One thing I love about the Waldorf approach to mathematics is that in first grade, a child isn't learning just how to write a numeral or what exactly makes up the quantity of a number, but is introduced to the qualities of that number as well--one is for unity, two for duality, etc.
I'm going to post the little number poems we used with each number. She didn't copy them all in her lesson book. Sometimes she wrote the whole poem, other times just a couplet, and still other times, nothing at all.
One
One is the sun.
One is the tree.
One is the earth,
And one is me.
Two
Two ears to hear,
Two eyes to see,
Two hands to help
Those all 'round me.
I didn't like this one, and I think in her lesson book, she wrote "One, two, me and you!" instead.
Three
The world is three-
Beast, plant, and stone.
God is three-
Father, Spirit, Son.
FourSummer and autumn, winter and spring--
Through four seasons passes the year;
Fire and air, water and earth-
Out of these four does the whole world appear.
Five
Five are the fingers on each hand,
Each foot has five toes.
Five rays has the star shining o'er the land,
Five petals has the rose.
Six
Wherever light would find its home,
In storm or cave or honeycomb,
Six is its chosen number and form.
SevenSeven colors in a row
In a shining rainbow.
EightWriggling spiders on eight legs crawl,
Spinning webs on every wall.
NineNine is a mystery, hidden away,
A secret to be revealed one day.
TenTen fingers have we on our two hands.
Ten toes, as on two feet we stand.
For ten contains within two fives,
Which we'll remember all our lives.
SOURCES:
Some came from Eugene Schwartz's number poems, which are floating around all over the place but, I believe, came from A Child's Seasonal Treasury. They're also
here. I also found some other poems
here. Some I just made up.
Have a wonderful day!
