Art + Connection + Joy = Orff Retreat

Open to those who have completed their Level III Orff Certification.

“Capturing the Spark!”

Embrace the elemental through your inner-child at play. 

Explore the thread of the elemental that begins with our youngest learners and remains the core of the creative process through each stage of our artistic development. Build your artistry through intersections in imaginative play, movement, music, and visual art to capture and share your creative spark.

Come join us for a unique one-week experience at the Menucha Retreat Center in the beautiful Columbia River Gorge. Located less than an hour east of Portland.

We will use two resources to support and connect with our work. “Artful - Playful - Mindful” by Jane Frazee and “The Playful Classroom: The Power of Play for All Ages” by Jed Dearbury & Julie Jones, PhD. During and after the course, these books will support thoughtful implementation of play into your teaching, and structures to promote student learning through classroom management, engagement, and curriculum planning.

We are looking forward to wonderful experiences annd fun evening activities together!

Cost: $1250 including lodging and meals!

The Menucha Retreat Center offers us a beautiful all-in-one location, with three bed suites centered around our learning space. Meals are shared in the communal dining hall. There are plenty of ammenities and grounds to stroll during down time. Once our numbers are solidified we will offer room sign-ups so you can pick your roommates. (You will be rooming with 1 or 2 other people.)

Registration:

If you have completed your Level III Orff certification, request your place in our Special Course using the contact form toward the bottom of our Sign Up For Levels registration page.. Please include where and when you completed your Level III, and we will invoice you.

Instructors:

Kris Olson - Matthew Stensrud - Fauna Woolfe

Kris Olson has taught music and movement for over 30 years in public, private, rural, and urban school settings.  She teaches workshops across the country and has offered classes in both movement integration and early childhood at various universities.  Kris has a master’s degree in Orff Schulwerk from the University of St. Thomas.  At the age of 30, Kris started dancing seriously through Zenon Dance Company’s scholarship program in Minneapolis and was a founding member of Schulfunk, a performance group that combined song, dance, and percussion.  Kris currently lives in Lubbock, TX where she teaches early childhood music and dance, produces a live children’s show, choreographs and dances for Flatlands Dance Theatre, and adjuncts in dance at Texas Tech when needed.  Her love of rhythm keeps her busy learning body percussion grooves, leading children’s Border Morris percussive folk dance, and experimenting with random percussion instruments. Kris was one of the AOSA featured presenters at the 2017 and 2023 AOSA NC in Fort Worth and Albuquerque, and has been a favorite presenter at Conference for many years.

Matthew Stensrud (MM, George Mason University; BM, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music) teaches pre-kindergarten through fourth grade general music and movement at Sidwell Friends Lower School in Washington, DC. He completed his Orff Schulwerk certification at the San Francisco International Orff Course in 2013 and is an Orff Schulwerk Certified Teacher Educator of Movement, currently teaching at the Northern New Jersey Orff Course in Wayne, NJ and here with Portland Orff. Matthew serves as President of the Middle Atlantic Chapter of AOSA and serves on the Editorial Board of The Orff Echo, the quarterly publication of AOSA. He was also a Key Content Contributor to the book, Responsive Classroom for Music, Art, PE, and Other Special Areas. He was Teacher of the Year in 2017 and recognized with the Spotlight Award by the American Center for Elemental Music and Movement in Summer 2017. He lives with his husband in Washington. DC. You can find Matthew on social media @MisterSOrff on Facebook and Instagram, as well as on his YouTube page, or at www.mistersorff.com.

Fauna Woolfe has taught elementary music for 26 years and currently teaches K-5 music at Woodburn Elementary in the Camas School District. She teaches recorder for levels courses and presents workshops nationally. She has presented for the AOSA National Conference and International Orff-Schulwerk Forum Salzburg conference, and has multiple articles published in the AOSA Reverberations. She was elected to the AOSA National Board of Trustees and will serve as a Region I Representative from July 2023 - 2026. She served on the International Sunday Sharing USA team, and is Past - President of Portland Orff. Fauna achieved National Board certification in 2003, 2013, and 2023 and facilitated National Board cohorts to support teachers through the certification process from 2005-2013. Fauna received her Bachelor of Music in Music Education from the University of Oregon, where she also studied saxophone performance. She received her Masters in Education from Lesley University with an emphasis in Arts Integration, and took her Orff Levels at Seattle Pacific University, The San Francisco Orff Course, and the UNLV Orff course.

Fauna Woolfe founded the Portland Orff Course in 2018 and is the Course Director.