Practice Preschool - Making Music Week 5

This is the final week of our music theme! Ask your child what he/she has learned to practice the skill of recalling information. Take pictures if you haven't already, or document in another fun way! 

Week 5

Day 1

• Sunbeam Lesson 5 (see Week 1 post) "Jesus Christ is the Son of Heavenly Father" (5 min)

Sing "Tell Me the Stories of Jesus" or "Away in a Manger" and briefly talk about Jesus as a child. Discuss how Jesus was obedient and followed his parents just like we listen to our parents.  

• Song Cubes (5 min)

Make two giant paper dice. One will have a different song on each face--be sure to use songs that are familiar to your child. The second will have actions on each face--clapping, tapping, dancing, stomping, etc. Find the beat in each song with the corresponding action. 

• Sing "Farm Sounds" (5 min)

 Farm Sounds

tune: The Wheels on the Bus

The cow in the barn goes moo, moo, moo.

Moo, moo, moo.

Moo, moo, moo.

The cow in the barn goes moo, moo, moo.

All ‘round the farm.

Continue with:

The pig in the pen goes oink, oink, oink.

The hens in the coop go cluck, cluck, cluck.

The rooster on the fence goes cock-a-doodle-doo.

The ducks on the pond go quack, quack, quack.

The lambs on the hill go baa, baa, baa.

The bunnies in the hutch go (silently wiggle your

nose).

• Snack (5 min) 

Today's tip: Ants on a log! Childhood favorite :D

• Free Play (20 min)

Review instruments again, if desired, or expound on an aspect of music we haven't talked about. Go to a music store. With more children, you could play "What instrument is missing?" by having one child face away from the group and determine which instrument is missing while the others play. Play a xylophone.

Day 2

• STEAM Lesson (Math) "Count Your Chickens" (5-10 min)

Play a board game together that involves counting of some sort. For Christmas, Rowan received a game called, "Count Your Chickens". The gist of the game is, you're trying to help the mama chicken return to her chicks through the use of a spinner. It's a cooperative game, which I had never heard of. All players are working toward the same goal. I also believe it's important for children to learn how to lose and that not everyone is a winner all of the time. Cooperative games can be nice for a change as well, though. Counting is incorporated when moving spaces, as well as counting chicks to return to the coop. Hi-ho Cherry-o is another good one!

• Old MacDonald Had a Band (5-10min)

This is it! The moment we've all been waiting for :D Sing the song, "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" but replace the word "Farm" with "Band". Go through each instrument you've made, or if you haven't made instruments, use invisible ones paired with your imagination for each verse ;) If you use pretend instruments, perhaps show a picture of each instrument beforehand. 

Bring in a guest, if desired, who plays an instrument. My husband plays the ukulele so he will come in for a verse.  Also, my father-in-law (who is a teacher) brought home a chime he had at school so we'll use that too! The more, the merrier!

• Snack (5 min)

Today's Tip: Dried fruit! My favorites are mangoes and banana chips :) 

• Free Play (20 min)

If you have any puzzles, free play would be a great time to do these together! Puzzles are sooo good for developing a math brain. If you don't have any puzzles, make some or consider investing in some wooden puzzles/buying cheaper ones at the dollar store. 

Practice Preschool - Making Music Week 4

If your child isn't as engaged in a particular lesson, try using a hand puppet as the teacher :) You could also use an object as a pointer. Switch it up, be creative!

Also, flexibility is so important! You know your child best, feel out your audience to determine if you need to switch the order of things or eliminate/add activities as well as expound/extrapolate. My lessons rarely go exactly as they are written down--this "preschool" is just as much a practice for me as well as for Rowan. I'm getting a feel for what three-year-olds can do (if I teach three-year-olds, I plan to have four/five-year-olds the year before Kindergarten). I'll either edit the posts now with what I like, or keep them and adapt them for my future group of students.  

Week 4

Day 1

• Sunbeam Lesson 4 (see Week 1 post) "I Can Pray to Heavenly Father  " (5 min)

Talk about prayer -- Share the story of Daniel in the Lion's Den. Sing, A Child's Prayer.  Add experiences and principles as desired. Expound on prayer, or buy the book: Sunday Savers, as talked about in Week 1 post. 

• Song Jar (5 min)

Write down your favorite songs on slips of paper. Draw a few out of the jar to sing today! Alternately, write down ways to sing a particular song (fast/slow, silly/serious, old man/woman, etc.)

