“With the white flour, we are making delicious bread beren bren bread”

Cooking is one of the regular activities in the classroom for the smallest ones, this gives them the opportunity to develop will, calmness and to experiment a complete process, in this case, “bread making”

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On November 13th, in the central park of San Marcos La Laguna, our entire educational community created the Caracol Movement (“Movimiento Caracol”), an intercultural event with over 7 hours of music, dance, magic, juggling, art and gastronomy with the purpose of raising funds for Escuela Caracol.

This event was the inspired and organized by two of our Caracol teachers, Ervin Quiacain and Diego Sacach. The two of them took on the work of planning the event and organizing many different commissions of parents and teachers to handle the various parts of the event. Many parents came together to sell a variety of food options as well as handmade crafts. The Pyramids Meditation Center in San Marcos volunteered a team from its community to MC the event, and many local businesses offered items for an enormous raffle (meals, massages, hotel rooms, even items like dog food and buckets!). It was a tremendous encouragement to feel the wide-ranging support of local institutions and businesses.

The entertainment of the night was a beautiful exposition of the cultural variety that exists at Lake Atitlán. The “headliner” was Sotz’il, an extraordinary performance group that works with ancient Mayan music and art in a way that powerfully speaks to contemporary times. Their performance was a high energy yet sacred and moving experience, during which a local artist composed a painting inspired by their music (which he then donated in an auction).

In addition to the ancient Maya inspired music and art, the night featured more modern elements, like a magician, juggling, clowning, fire dancing, and even a Maya rap and breakdance group from the neighboring town of San Pablo. It was sugh a joy to see all the amazing talent that came out to support Escuela Caracol.

It was the presentation of the Caracol students, however, that stole the show. The students brought a vibrant mix of music in Spanish, Kaqchikel and English. They played songs on their flutes, including a recorder ensemble. The fifth and sixth graders even presented a song in which each student had to write their own verse in Kaqchikel with an almost rap-style speed. That class also presented a beautiful piece of classical Spanish music on their guitars.

So after months of preparation, the night of the event was an enormous success that allowed us to reach our goal of Q20.000 (about 2,600 US dollars) (about 2,600 US dollars) thanks to the massive support we received. We are deeply grateful to each and every one of the individuals, artists, musicians, groups, institutions and local businesses that supported us. From the bottom of our hearts we want to express our most sincere gratitude and appreciation.

Matyox! Gracias! Thank you!

• Las Pirámides del Ka
• Konojel
• Hotel Aaculax
• Posada del Bosque Encantado
• Bamboo Hotel
• Lomas de Tzununá
• Posada Schuman
• Sotzil
• Kotzijal Ajpu
• East West Center
• Ananda Healing Centre
• Holistic Cottage
• Tienda Mi Mascota Feliz
• Joyería Sol y Luna de Gervasio
• Atitlán Organics
• Love Probiotics
• Tienda Gypsy’s
• Mister Jon’s Desayunos, Panajachel
• Restaurante Hana, Panajachel
• Hotel El Dragón
• La Galería, San Marcos
• Restaurante La Paz
• Paco Real
• Salón de Belleza de Alicia
• Librería Iris
• Circles Café
• Mahadevi Ashram, Tzununá
• Tienda 2012
• Shambhala
• Isaías Mendoza
• Keith Wilson
• Restaurante japonés, San Pedro
• Café Kitsch, Panajachel
• Restaurante Fé
• Restaurante Allala
• Restaurante Happy Taco
• Saya La Papaya
• Yoga Forest
• Restaurante Garden Rojo, San Pedro
• Salón de Belleza “Natali”, San Pedro
• Restaurante D’Noz, San Pedro
• Sababa Sand and Salad Bar, San Pedro
• Restaurante Los Olivos, Santa Clara
• Fabiola Hurtado
• Ursula y José Marcos
• María Basini
• Thilda – Casa Milagro, Santa Cruz

The fifth and sixth grades played in Escuela Caracol “Oh, Great Quixote! Stories of a knight”, an adaptation of Cervantes’ work full of humor, values and adventures.

In Waldorf education, theater is part of the curriculum of studies. Through theater the human being develops and improves diverse cognitive, motor and communication skills. The student creates a deep contact with the body, feelings and emotions, learns to assimilate the beauty of creation and to artistically participate in group activities. The staging process also requires an extra effort of memorization, dramatization, deepening the characters, rhythm, improvisation, stage assembly, execution…

Our students, led by teacher Karin, and supported by two wonderful local musicians that played the guitar during the plass play, did a wonderful job, and all participants greatly enjoyed a fun and beautiful night of theater, art and fun.

Café Caracol is a space fot meeting in which our educational community, in a relaxed atmosphere, meet to delve into some of the most important issues taking place in Escuela Caracol. While last year it helped us to continue our process of systematization of experiences (and the production of our documentary), this year we wanted Cafe Caracol to help us deepen some of the educational principles of Waldorf education, making them accessible to all families in a simple and entertaining way.

Available in this edition of Cafe Caracol, and directed by our teachers, subjects were:

• The first and second 7-year periods
• The value of play
• The holistic teaching of mathematics
• Teacher training

We also had the honor of receiving a class of Euritmia by Wendalyn Von Meyenfeldt, teacher of preschool and fantastic Waldorf eurythmist, who took advantage of this event to share this wonderful discipline with the families.

Coffee, of course, was delicious!