Please remember that we have no classes on April 9, 10, 16, & 17. Our school is closed for spring break.
As I typed these out, it became quite clear how much onomonapoeia, phonemic play, and nonsense exist in my spring repertoire. My guess would be that it is easiest to learn these verse and songs from class, and I wonder if my typed out words make any sense to families not currently attending class. If you are interested, there are three books of games and songs composed by Wilma Ellersiek available in English (currently), with other drafts floating around from workshops. Her directions for the gestures are thorough (at first I found them overwhelming).
I offer so many Ellersiek games and songs because children seem to respond so well to them. Ellersiek was a university teacher of music, drama, and Eurhythmics (not Waldorf's Eurythmy) in Germany. In the fifties, she was disturbed by the elimination of play from German kindergartens and began composing verses and songs based upon nature observation as a balance, or antidote, for the increasing and (she believed) improper academics and precocious intellectual work. Even though the academic kindergartens in Germany were a flop and there was a return to more play-based kindergarten (though today, apparently, in much of Europe there are government pressures to follow a No Child Left Behind approach to early childhood [decisions based upon questionable research, but that is another topic]), Ellersiek continued with her passion of observing nature and children at play and crafting these into games and verses for teacher or caregiver and child. Some of the gestures that seem strange or awkward at first (such as twisting the wrists above the head) are ones Ellersiek observed children using in spontaneous joy and play. Although these can be hard at first for an adult, children tend to love them, and in the long term I find them helpful for adults as well (as a nice reprieve for the wrists, for example, after a busy night of typing songs and verses).
A story goes that Ellersiek was on vacation in the Black Forest and met Klara Hatterman, a Waldorf kindergarten teacher, also on vacation. The two discovered the harmony in their work, and this was the introduction of Ellersiek games into Waldorf early childhood programs. Kundry Willwerth has carefully translated these verses into English. Here is Willwerth's tribute to Wilma Ellersiek. (It seems the pdf version of the tribute does not contain Ellersiek's poem "Call to Deeds" that Willwerth alludes to. I will post this on a future blog). Even if we are not destined to compose intricate songs and verses for the classroom, we can find a model of attention and mindfulness in Wilma Ellersiek. The qualities that Magda Gerber, Emmi Pikler, Dorothy Corkille-Briggs, Susan Weber, and others working with and for young children hope to cultivate in adults--careful observation, creative not-knowing, trust in the child, genuine encounter and presence--blossom in the artistic work of Wilma Ellersiek.
Here are lyrics for our dances around the Maypole at the end of class. Please do not worry if your child does not stay at the Maypole. Please do keep dancing. My observation has been that as weeks progress, more and more children like to join in, and even children who do not join for every dance have an authentic experience as they watch adults and others dance.
For new families or families that seek a refresher, here are the lyrics to many of the other songs I sing throughout the morning. This is the same document I have distributed earlier in the year.
With warmth and light,
William Geoffrey Dolde
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