• Make an instrument for culminating lesson -  "You are an instrument!" (5 min)

Talk about how there are many ways you can make music without any instrument at all! Singing, humming, whistling, clapping, tapping, stomping, etc. Sing: "Do as I'm Doing" to practice the many variations. 

• Snack (5 min) 

Today's tip: Make a fruit/veggie smoothie! Rowan is obsessed with these, especially when he gets to use a straw to drink them! :)

• Free Play (20 min)

If the weather is nice, go outside! Visit a new park, go for a walk/bike ride, or just explore the backyard. If desired, have the entire lesson outside. 

Day 2

• STEAM Lesson (Art) "Vertical Painting" (5 min)

Since most months don't have five weeks, one for each letter of "STEAM", I wouldn't normally have a lesson for the subject of the corresponding theme. Since we are focusing on music this month, a form of art, that would be the subject I would skip. Since there are five weeks, I am including this art lesson. 

Vertical Painting

*Materials:

-Plastic Sign Holder/Frame (or other vertical substitute), paper, colored water/paint, eye droppers/pipettes. 

*Instructions

1. Attach paper to frame using tape or a clothespin.

2. Fill eye dropper/pipette with colored water.

3. Drip onto paper and watch it trickle downward. 

• Brain Break (5 min)

Try out a new finger play! Visit the YouTube channel: Jbrary for ideas!

• Review instruments for culminating lesson - (5 min)

Bring out all the instruments you've made so far this month and review their names, as well as the sounds they make. Sing your favorite songs you've learned with them. 

My favorites were: 

1. Egg Shaker: 1-2, Shake it on Your Shoe and Shake Your Shaker

2. Drums: Can You Play the Drums? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppuQF_2LqAw 

3. Rhythm Sticks: Tap Your Sticks (to the tune of The Wheels on the Bus)

4. Tambourine: Shake Your Tambourine

5. Comb Kazoo: Ours worked pretty well, but not well enough to last for a song. I might buy a cheap kazoo at the dollar store...we'll see. Otherwise, we'll just disregard it.

6. Shoebox Banjo: I've Been Working on the Railroad (...someone's in the kitchen with Dina, strumming on the old banjo...)

7. Your Body! With "Do as I'm Doing". 

• Snack (5 min)

Today's Tip: My son LOVES to dip things! What does your child love? Dip ideas: Apples in peanut butter, carrots or other veggies in ranch, graham crackers in milk, etc. 

• Free Play (20 min)

Have a sensory experience--use water, sand, dried beans, colored rice, or anything you can think of, in a bin/bathtub. Add in scoops, cups, spoons, etc. for added variety. Rowan has been really into using his bulldozer recently--he's used it in the dirt in the backyard and scooping plastic beads--we also use these beads to string on a colored shoelace to strengthen his fine motor skills. 

Practice Preschool - Making Music Week 3

I've decided to go back to older posts, when I can, and embed photos of us at preschool. This will help with visuals, as well as serve as a keepsake for us. 

Rowan and I go on a daily walk/bike ride. It was so lovely this week to see the trees blossoming! The change in seasons lends itself to rich conversation and new vocabulary. Find additional ways to turn every day things into small teaching moments. 

Week 3

Day 1

• Sunbeam Lesson 3 (see Week 1 post) "Heavenly Father's Plan for Us" (5 min)

Sing, "Heavenly Father Loves Me", using simple pictures as visuals, if desired. Discuss how Heavenly Father has a plan of happiness for us. A simple explanation could be: Heavenly Father's plan was for us to come to Earth to get a body, like we talked about last week. We are here to learn and grow. With our bodies, we can learn to make right choices. Through Jesus' Atonement and our obedience, we can return to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus. 

Corresponding object activity is to compare our spirits and bodies to a glove. The empty glove represents our spirits and a hand inside the glove represents our bodies. Demonstrate how they work together. 

• Go on a sound walk! (5 min)

Name all the sounds you hear on your walk. Talk about how music is made up of sounds and we hear those sounds with our ears.   

• Make an instrument for culminating lesson - Comb Kazoo (5 min)

*Materials:

-Plastic comb, tissue paper

*Instructions

Cut a square of tissue paper to fit around the comb when folded in half. Hum into the paper and listen to the vibrations it makes. Practice with kazoo!

