The boys and I will be having circle time on at least two of our Waldorf-type homeschool days. (I'm thinking of starting the third day with a read aloud from a special chapter book - I don't want them to get burnt out on circle time) Since I believe in using already available resources and saving myself some time, I searched around in books and on the web for a good summer circle. Unfortunately, I didn't find any that I really cared for, so I made up one myself. I thought I'd post it here in case anyone else wanted to use it. I used the rhythm I found in a circle posted by Marsha Johnson in her waldorf home educators yahoo group because I wasn't exactly sure how a circle should flow!
Summer Waldorf Circle - Boat Theme
Song (found here): Sail sail sail your boat/On the ocean blue/Merrily merrily merrily merrily/Boats are
great it's true!
Song (same source): Boats out in the sea/Boats out in the sea/Float up and down and all around/Boats
out in the sea
Clapping verse (found here - we will do simple clapping in our laps):
A sailer went to sea sea sea
To see what he could see see see
And all that he could see see see
Was the bottom of the deep blue sea sea sea
Jump rope verse (found and modified from here):
Slippery (child's name) was a slippery eel,
And a slippery eel was he,
He slithered and slid to the sandy shore,
Then he slipped back into the sea
Seeking game - the boys will take turns hiding a wooden boat from one another and use the game "hot" and "cold" to find it
Tongue twister - toy boat toy boat toy boat
Fingerplay (found here but still looking for a better one):
Use 1 hand as a boat and the other arm as a bridge -
This is the way
All the long day
The boats go sailing by
To and fro
In a row
Under the bridge so high
Music game (found and modified from here)
Rhythm sticks -
The sticks on the boat go tap tap tap
Tap tap tap, tap tap tap
The sticks on the boat go tap tap tap
All over the sea
-scrape scrape scrape/pound pound pound/hammer hammer hammer/roll roll roll
Finishing verse (taken from the waldorf home educators yahoo group)
Hear and listen
Listen and hear
Now our lesson time draws near!
Now, we will not start with the complete circle right away. On our first day I will do one opening song, the clapping verse, the seeking game, the music game, and then finish up. The rest of the songs, etc. will be added slowly over the course of a month. Also, I did read the tip that all songs/verses in the circle should be repeated at least twice so we will be doing that too. If you have any ideas to make our circle better I'd love to hear them!