Music and Dance

This school year the children have shown a strong interest in dance and music.  They love learning new songs at group time, as well as new styles of dance.  They are curious about how to produce sounds using instruments and other materials.  The children are becoming more confident with their gross motor skills, so they are trying out new ways to move their bodies.  All of these explorations relating to music and dance have been very exciting for the children!

Introducing Instruments

We have a variety of instruments in our classroom and at the center.  While we have small instruments in the class that the children use daily, we have been bringing in larger instruments for the children to explore.  We have introduced the children to various types of drums, an autoharp, a small guitar, and a keyboard.  All of these instruments have been a hit!  The children really enjoy using the drums, so we have been exploring music from different cultures which incorporate drums. We have also been creating drums using recycled materials.  Many of our instrument experiences are introductory at this point, until we learn more about what types of instruments the children the most.  We hope to create some new type of instruments with the children in the next month.

Dance and Music

Aside from making music and sounds, we have also been exploring different dance concepts.  We have explored different types of dance including ballet and tap.  The children have really enjoyed watching videos of ballet dancers twirling and spinning.  They've been imitating these moves!  We have also introduced tap shoes and ballet shoes, so the children could see what it is like to move with them on their feet.  For our ballet sessions, we have introduced a ballet barre to help with balance and to encourage children to move like dancers.  They love it!  We have been talking about some of the different positions used in ballet.  The children have also shown an interest in animals and movement, so we have been trying different ways of moving like animals.  These dance and movement exercises help the children develop more bodily awareness, as well as encourage the development of gross motor skills.  Children are learning to identify different types of dance moves and building their vocabulary as well.  We are also helping children learn to identify body parts and learning how to move them independently of the rest of their body (isolations).  These are really great exercises for the children to do as their bodies become more coordinated.

We are really enjoying all of these music and dance explorations.  As we continue on this month, we hope to explore more about where sound comes from, and how to produce it.  We have been working on building a tonscope so the children could "see" sound and look at patterns of sound waves.  We're also working on introducing more dance moves and exploring dances from different cultures.  

Fall Explorations

 We have spent a great deal of time exploring the changing of the seasons.  Summer seemed to fly by, but it seems that is often the case here in Michigan.  The children are beginning to notice the cooler temperatures, and we have been observing the vibrant colors out on our playground.  We've also been finding ways to bring Fall into the classroom.  Check out some of the explorations that have been taking place in the classroom!

Art with Fall Materials

We started first by using leaves for painting.  Many of our leaves were still a vibrant green and had not yet changes colors, although a few of the were beginning to change.  We used these leaves as our painting tools, looking at the different prints each one made.  

       

From there, we used our leaves (as well as other materials) to create collages.  Some of our kids have really been into collaging and using glue (since we used collaging for our identity board pieces).  They love all things sticky!  We collected items from our garden, and used them in our collages in the classroom.  The children loved feeling the different textures, and hearing the sounds the items made.

Pumpkin and Gourd Explorations

We like to bring in other types of materials as well.  The past few weeks, we have brought in pumpkins and gourds.  We usually explore the items first, looking at the textures and colors.  Later, we open up the pumpkins to explore the fun stuff inside!  This is an exciting sensory experience for many children.  However, some are not too sure about it, and are very hesitant to touch the innards of the pumpkin.  We use the seeds for counting explorations as well.  We'll be using the pumpkins in other ways as well for the remainder of the season. 

Future Explorations and Connecting to the Early Childhood Standards

We still have some time to explore the changes occurring during the Fall season.  The leaves are just beginning to change and drop.  We're hoping we still have a few warm, dry days to explore in the piles of leaves on our playground.  We've also been incorporating some light explorations, as the amount of light during our school day is changing.  When we first started school, our mornings were bring and sunny.  Now the sun comes up a little later, so our mornings are darker.  The children have noticed and we often talk about the sun in our conversations.  We're excited to explore these changes, and bring in new Fall materials to explore!

These explorations relate to our Early Childhood Standards of Quality (https://www.michigan.gov/documents/mde/ECSQ_IT_approved_422341_7.pdf).  Many of these standards involve exploring the world in which the children live in.  We recognize the children need to use all of their senses to explore the world, so we find ways to incorporate sight and touch, as well as sound, taste, and smell.  We'll be mixing up a batch of cinnamon playdough, a smell often associated with smell.  The children also wanted to taste the pumpkin, so we're looking for ways to sample some pumpkin as well!

Here are some examples of the standards met through our explorations:

STRAND C: EXPLORATION: Infants and toddlers learn through active exploration of the environment.

Goal 1: Infants and toddlers experience environments where the importance of spontaneous play is recognized and play is valued as meaningful learning.

