Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Cities! Lesson 10

Hi folks, a blessed CHRISTmas to you all. It's now 11:30pm on the 25th of December. Writing out my lesson plan to you folks on Christmas day! :-) It has been a hectic and fun filled few days for the whole family. And the flurry of activities will continue till next week so I thought I better get this out before I run out of time.

Since attendance has been up and down these past two weeks, I have decided not to do too many new activities this week. Instead, I will repeat some of the old activities that the kids found challenging.

In the Three Artist Matching Game last week, the kids did great with associating the pictures of the artists to the movements they performed using props. This week we will make it more challenging and complicated by adding a drum cue. I quote from the teacher's guide:

This activity provides a rich opportunity for integrated learning. In this one activity children are asked to count, recognize counting visually and aurally ( what does 'three' looks like in dots? what does "three" sound like on the drum) and then make decisions based on what they see and hear, using their skill at classifying objects. ( which artist does "two" represent?) Additionally the children's creativity is enhanced when they explore a variety of movements related to the artists.

A new activity we will be doing this week is Roll that Ball. The kids will be made aware of phrasing ( the end of one line in a song) as we roll a ball to each other while seated in a group. After we master that, we will have each child trying out phrasing holding and moving their ball at the end of each phrase. I will demonstrate this concept during our Goodbye song to give you an idea of what I am talking about.

The other activities are using the songs Sorida, Apples and Bananas and Steeple Bells. We will be using different instruments and props to reinforce the different rhythms of these songs.

Parent sharing time: we will be doing a rather challenging activity using hoops. The kids will be learning about a family of instruments and at the same time, developing their listening skills as they learn to move when they hear a rhythm stick cue. This is an activity that requires much self control and a certain amount of focus so it will be interesting to see how the kids will perform this for the first time.

Hope to see you all in class this week. Take care.....






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