Martinmas links & info: Lanterns, poems, songs, & stories

Martinmas/Lantern Walk

St. Martin of Tours was born in 316 and died on November 11, 397. He is known as a deeply religious man who shared his cloak with a beggar and represents the attitude of brotherliness. According to old customs at this time, as the days become shorter and the stars appear earlier, children would walk with lanterns through the streets singing. As the world grows darker, the inner light of man wants to shine forth – from Shepherd Valley Waldorf School

Golden light is turning grey,
Mists begin to rule the day.
Bare the trees, their branches lift;
Clouds of dead leaves earthward drift.

Through the field the farmer goes,
Seeds of ripened corn he sows’
Trusts the earth will hold it warm,
Shelter it from cold and harm.

For he knows that warmth and light
Live there, hidden from our sight;
And beneath a sheltering wing,
Deep below, new life will spring!

Deep below, deep below, new life will spring!

Martinmas stories

Martin & the Poor Man- http://herbnites.tripod.com/waldorfinspiredschool/id15.html

A Golden Lantern- http://www.waldorflibrary.org/Journal_Articles/GW3808.pdf

This is the story I will use for a mixed age group. I will tell my daughter the story of Saint Martin while we make our lanterns.

The Lantern

There was once a boy called George who had been outside in the garden all through the Summer running after the butterflies, jumping like a grasshopper, singing like a bird, and trying to catch the sunlight. One day when he was lying on his back in the meadow gazing up into the sun-filled sky, he said, “Dear Brother Sun, soon the Autumn winds will blow and wail, and Jack Frost will come and make us all freeze, and the nights will be long and cold.”  Brother Sun pushed the clouds aside and said, “Yes, it will be dark and cold. In the deep midwinter, warmth and light live deep within, hidden from sight. In the time of dark and cold, you will tend the Light Within.” “But,” said George, “How will I tend this Light when it’s dark everywhere around me?”“I will give you a spark of my last Autumn rays once you have made a little house for it, for this spark must be guarded well. It will light the way for you to tend the Light Within throughout the time of dark and cold.” And then Brother Sun once hid again behind a cloud. George went home and wondered how best he could make a little house for the spark of the sun. He took a thick piece of paper and painted a beautiful blue and yellow watercolor upon it. When it was dry, he cut windows into his painting. Then he placed colored tissue paper on the back of his watercolor – and – he formed it into a lantern. He took a candle and put it into the middle of his lantern. And, as it was growing dark, he went outside with it. George held the lantern up above him and said, “Brother Sun, I have made a little home for one of your golden sparks. Please may I have one? I will guard it well.” Then Brother Sun looked out from behind a cloud and said, “You have made a beautiful home. I shall give you one of my golden sparks.” And suddenly, George saw how the windows of his lantern were lit up, and as he looked into the lantern, he saw a spark happily dancing on top of the candle. Oh, how happy the light was in his lovely lantern! It shone and shone so brightly. “Thank you, Brother Sun,” George called out, “Thank you.” And he took his lantern and carried it carefully home singing:

 The sunlight fast is dwindling,

My little lamp needs kindling.

Its beam shines far in darkest night,

Dear Lantern, guard me with your light
~ from Autumn, Wynstones Press, originally by M Meyerkort and revised by L Sutter.

Martinmas lanterns

Paper mache globe lanterns http://maymomvt.blogspot.com/2007/11/making-lanterns-for-martinmas.html

turnip lanterns- http://resurrectionfern.typepad.com/resurrection_fern/2008/10/how-to-make-a-lantern-out-of-a-rhutabaga-or-turnip-a-seasonal-tutorial.html

water color lanterns- http://naturenest.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/watercolor-paper-lantern-tutorial/

glass jar lanterns-  http://ourhomeschooljourney.co.za/wordpress/142/how-to-make-a-lantern-for-waldorf-festivals-or-waldorf-inspired-gifts/

folded construction paper lantern (only for older childern) http://www.pacon.com/projects/PaperLanterns.htm