Goal 3: Infants and toddlers experience environments where they learn strategies for active exploration, thinking, and reasoning.

Goal 4: Infants and toddlers experience environments where they develop a growing sense of social relationships, the natural environment, and the physical world.

STRAND D: COMMUNICATION: Infants and toddlers use a variety of means to communicate their needs and thoughts, and to understand and respond to other people and ideas.

Goal 2: Infants and toddlers experience environments where they have opportunities to communicate through the use of symbols/pictures, signs, and stories.

Goal 3: Infants and toddlers experience environments where they discover and develop different ways to be creative and expressive about their feelings and thoughts.

STRAND E: CONTRIBUTION: Infants and toddlers have opportunities for learning that are equitable, promote social competency, and value each child’s and family’s contribution.

Goal 3: Infants and toddlers experience environments where they are encouraged to interact and learn with and alongside others.

New Year, New Interests

Well it has been a while since we have shared what is going on in our classroom.  Our last school year ended much differently, as we were doing virtual learning until the end of June.  We just started a brand new school year in September, and we have a new group of children in the classroom.  As we are getting to know the children, new interests are beginning to emerge.  

We have found that this group of children really seem to enjoy music and dancing!   Any time the children hear music playing, they want to dance and move their bodies.  This is so excited to see, as many of our children are very young and becoming more confident in moving their bodies in new ways!  Building off of the interest in music, we have also started exploring different types of instruments and sounds.  The children all enjoy working with the drums.  We have been using different ways to explore vibrations, the children noticed the movement of the drum when they tapped on it.  Next week we'll be introducing tuning forks to continue to explore this concept.  For now, we are in the beginning stages of our sound and music explorations, but we look forward to introducing other new materials!

 

 

We have also noticed an interest in the way things move.  Not only are we looking at how our bodies move, but we are also looking at how objects move through space.  The children have been using ramps daily in their explorations.  We have introduced cars and balls on the ramps.  Our intern has been exploring with the children as well.  Some of her lessons have included cars of the ramp, and also using the items to knock over blocks.  We're exploring some of those laws of physics in the most basic ways!

We're also exploring with new types of sensory materials and textures.  The children have enjoyed the water and sand play so far.  We have been looking for new materials to introduce.  We have tried playdough, water beads, and oobleck.  Each material has a different texture for the children to explore with their hands.  We are looking to find ways to use materials which use the other senses as well.

So far we're off to a great start this school year!  We are looking forward to finding out more about the children's interest.  Keep checking for updates about our project work in the classroom.

Regie Rainbow

Each year we participate in the Regie Rainbow program.  This is a favorite of mine, as I love food and cooking!  The children really enjoy it as well.  The purpose of the program, which is sponsored by the National Kidney Foundation, is to promote healthy eating and lifestyles.  Each week, Regie explores a new island and tries new foods.  He starts at the Island of Red, and moves through the different colors of the rainbow.  We share a new book with Regie's adventures, and then the children have the opportunity to sample a new fruit an vegetable.  We also plan lessons which involve sampling a new food, or cooking.  Next week will be our last week of sampling new foods, but we plan to continue to explore different cooking explorations with the children for the remainder of the school year.

Here is a list of the foods we have sampled

Red : Blood Oranges and Tomatoes
Orange: Mangoes and Sweet Potatoes
Yellow: Star Fruit and Yellow Peppers
Green: Green Apples and Broccoli
Blue/White/Brown: Dates and Cauliflower
Purple: Plums and Purple Carrots

The children, for the most part, were willing to try the new foods.  We have a few adventurous eaters that have enjoyed most of the foods.  Majority of the children would try a bite or two, but did not eat all of the samples.  While the samples might not have been interesting, the children were excited to use different utensils for cooking and cutting.  We use rounded, blunt edged knives with the children, so they are safe for small hands to work with.  The children are starting to master the motions needed to cut different foods.  When we would bring out the tools for cooking, the children would flock to the table to join the exploration.  Through these explorations we have teaching the children self help skills, as well as independence.  We are trying to foster an interest in new foods, and encourage the children to try new things.  In the Spring, we hope to continue this interest in healthy eating by adding some fruit and vegetable plants to our school garden.  We are excited for all of our future cooking adventures!

Tasting the orange peppers!

Mmmm tasty!

Not too sure about the green beans, but trying them out anyways

Green beans can be tricky to cut

We LOVED the pineapple.  Each child had their own way of cutting the fruit

The cantaloupe was a hit!

Cutting up the red potatoes

Everyone is so focused on their work!