• Snack (5 min) 

Today's tip: Always offer fruits and veggies, regardless of how picky your child is or isn't. If you don't offer them, they won't eat them. However, if you offer them, there's a chance they will!

• Free Play (20 min)

Free play doesn't necessarily have to go with your theme (if you have one). Rowan has been very interested in doctors and stethoscopes recently so I will pull down my tub of dress up clothes. If you don't have dress up clothes, grab some of yours or your spouse's (if applicable), long scraps of fabric (capes, banners, magic carpets, tents, etc.), rope, bags/boxes, old glasses/sunglasses, jewelry, mirror, and anything else you can find around the house! 

  

Day 2

• STEAM Lesson (Engineering) "Cup Stacking Challenge" (5 min)

Briefly discuss how engineering means building. Children may relate to building forts or using blocks to build structures. 

Cup Stacking Challenge

Explain that you will be working together to build a cup tower. 

*Materials:

-String, one rubber band, plastic cups (ideally six)

*Instructions

To prepare for the activity, tie four pieces of string (10-12 inches) to your rubber band (see picture below). For the activity, have each person (2-4 people) grab one of the strings. Use the strings to manipulate the rubber band (open it wide) to grab a cup, one at a time, and make a pyramid. This activity is in several places on the internet, so research further if you need more direction. During activity, talk about how teamwork makes things easier. 

Sing: The More We Get Together and relate it to teamwork. 

• Brain Break (5 min)

If you find your child is having a hard time focusing, take a song break! I like the song, "Shake Your Sillies Out". It goes like this: "It's time to shake, shake, shake all your sillies out, shake, shake, shake all your sillies out. Shake, shake, shake all your sillies out, shake your sillies out." (It goes to the tune of, "I like to eat Apples and Bananas") Google other brain breaks; there are thousands!

• Make an instrument for culminating lesson -  Shoebox Banjo (5 min)

*Materials

-Shoebox, 4 rubberbands

*Instructions

-Place rubberbands around shoebox and strum!

Optional: Sing a few songs to get used to the banjo.

My favorite are: 

1. "I've Been Working on the Railroad" (...someone's in the kitchen with Dina, strumming on the old banjo...)

2. "She'll Be Coming Around the Mountain"

3. "Home on the Range"

• Snack (5 min)

Today's Tip: Popcorn is a healthy snack! Be sure your child is old enough to eat it safely.

• Free Play (20 min)

Play a matching game (or use socks if you don't have a game). Talk together about the concept of matching. Another simple way to make a matching game is to cut pictures in half and they become a two-piece puzzle :) Color and laminate for repeated use. 

Try some imaginary play to engage your child's imagination. Do common, every day tasks, but without tangible objects. "Make" food, "do" laundry, "go" to the park, etc.  

Practice Preschool - Making Music Week 2

How is preschool going? My intention was to post the lesson plans late last week--clearly that didn't happen! Oh well :D I do what I can when I can do it. At least it's a free resource!

Rowan and I talked about our Preschool Rules last Tuesday. The three that I chose are:

1. Stay in your spot (this will translate to staying in your seat in elementary school)

2. Be quiet (during explicit lesson, activities and free play are the exceptions)

3. Clean up (preferably after each activity)

I wrote the rules on a giant sketchpad ($5 at Walmart) so I can keep them on display. 

Tuesday went really, really smoothly! The honeymoon phase. When the novelty wore off on Thursday, Rowan got out of his spot a few times. We had to take a timeout and when we resumed, he was much better. He told his grandma later that day that he learned how to sit in his spot at preschool :D Children don't always learn from their mistakes (if only we could control them, but we all have the right to use our agency!) but sometimes the teaching moments turn out just right :)

Week 2

Day 1

• Sunbeam Lesson 2 (see Week 1 post) "Heavenly Father Has a Body" (5 min)

Sing, "I am a Child of God" and review the concept of living with God prior to coming to Earth. Talk about how we have a body just like Heavenly Father. Complete two-sided puzzle. With Heavenly Father and Jesus on one side, and children on the other side, children can see we are created in their image. 

• Pitter Pattern Book by Joyce Hesselberth (5 min)

Read picture book and talk about patterns. Draw simple patterns on large sketch book or white board. Ask child what would come next in the pattern. Talk about patterns in music: beats, chorus, repeating notes, etc. 

