Tuesday 17 March 2009

Parent & Child Group Spring Story

I thought this might be useful for some of you on the Steiner Yahoo group. This was the story we had last spring, and I just left in all the details as well, just to let you know what went into the running of it. I was a bit nervous and so was overly prepared, but it went well and was good to have everything written down. Over time I learned the story and songs by heart and then was able to add and change them as the season progressed.

Circle Time

Transition song:
Who will come into my small ring, my small ring, my small ring
Who will come into my small ring, and make it a little bit bigger

Set down a doll and recite verse with gestures:
Down is the Earth
Up is the sky –
Here are my friends
And here am I:
Two eyes to see,
Two ears to hear,
Two feet to walk and run.
Here are my hands-
Give yours to me,
Good afternoon/morning everyone.

Story:
Once upon a time there was a little boy named Jonny who was sleeping in his cosy bed one day. He was watching the breeze come in through his window and suddenly he saw a little blue bird fly straight into his room!

Song:
Blue bird, blue bird go through my window (x2)
Oh Jonny what a day!
Catch your partner and tap him on the shoulder (x3)
Oh Jonny what a day!

... He got up and washed his face, combed his hair and brushed his teeth...

Song:
This is the way we wash our faceWash our face, wash our faceThis is the way we wash our faceAll on a spring day morning
This is the way we comb our hair...
This is the way we brush our teeth/put on our clothes/boots/coats...
... And he went out for a walk to the farm to get some milk for his mother. It was warm outside and there was a little breeze in the air. Flowers were starting to blossom and it was as if everything was saying Spring is Coming, Spring is Here!

Song:
Spring is coming (x2)
Birdies build your nest
Weave together straw and feather
Each on doing his best
Spring is coming (x2)
Flowers are coming too
Roses, lilies, daff-a-dillies all are coming through

... He walked up the hill and past the pasture where he saw some sheep in the field.

Song:
Ba ba black sheep, have you any wool
Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full
One for the master, one for the dame
And one for the little boy who lives down the lane

... John walked on and into a forest thick with trees. Up high on a branch he saw two little birds chirping along together.

Verse:
Two little dicky birds sitting in a tree
One called Peter and Paul
Fly away Peter, fly away Paul
Come back Peter, come back Paul

... Walking on he came to a wide river with a little boat just his size that he could row across in. So he sat down and began to row.

Song:
Row row row your boat, gently down the stream
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream

... He tied the boat to a tree on the shore and ran up the steep hill to the farm. When he got there he went straight into the barn and there in the corner of the large doorway was a beautiful web and an itsy-bitsy spider.

Song:
The itsy bitsy spider climbed the water spout
Down came the rain and washed the spider out
Out came the sun and dried up all the rain
And the itsy bitsy spider climbed up the spout again.

... The farmer came and said hello he gave him a bottle of fresh cow’s milk, which was still warm. Jonny said thank you and then good-bye and he was about to go when he heard some strange sounds and went to see the donkey arguing with a little bird, a cuckoo.

Song:
The Cuckoo and the Donkey
Were quarrelling one day
As to who could sing the better (x2)
In the lovely month of May (x2)
The cuckoo said now hear me
And so began to call
“But I can sing the better, for I can sing much better”
And the donkey sang he-haw (x2)
They sang so sweet and lovely
It echoed wide and far
They sang so well together (x2)
Cu-ckoo cu-ckoo hee- haw (x2)

... Jonny walked down the hill and back to the boat which he rowed across the river. The cuckoo, who had followed him, flew overhead greeting the spring and saying, “Summer is coming!” to all the animals he past.

Song:
Summer is a-coming in, Loudly sing, cuckoo! Groweth seed and bloweth spring the wood anew. Sing, cuckoo!

... He went back through the forest and past the pasture where the sheep were still grazing. He picked some flowers for his mother and gave them to her when he got home, and they sat down for a nice warm lunch of bread rolls, jam and fresh fruit.

The End


Stand for good-bye song:
Children good-bye, children goodbye, we may no longer stay, our work is done today
Children good-bye, children goodbye, now it's time to say goo-bye to everyone, good bye!





1 comment:

  1. Lovely Ursula, I wish I could come to your group. Although I only know very little about Waldorf and Steiner I follow many blogs of Waldorf Mamas. I am inspired by them. I just found your blog tonight when I should be sleeping instead of lurking about on Facebook and the internet. Anyway thank your for the gift of this blog and the pictures. I will check in regularly. Love F.

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