Community. What is it?
Shared values. Kindred spirits. Complementary talents. We have that in abundance here at Alabama Waldorf School. If you need a load of firewood, call Dave Hall. If you need a car wash, call Mwenja. If you need a photographer, call Mike Mills or Chris Pritchard. If you need a chiropractor, call our Grow Together Partner Ellen Witt. The examples go on and on.

It's a community.

We share things. We help each other out. We get to know each other's strengths. And weaknesses.

Among our strengths is the vision to bring the fastest growing nonsectarian education to the Birmingham area, the unifying philosophy of Waldorf education, the common purpose of the faculty as they deliver the Waldorf curriculum, more than 100 collective years of Waldorf teaching experience, and our implementation of a tuition adjustment program that makes a private Waldorf education available to anyone who really wants it.

Our weaknesses include our small size, and the fact that the school is undercapitalized and operates with a limited marketing budget so our "branding" is weak in the broader community.

This translates to low enrollment which is the battle we are currently fighting. I said recently that 4 new Kindergartners and 4 new Grades students would erase our current budget deficit. We need the kindergartners to populate our 2010-11 First Grade. We need the Grades students to make each grade viable as a stand-alone class.

We have a great product, and so many people are grateful when they find us; Kylen Brown's parents, Kate Carlisle's parents,
Asata and Zion Jones-Rothblatt's parents have all stopped by recently to share their thankfulness. Max Wang's mom brought a friend on a tour last week and shared her own joy at how the school has met their family's needs. Sophie Cornelius's mom referred a friend who has a child who's unhappy at their current school.

Shared values. Common purpose. Helping each other out. Community.
Through this type of community spirit, we will survive and thrive.

So, call up a fellow AWS parent and have a cup of coffee together, or join me for a Friday morning after drop-off. Arrange a play date for your child with a fellow AWS student. Go to Triangle Park with some kindred spirits. You've built a community. Enjoy it!

A Different Kind of Fundraising--All Together

By Adrianne Morrison




This fall finds all of us at AWS welcoming change and preparing for an amazing year together. You’ll hear an echo of community in the voices of the Awareness contributors this month. You’ll see a community focus in Streamlined Giving and in our school store.
Our goal for Streamlined Giving is to make it easy for each and every family to contribute to some area of the school that is important to them in a way that feels organized and rewarding.
Streamlined Giving raises the funds to open events like Holiday Faire—without cost for admission. It provides many other savings incentives to preschool families and grades families alike. It is a reciprocal gesture of gratitude in both the giving and receiving, a real relationship made possible through thoughtful Development planning.


You are already enjoying the benefits of this relationship! Streamlined Giving funds free childcare for many events at the school; this month, it will provide free directories to the parents; it will provide free school t-shirts to each child. The reciprocal momentum has already begun.
The idea for Streamlined Giving stemmed from a recognition that fundraising can be burdensome in our busy lives. Streamlined Giving promises to limit fundraising at AWS drastically. Every school participates in fundraisers...this is our attempt to rethink that system. Through our school store, we will only sell parents things they are already using or buying: water bottles and lunchboxes, for example. We will work toward eliminating the need for parents to pay for field trips and snacks. We are trying to do away with the supply wish list so that extra classroom needs can be funded through Streamlined Giving. Join us in making a commitment to this new plan. Every gift counts. All families are needed. Send in your pledge card today or give online at www.alabamawaldorf.org.
*Don’t forget an added bonus—your Streamlined Giving is tax deductible!

What's in a Name?

Aaahh… Change is in the air! The muggy heat and rain of the past few weeks have faded, and now we have our first crisp taste of fall. I love this time of year because this hint of change is contagious. It offers us a fresh opportunity to look at ourselves and the space we occupy in the world – to step out of the ruts that we so often find ourselves in and to look around us clearly. The crisp air wakes us up from our dreamy summer slumber and brings with it a sense of opportunity and endless possibilities.

I experienced this very strongly today while sitting on the kindergarten playground with my class. We were attending the Michaelmas Ceremony in which The Redmont School officially became the Alabama Waldorf School. School founder, Sheila Rubin, described how the school has grown and changed over the years and related this to the change and transformation inherent in the celebration of Michaelmas. Lisa Grupe gave us a vision for the future, symbolized in the ragged, yet sturdy, little maple tree that we potted up today. There was beautiful singing and ceremonial watering of the tree, but uniting all of the ceremonial parts into something even greater was an overriding feeling of community and change. The weather played its part perfectly!

