Waldorf School of Baltimore

Screams or Screens? Spolier: You might not have to choose!

As parents, we know the challenge. The novelty of summer freedom can wear off surprisingly quickly, and when the heat rises, schedules loosen, or siblings run out of ways to entertain one another, screens can begin to look like an easy solution.

And yet, many of us also know that some of childhood’s richest experiences happen in those unstructured moments. The fort built from blankets. The neighborhood adventure. The backyard potion. The imaginative game that somehow lasts all afternoon. The artwork that even they didnt know they were capable of creating.

At Waldorf, we often speak about protecting space for boredom because creativity, resilience, and self-directed play often emerge on the other side of it.

None of this means screen-free parenting is easy. Far from it.

So we turned to the experts for tips — fellow Waldorf parents!

Head over to the website (link in bio) where members of our own community share ten simple strategies that have helped their families reduce screen time, encourage independent play, and make the most of the slower rhythm of summer.

https://www.waldorfschoolofbaltimore.org/news-events/news-landing-page/~board/homepage-featured/post/how-to-reduce-screen-time-this-summer

To The Parents ✨

As we head into summer, our hearts are full, and most of that gratitude belongs to the caregivers.

The rhythms you create at home, the stories you tell, the traditions you keep, the care you offer, the boundaries you hold, the steady and loving presence you bring - these form the foundation upon which all learning rests. Your children carry those gifts with them every day, and we see it. In the confidence they bring to hard things. In their kindness toward each other. In their curiosity, their creativity, their growing sense of who they are and what they’re capable of.

Raising children is some of the most meaningful work there is, and we don’t take lightly that you let us play a small part in it.

Thank you for sharing them with us. For your trust, your partnership, and for all the invisible labor that makes the school year possible: packing the rain gear, remembering the hats, making the lunches, sitting through the homework. All of it. Every bit of it matters.

Thank you!

Wow this ✨ As the school year draws to a close, it is such a joy to pause and notice just how capable our youngest children have become.

Have you noticed it at home, too?

The child who demanded your help getting dressed in the fall now manages buttons and zippers with determined independence. The careful passing of the water pitcher without spilling a drop. Painting a page with intention (and somehow keeping most of it off their clothes). Folding napkins with real care because, all year long, their teachers have quietly modeled the principle that anything worth doing is worth doing well.

These may seem like small things....they are not.

In Waldorf early childhood, the daily work of baking, painting, handwork, and caring for the classroom builds the capacities that academic learning depends upon. Fine motor tasks strengthen the coordination needed for writing. Measuring and sequencing lay early foundations for mathematical thinking. Rhythmic, repetitive work helps build focus, patience, and self-regulation.

Just as importantly, these experiences help children feel capable.

And that quiet confidence, built one button, one loaf, one brushstroke, and one carefully folded napkin at a time, becomes the academic foundation for what lies ahead: steady focus, strong fine motor control, flexible thinking, and the inner assurance to meet new learning with curiosity and confidence.

It was a big day for hugs 💛

Yesterday the Waldorf School of Baltimore graduated the class of 2026. This is a class of remarkably well-rounded young people : visual artists, woodworkers, chemists, fiber artists, actors, campers, environmental stewards, mathematicians, writers, poets, researchers, historians, and truly kind, empathetic humans. .

Over these years, they have not simply accumulated knowledge. They have built capacities.

They have learned to approach challenge with confidence, creativity, and the kind of flexible, out-of-the-box thinking that allows them to meet unfamiliar problems with curiosity rather than hesitation.

This is one of the great gifts of a Waldorf education.

Again and again, we hear from receiving schools that Waldorf graduates arrive thoughtful, articulate, and ready. They know how to think independently, engage deeply, and meet new challenges with confidence. They are sparks in their new classrooms.

As we celebrate the Class of 2026 today, we are reminded of what is possible when children are given the time, challenge, and care to grow fully into themselves. Congrats to one and all, we can’t wait to welcome this class back to campus as WSB’s newest alums.

Waldorf students are well acquainted with beeswax candles 🕯️

The fire fairies light them in the Children’s Garden during the snack verses of gratitude. First graders proudly learn to strike matches and light them for morning verse. Each December, they use them to set the Winter Garden aglow.

So when seventh grade teacher, Ari Rosenberg, announced that the morning’s lesson would simply be… observing a candle, let’s just say the students had questions.

This lesson is a Waldorf classic inspired by The Chemical History of a Candle, Michael Faraday’s famous Christmas Lectures for children at London’s Royal Institution, first delivered in 1860 and still considered one of the most popular science lectures ever given.

And so the students observed.

