The Rattlin’ Bog

Irish Culture and Geography:  We started the year with movement to Irish music and have continued building our repertoire. Before the spring break, we located Ireland, an island, and noticed that on our Montessori globe it is red, which means it’s part of Europe (like Italy).  (Two of the children have drawn red islands in a sea of blue as part of their free drawing.)  We talked about the ways to get onto an island which is surrounded by water.  I introduced the people cards with an Irish boy and girl in traditional costumes named Danny and Caitlin.  We learned a cumulative song (keeps getting longer and longer) called “The Rattlin’ Bog.”  On Friday we walked to the sign which labels The Calverton School Cedar Bog, pointed out the words, then sang and danced on the sidewalk and pointed to the “branch on the limb, and the limb on the tree, and the tree in the bog, and the bog down in the valley-o.”  I have sung this song for over 20 years and this is the first time I ever got to sing it while standing next to an actual bog.  Do not discount the impact these things, which seem insignificant at best or irritating at worst to adults, have on small children.  They probably will say to people they meet in the future, “You mean your school didn’t have a bog?  How did you sing ‘The Rattlin’ Bog’ without a bog?”  We tasted Irish soda bread baked by Lisa Zecca.  Some of the children were visited by 1st grader Claire A’Hearn who put on her ghillies (soft leather shoes with laces) and showed us the Irish dancing she is learning.  Delilah got one of the Caitlin cards to show Claire that the shoes match.  I sang a lullaby (“Manx Lullaby”) as children passed around a baby, demonstrating how family members care for the young, and did  role-playing by choosing to be Uncle Danny, the sister Caitlin, Grandpa Danny or some other male or female family member.  (I have used these terms and children are now incorporating male and female into their vocabulary to describe people and animals.)