I hope that this feeling continues to permeate the school in the months to come. We have a sturdy little tree here at the Alabama Waldorf School, but we face challenges as well. Like the Michaelmas dragon that is transformed with love, so can we transform our challenges into opportunities. At the State of the School meeting next Thursday evening, you will hear about these challenges and what steps have already been taken to try to meet them. And there is possibility and opportunity here as well – what could we accomplish when working together to meet our goals? What creative solutions might come from a group of united individuals? How might we transform our financial challenges into an opportunity?

I firmly believe in the power of a group working together to achieve its goals. I have seen people in this community work so hard to support the school and accomplish so many wonderful things. Now, in this season of change, we have another opportunity to step back, look around us, and think creatively about how to best proceed from here.

Melissa Downs
Faculty Chair

Enrollment Updates

Updates in Enrollment

Please join me in welcoming Maleelah Acker and Zion Jones-Rothblatt, both new students in Miss Samantha’s and Miss Holly’s nursery class!

A big thank you to Cynthia Mwenja and Magic City Ballet for sharing their booth with us at the Whistlestop Festival in Irondale last weekend. Despite the soggy weather, Susan Mwenja and Jennifer Cripps were a big hit, with Susan greeting festival participants from way up high on her stilts!

Please join us on Sunday, October 11th for the annual Break ‘n Bread event at Pepper Place. Ms. Spencer, Ms. Carole and I will be there to talk to prospective parents and/or potential sponsors of AWS, and to share in the celebration of local food and community. To purchase tickets to this popular event that features food from over 30 area restaurants, as well live performances, and beer and wine tastings, visit www.birminghamoriginals.org.

Coming up on Saturday, October 31st, AWS will be sponsoring a booth at Art in Avondale Park, so please come by and see us! Volunteers to help represent the school at the booth would be greatly appreciated! Stop by the office if you are interested in donating even an hour of your time on that day.

The weekend of November 7th, Ms. Grupe and Mr. Huck will be staffing a table at Birmingham Parent Magazine’s annual Education Expo. Held at the Brookwood Mall, we will be among over 100 private schools promoting their programs. In addition, the AWS Middle Schoolers will be showcasing their talents, with a special performance by Ms. Gurganus’ Chorus! Our performance will begin at 11:30am, and will be staged near the food court in the mall. Invite your friends and family to visit us at our booth, and to enjoy the student performances.

On the other side of town, we will be leading children in a nature craft at the annual Moss Rock festival, Saturday and Sunday, November 7th and 8th. Stop by and see Ms. Powell and myself, along with Ms. Cripps (who I’m sure won’t be able to resist bringing a couple of fun circus props to share with festival-goers!) as we represent Alabama Waldorf School at the festival that features eco-inspired art, food and activities for the whole family. Visit mossrockfestival.com for more details.

Family Associaton News

As members of the Family Association, it is nice to come together once a month and catch up. For meetings to be lively and productive we need more of you to be there! In order for the FA to make decisions and move forward with FA business, we must have a “quarum,” defined in the bylaws as consisting of parent representatives from each class. To make sure we have a quarum, we need classreps to attend each meeting. See your roomparent if you wish to volunteer as a room rep. Of course, everyone is welcome to attend any and all FA meetings!
Thank you to Amy Thurston and Luke Lucas for not giving up on a very rainy WorkPlay Day!

Mark Your Calendars!
3rd Grade hosts WorkPlay Day on October 17th.
Trunk or Treat will be held in the school parking lot on October 29. Watch for more boo-tails in the Friday Flyer!

Puffins!

Does your breakfast of champions include Puffins cereal?? If so, the third grade would like your help! We are collecting the UPC barcodes from the bottom of Puffins cereal boxes (any flavor!). If we collect 250 of them, we can adopt a Puffin through Audubon’s Adopt-A-Puffin project and, in the process, support conservation of Puffin habitats. Barcodes can reach the 3rd grade by being placed in the basket outside room 3 south. Thank you for supporting this student-initiated project!

