Our Autumn Read-aloud and Flash Cards

Fostering a love of books, of storytelling, of language and being read to in childhood is so important.

In Steiner Waldorf, early reading is not encouraged, but storytelling from the heart is the ideal. Being read to sits somewhere between the two. I understand and agree with Steiner’s Anthroposophical reasons for not reading until age 7 and indeed the very valid reasons for allowing children to come to reading of their own accord.

Reading falls separate to this - we are a home of books, and being read to is a very different journey and experience than that of being sat down and told to read when a child is not ready.

In Steiner Waldorf Early Childhood, storytelling from the heart from one person to another is the Holy Grail of communication - indeed as it has been the world over for thousands of years.

The next best ideal for me is sitting snuggly with a lovely book, reading to my child.

As I explore this month in my October pack, a Gateways 2011 article by Lauren Hickman entitled ‘Working with parents to reduce

children's media exposure’ refers to reading as a ‘childhood essential’ alongside loving relationships,

shared mealtimes, games, time in nature etc. Furthermore studies have shown that very young

children make links with language when they can see an image accompanying it, a picture or a

puppet - it helps them build vital connections in the brain and enriches their experiences.

So with that here are our Autumn read alouds, which alongside oral storytelling and the monthly poems and songs from my pack weave a rich tapestry of words and language into our days

I‘ve had lots of questions about my Art choices for this season, here they are...

Books we have are:

Pippa and Pelle and the Autumn Wind by Daniela Drescher

Autumn by Gerda Muller

Owl Babies by Martin Waddell and Patrick Benson

Through my window by Tony Bradman and Eileen Browne

We’re going on a bear hunt by Michael Rosen and and Helen Oxenbury

Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn by Kennard Pak

Out and About, a first book of poems by Shirley Hughes

Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper

Slow Down, by Rachel Williams

Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert

Hello Harvest Moon by Ralph Fletcher

Children of the Forest by Elsa Beskow

All Around Me, A first book of childhood by Shirley Hughes

Seasons come, seasons go, Tree by Britta Teckentrup

A Year Around the Great Oak by Gerda Muller

Mis Maples Seeds, by Eliza Wheeler.

The Very Helpful Hedgehog by Rosie Wellesley

Art Cards

HENRI ROUSSEAU, Eiffel Tower at Sunset, 1910, Private Collection

DAVID HOCKNEY, Woldgate Woods, 2008, Private Collection

CLAUDE MONET, Autumn on the Seine at Argenteuil, 1873, High Museum of Art

PIERRE BONNARD, Autumn View, 1912, Private Collection

EDWARD HOPPER, October on Cape Cod, 1946, Private Collection

VINCENT VAN GOGH, Landscape with Trees, 1881, Museum Boijmans Van Bennington, Netherlands

GUSTAV KLIMT, Birch Forest, 1902, Private Collection

VINCENT VAN GOGH, Landscape with four trees, 1885, Kroller-Muller Museum Otterlo.

GEORGIA O’KEEFE, Autumn Leaves, 1924, Private Collection

CHILDE HASSAM, Autumn Boulevard, Paris, Private Collection

WILLIAM H JOHNSON Lunchtime Rest, 1940-1941, Smithsonian American Art Museum

WILLIAM H JOHNSON, Windmill, 1930-35, Smithsonian American Art Museum

PAUL GAUGUIN, Landscape in Arles near the Alyscamps, 1888, Musee d’Orsay

EGON SCHIELE, Four Trees, 1917, Belvedere, Vienna

KATSUSHIKA HOKUSAI, Peasants in Autumn, Guimet Museum

WASSILY KANDINSKY, Autumn in Murnau, 1908, Private Collection

JEAN-FRANCOIS MILLET, Haystacks Autumn, 1873, Private Collection

Happy Autumn

Kelly x