Village Spring 2012

A Dance Between Hadley and Daddy....Too Sweet.

Hello, Village Families!

It has been a great start to the semester with all our little ones!  This first part of the semester, we have been doing the unit "Cock a Doodle Moo!", a unit about the early American farm!  We hope you have enjoyed hopping like a chick, galloping like a horse and rolling like a pig! We have also been moving to audio cues---eggs=twist, bells=swoop, sticks=march.  So many ways to move!

 

BALL PLAY

We have also loved ball play!  So much is learned through reciprocal ball play--- near and far, hand-eye coordination, cause and effect, visual tracking, turn taking.....and more!

MAKING MUSIC

Making music is so much fun---especially when babies can hear and feel the beat.  Egg shakers are perfect for this---just the right size, weight, and volume.  These little ones really get their groove on when they get a pair of eggs in their hands! 

FEELING THE BEAT

Feeling the beat on the big bouncy balls is so much fun.  We can rock and sway (stimulating the vestibular system) to the beat, or bounce right along to the rhythm.  Here we are pretending to ride a horse!

PEEK A BOO!  I LOVE YOU!

Scarves are such a magical little object to the baby---lightweight, somewhat see through, colorful--the works!  We like to use scarves for peek-a-boo play (great for cause and effect AND for object permanence), swishing, floating, and visual tracking of high and low sounds. 

BABY YOGA/EXERCISE

Yoga provides so many benefits for baby!  Increased circulation, digestion, and muscle memory are just a few of the benefits!  Even though they sometimes want to squirm away, it is good to try to fit in a few minutes here and there.  First thing in the morning or during a diaper change can be a good time to do a few little exercises!

The Guppy--Great for opening up the lungs and clearing lung congestion!

The Roller Coaster--Great for gas and easing digestion

The Headstand!

Stretching!

BUBBLE TIME!

The end of class is a special time to build routine.  Bubbles are filled with benefits---from visual tracking to cause and effect!  And let's face it---they are just plain fun.

FALL "See What I Saw!" Preschoolers

Preschool Classes

It has been a great start to our Fall Semester! We have a wonderful group of young learners. They are very attentive and love to contribute! They are also such wonderful SINGERS!  It is great to have such a great little community of learners! 

We are having so much fun learning about music through the story of Grasshopper Park.  We have learned about the C Major Scale and a musical slide (glissando) by singing this song:

(Have them show you how it goes!)

Climb up the ladder,

Climb to the tip top!

Sliiiiiiiiide down!

 One of the ways the kids like to do the "slide" song is with their whole bodies climbing up and then going down.  Another way is by taking turns rolling a ball down a slide.  They just LOVE this.  Not only is it FUN, but they are learning about glissandos!  As the visual of the ball goes down the slide, the glissando whistle does a glissando DOWN.  They can HEAR and SEE the glissando in action!

SCALES AND GLISSANDOS

We have extended this little song to help teach the kids about a C Major Scale.  In the song, the words "Climb up the ladder, climb to the tip top!"  builds a C Major Scale.  The kids have practiced SINGING the scale as well as played the scale on the piano.  The words  "Sliiiiiide down!" is a glissando.  They love playing the glissando on the pianos. Here they are building a C Major Scale going up and doing a glissando going down.

CREATIVE MOVEMENT
We have been learning about lots of different movements by pretending to be birds!  Th scarves are our wings and the movement cards tell us how to move.  Sometimes we are swooping, gliding, soaring, flapping, circling, etc! 

Three Blue Pidgeons! 
Here the kiddos are using our blue sandblocks to sing a song about three blue pidgeons sitting on a wall.  After each verse, one either FLIES AWAY or one COMES BACK!  The kids use counting skills, as well as "plus one" and "minus one" to determine/predict how many pidgeons will be on the wall.

 Flashlight FUN
These little finger lights are a fun way to encourage movement.  Our little lights make quite a show in the dark!

RITUALS
Singing Hello and Goodbye at the beginning and end of each class is a class ritual that lets the children know when class starts---and when it ends.  Sometimes transitions are hard for preschoolers, so this little ritual is an important one.  We wave our hands, shake hands with a friend, and give hugs.