Come and bring friends to Spring Garden’s 25th Annual Auction Benefit on Sat., April 20, at Rosemont Country Club in Fairlawn.

CLICK HERE  to buy your tickets today. Buy a GOLDEN TICKET for $40 and join in a chance to win $1000 on auction night! Buy a $25 raffle ticket for an opportunity to win $500 off tuition!

If you won’t be able to make it to this year’s auction, sign up for an absentee bidder paddle so someone can bid for you the night of the auction and you can get all the wonderful items in which you were interested. The catalog will be available on the SGWS website and in hard copy in the office all next week. Absentee bidder numbers are only $20 each!

Thank you to parent, Julie Fields, for making this picture montage video of the Grade 8 students woodworking over Spring Break. The students have taken a log that was dropped in the field at school at the start of the school year and they are making chairs out of the log using nothing but hand tools and man powered machines. They will make enough chairs during the school year for each graduating child to sit on at graduation and take home with them.

Welcome to Summer Camp 2013 at Spring Garden Waldorf School! Check out our age-specific options below. Click the Title to Register.

Ages: 5y-9y
Mr. Leo’s Amazing Animals
Cost: $200
Week: June 17-21
Time: 9a-3p
Calling all animal lovers! This week-long camp is an animal lover’s dream camp. Packed with animals of all shapes, sizes, and colors, wild, domestic, farm, and exotic, this camp is sure to thrill all who participate. Campers will meet local wildlife rehabilitators and some of the wild creatures in their care and exotic animal breeders and some of their newest babies. Every day of Amazing Animals Camp will include visits from Mr. Leo’s animal friends.

Ages: 5y-9y
Science Comes Alive
Cost: $200
Week: June 24-28
Time: 9a-3p
Calling all Jr. Scientists! Let your budding scientist bloom as they explore, experiment, and enjoy a taste of many scientific disciplines with Mr. Leo. Students will: mix, shake, and discover the fun of chemistry; they will dig, scrape, and hammer their way into geology and archeology; they will invent, engineer, and test their way into physics; they will observe, experiment and explore the wonders of our biological world of plants & animals, all in just one action-packed week of science fun with Mr. Leo. The week will also include a mix of art/craft projects, outdoor exploration, and just kids having fun! Let your budding scientist bloom with Mr. Leo during this activity rich week of science exploration, learning, and of course, fun!!

Ages: 5y-9y
Rainforest Rapture
Cost: $200
Week: July 8-12
Time: 9a-3p
Let your child’s adventurous imagination, and Mr. Leo’s animals and experiential style, take your child to the tropical rainforests of the world. A week at Rainforest Rapture camp will leave your child with memories of all of Mr. Leo’s great child- friendly animals they encountered over the week, but a deeper appreciation of the intricate connections between the plants and animals that call the rainforest “home.” The week will offer a balance of animal interactions, rainforest lessons & stories, outside exploration, rainforest art & craft projects, and of course just being kids and having fun! Set your child’s imagination free for a week of Rainforest Rapture with Mr. Leo and his amazing animals.

Ages: 5y-9y
Down on the Farm
Cost: $200
Week: July 22-26
Time: 9a-3p
Howdy folks! Let your child have a great “down on the farm” experience, without the actual farm! Mr. Leo will bring his one-of-a-kind farm experience, plants and animals alike, to SGWS. This week of farm life work and fun will introduce students to the many chores that living on a farm can entail. From feeding the livestock (mini horse, mini donkey, goats, sheep, alpacas, chickens, and pigs), cleaning their pens, gathering eggs, and milking the goats, campers will get a real taste of farm life, without the actual farm. With all of that hard work will come plenty of time for farm fun games and activities, farm arts & crafts, outdoor exploration, and of course just being kids and having fun! Let your child have a fun filled week down on the farm without the actual farm, at Down On The Farm camp with Mr. Leo at SGWS.

