Saturday, August 30, 2014

Verses for and about Children (Waldorf Perspective.)

Introduction: I'm hoping that this small selection of verses from my teaching in Waldorf Schools will grow into a separate blog  that will offer verses and plays from the grades one through eight as taught by a class teacher.
(Second Grade and Fables)
Stubborness

Two goats met at a chasm
Each on the different side,
And each began to cross over on the tree trunk
That bridged that chasm wide.

Alas the trunk was narrow
And no passing could there be,
So stubbornly they butted each other until
Both fell to die most miserably.



(Second Grade and Fables)
The Very Observant Fox

Hungry was the Old King Lion
For the taste of our friend fox.
“Come dear fox and pay a visit,”
Called he from his cave in the rocks.

But friend fox he never rushed in
To any place without great care;
He now saw footprints that went into
But none that came out from the lion’s lair.

“Thank you for your most kind offer but
I’ll not visit you today.”
This the fox said then safely went home -
What he’d observed saved his life that day.


(Third Grade and Old Testament Studies.)
The Paradise Song
(Sung to “O’ Tannenbaum”)

 There was a tree in Paradise
 And on it grew an apple.
The Lord commanded Adam be
Obedient to his firm decree
That he should not the apple taste
Or out of Paradise must go.

The serpent came and tempted Eve
Who of that apple tasted;
She then to Adam offered it
And Adam of that apple bit
And straitway out of Paradise
Our God in Heaven sent them

But not alone, for from his heart 
There streamed forth great compassion 
He sent the angel Michael
To help mankind on Earth to dwell 
Until the day He'd send his Son 
Whose love would fulfil everyone.


The Teacher: Child and Man

I must now strive with right good will
To do all that I can
With the child that is before me
And help him bring forth the man.

And nearer perfection this will unfold
If this striving teacher I am
Can experience the child I once was myself
Before conceptual life began.

10/26/05

(Fourth Grade includes helping the child experience at a deep level the theme of the following verse):
The Importance of Parts

A pack of cards that's missing one
(Though fifty-one remain)
Means all of those are not enough
For playing every game.

A jigsaw that is not whole,
That has a missing part,
Can't be completed, though hard you try
Right from the very start.

A minute is small part of a day
But it in what you do
Can make you feel so very sad
Or happy the whole day through.

And though I am myself a part
And sometimes feel so small,
My family, school, indeed the world
Needs me to make it whole.



(Fifth Grade and anticipating the move from imaginative life to conceptual life.)
Imagine

I swam in the water
And O the fun!
I shouted and splashed 
Everyone!

Then I had to leave
And O the fright!
Of leaving the water
So warm and bright.

I grieved on the bank
But O the thrill!
To see what I saw
In the water now still.

I saw the creation 
Of God’s fifth day
Silently move
In their watery way.

And then on the water
O the surprise!
Reflected am I
To my wide-open eyes.

I’m glad to be out now
And able to see
What while in the water
Just couldn’t be.

One day I’ll go back
And O what fun
When I share my adventures 
With everyone!


(Fourth Grade, the teaching of "Man and Animal,"  and the uniqueness of the human hands.)

Hands

Dear God I thank Thee for my home
Of earthly flesh and upright bone
And for its form which is divine
Because its form is just like Thine.

And thank you for the way my home
Is striving just for me alone, 
Except for hands that you made free, 
That I might give as you gave me.


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