Before the end of the term, these are some of the themes I have in mind:
Week 3 - Windows
Week 4 - Transport
Week 5 - TBA - maybe a magic theme
Week 6 - Christmas
This lesson, we explored the use of drumming which is an excellent activity to utilise both hemispheres of the brain as you are drawing on creativity and logic. I was really impressed with how the children managed to keep a steady beat. It is very easy to speed up and using techniques such as drum stick to shoulder each time can help keep the beat steady. The joy of working with younger children is that they still have that innate ability to tune into the beat of a song as they are used to the rhythmic heartbeat of their maternal mother from being in the womb. This can diminish as they get older so that is why I believe it is so vital to have early music exposure.
We explored the Soprano Glockenspiel which is a tuned percussion instrument for the song Old Macdonald had a Farm. The structure of this song is strophic which means that the melody of the song is the same but the words slightly change. For example, the animal name and sound changing but the EIEIO being repetitive. You may of noticed I gradually reduced the singing EIEIO to just the notes as I was trying to get the children to recognise the pitch of each note.
Here are some suggestions to build on from this week:
Music
The song mat that I have given includes a concrete to abstract way to introduce musical notation to children. It enables your child to approach this song at their level. For example, reading the letters - EIEIO, reading short and long dashes (emphasis - duration), reading notes, reading notes as levels of pitch on a score.
Sing the song with your child and point to each letter, clap it out with an emphasis on short claps and long claps.
Incorporate different types of body percussion on EIEIO. For example:
- EI - 2 claps
- EI - 2 belly slaps
- O - 1 patschen (thigh slap)
- With body percussion, notes are indicative by actions from top to bottom, such as a click of the fingers representing a higher pitch to that of a foot stamp.
If you have any instruments - play these on the EIEIEO. For example a maraca, castanet or piano. Or combine both such as a castanet for short notes and tambourine for long. There are many informal instruments around the house that you could use such as a table, keys, rice in a bottle which will produce a similar sound to untuned percussion instruments. For a tuned effect, try using different amounts of water in glasses. Colour water with food colouring to represent lower and higher pitches.
Art and Craft - Cottonball Sheep
Draw a sheep on a piece of cardboard or paper.
Glue cottonballs and decorate as desired.
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| My son created this sheep and used felt for ears, googly eyes, button for nose and popsticks for legs. He finished his art with a background of grass, the sun and the sky. Pencils or pastels look fantastic on a black background! |
Play a memory game with different farm animals. You don't necessarily have to have the figurines, draw some on paper. Take one or two away at a time. Explore this further by taking away animals with particular features, four legs, short tails, no tails, small, large, and so on. You could even turn this into a bingo game!
Make animals out of playdough or plasticine. This is a great activity to develop fine motor skills as well as exploring 3D art.
I hope you try out some of these activities and I look forward to seeing you all next week.
Remember to check the updated song page!
Miss Susannah
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