Rhythm is strong at the Magic Garden…the rhythm of the day, the week, and the year. The young child is carried along by the overriding rhythms that form our school experience. Each day unfolds in a predictable manner. When a child can easily anticipate what happens next, s/he can live wholeheartedly into every experience, and can transition calmly from one activity to the next.
The day begins with the welcoming of each child to our classroom. Typically we are all engaged in the preparation of the daily meal. Whether we are kneading dough for our bread buns, chip-chopping veggies for our soup pot, or rolling groats into oats for our porridge, our work is predictable and purposeful. Afterward we begin our foray into a morning structured around freeplay, circle-time, a puppet show, etc. Daily life at school is comprised of “breathing in” and “breathing out” experiences. Weekly rhythm is established as children begin to absorb the rotating experiences from the start of the week to end, and begin to recognize the different snacks, activities and outdoor experiences that mark each day. In fact just a few weeks into the school year, the children come to call the days of the week not by Monday, Tuesday, etc, but by bread day, rice day, soup day, and beyond! In addition to the daily and weekly rhythm, we are carried though the seasons on the wings of our yearly rhythm. We follow Nature’s cues as we mark the passing of the last bright days of Summer to Harvest time. Afterward we follow the dwindling light of Autumn into the cold crisp Winter. We emerge from the darkness back into the light of Spring and the dazzling awakening of the senses to the sights and smells of new birth…flowing sap, emerging flowers, tilled soil. We follow Spring’s beauty into Summer’s embrace.