacher for EC through Grade 8, and long-time Merriconeag parent, for a chat - share questions, get to know each other, and sip a warm cup of coffee or tea.

Fall Festival and Open House

Fall Festival & Open House

Saturday, November 3, 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

57 Desert Road, Freeport

The Fall Festival requires the help of everyone in our school community; and we hope every parent will be able to pitch in, by working a shift the day of the Festival, contributing to the food at the café or lunch, and donating items for the craft activities and gently used sale.
Christine Sloan, Lynne Espy, Lisa Mainella on behalf of the entire Fall Festival Committee, developmentcoordinator@merriconeag.org

Pocket Person: A much loved sight at the Fall Festival, the Pocket Person returns! It is time to gather magical treasures for the giving. We appreciate your help in looking around your house for any small items that would be perfect to hide in a pocket (up to 4 inches in size). You may drop off all donations at either one of the school offices in the bin labeled “Pocket Person”. Some example items you might donate include: bells, crystals, sea glass, jacks, molding beeswax, coins, old keys, candles, buttons, marbles, wood figures and small boxes. Thank you! Tami Goodrich

Send Your Woolens to the Fair: This year there will be a table in the Outerwear Room for Woolens. We hope to have a plethora of sweaters, vests, woollies, 'Smartwool', hats mittens and scarfs in all sizes. These items should be 50% or greater of wool. Please go through your winter garb and send what you can to the office where there will be a container to receive them. Let's keep our children and ourselves warm and snug this winter.Contact Joanna at joannabay1972@gmail.com or Lois at labeardsleyla@gmail.com.

New Faces Around the Campus

Andrew Lardie, Math and Science in the high school
We are pleased to welcome Andrew Lardie to Merriconeag. He has a B.A. in Biology from Reed College and a MAT in Secondary Biology from Emory Universtity. Andrew previously taught math and science at the Atlanta Girls School, The Epstein School, and in the City Schools of Decatur, Georgia. He also advised students and families as a college admissions counselor for four years. Outside the classroom, Andrew likes to play music and hike with his family and dog, George.

Interview with Mr. Lardie conducted by Lily Tupper '14, 10/05/12

1) Why did you choose to teach in a Waldorf School?
- Because I wanted to be in an environment where I could teach in a way that matches the way a student learns.

2) What is your favorite part of teaching?
- When a student is surprised to be excited about what they are learning.

3) What did you want to be when you were growing up?
- a professional athlete. I didn't really know, so I went to a liberal arts college where I could learn a bit of everything.

4) When did you know that you wanted to teach math/science?
- After I was a volunteer science teacher in Portland, Oregon, I realized that there is a need for science teachers who are good at communicating the science they teach.

5) What activities did you do in high school?
- band, football, basketball, tennis, track, National Honors Society

6) coffee or tea?
- tea

News From the High School

The following essay was written by Andrew Hastings, '14 for his Medieval History Block with David Barham. The egg tempera painting from the Middle Ages is by Sophie Simmons, '14.

The Intellectual History of the Middle Ages:    

