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Religion in the Waldorf School  ●  Class Plays for the Middle Grades  ●  

Waldorf Home Companion: Grades 1 & 2, Grades 3 & 4   ●  

The Nine-Year-Old Change

Verses for Grades One through Five

by Eugene Schwartz

GRADE ONE

Number Verses

One is the Sun that shines so bright,

One is the moon so high;

One is the day and one is the night,

One is the sheltering sky.

One is a head so still and tame,

Upon one body whole with health;

And I is the one and the special name

That only I can call myself!

Two are the eyes with which I see,

Two are the ears that hear;

Joy and sorrow both live in me,

And so do courage and fear.

Darkness and Light must together live,

Night and day are as sister and brother;

And two are the hands that receive and give,

To help myself or serve another.

Around me in the world I see

Beast and plant and stone.

Nature weaves her world as Three,

But I am three in one:

A head well-wrought for wisdom's work,

A heart hallowed by love;

Strong limbs to labor on the earth

As Angels do above.

Summer and Autumn, Winter and Spring,

Through Four seasons passes the year;

Fire and Air, Water and Earth--

Out of these four does our whole world appear.

Five are the fingers upon each hand,

Each foot has its five toes;

Five rays has the star shining high o'er the land,

Five petals has the rose.

And when with limbs outstretched I alight,

Like a five-pointed star

All the world I make bright!

The Snow Queen casts Six-pointed flakes

On stormy winds to ride;

The crystal with its six clear walls

In deepest earth abides;

When the busy bee builds honeycombs

He sculpts them with six sides.

Wherever Light would find a home,

In storm, or cave, or honeycomb,

Six is its chosen number and form.

Odd and Even Game

 (The children form two lines; one line wears crowns bearing odd numbers, the other crowns with even numbers.)

 Line One:

We are the Odd Numbers

Oh, so lonely!

We haven't any friends

By night or day;

Ah, for one friend,

One friend only,

To hop and skip and run and play!

Line Two:

Here we come,

The Even Numbers!

We're your friends,

We'll stand by you;

Call our names and we'll come romping,

Dancing, stomping, two by two!

(Calling out their numbers in turn, the children pair up, take hands

and skip together to music played by their teacher.)

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