Toys I Make, Trips I Take

What fun we had with all our special guests in class today! By role playing with our stuffed animals to give them voices, movements and more, your child got a chance to develop empathy skills.

Preschoolers tend to see the world only from their own point of view. They can have trouble recognizing others’ feelings and ideas and often think only about how events affect themselves. In play and at school, they may only want to follow their own plans, rather than sharing ideas and taking turns in leading games.

Seeing the world through the eyes of an animal friend gave your child a chance to think about someone else’s feelings in an imaginative and unthreatening way, increasing his/her lifelong social skills.

Don’t forget to make animals masks this week. If you forget to bring them to class, I’ll have some extras.

I also mentioned that I would be sending out some materials to make treble clef posters. I decided to talk about treble clef one more week in class.

See you Monday!

Does bee rhyme with bead or see?

Your child may have have trouble figuring out which sound forms the end of a word. Rhyming books give your preschooler practice identifying these ending sounds. Because our new book’s rhyming pattern always starts with a “t” sound, it can help your child quickly understand how to form the rhyme on each page and how to make up new verses.

Rhyming is one of the methods used to help dyslexic readers. Early child development research shows that rhyming reduces stress and strengthens memory for young readers.

Throughout the week, you will find many opportunities for “tippities” and I imagine you’ll have a lot of giggles together as you do.

Don’t forget to have your child bring in a favorite stuffed animal (or two) to share with the class next week! Eva has reminded me about this several times already!

We have a full line-up of camps for the summer. The Imagine That! camp is very fun. Our crafts, snack, story, and activities are centered around a carnival/circus theme. I’m keeping enrollment available to our current and former students only until April 27. At that time we will open it up to the general public.

Have a great week!!

SuzAnne 

Toys I Make, Trips I Take

What’s the train going to do next? It depends on where you are in our Train-Is-A-Comin’ activity.

This game—purchasing a ticket, leaving the station, going faster—gives your preschooler the notion that some things happen in order. It’s a concept called sequence of events. Like turning pages of his/her favorite book, your child can predict what happens next in the sequence. Simply knowing what happens next gives your preschooler a sense of confidence and control about his/her world.

At home this week, look for other sequences, such as what happens from the time your family gets up to when you go to school to how you end your day.

This week your assignment in class is to look around your home and find objects that make noises that are representative of the different aspects of our chant, Choo-Choo Train. I’ve written the chant below with the instruments we used in class. You don’t have to bring anything in with you unless your child finds some new noisemaker he/she would particularly like to share with the class.

This is a choo-choo train rolling down the track (egg shakers)

Now it’s going forward. Now it’s going back. (Glockenspiel)

Hear the bell a’ringing. (triangle)

Hear the whistle blow. (train whistle)

What a lot of noise it makes everywhere it goes. (all instruments)

A fun way of representing forward and back is to fill glasses with different levels of water. Put the glasses in the order according to water level. You can then use a spoon to play the ascending and descending sounds.

Below you will find a video that demonstrates one mans use of water bottles to create music.

See you on Monday!

SuzAnne

Here’s a fun word. Accelerando!

It means “getting faster” and in music indicates a change in tempo or speed. This change can take place gradually or in certain parts of the music. Noticing the difference in these tempos hones listening skills as well as music appreciation in your child.

The train is a good illustration of this concept. And throughout the week you and your preschooler can find many different sound samples or physical feelings of accelerando in daily life: the car going faster while pressing the accelerator or a ball rolling down a hill.

This week notice accelerando while listening to your home CD or the radio.

This week at home you will help your child create his/her very own map. See the Family Activity Book for more details. Please bring the map to class next week. I will be asking your child to share something special about their map with the rest of the class.

The last couple of times we have met we played with the value of music notes. We learned that a quarter note gets a clap, a half note gets a clap-squeeze, and a whole note gets a clap-squeeze-squeeze-squeeze. This week we used craft sticks to make a visual representation for the values of those notes. My goal in Imagine That! is to gently introduce certain musical elements to your child. Hopefully this will make any formal music education your child may receive in the future less daunting. It can also help with early reading and math skills.