     The Middle Ages and the classical Greek eras are often regarded as completely and fundamentally different. Not only are the eras separated by hundreds of years, the spiritual and intellectual differences are profound. Ancient Greece is revered as a triumph of intelligence, reason, and democracy; while the Middle Ages, are also known as the Dark Ages, where everything was centered on God, and the only way to God was through the Church. However, as different as the philosophies of these two periods of time may seem at first, the philosophy of the Middle Ages is essentially Platonic and later Aristotelian thinking adapted by Christianity.
      The essence of Plato's philosophy can be glimpsed at by observing his upward gesture portrayed in Raphael's School of Athens. Platonic thinking centered on the belief that that true perfection cannot be found on earth and that a transcendent reality must be reached in order for the human being to experience true enlightenment. Plato taught that everything that existed on earth was "chaotic, untrustworthy and unreal" and that earthly objects were mere flawed shadows of their perfect form that could be found in heaven and thus nothing could be learned from them. Plato called these perfect objects "ideas," or "forms." Plato believed that with perseverance and reason, the human being can reach and comprehend the perfect ideas of every object. St. Augustine adapted Plato's philosophy, which entailed Christianizing it. Augustine's philosophy was similar in that perfection cannot be achieved on earth, and that the material world was misleading. However, Augustine believed that human beings cannot reach heaven on their own through reason because original sin had warped humankind's sense of reason. St. Augustine's teachings entailed that the only way to God was through the church. This Platonic/Augustinian philosophy prevailed throughout the early middle ages, and resulted in a society that effectively stalled in terms of advancement, as life was seen as a pointless, sinful period and that entering heaven after death was the only thing worth striving for.
      Standing in contrast to his teacher's philosophy, Aristotle believed that much could be learned from the earth and the material world through the use of reason, as is evident from his downward gesture in the School of Athens. This Aristotelian philosophy laid the basis for empiricism, the discovery of knowledge through experience and experiments, as opposed to theory. Just as St. Augustine transformed Plato's philosophy, St. Thomas Aquinas, Maimonides, and Averroes transformed Aristotle's philosophy. For the first time, it was proclaimed that faith and reason were not mutually exclusive, and that both are ways of searching for ultimate truth. St. Thomas Aquinas referred to learning by faith as "supernatural revelation" and learning by reason and observation "natural revelation." This effectively founded empirical science, as reason was no longer viewed as the enemy of religion. This momentous moment started the High Middle Ages, and would later blossom into the Renaissance.

Merriconeag Students Perform for Portland Ovations

Merriconeag Students Invited to Perform for Portland Ovations: A group of talented Merriconeag and local circus arts students were invited to perform at the POP! Benefit for Portland Ovations on October 2nd. Virginia Fullagar, Ethan Humphries, Ryan Kappelman, Sophia Laukli, Sarah Norden, Davis Ritger, Maxime Rumiel, Lila Salter-Gurau and Jojo & Ari Zeitlin put on a beautiful display of their juggling, acrobatics, diablo and clowning skills, lending a festive air to the street carnival atmosphere of this major fundraiser for Portland Ovations. Organizer Eileen Phelan told us that these kids "were great and were the perfect addition to the event - they embody what we support". Many thanks to our Circus Arts Ambassadors and to John Saccone who provided encouragement, flair and direction for this exciting connection to the performing arts community in Portland. Trace Salter

Athletic News - Sports Updates

High School Cross Country

NYA Meet Recap: We finally saw the sun this week, during a brief window at Royal River Park in Yarmouth for the NYA meet. Unfortunately, it was not enough to dry out the course, which was described (aptly) as a 'soggy carpet'. Still, our runners must have found inspiration in those few hours of sunlight, as the meet yielded several PRs and season bests. Even though many of the runners were using the race as a hard workout, everyone left feeling good about the experience. Thank you to all our spectators and especially to the middle school split crew. Read more.

Coach Morgan Lake Adams   

Upcoming race: This Friday, October 12, we will travel to St. Joseph's College in Standish for the Western Maine Conference Championship meet. The schedule for that day is as follows:
1:45pm Course Walk
3:00pm Boys Varsity (top 7)
3:30pm Girls Varsity
4:00pm Boys JV
4:30pm Girls JV
5:15pm Results, Awards
Hope to see you there!

For meet details, please click here.           

Full results, schedules and more information can be found on our Cross Country Blog.

Congratulations to Merriconeag senior Jack Pierce who was featured in last Wednesday's Portland Press Herald: Jack broke 16:15 at a big invitational for the second week in a row, placing fourth (second among Maine runners) at the Festival of Champions in Belfast in 16:14 a week after finishing similarly in 16:09 at the Manchester Invitational. Go Jack!
To see Jack and read more about that weekend's race that featured over 1,400 runners, please click here.