The Lantern: A Look Inside the Classroom

by Sra. Mixon

¡Hola!
I am very happy to be contributing an article to the Awareness newsletter because it gives me the opportunity to tell you about all the wonderful things I am planning for this school year’s Spanish classes. This year we will be learning songs, poems, games and arts and crafts from different Spanish-speaking countries, mostly Mexico and Spain. In October we will focus on Mexico as we prepare to celebrate El Dia de Los Muertos or Day of the Dead. This is one of the most important holidays of the year in Mexico. The children will be learning about the rich cultural traditions associated with this holiday and each grade will be celebrating in different ways. Ask you child to tell you all about it- they are already very excited!
Although we’ve only been in school for over a month, the children have been very busy! In first grade we have been learning how to greet our teachers and each other (yes, it’s different depending on who you are speaking to!) We have also been learning our colors and how to count to 10. We will soon be learning about the seasons
and the names of our different body parts. The second graders have learned two new poems- one about a spider and another about autumn. We have also been reviewing all the things we learned in first grade- colors, counting to 50, body parts, shapes and animals. In third grade we started the year by reviewing as well and now we are learning how to tell time in Spanish. We are also going to begin learning a few Bible verses in Spanish and the Spanish alphabet. The fourth graders have been reviewing the alphabet they learned last year and I have been pleasantly surprised at how much they remember! We are now writing the story about the house that Jack built that we memorized last year. In fact, the children are each making their own books with their own illustrations. The fifth graders were so excited about using their new Spanish dictionaries and they have learned how to use them. Any time there is a word to look up, they are all so eager to do so! We have learned how to write the date in Spanish and we’ve reviewed the seasons, months, and days of the week. We’ve also reviewed the alphabet and played spelling games. Currently we are learning about sentence structure. The sixth and seventh graders have been learning about verbs and the different verb conjugations. This is not the easiest work and it involves a good bit of memorization but they are working hard and completing their homework! We will then move to writing descriptions about self and others. Lastly, the eighth graders have just finished learning all about a sacred pilgrimage route that runs from France through Spain called the “Camino a Santiago de Compostela”. Pilgrims have been traveling this very same route since the 14th Century! We have looked at route maps and pictures taken by modern-day pilgrims who set out to retrace this ancient route. We also took a field trip to the UAB Visual Arts Gallery to see some paintings and photographs of the “Camino”. The students have written about their impressions in Spanish and done their own artistic reproductions. These are currently on display in the grades hallway on the bulletin board - please take a moment to stop by and admire their beautiful work.
Gracias, Señora Mixon

So Many Parties to Pick, So Little Time

From Betsy Thagard and the AWS Family Association

Sept 26th Wine & Cheese at BSC's Ecoscape gardens. Hosted by Roald Hazelhoff.

Oct 3rd & 17th Learn to Knit I -- Knit a Scarf. Hosted by Betsy Thagard.

Oct 24th Learn to Crochet. Make a hat or scarf. Hosted by Cynthia Mwenja.
Oct 24th Fitness Boot Camp. Hosted by Dave Hall.

Oct 24th Auburn v. LSU. Hosted by Tom & Keri Lane Hontzas and Joe & Sharon Carlisle.

Nov 7th Yoga Party. Hosted by April & Willow White.

Nov 14th Learn to Bellydance. Hosted by the Gavin Family.

Nov 16th Digital Scrapbooking. Hosted by Brian & Melanie Wilson.

Nov 18th Learn about Wine. Hosted by Amy & Dennis Thurston.

Dec 18th Holiday Babysitting. Hosted by Ms. Ashley.

Jan 16th Photo Portrait Party. Hosted by Chris Prichard & Michael Mills.

Jan 23rd Taste of Russia Party. Hosted by the Meikson-Blohk Family.

Jan 30th Make Your Own Pasta. Hosted by Kathy & Kyle D'Agostino.
Feb. 6th Learn to Knit II -- Knit a Hat. Hosted by Betsy Thagard.

Feb 23rd Wine & Hors D'oeuvres at Crestwood Coffee. Hosted by the Barrentines.

Feb 27th Six Course Dinner w/Wines. Hosted by the Yesters and the Thurstons.

