Week 1 Update - 9th November Lesson

Thank you all for coming to the first music lesson. It was a lot of fun and the children really enjoyed it. What I enjoyed most was the level of involvement by all the caregivers, it was wonderful to observe how children responded when you participated as well. It was also a great help to me so thank you and keep it up!

You might have been thinking that there was a lot to take in for the children in the first lesson. I usually like to explore songs over a number of lessons so next week we will revisit the Bugs and Beetles song with an emphasis on beat and rhythm. The most common two processes to teach a song are in parts as in the Caterpillar Song or through exposure as experienced with the Bugs and Beetles song. This is a very useful strategy as you as the listener are responsible for processing the lyrics, timing, beat and, pitch which requires a higher level of problem solving. Think about when you here a song on the radio, it is amazing how your brain organises this information to learn the most significant and important parts first such as the hook of the song, chorus and gradually picking up the rest.

I really liked how the children got into the theme of bugs so here are a number of suggestions of how to build on this at home.

Music

Break the first line of the Caterpillar song into syllables. Explore different ways to do this such as slow, fast, soft, loud, staccato (short and sweet) and legato (smooth and connected).
Cat-er-pill-ar munch-ing leaves

Numeracy

Make a caterpillar using cardboard strips that form into links. Number or dot these 1-5 or 1-10 depending on your child's understanding of number concepts. You could also explore patterns such as blue/red, pink/purple/yellow or even recognising the letters in your child's name. Decorate these with some googly eyes and pipe cleaners for antennas and feet. This site below has a detailed description of this activity:
Paper Chain Caterpillar

My son and I created this Caterpillar. The emphasis was on ordering the letters of his name with the first in red representing a capital letter.

Art

Using diluted food colouring, paper towels or coffee filter paper; fold paper towel in half, then again and dip each corner in a different food colour. When dry, scrunch or fold up center and decorate with pipe cleaners for antennas and glue sequins if you like. This site below has a detailed description of this activity with fantastic pictures:
Paper Towel Butterflies

These butterflies were made with red, blue, green and yellow food colouring.

Cooking

Use a variety of food to create beetle and bugs. I would love to hear what you come up with!

The internet has a abundance of ideas that can help you explore the concept of minibeasts further if your child is interested.

Thank you for reading and I look forward to seeing you all next week with my brand new set of drums (see below). Very exciting! And remember, we have only just had our first lesson, responding to my cues to listen, being more confident in singing (me as well), and turn taking is something that develops overtime. At this age, I try and set boundaries but leave the choice to follow these up to the child, as the main aim of the music program is to learn through play and engagement. Remember to check out the songs page.

My new set of hand drums!

Miss Susannah