Meet our Class of 2029 First Grade Teacher!

Cedarwood is very pleased to announce that Donna Blaser will be our grade one class teacher next year.

Ms. Blaser is an enthusiastic, highly experienced teacher, having taught at Cedarwood since 2001. She brings great strengths to the classroom and to the community as a whole. It is her passion to build community. Donna holds a BA from the University of Oregon in Spanish and Latin American Studies, as well as a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Waldorf Teaching Certification. She is an avid artist and loves to travel.

We recently asked Ms. Blaser a few questions about her approach to teaching (and learning!), and are happy to share her response here with you.

How did you discover Waldorf education?

My parents became Waldorf teachers when I was in high school and they went on to establish the Corvallis Waldorf School. They quickly swept me into their magical world, asking me to be the “secret” May Queen for the Corvallis Waldorf School children that year. I soon started classroom observations, Waldorf art classes, workshops, and helping out with school festivals.

I added education classes to my schedule in college as I saw my future coming into focus, and started Waldorf teacher training right after I earned my degrees. I was only 25 years old when I started teaching at Cedarwood, and I absolutely love teaching.

What do you love about working with grade one students?

Oh my goodness they are SO CUTE. I am a huge advocate for childhood. I think one of the things I love about first grade at Cedarwood is that the parents, teachers, and children are opening the door to the children’s education, all together. It is such a team experience and incredible community building.

My current class parents will tell you, I tear up often in the early grades when speaking about the children because, after raising two wonderful daughters and taking several classes through the grades at Cedarwood, I truly know how precious the early grades really are.

I look forward to leading this class into the wonder and curiosity of their childhood!

What are your favorite blocks to teach in the first or lower grades?

I just love the first blocks of study in first grade, when the children are diving into the world of letters and numbers through fairy tale, myth, and legend. We use art, story, music, acting, games, dance, and other movement, and weave it all together with deep understanding.

The students who are just “waking up” to the academics are in such a state of giddy curiosity and the ones who already “know some” about letters and numbers can’t wait to use them as tools and show their friends. It makes me smile right now just remembering how my current “big” 8th graders would run about the room as tiny 6-year olds, “finding” letter shapes made out of the curtains, the leg of a chair, and other objects. I can still hear their little shouts of joy! Actually, they still shout with joy sometimes, especially if we are about to start an art project in class.

What is your favorite way to continue your professional development and/or learn a new thing?

If I can learn something through the lens of an artistic experience, it captures my attention quickly! I love in-person, dynamic social learning environments.

I have also recently discovered audiobooks as an incredible way to absorb new content and ideas, while also folding laundry, painting, or jogging. My husband has been trying to get me to try audiobooks for years, but it really took this pandemic for the world to slow down enough for me to get hooked.

This summer, as the Black Lives Matter movement activated in Portland, I listened to Me and White Supremacy, by Layla Saad, and Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi. These were both excellent, and directly informed my 8th graders’ American History block this fall. As we started back to school, I tucked into Prepared: What Kids Need for a Fulfilled Life, by Diane Tavenner, a book I recommend for all educators and parents. For fun I read City of Girls, by Elizabeth Gilbert, which is a wild ride of a book if you need a little escape. This fall, while cooking dinner, I listened to Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, by Yuval Noah Harari and also Your Money or Your Life, by Vicki Robin. Audiobooks! Who knew they were so great?! (Okay - my husband knew.)

Will you have a first grader in the fall of 2021? Join us for our First Grade Meet & Greet on Thursday, January 21, at 6:30 pm on Zoom (and stick around for Journey through the Grades)!

Donna Blaser was raised in the beautiful Willamette Valley and spent her childhood creating art, horseback riding, climbing trees and enjoying every possible opportunity to head out on adventures. She holds a BA from the University of Oregon in Spanish and Latin American studies as well as a Bachelor of Fine Arts. She completed her Waldorf teacher training at the Micha-el Institute, and during those years of study while learning how to teach explosion-filled chemistry experiments, artistic botany lessons, and playful poetry writing games, she knew she’d found her calling! Donna began a teaching career at Cedarwood in 2001 and has taught every grade level at least once.

She loves the arts-based Waldorf curriculum, and can often be found in the hallways, smudged with paint, charcoal or glue from teaching a recent art project. She adores traveling; her most recent expedition was to backpack around Mt. Hood on the Timberline trail.