Middle School Cross Country

     Last week started out with a Monday trip to Twinbrook for the annual Greely Relays, an informal one-mile relay race with five runner, coed teams. Despite a delayed start, the teams looked great and everyone enjoyed some nice fall weather.

    On Thursday we hosted Greely, Freeport, and Yarmouth at home on a rather wet day. Fortunately, the rain let up just in time for the races and the course held up well under the wet conditions. The boys posted their fourth straight win after securing first and second place individually and nine of the top-twenty slots overall. The boys' race was rounded out by great first official races of the year by Alec Eames and Izariah Jump and a brave effort by Tarek Ihaddaden. Our girls brought home a solid second place finish with two top-ten spots and five in the top-twenty individually. We were very pleased to see our biggest group of girls yet, with first official races of the season by Sophia Laukli, Sophia Skinner, Salome Skinner, Jennie Bakewell, Caroline Oldin-Brewer, and Charlotte Joseph!

     Many thanks to all the parents and faculty that braved the elements to record times, compile results, staff the course, and cheer for the kids. As always, the school community created a very welcoming environment for our guests. Additional thanks to the high school runners for warming up and rooting on the team, and to Coach Morgan Lake Adams for lending them to us. Finally, a special thank you to John Saccone for preparing a great, well-marked course for us that drew several compliments from our visiting teams. Assistant Coach, John Olson

Our next middle school race is Thursday, October 11 at Durham. Boys run at 4:00, girls at 4:30. Hope to see you all there! Click here for race schedule.

School Community Updates

Parent Teacher Conferences: Parent Teacher conferences are scheduled for Thursday October, 25th and Friday, October 26th. School is cancelled on these days. High school parents will receive conference sign-up information. EC parents will find sign-up schedules outside EC classroom doors. G1 through 8 parents, please follow the links below to sign-up for a conference this year.

Pick a time instructions

Pick a time online scheduler

New Fund Raising opportunity coming to Merriconeag:  You can buy your cake and eat it too.
The school is currently researching the opportunity to buy bulk gift cards from Hannaford which would then be sold to parents and friends associated with Merriconeag. By doing this, the school would receive 5% of the total amount of gifts cards sold as a donation. We see this as a win-win situation for all! We hope to have this program up and running very soon. Stay tuned for more information in future newsletters. Barbara Guffin

Part-time, Afternoon Assistant Position Available: Merriconeag Waldorf School is offering a part-time position for an assistant in the Nursery/Kindergarten afternoon program, Monday through Thursday, from 11:00 to 3:30. Prior background in working with young children and special interest in Waldorf education is necessary. Certification in a Waldorf Early Childhood program is not required, but would be a benefit. This position is currently available now through December 20, but has the possibility of continuing through the school year till June 5.
To Apply: Please send a letter of introduction, your resume, a brief biography, and two letters of recommendation to the attention of the Administrator, Christine Sloan at administrator@merriconeag.org.

Willow Pond Farm Apples are Back: Starting this Friday, September 28, apples will be delivered to Merriconeag's Early Childhood Center on Fridays before 11:30am. Orders must be placed with Willow Pond Farm (willowpf@aol.com) by Thursday at noon. Please leave payment in envelope in Early Childhood Office PRIOR to delivery.
McIntosh and Cortland Fancy: peck $11, half bushel $18
McIntosh Utility: half bushel $10.50, bushel $18
Cider- no preservatives, not pasteurized - Gallon $5.95, half gallon $3.75
Northern Spy apples available in October.
Jill Agnew, Willow Pond Farm, 395 Middle Road, Sabattus, Maine 04280, 207-375-6662

Read (Listen to or Watch) This

Waldorf High School in China or “Enabling everyone to develop morally, intellectually and physically to become a free-thinker rather than a government-directed worker and socialist.”

By Allegra Allesandri, PhD.

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