It has been lovely to reconnect with our wonderfully enthusiastic, bright and suddenly much taller Class 2 children for the start of the school year.  It has also been a pleasure to welcome Arcadia and Charlie to our class.  Being in Class 2 in the year 2022 must be numerically auspicious!  Despite a somewhat bumpy start with changing Covid restrictions and the shock and trauma of the recent bushfires that have affected many in our school... I believe we will have a magical year.

We have started our year with an English main lesson of Celtic tales, hearing the story of the King of Ireland's Son, a collection of magical Celtic fairy tales woven into an adventure perfect for Class 2 children.  Along with this we are learning a collection of Celtic rhymes and songs, practicing the beautiful Skye Boat Song (Speed Bonnie Boat) from Scotland on recorder, and enjoying singing and dancing to the "Rare Bog, the Rattling Bog" Irish song - a memory challenge!

Below is an excerpt from the Steiner Curriculum that describes why the King of Ireland's Son is so appealing for this age:

The King of Ireland's Son - by Padraic Colum

The King of Ireland's Son appropriately provides imagery of an individual who is striving to develop.  The King's son, in meeting the experiences laid along the pathway of his journey through life, is tested as to his strength and purpose, his inner 'substance' and 'qualities'.  He grapples with his 'lower' or less conscious nature and finds his way through difficult encounters, by virtue of his 'higher' (or more conscious) nature.  In this way, he at last comes to maturity (individuality) as King.  None of this would be achieved without the help of his companions (human and animal) who guide and support him, sharing the journey with him.

Such a journey is a support and guide to the growing child.  The child's development toward individuality is not undertaken alone.  The child can develop an inner trust in the world around, to offer experiences for growth (choices and consequences) as well as for companionship and guidance.

It provides imagery that development is worth striving for, even whilst it involves struggle.

While absorbed in the tale,s the children are also learning a lot from their writing and re-reading of the reading book of Celtic tales that they're creating during this main lesson.  We have been using lined paper for this main lesson to help guide the size of the children's letters in their handwriting.  We've also been using the text as a daily word study to learn a bank of sight words, to introduce new sounds, and learn and revise simple punctuation and grammatical rules.  Some of the children are using their growing confidence to write their own sentences with their own creativity, as well as their word and phonics knowledge.

Part of our daily rhythm includes our morning maths practice, with times tables practice, rhythmic counting and skip counting games.  The children have also been enjoying playing a card game called "Tens" that helps them to practice their friends of 10 addition facts.  This will prepare us for our next main lesson in maths that explores patterns and the magic of times tables, as we hear more magical Celtic tales.

Mel x