Ages: Entering 4th grade-8th grade
Music Maestros
Cost: $200/wk
Week of June 17-21
Times: 9a-1p Monday-Friday
This week will feature intensive strings work for budding or advanced violin and cello players. Each day will include time for group work as well as one-on-one instruction with professional musicians. For students new to their instruments, this will be a wonderful introduction. For more advanced students, this will be an opportunity to enhance their playing skills in smaller group and private settings. The last day of camp will be an informal performance for families.
Students will be taught by professional musicians, Julie Carpenter and Christina Rosser. Julie, in addition to teaching, has performed with famous celebrities including Josh Groban, Barry Manilow, Olivia Newton-John and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. She performs regularly with the Akron Symphony Orchestra and at local venues and weddings. Christina is a professional cellist and has performed with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Josh Groban, Barry Manilow, Olivia Newton-John, Rod Stewart, Dave Stewart, Tommy Lee, and Kanye West. Christina currently plays with the Akron Symphony Orchestra and has a private teaching studio.

Ages: Entering 5th grade – 8th grade
Hardcourt Academy Basketball Camp
Cost: $175/wk
Offered week of June 10-14
Times: 9a-1p Monday-Friday
In this week-long basketball workshop, participants will practice the skills and drills needed to advance their game beyond the basics. Taught by a team of local coaches and former collegiate players, this program is open to both boys and girls entering grades 5-8. Campers who complete the workshop will receive a campt-shirt and certificate.

Ages: Entering 6th grade – 8th grade
Internet Research Camp
Cost: $175
Week: July 8-12
Time: 9a-1p
Students will be introduced to web researching basics which will cover the content landscape and trustworthiness of the web, copyright issues, advanced searching, and how to structure verbage to get the info desired. During this week-long course, students will also have the opportunity to choose a content research project, create a site (WordPress website or blog), and then create content for their site based on the research.
This week-long course will be taught by Social Media Marketing professional and father of an SGWS student, Sage Lewis. This offering is a great bridge to high school for students in the middle school years.

Camp Information:

• Lunch — Campers are to bring a packed lunch with them each day and extra food for a snack.
• Transportation — Parents are responsible for transporting their children directly to and from camp offerings.
• Cancellation — Registrations cancelled at least 7 days prior to the start of camp are eligible for a full refund. Registrations cancelled within 7 days of the start of camp will receive a 50% refund. Registrations cancelled after the start of camp are non-refundable.
• Pick Up and Drop Off — Campers will be signed in and out at pick up and drop off in the main lobby of the school.
• Absences — If your child will be absent from a day of camp, please notify us by calling 330-666-0574.

Sarah Caley, Kira Cseak, and Grace Hecky won the grand prize in the Great Lakes Theater Company song writing contest.  Music teacher, Julie Carpenter, presented the contest to our middle school students at Spring Garden as an extracurricular opportunity. These innovative sixth graders created their song, “Hero’s Shame,” a composition written for piano and two cellos. The students created the piece to be played in the opening scene of Act IV of Much Ado about Nothing.

Watch them perform their composition:

The students have won $250.00, a professional studio recording of winning song, a CD including their song and the songs of three other winners, and their song and interview played on WCPN 90.3 FM, on April 23, 2013 at 12:15 p.m. The students have also won free tickets to the Great Lakes Theater company’s performance of Much Ado about Nothing.

Sarah, Kira, and Grace have decided that they will each get $75 from the $250 prize and they will donate $25 to the music program at SGWS. Thank you ladies for your generosity and your inspiring ingenuity. Congratulations!

Ariel McCleary, an SGWS grad, is having great success as a vocalist and instrumentalist at Stow High School and in her band Recipe of Life.

Ariel will be performing in the Stow-Munroe Falls High School musical “Hello, Dolly!” where she will play the second female lead Irene Molloy. Performances are at Stow-Monroe Falls H.S on Friday April 19th and Saturday the 20th at 7 p.m.  There is also a Sunday performance, the 21^st, at 2:30 p.m.

Ariel and her Recipe of Life band mate Shelby Denton also won the 2012 Stow-Munroe Falls High School talent show with their original song, “The Journey.”

