Category: Lower School

This year, instrumental music teachers Gene Gill and Eddie Holmes have collaborated on a program that gives grade 4 and 5 students their first tastes of brass and woodwind instruments. The class complements the introduction to strings program that Andy Happel and Eddie started last year (a gift from the Margaret Burnham ’21 Charitable Trust allowed the school to purchase quarter- and half-size violins and violas and a half-size cello).

Waynflete is well on its way to building a strong farm team of instrumentalists for the Middle and Upper Schools ensembles!

Do you remember the very first time you played an instrument? This short video might jog your memory:

Continue reading “Lower School woodwinds and strings”

Chris Knapp (Waynflete class of 1997) visited with students in the 2-3 program this week. Chris runs an educational organization in Temple, Maine, called Koviashuvik Local Living School. He taught students about indigenous traditions and skills, including pounding ash logs to make basket splints, collecting beechnuts from a beech tree outside Thomas House, and using birch bark and willow bark to make bracelets. Chris demonstrated making fire using a bow drill.

Mi’kmaq elder and traditional storyteller David Lonebear Sanipass recently visited with second and third graders under the towering trees of the “Piney Woods.” With his young audience surrounding him in a circle, David told three stories. The first was about a bird who wished to gift his singing voice to the people. The next story was about David’s encounter with a bear. The final story told how rabbit came to be from a fat rat. During his storytelling, David played his traditional Mi’kmaq northern block flute and engaged playfully with his rapt audience.

Each of David’s stories held important messages for the children: it matters to be kind, generous, and patient; greedy and selfish behavior can get you into a lot of trouble; and bears are to be respected—from a distance! David stressed the importance of storytelling as a way to learn from and appreciate each other. He encouraged his young audience to tell stories, a task the children will honor later this fall when they write “pourquoi tales” influenced by the Wabanaki storytelling tradition.

David Sanipass’s visit is part of the 2-3 program’s integrated thematic study of the Wabanaki People of Maine. For more than 25 years, this study has been a major curricular focus featuring special guests from Maine’s indigenous communities.

 

 

K-1 students are grouped into four habitats representing forest, marsh, meadow, and garden. In conjunction with their study of these habitats, students recently created elements for a community mural.

Each habitat focused on a season: the meadow in winter, the marsh in spring, the garden in summer, and the forest in fall. Students created animals in their classrooms and painted in the art studio (Community Art takes place once a week and is a collaboration between visual arts and the classroom curriculum).

The grand finale was an art opening. The completed four-piece mural was revealed, treats were served, and string music was provided by Andy Happel and senior Morgan Peppe. Students learned that an opening is an opportunity to celebrate artwork!