Imagine That - SWIS Lesson Plan 7

We are moving into the birds part of the curricula. This week we will be getting the children to do some anlytical listening - listening to different types of birds and identifying them visually. Analytical listening requires children to :

* Evaluate what is heard and comprehended
* Contemplate and reflect
* Weigh new information against what is already known
* Discuss, sharing thoughts, opinions and viewpoints.

We are also going to listen to Birdland and again we are going to do some listening exercise where the children will be asked to listen and give me feedback - is it soft or loud? high or low? silence or sound?

I would like to pick a quote from Weiss and Lilly-White, 1981 : Hearing and listening are quite different. Hearing is a process involving nerves and muscles that reach adult efficiency by age four to five. Listening is a learned behaviour, a mental process that is concerned with hearing, attending, discriminating, understanding and remembering. It can improved with practice. Listening affects social interactions, one's level of functioning, and perhaps one's overall success in life.

We are going to be 'scarf birds' and dance to Birdland. This activity allows the children to freedom to be expressive, freedom to add creative interpretation and imagination to the movement experience. The children will also be shown different birds and talk about how they move - swoop, soar, waddle etc.

The home made shaker instruments will be use for Obwisana. Making and exploring shaker instruments will provide opportunities for your child to learn and discover by finding new information, making comparisons, and conducting sound experiments.

During parent sharing time, we will be using movement cards to dance to Springland. These cards are designed not only to encourage creative movement but also to foster a nurturing, supportive environment for language development and emergent literacy.

Another activity will be a surprise....so I wont tell. You have to come to class to know!

Imagine That - SWIS Lesson Plan 6

Today's lesson is structured with the purpose of giving the children plenty of opportunities to contribute their ideas and to sing and compose. We will be singing and composing to the song Who has the button? which is a singing game. The children will each get a chance to pick an item from a container and sing the song back to me, replacing the words in the song with the item they chose. This is first baby steps towards composing and developing the confidence to sing in public.

With the items found in the park brought from home, we will be again doing the In My Pocket activity where the children are given the opportunity to hum and to contribute to the class. We will be talking and singing to the 'nature treasures' that they collected. Children at this age feels proud when they bring something to show their friends!

During story time ( Book: Can You Find Me?), we will do some simple dramatization. While reading the book, the children will be invited to act out the story by pretending to be the animals and the leaves. Through this type of integrated learning, the children are being exposed to several domains of development: language, movement, creativity and pretend play.

We didnt manage to do the Windy Weather activity last week ( ran out of time....!) so we will be doing it this week. As I said last week, this activity is an expansion of what we have been concentrating on a lot in this curricula, breath control.

The children will get to play the bells this week to the medley of Grasshoppers Three. It is good for me to get a chance to observe their steady beat skills and ability to follow instructions and to focus.

Parent sharing, we will be using the slide whistle after taking a few weeks break from it. This time we will use it to 'tell' the story of Josh and Katie. We will also be introducing a new circle dance (Oopsy Daisy) something we have yet to do this semester.

Homework ( again!!): Please bring a home made shaker instrument to class next week. Thanks mums and dads....I know you guys are busy people, but I hope you will have fun thinking and making the instrument with your darlings!