Make sure you do some “flashlight conducting” at home this week. Try to make your conducting movements larger when the music is loud (forte) and smaller when the music is soft (piano). Mozart is great music to use for this exercise. Don’t stop there though. Try all different genres or music. You may want to get out the video camera!

I look forward to seeing you all next week!

As your preschooler’s language skills continue to improve, he/she begins to see great humor in the different ways words can be used. This is an important step in the growth of your child’s sense of humor, which is based on real life experiences and develops slowly over time. In the last year we’ve enjoyed watching our oldest daughter’s sense of humor develop its’ own personality! She’s not just laughing at what’s funny but making us laugh while adding her own spice to it.

As your child’s understanding of words evolves, he/she learns about using words in intelligent, creative, and funny ways. Songs like A Sailor Went to Sea helps them to see the creative use of words but in a way that’s in enjoyable to them.

This week think of ways you and your preschooler can play with words.

Don’t forget to bring in your homemade binoculars this week. I know the book says not to bring them in but I’m sure they would like to show off their hard work.

I really enjoyed the kids using the Karaoke machine in class. I wish I had videotaped it.

We will be learning the Easter signs in the next few weeks. Please help out by dropping me an e-mail of any Easter signs (religious or secular) you would like to know. If anyone would like Passover signs, please let me know those as well.

I will be adding some Family Fun ideas for Easter on the blog soon. And again if someone has some Passover fun they’d like to share, I’d be glad to post it.

See you Monday,

SuzAnne

Toys I Make, Trips I Take

This week, listening took on a whole new meaning.

This time with a new song, “Oh, Watch the Stars,” we used a concept called analytical listening. So many things are happening in this activity. Your preschooler has to understand and follow directions, make decisions while listening, and wait to share thoughts until the song is over. While listening to the new lyrics your child has to explain to him/herself what the song is about as well as form opinions about the song and the voice of the singer.

I am so impressed with the level of this challenge for your preschooler. It is a joy to see and hear each one of them discover these great abilities!

I really enjoyed the imaginary play during our boating songs. I love all the comments, ideas, stories, and expressions. The kids did a great job on their homemade boats!!! Don’t forget to try to find some books on boats to read this week at home.

I’m including a video on this blog of a little boy explaining and demonstrating the Lego fireboat he made. I thought the children would enjoy it.

See you next week!

Open a book and open a new world.

Our new book, If I Had a Big Blue Boat, not only helps us explore the sights and sounds of the sea, it helps our language and thinking skills. By reading together, your child will learn and understand new words. Research proves it.

In telling about things that happen in his/her own day, your preschooler uses new words and begins to develop the concept of beginning, middle, and end, which is good for expressing oneself more clearly. And the adventures in the story lend some ideas for creative, imaginative play at home. You might be surprised how far his/her imagination can take all of you.

Don’t forgot to make a boat this week. Make sure you write down their instructions first. Please bring both to class.

I can’t wait to hear about all your family’s boating adventures—it’s sure to be a wild ride!

Imagination and creativity can do almost anything.

That’s why we made our own instruments. For a preschooler, the ability to create instrument gives him/her a sense of accomplishment and pride. He/She uses their own unique ideas—creativity—and solves problems by themselves.

Playing instruments in front of others lets your child express that creativity in a safe, supportive environment. It is also a great opportunity to practice being a good friend and listener to others. In our wonderful band, you child experiences the joy of making music together—that’s powerful learning from something as simple as a homemade instrument.

Thank you for sharing your family’s imagination with me. I really appreciate the time and enthusiasm each family put into the project.

See you next week!

I forgot to remind everyone in the post below to bring in an instrument that your child has created out of objects at home. Please bring them to class to share with everyone. We don’t need the drums back this week but will need them again in the future.