Mar 27th Vintage Wine Tasting. Hosted by Neville & Rachel Baay.

Apr 3rd Cuban Night -- Dinner & Dominos. Hosted by Natalie & Brian Mixon.

May 1st Hoola Hoop Party. Hosted by Chrissi Douglas & Eliah Slocum.

They're finally here! AWS Lunch Boxes and Water Bottles

Stop by the Head, Heart, Hands School Store to pick one up today.

Lunch Box $20

Water Bottle $10

Set $28

Happy Healthy Lunch Ideas

Try some of these sandwich fillings in whole-wheat pocket bread, on whole-grain bread, bagels, crackers, English muffins, rice cakes or rolls, or try filling and rolling tortillas or lavash flat bread.
Cheese, avocado, and sprouts
Grilled cheese with cucumber or sprouts
Leftover grilled vegetables (bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, eggplant, zucchini) with sliced cheese, goat cheese, or pesto sauce
Cheddar or mozzarella cheese with apple slices
Brie cheese with mustard and sprouts
Cheese, tomato, sprouts or lettuce, and pesto sauce
Leftover turkey loaf with tomatoes, and lettuce or sprouts
Sliced leftover chicken or turkey, cranberry sauce, and lettuce
Sliced leftover chicken or turkey, honey mustard, tomatoes, and lettuce or sprouts
Sliced leftover beef with mayonnaise or horseradish, sliced tomato and cucumbers
Chicken salad made with celery, lettuce, and tomato
Tuna/cucumber/green pepper salad with tomato
Salmon salad with lettuce or sprouts
Shrimp salad with lettuce or sprouts
Lowfat cream cheese, and smoked salmon (with tomato, and red onion)

AWS Featured in The Birmingham News

Why Waldorf Works Open House

The Redmont School in the Waldorf Tradition
is now
Alabama Waldorf School
a community dedicated to educating responsible world citizens since 1987

Join us to see
Why Waldorf Works
at an Open House
Thursday, September 17th, 5:30-7pm

Find out why we changed our name, who Rudolf Steiner was, what a main lesson book is, which two foreign languages students learn from 1st-8th grade, why we teach handwork, how we teach Spacial Dynamics®, and where YOU can go to find education that has a heart!

Special door prize will go to one lucky attendee: a hand-made, wooden, toy tree house!
1220 50th St S (Crestwood)
205.592.0541
Birmingham, AL 35222
AlabamaWaldorf.org

Making a Difference

As many of you have experienced in your own lives, our school has also been affected by the economic downturn. The fiscal year budget for July 1, 2009 –June 30, 2010 was based on a hoped-for 155 enrolled students. As of this writing, there are 121. That difference created a significant budget shortfall. The Faculty and Administrative Staff met in late August and showed their unyielding commitment to Alabama Waldorf School by volunteering salary and other budget cuts. Every person made a voluntary cut. While difficult, this crisis-turned-opportunity gave everyone a chance to consider why they work at Alabama Waldorf School, and many, if not all, came away feeling more empowered and devoted than ever to the cause of bringing Waldorf education to our students.

The Board of Trustees approved the cuts along with additional cuts recommended by the Faculty and Administrative Staff in the areas of student evaluations, substitute pay, classroom supplies, and teacher training.

As integral members of the Alabama Waldorf School family, the parent body has a new opportunity to promote the health and vitality of the school. The new Streamlined Giving approach to Development will cover much in the way of teacher training and classroom supplies, but only if 100% of families participate! Pledge cards will be mailed out this month, so please consider giving at the highest level you can, and know that the Faculty and Administrative Staff join you in your commitment to the continued success of Alabama Waldorf School.

Community Development Dish

by Adrianne Morrison, Director of Development

As most of you know, AWS is a private school and a non-profit. Just like all non-profits, we think about fundraising in order to come to a balanced budget. But development at a Waldorf School is much more than fundraising: it’s community development. This year, our development goals will focus on building relationships, working together, and maintaining what makes our Waldorf school so unique. We will make this happen in a very special way, through our Streamlined Giving Plan.

