September Circle Time and Babysitting Rhythm

I'm not sure if I have mentioned it before in my blog, but I now babysit a little girl, A, who is a few months older than W two mornings and one afternoon a week.  She lives in our neighborhood and they were already playmates, when I offered to watch her so that she wouldn't have to go to a large daycare center anymore.  This situation has been a true blessing for everyone in our family.  W now has a very dear little best friend who he loves very much, and who in some ways acts almost as a sibling for him when she is here.  We love having A stay with us.  She is sweet, but a little bossy at times and has no problems with putting W in his place.  I love seeing them work together to figure things out whether it be settling a disagreement and compromising (with a little gentle guidance) or working for a common goal.  She also has helped him vastly expand his vocabulary and is teaching him some Spanish words too (she's bilingual).  A couple of the other benefits to having her stay with us are that 1) my house is clean at least three days a week and 2) when she is with us we fall into a lovely natural rhythm with different activities on different days and a set order to our day.  Ideally we will get to a point where W and I maintain this rhythm on most days when A is not with us as well.

This blackboard is the background for one of our nature tables.  Each month I try to illustrate it with a drawing and verse from our circle time.  the only problem is that my handwriting was horrible this time (trying not to smear the drawing) but I didn't have the heart to erase the whole thing and start over.

One element I try to maintain with W each day is circle time.  It works a little better on days that A is with us as W wants to participate more because he wants to hold A's hand and because he doesn't want to feel left out.  I try to revise our circle time monthly to keep it seasonal, and some items carry over from one month to the next.  It is also one of the ways that I prepare our family for festivals and celebrations during the month.

Here is our circle time for September:

Call to Circle Song:

                Come Follow

                Come follow, follow, follow,

                 follow, follow, follow me

                Whither shall I follow, follow, follow,

                Whither shall I follow, follow thee?

                To the greenwood, to the greenwood,           

greenwood tree (repeat)

From Come Follow Me

Sit Down Song:

                Ring around the rosie

A pocket full of posy

Ashes, ashes we all fall down

Nursery Rhyme:

                To Makret, To Market

                To market to market to buy a fat pig;

                Home again, home again, jiggety-jig.

                To market, to market to buy a fat hog;

                Home again, home again, jiggety-jog

Finger Play:

Signs of Autumn

                When the birds fly south (flap arms)

                And the wind blows cool (shiver)

And the green (hold up hands)

on the trees turns red (Flip palms over)

And the days grow shorter

(Bring hands close together from far apart)

And the nights grow long

(separate hands from close together)

And Jack Frost freezes grass dead

 (point fingers straight up, then slowly curl)

Then summer has done (Wave as if goodbye)

And autumn has come

(Turn to opposite direction; hold arms out)

From Finger Frolics

Leaves are Floating Down

Leaves are floating softly down; (flutter fingers)

They make a carpet on the ground

Then, swish!  The wind comes whirling by

(bring hand around rapidly)

And sends them dancing to the sky

(flutter fingers upward)

From Finger Frolics

               

Songs:    Come Little Leaves

Come little leaves said the Wind one day.
Come over the meadow with me and play.
Put on your dresses of red and gold.
For summer is gone and the days grow cold.

Grow cold, Grow cold (repeat)

From Come Follow Me

Michaelmas

                A knight and a lady went ridding one day

                Far into the forest , away, away

                Dear knight said the lady, I pray have a care

                This forest is evil, beware, beware

                A fiery red dragon they spied on the grass

                The lady wept sorely alas, alas

                The night slew the dragon, the lady was gay,

                They rode on together away, away, away

From Come Follow Me

Verses:

…Apples, Apples  everywhere,

please let me have just one,

and just two more please tree,

then September Will be done.

From September-Around the Year

…By all these lovely tokens
September days are here,
With summer's best of weather,
And autumn's best of cheer.

From September by Helen Hunt Jackson

"The goldenrod is yellow
The corn is turning brown
The trees in apple orchards
With fruit are bending down."
-  Children’s song

Religious Verse:

                You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

-Matthew 22:39

Prayer:  

Thank You, dear God, for autumn,

With all the colors bright.

The reds and browns and yellows

Make such a pretty sight.

Amen

(from My First Read and Learn book of Prayers)

Closing Song:       

This Is The Day--Psalm 118:24

                This is the day, this is the day

                That the Lord hath made, that the Lord hath made

                We will rejoice,    we will rejoice

                And be glad in it, and be glad in it.

                This is the day that the Lord hath made

                We will rejoice and be glad in it

                This is the day, this is the day

                That the Lord hath made.