Kindermusik at Montessori!

Milk and Cookies

We have had a great start to our semester at Kindermusik Montessori!  Our 2-3 year olds are working on a unit about helping out around the house.  We have been pretending to build a house with sticks, in a poem called "A Carpenter's Hammer".  It goes like this:

The Carpenter's hammer goes rap, rap, rap!

And his saw goes see----saw-----see!

He Hammers and hammers!

And saws and saws!

And builds a house for me!

Our rhythm sticks have been our Hammers and Saws.....

Tyler and Zara use their sticks as SAWS in our carpenter's poem...

Abby builds a rooftop with her sticks at the end of the poem...
"He builds a house for me!"

Thomas builds a rooftop

 We have been tapping in lots of different ways!

Adam drums on the floor!

Jersee taps her shoes!

Rolling!

We have also been pretending to clean up pretend "spills" in a song about cleaning the kitchen.  We dance around in a circle swishing our scarves and then use the scarves to pretend to clean up a spill on cue with the words of the song.  They are eager to "help" and love to offer suggestions about what has spilled on the floor....juice, chocolate milk, maple syrup....what a mess!  You can download the song "All Around the Kitchen" at http://play.kindermusik.com/tracks/2887-all-around-the-kitchen/



Abby cleans up a pretend spill!

The next part of the lesson is about cooking!  We are pretending to bake muffins in our pretend oven.  We sing a little song that says, "Go into the kitchen and take a peek!  Go out of the kitchen and tap your feet"  You can see them doing our little kitchen dance around our egg shaker muffins, peeking in to see if they are done!  You can download this song at http://play.kindermusik.com/tracks/3274-go-into-the-kitchen/

They like to line up their eggs after we use them.  They take great pride in this!

****FYI:  Many of the songs we use can be downloaded from Play.Kindermusik.Com. Go to the age group 1 1/2-3 and look for the "Milk and Cookies" album 1 and 2 to see the songs that are available for download. 

Hello, Weather!  Let's Play Together!

Our 3-5 year olds are doing a unit on the changing weather!  The introduction to this unit talks about waking up in the morning and looking outside at the weather.  The weather will determine what we get dressed in, what we can do that day, etc.!  We have talked a lot about morning routines.  I had to include these pictures of our warm up because I just love how "in sync" these kids are. 

The first part of our weather unit talks about the WIND. A windy day sometimes indicates a change in the weather!  We read a story about the wind whooooshing through the town.  Each time the wind blows in our story, we play a glissando on the glockenspeil.  We sing a little song that goes: "Ooooooooh, ooooooooh, I can hear the wind.  Ooooooooh, oooooooooh, I can hear the wind".  Ask your child to sing it to you!  Here are the kiddos taking turns on the glockenspeil as we make the sound of the wind!

The wind brought a storm our way!  We are using sandblocks to make the sound of light and heavy rain, thunder and lightning!  Here are some of our musical weather songs:

• Rain:  Pitter patter, pitter patter!  I can hear the rain!  Pitter, patter, pitter patter!  I can hear the rain!
• Storm:  Boom Boom!  Boom Boom!  I can hear the storm!  Boom Boom!  Boom Boom!  I can hear the storm!
• Lightning:  Zig!  Zag!  Lightning's Jagged Flash!  Zig!  Zag!  Lightning's Jagged Flash!
• Sun:  Oh Mister Sun, Sun!  Mr. Golden Sun!  Please shine down on me!  Oh Mister Sun, Sun!  Mr. Golden Sun! Hiding behind a tree!  These little children are asking you to please come out so we can play with you!  Oh Mister Sun, Sun!  Mr. Golden Sun! Please shine down on me!

We also have a great version of "Finiculi, Finicula" that we do with our sandblocks.  Here are some pictures of us doing Finiculi, Finicula.  (You can download this song at http://play.kindermusik.com/tracks/3327-funiculi-funicula/ )

 

***FYI:  Many of the songs we use can be downloaded from Play.Kindermusik.Com. Go to the age group 3-5 and look for the "Hello, Weather" album 1 and 2 to see the songs that are available for download.    

