Reprise of Songs, Welcomes, Observations

Dear Families,

I have been asked to publish a link to the lyrics of the songs I sing in class again. Here are the lyrics to the seasonal-specific snow songs I sing (at least we can see the snowy mountains and imagine the snowballs and sledding there even if Whidbey receives no snow this year). Here are lyrics to many of the songs I sing throughout the morning to weave together the day.

Each session I like to write a little about Wilma Ellersiek and why I say silly things like "Boomsti Woomsti" at the snack table. My short answer is that over the years children seem to love these rhymes and songs best--and they were something I figured parents and children were unlikely to encounter in other classes or venues. A traditional nursery rhyme has incredible value, children love it, and you are much more likely to encounter that at the library, other music classes, and the like. Ellersiek (who passed away recently) led a life of engagement, joy, and observation. She was a music and drama teacher for adults in Germany. When in the 1950s German government tried to follow America's model of academic kindergartens, she worried about the stress this would cause young children and its long term consequences. Ellersiek began to create a series of poetic and musical games that she considered to be an antidote to too much academics too early.

She was a musician and observer. She spent a great deal of time observing plants, animals, and children. Many of the freer movements in her games are what she observed happy children doing in times of flow or relaxation (the swirling hands above the head, for example). She was meticulous in designing her games (indeed, her lovely books can be overwhelming at first because the directions for how to move the gestures are so exact and lengthy). I think children can sense--even in a nonverbal way--the love, devotion, and care that Ellersiek invested in her games; they are a bit like Beethoven string quartets or Raphael Madonnas for the very young child--masterpieces, as it were (even as I may mar from time to time them as a quartet might bumble through the difficult notes of Beethoven).

The story goes that Ellersiek liked to vacation in the Black Forest. One vacation season she happened to meet master Waldorf kindergarten teacher Klara Hatterman (who also passed away a few years ago). Hatterman and Ellersiek hit it off at once--they shared an interest in the loving and joyful development of young children. The two worked together on games and songs, and Hatterman brought them to children in her kindergarten and to Waldorf teachers around the world at international workshops. While one could consider the games of Ellersiek the flavor of the month (or decade) in Waldorf classrooms, others, like me, find them so delightful and nourishing to children that I find it hard not to offer more of them. My sons have grown up with these games and songs, and they seem as cozy and familiar as Mother Goose rhymes (which my boys also love). If you wish to read more about Wilma Ellersiek, here are words written by Kundry Willwerth, the teacher we can thank for translating her games into English.

It is delightful to have two growing and lively classes (a child joined our Dewdrop class last week and 2 more will join us next week). I want to share 2 observations without the intention of singling out one child or stating that one event was more important than others. Last Thursday I watched a boy roll around and around to get from here to there in the Butterfly Room. Young children seem so free when they roll, and there is such grace to the way a young child can roll. Some children roll and pretty quickly move to pulling up and creeping and crawling. Others helps us observe that they are many graceful and effective ways to approach life at different times, and that rolling can be a delightful way to get around (my nursery children over the years still demonstrate this when they laugh with joy when rolling down a hill).

After giving a talk on conflict last Wednesday, I wondered what we might observe in the Friday Rosebud class (yes, the anxious part of me worried, that it would finally be the class full of conflict that got stuck and I would have to eat all my words from Wednesday night). It seemed to be a peaceful class, AND I noted how often children got into close proximity to one another, AND how relaxed the parents seemed to be about this. It seemed to me that because you the parents acted as if the children were able to handle their social interactions, the children breathed in this spirit and were able to enjoy the company of one another with contentment. Again, as my talk said, times of tension and conflict have a lot to teach us as well, so I don't want us to become disappointed should storms erupt in coming weeks (I remember working with Andrea Gambardella, a teacher of teachers, when she taught the nursery class in Baltimore; she would actually hope for an active or naughty or disruptive child to give some food for the other children to receive nourishment from; she was such a competent teacher that her classes could seem calm because the children were so content).

With warmth and light,

William Dolde