• Make an instrument for culminating lesson - Paper Plate Tambourine (5 min)

*Materials:

-Paper plates, bells, ribbon/string, hole punch, scissors, markers/stickers/etc. for decorating

*Instructions:

1. Decorate plates 

2. Hole punch 3-8 holes depending on size of plate (we're using small dessert plates leftover from Easter)

3. Thread two bells through each hole. 

4. Curl strips of ribbon or string and add to plate.

5. Test out your tambourine!

Full instructions at: https://redtri.com/easy-diy-tambourine/

Optional: Sing a few songs to get used to using the tambourine.  

My favorite were: 

1. Shake Your Tambourine (1. Verse: Shake, shake, shake, shake, shake your tambourine. 2. Verse: Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap your tambourine) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEuu-ZkKnPY Many of these YouTube videos I just watch for reference and then sing with my child without the video.

2. I change the lyrics to familiar songs all the time! The one I thought of for this is "Mary Had a Little Lamb". (Verse 1: I have my own tambourine, tambourine, tambourine, I have my own tambourine to make a little music. Verse 2: I can shake my tambourine, tambourine, tambourine, I can shake my tambourine, listen to it jingle.) Doesn't have to be fancy!

• Snack (5 min) 

Today's tip: Make your own trail mix! Throw in crackers, raisins, mini marshmallows, etc. Get creative!   

• Free Play (20 min)

Read books about music (from the library, around the house, or on YouTube when all else fails!), practice conducting music, play Dance & Freeze (play a song on a CD player/phone/computer and dance to the music! Freeze when the music stops. Or any other fun toys around the house! Ask your child open ended questions throughout. Add your own ideas, anything goes! 

Day 2

• STEAM Lesson (Technology) "Number Book" (5-10 min)

Briefly discuss how numbers tell us "how many" of something there are. 

*Materials:

-Toys, household objects, cheap photo album (Walmart or Dollar Store), digital camera or phone, photos

Cameras are technology because they are tools to help us remember things/events.

*Instructions:

1. Have your child take ten different pictures of objects beginning with 0 and ending with 10. i.e. one ball, six blocks, nine legos, etc. We adapted ours and did 0-5.

2. Print the pictures (either at home or at the store)

3. Put in order in photo album

4. Read often!

Sing: Any sort of number song (Five Little Monkey's, 1, 2, Buckle My Shoe, 1 little, 2 little, 3 little ___________ <--We sing this song for EVERYTHING! Cars, soccer balls, you name it! Just make up the last part: go on the road, score a goal, etc.)

• Learn a new song! (5 min)

There are so many fun finger plays and action songs to learn! Music is also a great way to re-gather/reset. A chant that I like to use is with your hands: Make fists in front of you and say, "Open them, shut them, open them shut them, give your hands a clap. Open them, shut them, open them, shut them, put them in your lap. 

The song we will learn this week is: "A Hunting We Will Go"

• Make an instrument for culminating lesson - Rhythm Sticks (5 min)

I already have a few sets of rhythm sticks, so we are taking a little break from making an instrument. If you don't have rhythm sticks, use substitutes! Wooden spoons, real sticks, use your imagination.

Optional: Sing a few songs to get used to the rhythm sticks. Discuss things to do with your sticks, and things not to do! (Tap them on the ground, for example, but not on your sibling!)

My favorite are: 

1. Tap Your Sticks (To the tune of Wheels on the Bus) "The rhythm sticks go tap, tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap. Tap, tap, tap. The rhythm sticks go tap, tap, tap, all through the song."

You can also use the rhythm sticks with the original song and use your sticks as the actions. 

2. Bingo Song. Tap your sticks for the missing letter. 

• Snack (5 min)

Today's Tip: Have you tried "That's It" bars? They only contain two ingredients! Apples and blueberries or Apples and Mangoes...not sure what other flavors there are but they are found at Costco in bulk, too! I'm a fan! They taste like a hearty fruit leather 😋

• Free Play (15-20 min)

I haven't gotten to many of these ideas so I'm keeping them here...Brainstorming a field trip. Sing songs together! Try singing "Down by the Bay" to practice rhyming. Play "Hot" or "Cold": Have your toddler stand outside the door for a quick second, hide an object. Bring your toddler back in and sing a song to help them find the object: sing loud when they are close, and quiet when they are far away. Sing a song different ways using emotions: grumpy, happy, sad, silly, etc.