Teacher Margaret's "View From My Window" - September 26th

Dear Friends, 

Looking around the school, they [Rabbi Sudak and friends] could see a large number of young people from town working as volunteers alongside their parents. This was the very definition of community for Rabbi Sudak. A community bound by faith and common values.¹

September 12, 2001 Gander, Newfoundland Middle School

Thank you to those who came to discuss the Anxious Generation with me this week. We took comfort in knowing together we were navigating the challenges of the Wild West nature of social media, the internet, and smart devices. And we began to wonder how we might provide our children with more free play and independence in the material (non-digital) world. We discussed ways we can work as a school and an entire community to create the healthiest environment possible for our children.

Our Preschool 3 students are exploring their new STEAM room spaces. From sorting like and unlike items in ways that they can describe, to attempting to balance things, and making simple machines from cogs on the board, students are learning to test and fail and manage frustration and discuss and help each other. By the time they get to 7th & 8th grades, they will be using their wondering and creating skills to make models of plants and animal cells as well as exploring human impacts on the water in the ocean. These early, open-ended, unscripted explorations will carry them throughout their lives. 

Next week we will shift our Meeting for Worship from the Testimony on Community to the Testimony on Sustainability. Friday, students from Prek through 5th grades will be out exploring the natural world in three different age-appropriate Field Trips, - Johnson Farms, Rancocas Nature Preserve, and Kayaking off of Pyne Point Park. We know that children have an innate affinity for the natural world. We know that if we marry that love with knowledge they will grow into adults who protect their environment and see themselves as inextricably a part of the natural world. 

Along with our Mission, the Testimonies of Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, Equality, and Sustainability provide us with our common values within our school community. In Meeting for Worship, we find congruency and resonance in our many faiths and approaches to our spiritual lives. 

I hope to see many of you at Meeting for Worship on Wednesday at 8:30 AM. You are welcome to sit with your children. Just meet them at the Meeting House door. 

Looking ahead, I hope you will join me and others to explore what it means for Westfield Friends School to be a Quaker School. The dates are Tuesdays, October 8th, 15th, and 29th from 6:30-7:30pm. Child care will be provided. 

Warmly,

Margaret Haviland

 ¹ The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland. By Jim Defede. Regen Books, 2003

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