New spring festival celebrates the whole child

Urban Oak celebrates May Day 2014.

New schools come with new traditions. Urban Oak School—now in its second year in Cleveland Heights, serving preschoolers and kindergarten through third-graders—wants to be an integral part of the Heights community. With this goal in mind, it will launch its first annual Spring Festival on May 9, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., on the lawn of the Coventry School building at the corner of Euclid Heights Boulevard and Coventry Road. Everyone is welcome to join in a new tradition that celebrates the season and brings the philosophy of Waldorf learning to life. 

"Our aim is for the festival to become a Heights family tradition—engaging and delighting all families of our home community," said Amy Marquit Renwald, the school’s co-founder and a Heights High alumna. "We chose to start a school in Cleveland Heights because we believe the values of Waldorf education are deeply aligned with the values of so many who choose to live here—the importance of the arts in daily life, a connection to and reverence for nature, and an appreciation of inclusive community living."  

The festival will feature free music and ticketed activities to help raise money for the school, which is the only one in Greater Cleveland inspired by the Waldorf philosophy, and which is part of a fast-growing international independent educational movement. Activities will include watercolor painting, spring planting, puppet shows, a bake sale, a cake walk and fiber arts demonstrations. Each activity will be hosted by students and families, and is designed to share aspects of the school’s philosophy, educating the whole child—head, heart and hands.

To find out more, visit www.urbandoakschool.org or find the school on Facebook.

Adele DiMarco Kious

Adele DiMarco Kious is a co-founder and board president of Urban Oak School, which her five-year-old son Cahlel attends. She moved here 20 years ago with her Cleveland Heights-native husband, Chris Kious, and has adopted the Heights as her home.

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Volume 8, Issue 5, Posted 11:28 AM, 04.30.2015