Kindermusik "Cities": Preschool Aged Family Time and Imagine That Spring 2011!

Hello, Kindermusik Families!

We have really had a great semester.  I hope you enjoyed your Cities unit as much as we did!  It is a fun one!  This semester, our Imagine That Preschool classes as well as our Older Section of Family Time did the Cities unit.   Here are a few notes about what we were up to in this unit about the CITY!

1.  "GO and STOP" in the City!  This is a fun song about all the hustle and bustle in the city!  Stopping our movements is not easy!  That is called inhibitory control.  Whether we are moving one part of the body, moving our whole body (locomotor movement), or contolling a scooter (that was lots of fun!)  stopping and going takes a lot of coordination! 

We also did some "start and stops" with our instruments.  This helps reinforce good listening skills and following directions and also helps learn the musical concept of the "rest"--listening and counting beats of silence (golden!)

2.  Elevator and Escalator!  This is a fun song about going UP and coming DOWN!  The kids listened to vocal glissandos in this song (and also SANG along, doing vocal slides with their own voices!).  We also had them use the ramps and balls to SEE the visual of going UP and coming DOWN!  Keep practicing these vocal slides at home when moving things (or yourself) UP and DOWN!



3.  The Broom Man!  As we talked about the parts of the city---the sights, the sounds, etc., we can't forget about the ones who keep things running smoothly!  I hope the kiddos enjoyed being the "broom man" as they swept pom pom balls with their feather dusters!  This was a favorite!



4.  Pretzels for Sale!  The kids are beginning to learn about the street vendors in the city.  Have them use their speaking voice, their calling voice and their singing voice to call out, "Pretzels for sale!  Pretzels for sale!  Come and buy my pretzels!!"  They enjoyed doing these vocal exercises!

5.  Apples and Bananas!  This is a familiar silly song about LONG VOWELS that makes for a fun activity at home.  Keep singing this in the car as you buzz around town.  It really helps reinforce those long vowel sounds in a FUN way!

I like to eat eat eat
Apples and Bananas!
I like to eat eat eat
Apples and Bananas!
(etc)

Then change all the vowels to long A, long E, long I, long O, and long U.. LIke this:
I like to UTE UTE UTE
Upples and BUNUNUs....

(The kids usually hoot with laughter at this!)

6.  Jobs in the City:  The kids learned about all about some different JOBS in the city, as well as the tools they use! We had fun focusing on the baker, the barber and the cobbler using our instruments as tools as we grooved to the music!  We also learned about artists in the city--painters, musicians, dancers, and sculpters.  Here the kiddos are working on building their own artistic sculpture!

6.  City Structures:  The kids learned about all about some different city structures---from houses to skyscrapers!  Here are the kiddos and their "instrument houses" using their listening ears to tell which intrument to use!  And later, the kids tried their hand at making a cityscape or tall skyscraper out of our pool noodle beads!

Thank you for a wonderful semester!  We have enjoyed your little ones so very much!  Please join us again this summer (starting June 20) or fall (starting August 6)  for more fun and learning with music!  If you haven't reserved your spot in class, I encourage you to do so.  It is a small deposit, and will ensure you get the spot you want in class.  Don't miss out! 


Click here for Summer registration: Summer Registration Link
Click here for Fall registration:  Fall Registration Link


 Have a great break!

Montessori Kindermusik: May 2011

Hello, Kindermusik Families!

It has been such a fun semester.  Here are some updates to what we have been up to in Kindermusik!

Younger Group:

Instrument Variety: 
These little ones are experimenting with all the sounds that we can make when we shake, scrape, and tap our instruments.  They are also very good at taking turns with some of the favorite instruments in the mix!  We are listening for the soft parts and the loud parts of the music and making soft and loud sounds!

Abby shakes her shaker box,
Adam finds the animal clappers,
and Jersey finds a way to tap her Fiddle Sticks!

All Taking Turns!

Thomas can't decide between the castanet and the rainmaker!

The castanet wins!

Buzz Upon The Flower:
One of the poems we have been  learning this semester is called, "Buzz Upon The Flower".  It goes like this: 
Buzz Upon the Flower (We fly our pretend "bee" to the palm of our hand)
Buzz Upon My Nose!  (We fly our pretend "bee" to our nose)
Buzz Upon My Knee (We fly our pretend "bee" to our knee)
And Buzz Down To My ToES!  (We fly our pretend "bee" to our toes)

Buzz Upon The Flower

Buzz Upon My Nose!

