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SRV 1929 to 2009
September
80 Years Ago
In September 1929, The School in Rose Valley opened its doors for the first time. The school met in a cottage on Vernon Lane called "Little Chestnut," owned by the Wright family. There were 31 students aged four to nine, five teachers, including 69-year-old "Mister" Edward Rawson and the Principal Teacher, Grace Rotzel. The property was blessed with meadow, woods, stream and pond. A Sears playhouse was converted to the first woodshop. Tuition was $250.
Little Chestnut.
September 2009
For me the beginning of September at SRV is about anticipation. Through the last two weeks teachers have spent hours standing in the middle of their rooms, staring thoughtfully as they try to visualize traffic patterns and work spaces, wanting to set everything up perfectly this time. By the first school day the rooms are spotless, walls almost blank, beautifully organized and labeled. Last year’s incomplete shop projects are waiting on the shelves. There are pristine copies of a new song for us to learn at Sing.
Children have been dropping by. They’re taller, and some are missing teeth. They have new shoes and spotless backpacks. They have been greeting their new teachers shyly, chattering nervously, or just quietly hanging onto their mothers. They have been exploring their classrooms, helping shelve blocks, proudly hanging up their new cups by the sink. They have been wondering what the year will be like, whether they’ll have friends, how hard it will be to learn to read, to master long division, to memorize Shakespearean lines.
Now that school has finally begun, the primary work of September is getting to know each other. Teachers must learn who the students are, what they’re like, and what they can do. The students must learn about the teachers, what their expectations are, whether they have a silly sense of humor.
Most of all, the teachers and students must work out how they are going to be together. The teachers have carefully orchestrated this process of establishing group norms, and developing their expectations and Mission Statements. The groups will be learning to share the space, to care about who and what they are as a group, and to feel safe with each other. In short, in September (and part of October), each SRV class will be becoming a community.
So enjoy watching your child make new discoveries and connections this month. Listen to the funny stories, and encourage reflection. Help your child think through the frustrations that come along with new responsibilities and demands for independence. And try to be patient, because this work is crucial groundwork for the learning that will happen through the school year, and it takes time.
September 1935
(excerpted from weekly teacher progress reports)
The work of the first week has centered around three main points:
- Fixing up the room with curtains, screens, locker partitions, painting tables, etc.;
- Beginning of regular daily work in arithmetic, the writing of an original story or summer’s experience, and finding out where both the group and individuals stand academically;
- Beginning some project which will tie the group together in a common activity and at the same time serve as an introduction to social studies.
In spite of hot weather, the group insists on playing soccer. They do not seem to know how to dribble and pass, each one merely kicking the ball when it comes to him.
Twelve Turnings
September is a month of movement and color. Humans begin their seasonal flutter and scramble about this time, and the wild things start hurrying somewhere else. The mystery of just what triggers the movements of migrating animals has not been satisfactorily explained, at least to the layman. How does the butterfly get the message? Does the sun give it? If so, why does the insect move in the appointed direction when the sun is hidden?
...As you can't escape the mysterious restlessness that takes hold on creatures this time of year, it is good to go along with it, and go exploring. It is a good time for the trip to Hawk Mountain, the marshes or coast fly-ways, even though you cannot identify a single bird. Naming isn't important, it is seeing and appreciating. The smell of the woods, of ploughed fields, of ripe corn, of aromatic grasses, of shore mud; the sound of wind over stubble, or in the tops of hemlocks; the raucous and tender notes of crows, pheasants and owls all put us in the mood to enjoy this harvest period.
Grace Rotzel – 1960
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