Joyful Beginnings Hummingbirds: August 21-25, 2025

Apr 28

Dear Joyful Beginnings Hummingbird Families,

Thank you for attending the fifth annual Hope Blooms auction! It was wonderful to see many Hummingbird families in attendance. Your support of our school community does not go unnoticed.

The Hummingbirds have been engaging beautifully with our current Spring circle and story. Throughout the year, the children have built an impressive capacity for attentiveness to oral storytelling. Fidgeting bodies have settled and been replaced with wide eyes and curious grins as the daily story unfolds. Last week, several children set up their own puppet shows complete with silks and candles, and shared lovely stories with friends and teachers. One student sweetly began her story with “Once upon a time, there were two dear friends in the forest…”

For the first seven years or so of life, children respond to what is happening in their environment through a spontaneous imitative impulse. With this in mind, there is an emphasis at Waldorf Schools on early childhood teachers striving to be “worthy of imitation.” In practice, this looks like being mindful of one’s own actions, words, and gestures as children absorb not only the actions of the teacher (parent, adult, etc.) but the quality of those actions. The power and responsibility of being such a model are exemplified by the children’s reenactment of storytelling. They adopt the body language, tone, and reverence of the teacher.

Our current story tells of Father Sun, the girl with the green dress and golden hair (dandelion flower), and the woman with the white hair (dandelion puff). The children eagerly await the moment in the story when Brother Wind approaches the meadow to ask the old woman with the white hair if she has seen the girl with the golden hair, but as he breezes over, the woman with the white hair disappears (teacher blows the dandelion puff). The children have been sharing with teachers that they sometimes see girls with green dresses and golden hair in their yards at home. This story set the stage for a rich painting day as we made our own yellow watercolor paint by crushing dandelion petals.

This week, we look forward to more lovely spring weather and a special snack on Wednesday and Thursday. The children will help to prepare a dandelion tea, and we will share bread and homemade honey jam!

Announcements and Reminders for Hummingbirds:

Please start packing insect repellent and sun hats in their backpacks.