We are pleased to invite you to the inauguration of our new classrooms.
We have organized several activities, such as music, food, Festival del Jocote and kite flight.
The event will be covered by the national media.
Come and share with us this special moment!
We are urgently seeking the advice of an anthroposophical doctor for our friend Juan Miguel Arrivillaga (“Juanmi”). He is the brother of our first/second grade teacher, Andrea. Juan Miguel has a malignant brain tumor that is 8cm large and filled with blood vessels. It has doubled in size in the past month. The doctors say that it is inoperable, and Juan Miguel is actively seeking alternative treatment. He has lost mobility on his left side and has considerable difficulty maintaining his balance when seated.
Juan Miguel is a Guatemalan writer, activist, musician and father of two boys. Andrea is currently on a leave of absence from Escuela Caracol in order to be with and support her brother.
In addition to an anthroposophical doctor, we ask for your prayers, support and love for the whole Arrivillaga family.
While our local river still flows from the rains, the classes are making hikes back in the valley to explore the river. Here you see the class 3-4 at the “roca grande”, also called the “elephant rock” sometimes. It is one enormous rock the size of a house with waterfalls on both sides. Other photos here include the class 3-4 visiting the Museum Tzunun Ya’ in San Pedro La Laguna, where they learned about our local volcanoes and ancient Mayan culture.
Discover a little about the environment in which the Escuela Caracol is located, and some of the spaces where every day our children play and learn.
When we returned from our mid-year vacations in August, the students in the primary grades began having dance class once a week. The class takes place in the dance studio of La Cambalacha, our neighboring arts center. Gabriela Cordón, who has taught dance classes for Caracol in the past, is teaching the class. The movement work she does with the students is broad in scope (e.g., cross-lateral, balance, stretching, strengthening, coordination) and is both challenging and fun. Certain elements are even similar to eurythmical work, such as interweaving group movement. In this photo you see the 3rd-6th grades in their class.
Empezamos el ciclo de inscripciones y la Escuela Caracol les invita el día 8 de octubre a una Jornada de Puertas Abiertas, a partir de la 8:30 a.m. En este día podrán conocer las actividades que a diario se realizan en la escuela, así también como conocer sobre la Pedagogía Waldorf y nuestras nuevas aulas.
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We started the enrollment cycle and Escuela Caracol invites on October 8 an Open Day, from 8:30 a.m. In this day you will learn the every day activities that are conducted in the school, as well you may know about Waldorf education and our new classrooms.
For the Waldorf student, music, dance, and theater, writing, literature, legends and myths are not simply subjects to be read about, ingested and tested. They are experienced. Through these experiences, Waldorf students cultivate a lifelong love of learning as well as the intellectual, emotional, physical and spiritual capacities to be individuals certain of their paths and to be of service to the world.
Developed by Rudolf Steiner in 1919, Waldorf Education is based on a profound understanding of human development that addresses the needs of the growing child. Waldorf teachers strive to transform education into an art that educates the whole child—the heart and the hands, as well as the head.
When you enter a Waldorf school, the first thing you may notice is the care given to the building. The walls are usually painted in lively colors and are adorned with student artwork. Evidence of student activity is everywhere to be found and every desk holds a uniquely created main lesson book.
Another first impression may be the enthusiasm and commitment of the teachers you meet. These teachers are interested in the students as individuals. They are interested in the questions:
Teachers in Waldorf schools are dedicated to generating an inner enthusiasm for learning within every child. They achieve this in a variety of ways. Even seemingly dry and academic subjects are presented in a pictorial and dynamic manner. This eliminates the need for competitive testing, academic placement, and behavioristic rewards to motivate learning. It allows motivation to arise from within and helps engender the capacity for joyful lifelong learning.
The Waldorf curriculum is broad and comprehensive, structured to respond to the three developmental phases of childhood: from birth to approximately 6 or 7 years, from 7 to 14 years and from 14 to 18 years. Rudolf Steiner stressed to teachers that the best way to provide meaningful support for the child is to comprehend these phases fully and to bring “age appropriate” content to the children that nourishes healthy growth.
“When children relate what they learn to their own experience, they are interested and alive, and what they learn becomes their own. Waldorf schools are designed to foster this kind of learning.”
—Henry Barnes, a longtime Waldorf teacher and the former Chairman of the Board of AWSNA
The past September 15th we celebrated the Guatemalan National Day. Here you can check some pictures of the event and the participation of Escuela Caracol.
Our children, on the cover of the magazine Waldorf Germany.
In the magazine, an article dedicated to the Escuela Caracol, which speaks a little, on the construction of new classrooms and how indispensable are the sponsors, as well as parents in our school.
Thank you for supporting us!
You can read the review by clicking here:
Like every year, our teachers receive an specialized training for Waldorf educators. There they learn new artistic techniques that later on they will teach to the students in the Escuela Caracol.
This is only a sample of some of the pieces exposed this year in our school.
Congratulations to all our teachers and thank you so much for your efforts.
