a gypsy caravan

Autumn Circle Time

Last autumn,  we began having a daily Circle Time for the little ones.  My children have responded so well to this small amount of structure, movement and attention in the morning.   Here are some previous posts about Circle Time in our home.

This is our Autumn line up of songs, fingerplays and poems:

• Light candle
• All sit in a circle on the floor
• Morning prayer: "Dear Lord Jesus, I give you today, all that I think and do and say. Amen."
• Announce the day of the week and today's date

Songs:

• Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush (sitting with motions)

• I've Been Working on the Railroad (sitting)

• Apples and Bananas (sitting)

• Father Abraham (large motions, standing)

• Where is Thumbkin? (fingerplay)

• There are Seven Days (sitting)

• Humpty Dumpty (Nursery Rhyme, sitting)

• Open Them Shut Them (fingerplay)

Poem to be read aloud:

• Rain (or)
• Bed in Summer (or)
• The Cow by Robert Louis Stevenson

(or any other you'd like them to learn)
We read ours from A Child's Garden of Verses by RLS, illustrated by Tasha Tudor

• Hymn: Stabat Mater from 36 Traditional Roman Catholic Hymns

• Closing Prayer: May my hands work with care,  my heart work with love and my mind work with attention. Amen.

• Have a child blow out the candle.

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Immediately following Circle Time, the older kids work at the table on their lessons.   Prior to adopting Circle Time, the girls were disruptive and were constantly demanding attention during the boy's table lessons.  I have found the girls are happy to play quietly for an hour or so after having had the attention and interaction that Circle Time provides.  I make available a different toy each day for them to play with.  This is the schedule we used last year and it will work fine again this fall.

Monday: Brio trains
Tuesday: Dollhouse
Wednesday: Wooden blocks
Thursday: Farm and animals
Friday: Marble chase

Rotating the wooden toys keeps them from becoming "old hat" and gives the girls a pattern of play to look forward to each week.  I keep each of the different toys in a separate container that I carry up from the basement after Circle Time.   This has worked well for us thus far.

Do you do circle time in your home?  Please share your ideas in the comments.  Thanks! :)

Spring Circle Time

The birds have been singing, the flowers are blooming and all has come alive in our region of the country.   So, we will be changing our circle time songs this week to reflect the lovely Spring season.   The upcoming month of May is devoted to The Blessed Mother so the hymns we will be learning are Marian. The songs, fingerplays and poem will be about animals, weather and gardening. 

We begin by lighting a candle, mentioning the current day and date.  We then make a Morning Offering:  "Dear Lord Jesus, I give you today, all that I think and do and say."

Six Little Ducks

Baa, Baa, Black Sheep

Two Little Blackbirds (fingerplay)

Oats, Peas, Beans and Barley Grow

He's Got the Whole World in His Hands

Old MacDonald

Arky, Arky Song

The Squirrel Song

Poem:
The Wind by Robert Louis Stevenson

Hymn: Alternate every other day
Immaculate Mary
Salve Regina

Closing prayer "May my hands work with care, my heart work with love and my mind work with attention. Amen."  The children blow out the candle. 

More on circle time in our home here and here.

More on Circle Time

Just  wanted to take some time to address a few of the questions that were asked following my recent post about Circle Time.

Mary wrote:
"What do you do if you have toddlers mixed in with older children?  How do you plan songs for differing ages?"

That is a great question.  My oldest son (11) does independent table work while the rest of the children (8, 4, 2) do circle time.  I try to include some traditional nursery rhymes for the littles, some songs with hand motions and some livelier, patriotic tunes for my eight year old.  Anything involving marching or military seems to be a hit for boys. :) The girls current favorite is A Ram Sam Sam.  Here is a video clip from UTube, though we don't do the "Olha a Onda" part, but rather sing the "A Rafi" version.

Michele wrote:
"What music sites or sources do you use to choose the songs and, fingerplays?"

Two of my favorite songbooks are Rise Up Singing and American Folk Songs for Children.  Both are dog eared books that I have used since my oldest was a baby.  We have never done a formal Circle Time prior to this past fall but I have sung to my children since they were tiny, especially in the car. 

The Rise Up Singing book has a myriad of songs by topic, plus guitar chords for those of you who play. The book is spiral bound, which I love. There are a few songs in it that I would never sing to my children but the good far outweighs the bad.

