Kingfishers Combined Grades Class holding up their handmade books
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Glacier Waldorf School is expanding! We are working toward two yurt classrooms, one yurt for Kindergarten 3 days a week and Sweet Peas Parent Child class one day a week, and one yurt for Kingfishers Combined Grades class.

Now is the time to secure a place for your child in one of Glacier Waldorf School's classes. For 08-09 school year, we have the following classes:

Sweet Peas Parent Child Class - class size limited to 10 parent-child "couples"

Kindergarten - ages 3 1/2 - 6 years, class size limited to 12 students

Kingfishers Combined Grades class

For more information, please contact Enrollment Coordinator Annalysa Lovos at 406-755-2343.

Glacier Waldorf School and Lifelong Learning Center is located at 435 Anderson Lane in Kalispell.

Heading east out of Kalispell, take Conrad Drive past Woodland Park, go over the Stillwater bridge, and when you see a large, flashing yellow light, turn right at the next street, Anderson Lane. The school is about 1/8 mile down Anderson Lane on the right.

Sweet Peas
This class is for parents and their children who are not yet old enough for the mixed-age kindergarten (under 3-1/2 years). It provides a weekly mini-experience of a Waldorf kindergarten morning. Parents learn about Waldorf early childhood philosophy and methods, and children explore the kindergarten classroom and all its beautiful and imaginative playthings, sing songs, engage in age-appropriate activities, and experience a Waldorf-style puppet story.

Sweet Peas is held on Mondays from 10:30 am ~ Noon for two 12-week sessions: one in fall and one in spring.

Early registration with payment is required to hold space; this class is expected to fill up early.

Mixed-Age Kindergarten (Ages 3-6+)
"Play is the royal road to childhood happiness and adult brilliance. ~ Joseph Chilton Pearce

In Waldorf early childhood education, great care is taken to provide children with a gentle transition between home and school life a transition that nurtures and protects the child's physical and emotional development and fosters wonder, joy and a lifelong love of learning. Glacier Waldorf School provides all the familiar Waldorf kindergarten activities of watercolor painting, beeswax modeling, felting, finger knitting, storytelling, circle time, music, chopping fruits and vegetables, baking and lots of free play time. What is truly special, however, is the unique setting, both indoors and out, in which the children experience their day. The organic garden and forested creek provide a quintessential outdoor classroom in which the children can experience gardening, hiking, tree climbing, log balancing, sliding on the frozen creek, and wildlife and bird watching. This lush setting encourages endless ways of creative play. To nourish the body, snacks are made from fresh organic ingredients, right from the garden during the farm season.

Meeting Tuesday through Thursday, the mixed-age class allows the kindergarten to have a family-feel, and, contrary to what some may think, children thrive returning to the nurturing kindergarten environment for two or more years.

Grades ~ Kingfishers
Our highest endeavor must be to develop free human beings who, of themselves, are able to impart purpose and direction to their lives. ~ Rudolf Steiner, creator of Waldorf education

A three-dimensional approach to teaching infuses all of the educational work in a Waldorf grade school. Movement to promote thinking on one's feet, stories that touch the heart, and activities that kindle the imagination - these are the experiences that foster joy and love of learning in the grade school years.

Glacier Waldorf School launched its first mixed-grades class, Kingfishers, in fall 2007. Academic instruction begins in Waldorf first grade and subjects are introduced in imaginative, lively ways, through storytelling, watercolor painting, beeswax modeling, knitting, circle and singing games, jump rope, bean bag and string games, learning to play the flute, gardening, and imaginative outdoor play. Subjects are taught in 4-week blocks, where each subject is focused on with great care during the morning Main Lesson period. Subjects for early grades include introduction to writing and reading, introduction to numbers and the four math processes, roman numerals, nature studies, foreign languages (French and German), art, knitting and other handwork, gardening, music, speech and drama.

Waldorf is unique in that a class stays with its grades teacher for the entire 8-year odyssey.

Kingfishers meet Tuesday through Friday.

For More Information about our Programs or Enrollment, please contact our Enrollment Coordinator, Annalysa Lovos, at (406)755-2343.

What is it you envision for your child’s childhood educational experiences?

Sitting still at desks for long periods of time? Going to school to learn how to take federal tests? Little or no art? Little or no creative free play time or recess? Military-style bells and lunch room seating? Vacuum sealed nutrition? Little or no access to the natural world? Sitting through programs on “no bullying” and “drug free school zones?” Plugged in to all kinds of electronic teaching methods? Early burn-out?

Current research is producing rapidly mounting evidence that the above educational experience is fraught with problems for the well-being of children.

Some current statistics:

• Between 1997 and 2002, the number of kids diagnosed with ADHD increased 33 percent, and spending on ADHD drugs for children UNDER FIVE rose more than 300 percent!
• Childhood obesity has TRIPLED since 1980.
• Overnight stays in national parks have declined 20 percent in the past 10 years.
• A recent study by the Nature Conservancy found a high correlation between the drop in park visits and increased time spent on TV, videos, video games, and the internet.
• According to a 2000 study by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, only three states require elementary schools to even hold recess (Montana is NOT one of them).

“In a matter of a few decades, we are seeing the disappearance of unstructured outdoor play,” says journalist and child advocate Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods.
(to continue, click "read more" below)

An initiative since 2003 and a Developing School member of the Association of Waldorf Schools of North American and also the Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America, Glacier Waldorf School is dedicated to bringing Waldorf education to the Flathead Valley in northwest Montana. After three years of ground work by committed parents, Glacier Waldorf School’s kindergarten class opened in fall 2006 with eight students. The families of these students worked together to raise the yurt schoolhouse.

Our location in the Rocky Mountains, surrounded by abundant wildlife, jewel toned lakes, clear streams, and four resplendent seasons lends itself well to our nature-based program. The school is part of a three-acre organic farm. Located between two rivers and along a major bird migration corridor, it provides daily experience of all the gifts Mother Nature has to offer.
(To continue, click "read more" below)

To enlarge photo, click on it.
The organic garden and forested creek provide a quintessential outdoor classroom in which the children can experience gardening, hiking, tree climbing, log balancing, sliding on the frozen creek, and wildlife and bird watching. This lush setting encourages endless ways of creative play.

A Waldorf school is very unique in its commitment to the child. This commitment can be thought of as a three-legged stool. One leg is the College of Teachers who dedicate their professional lives to the well being of the children and meeting their needs in the classroom. The second leg is the Board of Trustees, volunteers who are committed to the financial and operational health of the school always in terms of what is best for the children. And the third leg is the Parent Society, of which all parents are automatically members upon enrolling their children in the school.

All three legs of the stool must be equally strong to support the children in their educational journey. To this end, it is expected that Glacier Waldorf School parents regard school activities and participation as one of their top priorities. When your child enrolls in the school, the parents are expected to attend orientation, all parent evenings and conferences, participate in special classroom activities, school festivals, fundraising activities and events, contribute volunteer time, and support GWS’s policies and principles.

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Enrollment Process

Enrollment Application

Tuition & Fees