We have had a warm fall here in Alaska. This has allowed the children time to absorb the season and all it has to offer. Our weekly schedule is
Monday – Painting and Rice
Tuesday – Craft and Quinoa
Wednesday – Soup and Bread
Thursday – Drawing and Oatmeal
Friday – Homemade Pizza
During our first weeks of school we have worked with apples and harvest. For craft the children wet felted apples, painted with apples and made applesauce. We also harvested the garden we planted last spring and used the Veggies for our first Soup and Bread Day of the year.
We used a finger play, “An Apple Hangs on It”, from Willma Ellersiek’s book Gesture Games for Autumn and Winter. Our story was from Suzanne Down’s Autumn Tales, “The Apple Elves”. You can find these resources at the following links:
http://store.waldorfearlychildhood.org/wilma-ellersiek-book-and-cd-set.html
http://junipertreepuppets.com/books/
After Apples, we moved into a story of St. Michael and the Dragon in recognition of Michaelmas. The story talks about a village of people all working and living a happy life. A dragon then comes and tells the people he is lonely and hungry and is going to eat all of their crops. He then says, “After I have eaten all of your crops, I may come and eat you too!” A wise woman of the village suggests to the people they pray to Michael and ask for help. That night, as she looks out in the fields, she sees the marigolds glowing gold. Their prayers have been answered. The fastest and quietest people of the village sneak past the dragon, who is now sleeping, and pick the marigolds. They give them to the gnomes. The gnomes, using the water from the first morning dew, place the marigolds in the cauldron and say many thanks. The gold is taken from the marigolds and the gnomes are able to make swords, shields and capes of courage for the people to fight the dragon. The battle is long. The people begin to tire and are just about to give up when Michael comes on his great steed with his flaming sword. He helps the people tame the dragon. When the people ask him what they should now do with the dragon, he says, ”You should warm the dragon’s heart. He is hungry and lonely”. The people then feed the dragon and treat him well. Over time the dragon begins to shrink and becomes a great friend to the people in the village. He is able to turn the Mill all alone thus freeing many of the people in the village to do other work.
For Craft with this story we picked marigolds and dyed our capes of courage. These were used in our class play in celebration of Michaelmas.