100% participation in Streamlined Giving plan will make it possible to:
Pay for teacher training, snacks in the preschool, field trips, 8th gradeclass trips, and supplies;
Completely underwrite Holiday Faire, so that we can provide free entry;
Fund community building initiatives, like free t-shirts and directories;
Underwrite the majority of the Spring $10,000 Giveaway Event;
Stock a full service-oriented Waldorf school store.

Streamlined Giving is meant to be a service to parents who desire a convenient way to support what they love about the school without a lot of fundraising. Watch for pledge cards in the mail this month. Thank you— from the whole community—to those members who have already contributed. Remember, for Streamlined Giving to work properly, we need 100% participation!

Welcome! What's New?

Welcome to the 2009-10 school year at Alabama Waldorf School! In addition to the new name, we have two newly certified teachers to recognize: Lynda Powell completed her 4th summer at Rudolf Steiner College and is now certified in Waldorf Grades Education; Jennifer Cripps is now a certified Spacial Dynamics Instructor, joyfully bringing her movement wisdom to all the grades students. There are also new people and new roles in the Administrative Office: Ginger Downs is our new Finance Manager, bringing a wealth of non-profit experience to the role; Opal Nicholson is our new Enrollment Manager, bringing Waldorf training, preschool teaching experience, and lower Grades teaching experience to the role; Adrianne Morrison (Roberts) is our new Development Manager, bringing her years as Development intern to bear on a Waldorf-inspired Streamlined Giving Campaign for which we have a goal of 100% faculty/staff/parent participation; and Lisa Grupe is our new Administrator, bringing Waldorf Grades certification, preschool and Grades teaching experience, and the benefit of current and ongoing Waldorf Administrative Training to the post.
Our new First Grade teacher, Erica Spencer, has completed her first of 4 summers of Waldorf Grades certification and is thrilled to be delivering a Waldorf curriculum to her first graders! We have several new block teachers for the 8th Grade including the current Mathematics block teacher, Alexander Blokh. Mr. Blokh is third-grader Daniel Blokh's dad and Rita Meikson's husband and has been enjoying our 8th graders who both bring stellar math skills to the table!
There are a few new faces in our Extended Care (XC) Staff. Richard Thornton, who will also be teaching an 8th Grade Woodworking block, is on the Grades XC staff; Anamaria Santiago worked in the Summer program and Pamela Basye subbed there, and now they both work on the Preschool XC staff.
New Family Association (FA) officers include Patrick McCarty, Brian Mixon, Cynthia Mwenja, Dennis Thurston, and Betsy Thagard. (Elizabeth Lasseter, Adrianne Morrison, Bernard Wolfe, Sina Skates continue to have FA roles but are not new to their jobs!).
New members for the Board of Trustees include Misty Garrison, Donna Yester, Elizabeth Westfall, and Patrick McCarty.
It takes a village of people to make the school run smoothly. If you are interested in becoming a room rep, Secretary of the Family Association, or in joining the Marketing Committee, please let the Administrator know!

There are also MANY new dates on the Event Calendar at Alabama Waldorf School. Hard copies are available in the Office, or you can conveniently reference it anytime on our website at alabamawaldorf.org.
We are especially excited about our Why Waldorf Works Open House on Sept. 17 from 5:30-7. Please help us boost enrollment by inviting or bringing a friend to this special event. Our Why Waldorf Works series of talks continues throughout the year on highly relevant topics; Miss Sadhna has begun her Waldorf Early Childhood Certification and kicks off the series on Sept. 22 with "The Importance of Play." Preschool and Morning Garden parents and their friends who are considering Waldorf education will benefit most from this talk which is open to the whole AWS community. Call 592-0541 to reserve limited child care.

From the AWS Faculty

by Melissa Downs, Faculty Chair

It is always so nice to come back to school in the fall – we are all rested up and rejuvenated, the children have all grown and changed, and we are all ready for the new challenges of a new year. The school is not truly living until the hallways echo with the sounds of children!