Buzz Upon My Knee!

Buzz Down To My TOES!

Jingles!
One of the favorite little ditties these kids liked was called Two Little Blackbirds.  They liked to sing it when we got our jingles out.  It goes like this:

Two little blackbirds sitting on a hill!  (Shake both jingles)
One named Jack (Shake one jingle)
One named Jill (Shake the other jingle!)
Fly away Jack! (shake one behind your back)
Fly away Jill!  (shake the other behind your back!)
Come back Jack! (bring the first one back to the front)
Cone back Jill! (bring the other one back to the front!)

Roly Poly

Roly Poly is a little poem we often do with our sticks as a warm up.  Sometimes when I get the sticks out, they will just all start doing Roly Poly.  I think that is too cute.  You can also do it with your hands alone and "clap" instead of "tap".  It goes like this:

Roly Poly Roly Poly

UP UP UP
Roly Poly Roly Poly

OUT OUT OUT

Roly Poly Roly Poly

TAP TAP TAP

Roly Poly Roly Poly

Lay them in your Lap!

UP UP UP!

OUT OUT OUT!

UP UP UP!

OUT OUT OUT!

OUT WIDE!

Tapping on the floor!

Tapping side to side

Where's Riley!?

'

Little Bo Peep

We did a little poem called "Little Bo Peep" with our scarves which the kids LOVED....mostly because they got to HIDE the scarves---under their shirts, in their pant leg, behind their back---and then find them again on our cue.  The words go like this:

Little Bo Peep Has LOST her Sheep!  (hide the scarves)

And Doesn't Know Where to Find Them!  (show hands---where are the sheep?)

Leave them alone...

And They'll Come HOME!  (Pull scarves out from their hiding spots!)

Wagging Their Tails Behind Them!  (wave scarves in the air!)

Hiding our sheep!  Where did they go?

Where is Zara's Sheep?

All the sheep are hiding!

Abby and Jersee's sheep are hiding!

Getting ready to pull that sheep out!

 

There they are!!!

We found those lost sheep!

Wagging their tails behind them!

Lento y Rapido!

We learned about two musical tempo words, Lento and Rapido!  Lento means SLOW and Rapido means FAST!  We used our scarves to dance SLOW to Lento parts of the song and FAST to the Rapido sections of the song.  Before each section the kids could anticipate which section they would hear and say "Lento" or "Rapdio!".  Rapido was the favorite---and sometimes we would even throw our scarves up in the air during the Rapido sections to celebrate!

Dancing LENTO

Dancing Rapido!

Bubbles!
Our special treat was having bubble time at the end of class!  These were special bubbles that they could actually catch and hold--or even stack bubbles on top of each other!

Flashlight Dance
We also had fun doing a flashlight dance this semester with colorful finger lights!  We would turn the lights down low---and what a show!!  :)

Preschool Group:
The older preschool group had lots of fun in the CITY this semester!  We talked about all different parts of the city--the sights, the sounds, the people! 

City Statues!
In this activity, we looked at statues of figures from lots of different cities around the world.  While the music played, we moved around the circle.  When the music stopped, we froze in a "pose" like a statue!

The Broom Man

Keeping the city clean is hard work!  Just ask the broom man!!  In this song, the kids pretended they were the broom man, sweeping up the city streets to keep them clean!  We sprinkled little puff balls over the floor and they used their brooms (feather dusters) to sweep the balls into the very center of the room.  They had to work fast to get all the balls to the center before the song ended!

The words of the song are:

Here comes the broom man, down the street!

Watch him clean the street today!

Sweep 'em clean, Sweep 'em clean!

Sweep 'em clean, Sweep 'em clean!

On your marks, get set.....

GO!

Here comes the broom man, down the street!

Watch him clean the street today!

Sweep "em clean!

Sweep 'em clean!

All Clean!

Shaking Eggs!

Catch A Bubble!
We had fun playing with special bubbles that you could catch!  Or even stack!  It was a fun way to end our time together!

Thank you for your participation in Kindermusik this semester!  Please be sure to show your kids this blog so they can sing the songs or tell you more about our activities!  If you are interested in our SUMMER Kindermusik program, we would sure like to have you!  Our classes are available mornings and evenings --and it would be great to have you see for yourself all the fun and learning we do in Kindermusik!  The link to our summer schedule is:

http://www.joyful-noise-studio.com/SummerRegistrationPage.htm

Hope to see you this summer....or back at Montessori this FALL!