Rose Ceremony
At Sanderling Waldorf school, effort is made to observe significant moments in childhood and to celebrate these with rituals that have real meaning for children. The Rose Ceremony, as pictured here, serves to welcome children leaving Kindergarten and entering the 1st Grade. What a blessing and an honor it was to have our New 1st Grade Teacher, Ms.Knauss, one of the most experienced and talented Waldorf teachers in the country, facilitating this year’s Rose Ceremony!
The Rose Ceremony happens twice each year: on the first day of school and on the last day of school. The ceremony at the school’s beginning is designed for the oldest students in the school (8th grade) to welcome in the youngest children. Leaving kindergarten and entering first grade is an enormous shift for children. Each eighth grader escorts a first grader down the school’s assembled student body to the front of the school’s hall. There is singing or orchestra music playing, heightening the ceremony. Usually when the first grade child arrives at the front row, the older student will give them a rose (or a wildflower). The new first grader then puts the flower into a waiting vase. By the end of the class’s procession into their front row seats, there is a whole bouquet of roses or wild flowers that adorns the hall for the rest of the event. The first graders with their teacher then bring the bouquet back to their classroom for the first day of school.
Rituals and festivals are truly unique to Waldorf education, as is our belief that our grades teachers should follow their students all the way through their academic journey. Ms.Knauss, for example, will stay with this class until they complete the 8th grade. This better enables her to truly get to know each child so well that she can teach to their individual learning style and better understand their unique needs in the classroom. This will also help a child understand that they are in a learning environment where their learning needs are being advocated for, thus allowing them to feel safe, important and cared for. And this is why our students truly thrive!
“You must be for the children the representative of the good, the true, and the beautiful. The children must be drawn to truth, goodness, and beauty simply because the children are drawn to you yourself.” - Rudolf Steiner
