Circle Time is absolutely the heart of the Waldorf Kindergarten in a Waldorf school setting.  At home, it sometimes is successful and sometimes not.  Many families have increased success with just choosing verses that go with transitions of the day, such as verses to accompany brushing of teeth, getting dressed, etc or verses and fingerplays that go along with things in nature that one can pull out on nature walks and during outside time.

One thing that I would encourage is doing a lot of singing in the presence of your children – singing whilst you do dishes or cook for example.  This, to me, is something that happens outside of the regular Circle Time or verses and fingerplays.

If one wants to try to put together a Circle Time,  remember  it can be difficult with only one child!  However, here are some suggestions:

1.  Circle Times usually are held for a whole month (or sometimes even longer with elements that are added or taken away).  A Circle almost always reflects the season, but can also include elements of festivals or can include a story as told in a Circle Time.

2.  Within a Circle one usually considers slow and fast movements, quiet and loud, gross motor movements versus movement of just the hands, balance.

3.  A Circle can include elements of counting in rhyme and movement.

4.  The Circle is typically so well-known by the end of the month that the child can say parts of it with you!

Here are some on-line examples of active circles:

This is noted as more of a “movement journey” rather than a strict Circle Time with indications for children with certain challenges:  http://www.waldorflibrary.org/Journal_Articles/GW55blanning2.pdf

A Summer Circle:  http://www.waldorflibrary.org/Journal_Articles/gw4615.pdf

A Winter Movement Journey:  http://www.waldorflibrary.org/Journal_Articles/GW5004.pdf

When I do a Circle Time within my home, I either use a “pre-made” Circle out of “Let Us Form A Ring” or “Movement Journeys and Circle Adventures.”  Sometimes I do make up my own Circle Times, but I also can read music, which is a huge help in putting together Circle Times.  The Wynstones Books have been a large help to me in that regard, but again, the songs will not mean much if one cannot read music!  Your voice is the most wonderful thing for Circle Time, some teachers also bring in pentatonic flute or kinderlyre for part of the Circle.

Sometimes I find the Circle Times that I have put together myself are the biggest success because they speak so to my children.  You could make a circle about knights for Michaelmas and the month of September, an insect circle for Summer or whatever speaks most to your child.  One thing I would like to try is to write my own circle from scratch; I think that would be a fun adventure to pick a theme and write verses and music for my pennywhistle to go with it!

Hope that helps answer some questions regarding Circle Time.

Peace,

Carrie

NOTE:  This is NOT for Kindergarten aged children!  This is for children in the grades, who should be seven for most of Grade One, eight for most of Grade Two, etc.

Kindergarten aged children (traditionally ages 3-6 at a Waldorf school, at home perhaps ages 5 and 6) do not follow three day rhythms, nor block teaching, nor have Main Lesson Books.  They follow a strong rhythm, a story that changes once a month, singing and verses and practical work.

Main Lesson Books: These are stapled or spiral bound blank books.  One Main Lesson Book is for each block  (see below) or for a certain subject throughout the whole year.  For example, you may have one Main Lesson Book for October’s Language Arts block on Aesop’s Fables in Second Grade or perhaps you have a Nature Main Lesson book where you draw the same tree once a month on the first day of the month.

Where to find them:  Through A Little Garden Flower http://www.alittlegardenflower.com/store/  , through Paper Scissor Stone http://waldorfsupplies.com/   or through here:  http://www.raand.com/supplies-waldorf-schools.html

Block Teaching: In Waldorf Education, we teach a Main Lesson on a focal subject for 3-6 weeks.  Many home educators work with one month time frames for ease.  A typical school year may include 3-4 Language Arts Blocks, 3 Math Blocks, 2 Science Blocks, perhaps Form Drawing as a block or two.

Here is an example of my own personal plan for Second Grade:

September – Form Drawing from Cherokee Trickster Tales for 2 weeks, Math for 2 weeks

October – Language Arts from Fables (this includes word families, spelling, vocabulary, handwriting, punctuation, grammar)

November – Math

December – Language Arts/Nature  from Saint Stories

January – Math

February – Language Arts from Saint Stories

March – Nature Block

April – Math Block

May – Form Drawing from Jataka Tales

June – Language Arts from Saint Stories

Separate from the Blocks include things such as foreign languages (usually two languages; we do Spanish and German); Handwork; Games; Music, Painting, Eurythmy, Form Drawing.  These are typically worked  in several times a week, and also sometimes within a Main Lesson as part of the three-day rhythm.  As the children becomes older, typically there is also extra lessons and practice for spelling and math.

Three-Day Rhythm:  Waldorf is the ONLY educational method to use sleep as a learning aid.  Typically it looks like this:

Monday – Perhaps practice something from last week, perhaps Form Drawing, TELL new story and let it rest

Tuesday – Hands on piece – re-visit story, pick out elements of story and work with poetry, crafts, painting, building, modeling, etc from story

Wednesday – Re-visit story, work on academic pieces such as grammar, writing summaries in Main Lesson Book, etc.  Tell new story if doing five days of school a week.  (If not, stop here and make Thursday a painting day or such with Fridays off).

Thursday – Re-visit story, hands-on pieces

Friday – Re-visit story, academic pieces

Hope this helps clarify a few basics of Waldorf Education for the grades.

Blessings,

Carrie