Also, American Folk Songs for Children comes in compact disc form.  It is a two disc set which contains most of the noteworthy songs every child should know.  Mike and Peggy Seeger have VERY DISTINCT voices, great for folk music.  Most people either love them or hate them.  I would really encourage you to listen on the Amazon page before purchasing the set, just to make sure you like their voices.  (My husband can't stand them.)

I would encourage anyone who is tempted to just play the songs for their children from a CD player NOT to do it.  Play them for yourself so you can learn them but sing them to your children.  Your kids don't care if you are not the best singer.  They love you and want to have fun with you!

I love to teach the children folk music because it is so richly steeped in our country's history.  So many of the songs were passed on from generation to generation, sung on the prairies, the cattle ranges, and the battlefields of our country.

I also use the patriotic songs from Wee Sing America.  There is an accompanying CD that I can't seem to find on Amazon right now....

Jennifer wrote:
"LOL!! I tried it Rebecca. Now you said that the children wouldn't mind my singing voice, but when we began The Itsy-Bitsy Spider, my three year old son curled up in a ball on the floor and began to sob. What did I do wrong??? :) Too funny"

I smiled when I read this because Mary Kathryn put up quite a fuss the first few days that we did circle time.  In our case, it was that she was not accustomed to having a lot of fun and personal attention in the morning.  I think the structure and stimulation was a little emotionally overwhelming to her.  After a few days, she began to ask for circle time but initially, she was very disruptive.  (I really doubt it has anything to do with your singing voice! :) ) My guess is either the overwhelming interaction of it all or that your son is afraid of spiders. LOL!

It is helpful when doing circle time with little ones to arrange the songs in such a way that there are quieter songs in between the large motion, louder ones.  That seems to help the children to settle and calm down after much excitement.

Above all else, don't give up!  Little ones really thrive on routine and circle time is a gentle way to introduce a morning rhythm. 

I hope I did not forget anyone's question.  If I did, feel free to resend it again.

Have a great day!

Circle Time in Our Home

This past fall we decided to add circle time to our daily rhythm.  Circle time is simply a gathering time at the beginning of the day  in which to sing,  read poetry, do fingerplays and incorporate movement. 

I have always felt that it would be a good idea for my littles to have some sort of organized activity before I start tablework with the school aged children.  Circle time takes about twenty minutes to a half hour each morning.  I try to alternate songs that are lively with much movement with those that are quieter and slower.  This seems to keep the children's attention quite well.

Last fall, I arranged a repertoire for the children.  We ended up repeating the same song list for the months of September, October and November.  I intended to arrange something for Advent and Christmas but it fell by the wayside.

I will include a few songs, a poem, a fingerplay and a hymn each time I come up with a new list.  Below is what I have planned for the remainder of winter, until late March.

I read somewhere that it is important for the children that the list of songs, etc. remains the same for several weeks or even months before changing to a new list.  Small children love consistency and find much comfort in repetition.

Christopher sits in on circle time so I have tried to add several songs that would appeal to him as well as my toddler/preschool daughters.

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Light a candle
Say Morning Prayer "Dear Lord Jesus, I give you today, all that I think and do and say."

Today is: (Day and Date)

A Ram Sam Sam
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear
Fingerplay: Itsy Bitsy Spider
March: When Johnny Comes Marching Home
The Wheels on the Bus
I'm a Little Teapot
Peas Porridge Hot, lyrics and some history
Hot Cross Buns, words and history
Yankee Doodle
Poem:  Read aloud My Shadow by Robert Louis Stevenson (After several weeks of reading the same poem each morning, the children will naturally have it memorized, without intending to do so.  School aged children can illustrate the poem in a poetry book.)
Hymn: O Lord I am not Worthy

Closing Prayer: May my hands work with care,  my heart work with love and my mind work with attention. Amen.

Have a child blow out the candle.

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If you are interested in beginning a gathering/circle time in the morning with your children, choose a few folk or nursery songs that you'd like them to learn, a poem perhaps and a fingerplay.  Start small. Don't be afraid that you do not have a nice singing voice.  Your children will not notice or care.  They will have fond memories of spending time in song and play with their mother and siblings.

Have a wonderful day today!