As most of you have heard by now, the school’s name is changing from The Redmont School in the Waldorf Tradition to the Alabama Waldorf School, a change that will be capped off by a ceremony during the school day on September 29th. This date was not chosen randomly – it is the day of an old festival known as Michaelmas. Michaelmas was one of the four cornerstones of the year in Europe hundreds of years ago, along with Christmas, Easter, and St. John’s Day. In the cycle of the year, each of these cornerstones embodies the character of the season - Christmas, and many winter holidays in other traditions, celebrating the light in the darkness; Easter, along with most spring holidays, celebrating the rebirth and rejuvenation that is easily seen in the natural world; and St. John’s Day representing the vitality and life of the summer season. As summer winds down into fall, we face the dying back of life and the growing darkness that is winter. In Michaelmas, we celebrate the story of St. Michael and the Dragon (and often a similar story – St. George and the Dragon). In both, humanity faces darkness and evil, and in both the darkness is conquered and transformed. It is a celebration of hope and transformation, and in the story of St. George – transformation through love.

Enrollment Moment

By Opal Nicholson, Enrollment Manager

We extend a warm welcome to families new to the AWS community this school year! Nursery newbies include Asher Baay, Steven Cox, Jalen Crutcher, Megan Harris, Calli Hontzas, David Howard, Mary Kaitlyn Johnson, Izzy Knudsen, Kai Lozier, Tristan Nunez, and Neal Wellman. In the Kindergarten, we welcome Asata Rothblatt, Anna Mills, Phoenix Thrasher, Charlie Wellman, and Charlie Spine. New Grades Students are Grace Abbott and Joe Newman (3rd grade) and Arial Starks (7th grade).
Our 5-day and 3-day Nursery program is full, but there are still several spots available in the 2-day Nursery program, as well as the Kindergarten program. If you have friends, family, or neighbors who are interested in learning more about the preschool or grades program, you can have them call the office or look us up at our new website alabamawaldorf.org!

From the Finance Manager

by Ginger Downs

If you weren’t able to join us for Back to School Night, you might not know that you can pay your tuition bill monthly by auto draft with your checking account or credit card. Stop by the office to pick up an authorization form and avoid late fees by selecting the day of the month for your automatic payment.

Also, please stop by the office to review student info in the database. We can easily input any changes or new information, while you wait, or you can take a print-out home and return it with corrections. We’re all about making it easy for you!

Family Association News

by Adrianne Morrison, FA Volunteer Coordinator

AWS’s Family Association is one of the three “legs” of our Waldorf School. It is the important task of the parent organization to incarnate the school with the spirit of cooperation and to support the work of the teachers and the staff.

The FA will kick off the 2009-10 school year with our first meeting, Thurs., Sept.10th at 5:30, place TBA. We will email a copy of the FA meeting agenda the Monday before each meeting.
Our annual Welcome Back Picnic, will be Saturday Sept. 12 at 4:30. Watch for picnic details in the invitation coming soon.

Even as go into our first meeting, the FA still needs a secretary and room reps. The secretary handles written communications internal to FA, and the reps maintain communication from the meetings to the class parents and back. If you think this is a volunteer job you would enjoy, please come to the meeting on Sept. 10th.

Administrator's Ad Lib

by Lisa Grupe, Ph.D., Administrator
In 2000, the Hopi Indian Elders made a prophecy 3 weeks prior to the date I began my Waldorf Teaching Certification for the Grades. They said, in a nutshell, that the time is now. They said it is time to consider where we are living, where our water sources are, and what our relationships are. They said it’s time to know your garden, to speak your truth, to create your community, and to be good to each other.
They said not to look outside ourselves for the leader.
And we were listening.
In 9 years’ time, we’ve grown our Redmont preschool into an AWSNA-member lower school with 8 grades, and we’ve earned a rite of passage to call ourselves a Waldorf school. To call ourselves what we are: Alabama Waldorf School. The Hopi Elders said this could be a good time. They saw a swiftly moving river that would make some too afraid of being swept away, but the ones who understood that the river had a destination would jump in and keep their heads above the water. They would notice who was in the river with them and celebrate.
As I look around our fast-moving river, I see the faces of our Waldorf community: the dedicated faculty members, the Family Association officers, the Board members, the Administrative staff, the parents, and the students. And, even when the water is so rough that we think we might not make it, we find a hand to buoy us up, a shoulder to latch onto, a foothold from the riverbed.
And we do make it. We know the river has its destination. And we celebrate.
Join us on September 29th at 12:30 as we use the Michaelmas festival day to christen the school with its new name. Come to this whole-school event. Stand on dry land. And see at least some of who's been in the river with you.