"As the school began, it felt like a little tree was planted and as the school went on, the tree grew straight and tall.  As we learn, the tree will grow and spread out its branches so we do not forget that this is a school where you cannot hurt people.  We come from many different homes, but when we sit together we are a school family." Ella, age 8

Contact Information
2727 College Avenue, Berkeley
(St. John's Community Center, Room 203)
Phone:  (510) 704 - 0701
Email: elmwoodschool@hotmail.com

We offer students a non-competitive, age-appropriate learning environment. which nourishes each child's gifts and abilities, feeding their confidence and stimulates their innate powers of imagination and creativity.  We prepare our children for adulthood by encouraging them to seek lives of meaning, inspiration and beauty.

The Academic Program
We believe that strong academic skills are the foundation for children's empowerment.  In addition to a solid base in reading, writing and arithmetic, the curriculum provides a wide range of academic subjects.  In our teaching, we seek to actively engage the whole child, "the head, the heart and the hand" of every student, to capture the true meaning of the word education, which is "to bring forth" (e-ducere) rather than to "put in".  We offer an enriched Waldorf School curriculum, supplementing this structural core with multicultural and gender-balanced material.  To provide children with a holistic experience of learning, we integrate art, music and handwork activities with academic subjects.

Multi-Cultural Studies and Gender Equality
Today's world calls for global awareness and an understanding of diverse cultures.  At the Elmwood School the children learn to recognize our common human destiny while cherishing our differences.  Our commitment to gender balance and cultural diversity is reflected in the tasks, stories, role-plays and myths offered to the children, as well as in the attention given to social dynamics among students.

Ecological Literacy
We cultivate children's environmental awareness by encouraging them to think of planet Earth as their home.  We offer field trips, gardening and nature classes, and nutritional education.  We emphasize the reduction of waste and recycling.

Spirituality
We strongly believe that children need to have spiritual grounding in order to find their place in today's fastpaced, materialist world.  To feed children's spiritual hunger, teachers encourage awareness of seasonal cycles.  Festivals and holidays from different cultures are celebrated throughout the year.

Community Building
The Elmwood school is a community of families.  To help children recognize and understand the complexities and imbalances of the society at large, all classes will regularly participate in community service.

Parent Involvement
The Elmwood School started out as a parent intiative.  We sought to combine what we had learned from Waldorf pedagogy with our personal insight into children's intellectual, emotional and spiritual development.

Although the Elmwood School is not staffed by parents, we believe that learning is a whole-family process and that parents are their children's strongest allies.  Parents direct involvement in their children's education links home life and school life in a productive way.  All parents are expected to contribute time and/or resources to facilitate the operation of the school.

Media and Television
Because we are committed to our children's creative growth, we insist in limiting their premature exposure to television, movies, computers and other forms of mainstream, technology-based media.

"Watching" or "viewing" promotes passivity - the opposite of what is required for the development of vivid imaginations, long-term attention, the capacity for self direction and healthy social relationships.  It is not only what the child watches - although content often promotes negative gender and racial stereotypes -- but the act of watching itself which limits opportunities for deep learning, meaningful interaction, and creative play.

Although computers have become essential learning-aides and work-tools, there is no evidence that their use makes children better learners.  While we teach computer-use skills to older children in special workshops, our day to day classroom learning does not incorporate this technology.