Montessori Young Preschoolers--Away We Go!

What a great group of little learners at Montessori!  This spring, we are in a unit called "Away We GO!"  It is about all things that go go GO!  So far, we have done trains (Ask your child about Shiny Dinah!), cars, horses, buses, and airplanes! 

Here we are doing a little ditty called "Jingle Jingle Jingle"  It is about losing your car keys!!  It is seriously a favorite of this group.  As soon as I pass out the jingles they all start looking for someplace to "hide" their jingle bells!
The words to the song are:
Jingle Jingle Jingle
Go The Car Keys
Jingle Jingle Jingle
Go The Keys
***Then we look for a HIDING PLACE---in our pant leg, under our leg, in our sleeve.....etc!  We hold out our hands and sing....
Lost Them, Lost Them
Where Are The Car Keys??????
 ****Then we count to three and pull them out again!
Found Them, Found Them!
Here are the Car Keys!
 ****Then we jingle like crazy and do it again!!!!

We used eggs for a sound about a train---the eggs sound like a train going chugga, chugga, chugga!
We also did a song about shaking our eggs that includes following directions and STOPPING on cue.  This musical rest is really challenging---it is hard to come to a stop all together!  The song goes like this:
Shake, shake, shake your eggs
Shake, shake, shake your eggs
Shake, shake, shake your eggs
and NOW LET'S STOP!
 (sssssshhhhhhh!)

Then we change the words to tap, roll, drum, playing low, playing high, playing on our knees, shoulders, etc!!

We love to sing The Wheels On The Bus!  This ol' familiar song is such a hit with the little ones.  The best part about doing this song is that they SING it!!  That is so wonderful.  They love to contribute what verses we do....the driver, the horn, the babies, the wipers, the lights.....there are so many verses!  This class has also decided that there are dogs on the bus that go "bark, bark, bark"!  :)  Do this one at home, while in the car, wherever!  About anything can make a verse in the song, so let them use their imaginations!

We have also done a lot of work with UP and DOWN.  We have used the slide whistle to match our bodies to going UP or going DOWN.  Then we talked about how airplanes go UP and come back DOWN.  Here is a poem that we have been working on that encourages us to go up and down (working on that balancing squat that engages our vestibular system!)

I crouch down low (balancing squat)
My wings are ready (arms out to side---engaging balance)
Moving slowly
Steady!  Steady! (tilting side to side----REALLY engaging balance!!)

Faster, faster, running by
I run and JUMP into the sky! (Jump up!  and FLY!)

Then we "flew" our ribbons, making squiggles and circles in the sky!

 We have also done some shape matching.  I use pattern blocks and let them explore the shapes.  Then I sing a little song and see if they can match my shape!  They do a great job of finding the correct shape for the song!

We do a lot of "follow the leader" kind of activities.  The little ones are just starting to enjoy being called out to be the leader.  We have been doing a little song called "Do As I'm Doing".  This day, we were using balls to tap out the beat and follow the leader's movements.
The song goes like this: (Wish there was a good way to have the TUNE with it!!)
Do as I'm doing
Follow, follow me!
Do as I'm doing
Follow, follow me!

Do do do do do do do
Do do do do do do do
Do do do do do do do
Do do do do do do do

We have been BUSY!  Coming up we have wagons, buggies, and boats!  Lots more to come!