For 3 songs you can hear go to http://astorytellingofcrows.blogspot.com/

Aricles about Martinmas

http://chicmommyusa.com/martinmas-lantern-walk/

http://www.waldorfwithoutwalls.com/newsletter/39 -halloween & Martinmas

Rainbow water chimes

Today we started our first Old testament stories block. I had already told the story from Jakob Streit’s book “And There Was Light” of Lucifer being thrown from heaven last week so we were free to start a new week at the beginning of creation.  In Streit’s story of the first day God says 7 words. Each of the words became a color of the rainbow & encircled his throne. This was such beautiful imagery. I wanted to come up with something that could connect this part of the story to our main lesson. I decided to set up a set of water chimes using this explanation http://www.ehow.com/how_5104489_make-music-water-glasses.html, but I converted the fractions to millilitres based on the fact that my jars held 600ML. This made it more precise, and made all but 2 of the jars ring true right away. I just had to tweak the high & low C to get the complete major scale.  My daughter & I carefully mixed the water in the jars with stockmar water colors. I would have used cheap food colors, but I had none on hand, and this was thought up this morning.  I read the actual passage if Genesis of the creation form the beginning to the 7 day of rest. As I read each day my daughter rang the corresponding  chime in  3 times each & lit the candle until we reached the eighth one for paradise. 

 

 I then told the story from the book, and all of the candles were extinguished except the 1st which we left lit until we were done painting the first day. Tomorrow we will ring the 2nd chime, light the 2nd candle, and hear the story of the 2nd day before we paint. My daughter loved the water chimes, so did I. It did seem to bring a very special, and sacred element to our lesson today.

A Child’s Seasonal Treasury: excellent book

 

Betty Jones was/is? a waldorf kindergarden teacher. She wrote one terrific book. I have used this book for years. IT has seasonal games, verses, handwork ideas & songs. It also covers basic verses to use with numbers, painting, drawing, cleaning up, ect. I just discovered that it can be seen for free in its complete form on google reader. Here is the link. It served me well over the years & still does. I encourage you to have a look at it. It is a really good one to buy & keep on your bookshelf. You will find yourself going back to it again & again.

Science block:rocks,minerals & soil – story, song, & verses

Today we started a new science lesson block. We will be studying minerals, rocks, & soil. This ties into us preparing the soil for our garden beds  which will soon be planted with early spring crops.  I used the verse Teaching Handwork  had posted for my chalkboard.  In the drawing I showed the 3 layers of soil; topsoil, subsoil, and bedrock. DD and I will talk about the layers later this week. During circle we sang the song Teaching Handwork put in the same post, but added 2 more verses we made up. You can find the lyrics at the end of this post. Teaching Handwork also has an audio clip of the song so that you can hear the melody. I love her blog.

I told dd the story of “The Stones” that came from a file of 12 nature stories by waldorf teacher Roberto Trostli. You can download them for free here. They are very useful in teaching science.  “The Stones”  is a story of 4 differnent types of rocks which represent the 3 kinds of rocks found on Earth: sedimentary, igneous, & metamorphic. I left out the part about limestone as I felt for us it was unessecary. For me it  streamlined the story & made it easier to tell.  We looked at many kinds of rocks & minerals and tried to classify them.  We ended our day with drawing and rock candy making. I will try to post that process here too.

 

 

 

 Heigh-ho cry the merry …. dwarves (clap clap)
Its off to the woods we …..Are
We’d like to stay but time is…Short
Heigh-ho cry the merry dwarves (Clap clap)

Heigh-ho cry the merry …. dwarves (clap clap)
Its into caverns  ….. Deep
To find the stones we’ll…Keep
Heigh-ho cry the merry dwarves (Clap clap)

Heigh-ho cry the merry …. dwarves (clap clap)
We’ll heave our heavy …..sacks
Onto our sturdy …backs
Heigh-ho cry the merry dwarves (Clap clap)

Heigh-ho cry the merry …. dwarves (clap clap)
Its off to the woods we …..Are
We’d like to stay but time is…Short
Heigh-ho cry the merry dwarves (Clap clap)