Autumn

Autumn: A Collection of Poems, Songs, and Stories for Young Children

Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter contain a wide variety of poems, songs, and stories of the seasons and many contributions for festivals. The volume titled Spindrift contains material for use throughout the year, including more than forty stories, many different cultures around the world. Gateways contains sections on morning, evening, birthdays, and fairy tales.

Based on work in Waldorf kindergartens, these six books provide invaluable material for working with young children and will be useful for Waldorf teachers, home schoolers, and parents alike.

First published more than twenty years ago, these books are in their third edition, now reedited and with much new material added. In addition, the music has been comprehensively edited, with most songs now in the scale of D-pentatonic, which is particularly suited to pentatonic lyres and may be played on any traditional seven-note or twelve-note instrument. Each volume includes an enlightening introduction by Jennifer Aulie on music in the “mood of the fifth.”

The covers are all illustrated in watercolors by David Newbatt, with the four seasonal titles each depicting a different worker.

About the Author

Margret Meyerkort came to England from Switzerland in 1950 and trained as a Waldorf class teacher at Hawkwood College in Stroud, where she studied with Ernst Lehrs and Maria Roeschl, both students of Rudolf Steiner. In 1953 she agreed to take the kindergarten at Wynstones School for one year, and stayed until 1980. In 1978 she started a kindergarten teacher training course that ran for fifteen years. She also taught courses at Emerson College, helped found the Kindergarten Steering Group in the 1960s, and co-wrote The Challenge of the Will with Rudi Lissau. After 1980 she lectured and trained kindergarten teachers internationally.