Our Time Class Happenings

This week in class we finished the first cycle of activities centered around "the HOUSE".  The Hammer and the Saw gave us a chance to talk about SMOOTH and BUMPY (Legato and Staccato in Music) and also LOUD and SOFT sounds!  Even though we are finished reciting "The Carpenter's Hammer" in class, please continue to have fun doing this at home:

The carpenter's hammer goes RAP RAP RAP

And his saw goes SEE-SAW-SEE!

He hammers and hammers!

And saws and saws!

And builds a house for me!

Remember that doing the "hammer" action (with one hand in a fist hitting the flat palm of the opposite hand) is a developmental skill.  It is hard for toddlers to do something different with one hand than the other!  Applaud their attempts as they try to make the hammer action!

Our Time Classes have also been busy as can be with HOUSEWORK!  We started by cleaning up the house in "All Around the Kitchen".  We used our scarves to clean up pretend spills on the kitchen floor.  Then we had some fun throwing the scarves up in the air and hiding underneath our scarves!  Peek-a-boo!


Cruz cleans up a "spill"....What a good worker!



Emma catches a scarf

Where's Gracie?

Cruz and Anthony are hiding...Peek-a-boo!

Time to do the laundry!  We used stretchy circles to make a washing maching in class.

"We are clothes in a washing machine!"

"We wiggle and we giggle until we are clean!"

"Then Mama shakes us out to dry

And hangs us on the clothesline high!"



We have been listening to HIGH sounds and LOW sounds, and we have been matching those pitches with HIGH and LOW body movements.  We will continue with highs and lows in the weeks to come....and we will experiment with levels using those fun balls and ramps!!

The parachute is a great part of Kindermusik!  Not only does it teach about HIGHS and LOWS with BIG impact, it is just plain fun and a great way for the kiddos to get social with one another!



The Goodbye Song is an important ending ritual for the Our Time Class.  We wave hands goodbye, shake hands with a friend, and give hugs.  So many wonderful friendships are started in Kindermusik class!

"Shake somebody's hand and sing goodbye!"

"Give a little hug and sing goodbye....
Sing goodbye, goodbye!"

The Village Class Routine

Village Classes are filled with routine.   Everything we do in Kindermusik class is designed to work on 6 areas of childhood development:  Physical, linguistic, cognitive, emotional, social, and musical development.

Each class starts with baby exercise.  We have been working on helping the babies to open their chests in order to help alleviate congestion.  Here you see some strong and flexible babies doing a "headstand", "half bow" and even a "full bow". 

Village Kiddos in "headstand"

Miranda happily masters the "Half Bow"

Flexible Jani achieves the "Full Bow"!!

Dancing and Movement is also an important part of the Village class.  It helps baby feel the beat, learn vocabulary, and helps with visual tracking.  Here we have some babies dancing to "Dance Little Baby".   

We go UP on the word "UP".....

and DOWN on the word "DOWN".....



We even take turns going UNDER and AROUND in the song "Round and Round the Village"



Instrument Play-Alongs are a fun part of Kindermusik!  We are working on steady beat....But as you can see, these kids also enjoy taste testing the instruments!  No worries, we disinfect the instruments.  We know that babies learn through experiencing objects in their mouths!

Samuel celebrates his 1st birthday jingling to the beat at Kindermusik class!

Yum!  Jingles!!?!

Taylor is drumming with her feet! 

Samuel and Alaina drum together!

Leah drums with her bottom! 
Logan tries to decide if he should drum on Leah! 
Taylor thinks the whole thing is ridiculous!

The Vestibular System is something that we talk about a lot in Village.  The Vestibular System is the inner sense of balance that we stimulate when we rock, sway, or off-set baby's balance.  The sleds are one way we stimulate the vestibular system by doing pathways that are smooth, bumpy, zig-zagging, and spinning.

Bubble Time is not just for fun...it is an ongoing science experiment of cause and effect, it is helping young ones with their visual tracking and hand-eye coordination, and it becomes a great social time with one another!

At home, try doing the poem, "The Train Climbs Up The Track".  With babies on your lap, bounce to the beat, lifting your knees so the babies are up high on "The Train Climbs Up The Track".  Stimulate your child's vestibular system by doing some gentle "drops" on "Whoo  Whoo Whoo!"

The Train Climbs Up The Track

Chugga-Chugga- Chug!

The Train Comes Rushing Back!

Wooo Wooo Woooo!

Til Next Time!