Great Barrington Rudolf Steiner School ~ Igniting a lifelong love of learning for over 40 years

Media Contact: Robyn Coe
818.287.1237/ marketing@gbrss.org

(Berkshires, MA) January 11, 2012—Great Barrington Rudolf Steiner School (GBRSS) announces the Spring 2013 performance schedule of children’s puppet plays, starting with “The Starry Night,” a gentle tale about a baby who cannot sleep and a mother who lulls the child by reminding her about the stars and moon watching lovingly from above. “The Starry Night,” first of three puppet plays in the series to take place at Matrushka Toys and Gifts, 309 Main Street, Great Barrington, starts Saturday morning January 26, at 10:30am, with a second show at 11:30am. More “Mornings at Matrushka” puppet plays continue February 16 and March 23, 2013, with two morning shows each performance day. As spring advances, puppet plays will continue in the GBRSS Early Childhood center at 35 West Plain Road, Great Barrington, on April 6 and May 11 at 10am, followed by an opportunity to learn more about early childhood programs at the school. All events are free. To learn more, call Tracy Fernbacher at (413) 528-4015, ext. 106 or visit gbrss.org

Puppeteer Trice Atchison performs “The Starry Night” using her own handmade mother-child rod puppet, a type of puppet used in Waldorf early childhood programs that is able to make simple gestures conveying touch and warmth, encouraging children to feel safe and assured, as in an embrace. The storyteller’s calm, rhythmic voice accompanies the puppet story. Puppeteer Trice Atchison is a parent-child teacher at the Great Barrington Rudolf Steiner School, with a teaching certificate from Sophia’s Hearth Family Center (Keene, NH) and a master’s degree from Emerson College, Boston. She is currently studying therapeutic puppetry for young children through the Juniper Tree School of Puppetry Arts (Denver, CO).

Matrushka Toys and Gifts, located at 309 Main Street in Great Barrington, brings a love of “action” to children of the Berkshires, specializing in a unique collection of “child-powered” toys, entertaining games, classic books, cards and natural baby gifts, in a store that makes room for imaginative play, and puppet plays that come to life in the hands of an experienced teacher. Matrushka is open Monday – Saturday, 10am – 5pm, Sunday 11am – 4pm.

Early Childhood at GBRSS—The Great Barrington Rudolf Steiner School’s early childhood program is based on the simple yet profound concept that young children learn through imitation, imagination and meaningful activity. Teachers strive to create a nurturing and rhythmical environment in which the young child’s senses, imagination, and awareness of self and others can flourish. This developmentally appropriate and secure beginning provides a strong foundation for later academic and artistic learning in the grades and beyond. The Great Barrington Rudolf Steiner School’s early childhood programs include Kindergarten (for children 4-6, in a program of 5 or 4 full days or mornings), Nursery (for children 2 years and 9 months to 4, in a program of 5 or 3 full days or mornings), Parent-Toddler Circle (for parents and their children ages 1 to 3, in a program offered once a week for 8-week sessions) and Parent-Baby Circle (for parents and their infants from birth to walking). Tuition for Pre-K and Kindergarten is based on a sliding scale.

Authentic Learning in the Berkshires—Founded in 1971, the Great Barrington Rudolf Steiner School provides a developmentally appropriate, experiential approach to education for students from preschool through early adolescence, starting with a warm welcome to learning with Parent-Baby classes, Pre-K and Kindergarten. Early childhood classrooms are situated in their own building, equipped with natural playthings and surrounded by gardens, fields and woods. On the other side of the 32-acre campus, the elementary school for first through eighth grade students (from the Berkshires, northern Connecticut and New York’s Columbia County) provides a balance of rigorous academics and the arts, preparing children for their choice of high school and college. One of more than 1,000 Waldorf schools worldwide, a movement of independent schools developed in the early twentieth century by Austrian educator, scientist and philosopher Rudolf Steiner, the Great Barrington Rudolf Steiner School operates from the core understanding that engaging all aspects of the human being—intellectual, spiritual and physical—provides a truly well-rounded education.

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Interviews and high resolution images are available. To schedule an interview with GBRSS Early Childhood teacher Trice Atchison, or GBRSS School Administrator John Greene, please contact Robyn Coe at (818) 287-1237 or marketing@gbrss.org.

Great Barrington Rudolf Steiner School ~ Igniting a lifelong love of learning for over 40 years

7th and 8th grade students deliver unique Chemistry, Biology and Physics Projects

Media Contact: Robyn Coe
818.287.1237/ marketing@gbrss.org

(Berkshires, MA) January 8, 2013 – Great Barrington Rudolf Steiner School (GBRSS) invites the community to the 4th annual Student Science Fair, Wednesday, January 30 at 7pm in the school auditorium at 35 West Plain Road, Great Barrington. Independent science fair projects, in which students work with a mentor who has expertise in their area of interest, allow a student to choose their own topic from Earth Science, Physics, Chemistry or Biology. Their project can be an experiment (which laundry detergent is most effective?), an exploration (observe, keep a journal and research how horses communicate) or a project (build a solar-powered car). In 2013, GBRSS 7th and 8th graders will demonstrate 40 projects on such diverse topics as building a working telegraph, the effects of climate change on arctic wildlife, making chewing gum, gunpowder, artificial snow and using magnets for levitation. Several of the student projects will concern conservation and “green” solutions to everyday problems, such as building an eco-friendly house. Information and tours of the school will also be available during the fair. To learn more, visit gbrss.org or call Tracy Fernbacher at 413-528-4015, x.106.

In the GBRSS classroom, science is first and foremost observation. A concept such as convection or combustion is initially demonstrated without specific instruction from the teacher; the student’s focus is to observe the phenomena. Later, students attempt their own similar experiments, observing and noting reactions to deduce the principles at work. Instead of memorizing a concept, they experience it firsthand, inspiring both a deeper understanding of what they are learning and curiosity about what they don’t yet know. Even in the younger grades, years of observation and exposure to natural and scientific concepts based on observation and inner logic give the children experience with different disciplines, so that when they study biology and observe experiments in middle school, there is a sense of familiarity and readiness. GBRSS School Administrator John Greene commented, “Rudolf Steiner, the founder of Waldorf education, was a scientist who applied his holistic philosophies to farming and other practical arts as well as education. The science fair, like the whole of Waldorf education, engenders in students the ability to stand in the world and do their best to comprehend the phenomena of life today, to put the world in context: to see it for what it is, and embrace it, not fear it.”

Authentic Learning in the Berkshires – Founded in 1971, the Great Barrington Rudolf Steiner School provides a developmentally appropriate, experiential approach to education for students from preschool through early adolescence, starting with a warm welcome to learning with Parent-Baby classes, Pre-K and Kindergarten. Early childhood classrooms are situated in their own building, equipped with natural playthings and surrounded by gardens, fields and woods. On the other side of the 32-acre campus, the elementary school for first through eighth grade students (from the Berkshires, northern Connecticut and New York’s Columbia County) provides a balance of rigorous academics and the arts, preparing children for their choice of high school and college. One of more than 1,000 Waldorf schools worldwide, a movement of independent schools developed in the early twentieth century by Austrian educator, scientist and philosopher Rudolf Steiner, the Great Barrington Rudolf Steiner School operates from the core understanding that engaging all aspects of the human being—intellectual, spiritual and physical—provides a truly well-rounded education.
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Interviews and high resolution images are available. To schedule an interview with GBRSS school administrator John Greene or science teacher Shawn Green, please contact Robyn Coe at (818) 287-1237 or marketing@gbrss.org.