Languages

 At this age, communication and language acquisition is a topic we talk about often.  Toddler are beginning to develop their language, and they are learning new words each day (or so it seems)!  Since they are already learning one language, why not add in a few more?  This is the time in their lives when language acquisition comes so easily, so it is also a great time to learn more than one language.

Within our school, we have a large number of Arabic speaking families.  Many children come to us understanding more Arabic than English.  While Ms. Whittaker and I speak little Arabic, we have been learning new phrases each week.  This is one of the perks of having Arabic speaking staff who can teach us and the children as well.  While Ms. Whittaker is not fluent in Arabic, she is fluent in French.  She has been teaching the children some words and phrases.  We also use sign language with our children.  It has been interesting to see the children pick up different words in the languages they have been exposed to in the classroom. 

We have found the children are very receptive to the different languages.  Some of our children who do not speak Arabic have been using Arabic phrases.  For example, mai is the word the children and families use for water.  Many of our English speaking children have started using mai, as well as water, when requesting their drinks.  It is interesting to see them start to pick up these different phrases.  For the children who do not yet have words, they will sometimes use sign language.  I became interesting in sign language a few years back, when some of children wanted to learn some basic words.  Most of my signing knowledge is food related, as toddlers really love food.  We use the signs, as well as the English, Arabic, and French words to identify the food we serve at snack.

Not only are children learning a new language, they are also learning about new cultures.  Having the knowledge of other languages can help children be more accepting of different cultures.  We live in a very culturally diverse area, so it is important to help children learn to be receptive to all types of people.  Each culture has many contributions which we still use today, so it is important for children to be understanding and respectful of the different cultures we see.  We are helping to support the social emotional development of the children, by helping them show respect for all people in our community.  The children appreciate hearing their native language, and show excitement when we use words and phrases they are familiar with.  We hope the children will continue to explore the languages as they grow!

Down on the Farm!

The children have been very interested in animals, specifically the farm animals.  These seem to be the animals the children recognize the most.  To build on this interest we have been introducing different materials and provocations to help the children learn about life on the farm.  We started first with pictures of farms and eventually moved on to videos.  We brought out fake grass to use for the fields, as well as barns, tractors, farm animals, and hay.  The children like to imitate the sounds the animals make, and seem to be very drawn to the way the animals move.  The two animals which stood out the most were the cows and the horses.

Building on this interest of horses, we brought in a pretend horse stable for the children to explore.  We have been looking at pictures of the insides of barns, to see what the animals need to live comfortably.  Our ultimate goal is to begin building a barn of our own, so the children can use this prop during their play.  We have been introducing different vocabulary words which can help the children describe the barn.  We are also investigating with different materials to use to build the barn. 

The children have just started exploring with the horses this week.  They were surprised by all of the different colored horses, and were really focused when examining the new animals.  The children began identifying the horses by color, and are able to identify their favorite ones to play with.  We will continue our exploration with horses, and work on different ways to represent them (we'll start first with drawing, and then move on to our favorite paint).  We are eager to see where these explorations take us, and hopefully in the spring we can plan a trip to an actual farm! 

Fall Explorations

With the change in season, and the tree on our playground, we have been exploring different fall materials.  We first started out by bringing in small gourds, and later on a pumpkin.  When we opened the pumpkin, the children were reluctant to touch the insides at first.  They noticed there were seeds inside the pumpkin, and they wondered if there were seeds inside of the gourds too.  We cut open a few of the gourds and found there were seeds inside as well.  The children were able to compare the different types of seeds.  We used both the pumpkin and gourds in art projects as well.  The children noticed the different textures of the gourds, so we made prints in the play dough.  We also attempted to create the gourds using the play dough as well.  We mixed colors to paint pictures of the gourds, and we drew on the surface of the pumpkin.

Aside from the gourds and pumpkins, we noticed the changing leaves.  We brought in some leaves of various colors to look at on the light table.  Up close, the children could really examine the veins and textures of the leaves.  After going on a leaf hunt on the playground, the children were able to compare the different types they found.  We noticed our playground has a lot of maple trees.  We also noticed there were many yellow leaves, but not as many red and brown.  As usual, the leaves found their way into our art projects as well (these kids can never do enough painting)!  We used the leaves to make prints on the paper, we also painted on the leaves as well. 

The changes in the appear of our playground, as well as the changes in weather have been topics of conversation lately.  We have read some informational books about fall, as well as some fun ones too!  The children really loved the books "Fall Leaves Fall" and "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves".  We have read these often in the past month.  Fall is such an exciting time of year, as the children are able to easily observe the changes around them.  While the cold is coming, we have been enjoying our time outside, admiring the beautiful colors of this season.