Watch The Performance:

McCleary credits Spring Garden for opening up her eyes to the music world: “If I hadn’t been in the choir or played musical instruments in the orchestra and music classes, I would’ve never found my notch with singing. I would’ve never found a desire to be in the musicals and plays in high school. Spring Garden taught me the beauty of music and how it changes you.”

Today’s post, from the Seventh Grade curriculum section from the Moving through the Grades chapter in the book Waldorf Education: A Family Guide, was written by Karen Rivers, editor and author of Chanticleer, a former quarterly publication for Waldorf Schools.

“As seventh grade children enter puberty, they are also adventuring across a basic threshold experience on their way to self hood . . . If their spirit of inquiry and creativity in a social context can be fostered in puberty, they will surely find it sweet to enter adulthood. . . .To help them cross this threshold, we present a rich panorama designed to take them out to civilizations and people who share their mood of soul, as well as lead them to a closer look at each one’s own environment and inner being.”

Here is a summary of curriculum highlights for each subject:

History: Renaissance and Reformation are studied and seventh graders relate to the challenge to traditional authority that is the hallmark of this era. “Birth in the Renaissance parallels birth in the student’s thinking, feeling and willing.”

World Geography: Covers the globe and takes shape through the exploration of the time and also complements the study of “climate, tides and geographical influences on culture and economic life.”

Science: Mechanics in physics are studied such as lever principles and early machinery, and also the chemical study of combustion, fire, digestion, and oxidation. Physiology of humans is introduced at this time.

Mathematics: “This year the students venture into mathematical thinking that has no relation to physical perceptions. This makes real demands on the child’s imaginative powers.” This includes algebra, square and cube roots and ratios, and continued geometrical drawing.

Literature: Creative writing and literature is taught with the theme “Wish, Wonder and Surprise” and is “designed to bring consciousness, balance and refinement to the adolescent’s emotional life.”

Music: Renaissance music is taught in both individual and group choral and instrumental work. “

“Eurythmy explores poems with contrast, wonder and surprise; ballads with quick dramatic movement, drama and tragedy. In Handwork the children sew hand puppets or slippers and learn embroidery, Carving and clay modeling continue.”

For more information about Spring Garden Waldorf’s unique Class 7 curriculum, speak with or email our Admissions Director who can also put you in touch with our current Class 7 instructor.

This new series on the blog summarizes and takes excerpts from the Moving through the Grades chapter in the book Waldorf Education: A Family Guide. Today’s post looks at Lucille Clemm’s contributed chapter about the curriculum of Grade Eight in Waldorf Education.

She says, “With the completion of the eighth grade the children should have a well-rounded general picture of human life and universe … to enter fully and potently into the life of their own time.”

Here is a summary of curriculum highlights for each subject:

History – Industrial Revolution to Modern Day history is taught with special care taken to study outstanding leaders such as Lincoln, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr.

Science – The theme in science study is practicality. How has mankind used its knowledge of physical sciences? This is shown by exploring principles in electricity and magnetism, hydraulics, aerodynamics, thermodynamics and more. Geography study in this grade gives a “comprehensive picture” of “mineral resources to plant and animal life” along with “the role played by every part of the earth in modern industrial civilization.” Chemistry and organic chemistry is also studied for its practical applications in industry and food.

Math – Practical application is key in math for this grade as well – looking at how the world uses arithmetic, algebra and geometry through measurement of surfaces and volume, the study of graphs and so forth.

Literature and Language – Shakespeare takes the stage and so do the children as they put on an 8^th grade play. They also study literature written about human freedom and their in-depth study of foreign languages and culture continues.

Music – Choir, orchestra and band continue to teach acoustics, music reading and more.

Handwork – Becomes the culmination of eight years of hard work. Paintings take life with highlights and shadows, machine sewing is done and carpentry is “Devoted to big projects.”

For more information about Spring Garden Waldorf’s unique Class 8 curriculum, speak with or email our Admissions Director who can also put you in touch with our current Class 8 instructor.