A single candle burned quietly at the back of the room while Ari said very little. What do you notice? Why does the flame flicker? What exactly is burning? The students sketched, questioned, debated, and slowly built understanding through observation rather than explanation.

The lesson culminated in what honestly looked like a magic trick. Ari extinguished the candle, then relit it without touching the wick at all. The students demanded to see it again and again before eventually landing at the discovery themselves: it is not the wax that burns, but the vaporized gas released from the melted wax.

This is the heart of Waldorf science education.

Phenomena first. Observation before explanation. Questions before answers. Trusting that if you place something remarkable in front of a child and give them the space to truly look, understanding, and perhaps a little awe, will follow.

This time of year is a joy to witness ✨

With summer just around the corner, you might expect students to be limping toward the finish line. But a walk around campus tells a different story. The children are buoyant. Lit from within.

Over the course of the year, these children have been deeply seen and lovingly guided by their teachers, held within a wider circle of care that includes faculty, friends, and community alike.

There is a quiet inner confidence that comes from knowing you are exactly where you are meant to be, from feeling they belong. It is the feeling of being expected, welcomed, and valued. And it shows up in smiles like these.

POV: You go to a school where camping is part of the curriculum ✨

Last week the fourth grade headed to St. Mary’s City for their annual camping trip. They packed their sleeping bags, helped build a fire, and slept in tents for the first time on a school trip. They left with a little trepidation. They came home with a real sense of accomplishment.

That arc is the whole point.

In Waldorf, the overnight trips get intentionally harder each year. Last year’s farm trip had warm beds and a kitchen. This year: tents, sleeping bags, and an open fire. Each year the ask gets a little bigger — because the kids are ready for it to.

Fourth grade is a natural moment for this kind of challenge. Nine and ten year olds are quietly becoming more themselves — more independent, more capable than even they realize. A cold morning and a fire you helped build has a way of making that concrete.

St. Mary’s City connects to their classroom work too. Fourth grade geography moves outward — from their own neighborhood into the broader world. Maryland’s oldest settlement, where the Potomac meets the Chesapeake, is about as good a starting point as you can find!

The game is afoot… and our 8th graders are absolutely crushing it.

This year’s class play, Baskerville, is one of those performances where you genuinely forget you are watching middle school students. To find their killer, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson must unravel a tangled mystery before a family curse claims its newest heir… but the real marvel is watching seven students leap, spin, disguise, accent-shift, and transform their way through more than 40 wildly distinct characters.

And the ACCENTS. Truly. Every single character somehow arrives with their own voice, posture, rhythm, and personality, all executed with astonishing commitment and comedic timing. One moment a student is a nervous English butler, the next a frantic villager, a suspicious doctor, or a swaggering Texan heir to the Baskerville fortune. Head of School Kim Richardson, who spent time living in Tennessee, was delighted (and genuinely surprised!) to discover that the heir’s Texas drawl was, in fact, entirely theatrical.

The students have committed themselves to this production with extraordinary energy, precision, and courage, and it shows in every second on stage.

Do yourself a favor and come see it, THIS WEEKEND, no ticket required.

Performance Times:
• Friday at 7:00 p.m.
• Saturday at 1:00 p.m.
• Saturday at 7:00 p.m.

Bravo to our incredible 8th graders and co-directors Ms. Hughes and Mr. McAllen and all who helped bring this delightfully dizzying mystery to life.

Seventh Grade Chemistry Lesson 🔥💥

Sure, you can read about combustion in a book… or you can feel the heat of a fireball erupting in front of you.

Which lesson would you remember?

Smalltimore ✨

Last week, 6th and 7th grade students walked to neighboring Camp Small, Baltimore City’s remarkable urban wood recycling and reclamation yard.

Managed by the Forestry Division within Baltimore City Recreation & Parks, Camp Small processes nearly 9,000 tons of fallen and felled city trees each year, transforming them into mulch, lumber, furniture, playgrounds, and other useful wood products rather than sending them to waste.

Students met Operations Specialist Nick Oster, Yard Master Shaun Preston, and Contract Specialist Maurice Ashby, who shared how the five-acre former dump site has evolved into a pioneering zero-waste initiative and “full-circle economy.”

For our 7th graders studying physics, the site offered a firsthand look at simple machines in action through sawmills, pulleys, conveyors, and hydraulic equipment. Meanwhile, 6th graders, immersed in the study of world economies, were fascinated by the project’s business and sustainability model.

One of the best parts? No bus required. Our students simply walked to visit their neighbors and discovered an extraordinary example of environmental stewardship right here in Baltimore.

Thank you, Teacher Kitt, for arranging this outstanding opportunity!