Search results matching tags 'preschool' and 'kindergarten'

DRUMS: Rat-a-tap-tap Rhythms with Reasons!

Anonymous — Thu, 16 May 2013 09:00:00 GMT

Miss Carole of Macaroni Soup beating the bongo here! Let's talk about drumming with Pre-K and K children! You don't have to be a music teacher to engage your students in drumming exercises that will benefit their brains and bodies. Today's blog will get you started.

Active Music stimulates every area of the developing brain. Early literacy skills such as rhythm, steady beat, pattern and sequence are a natural part of drumming – and the children just think it’s fun – and “cool!”

EQUIPMENT: You don't need to purchase drums to start. Container drums are great - the children on the right are using empty baby-wipes containers that I have sealed shut with packing tape. Empty oatmeal containers, 2.5 lb plastic nut/rice

jars (mine came from Costco), coffee cans, Tupperware, pots & pans - there are lots of inexpensive (recycle-able) options. Experiment with the different sounds made by different materials. The boys in the picture (left) made drums from craft containers - great for storing other smaller instruments such as kazoos, a scarf, egg shaker, inside!

SPACE: I start with hand drums - leave mallets or drumsticks for later. I ask the children to sit in a "Safety Zone" - not too close so that they don't accidentally whack-a-friend while drumming! Drums on the floor - they are not safe or secure on their legs. They can sit criss-cross, legs folded with the drum in front of them OR in a V-seat with the drum between their legs. Sitting on knees is ok - but I prefer "drums on the floor, bottoms on the floor!"

TIME: Keep drumming time short (5-6 minutes to start) and fun. Accuracy with beat-work will come, but it takes practice and ear-training. Encourage children to listen and do with enthusiasm!

BEAT IT! Start with easy beats – two hands on the drum, then alternating hands as children become more adept. Here are some great starters (you can hear this sequence on my Stinky Cake cd):

This is the Way We Play Our Drums (tune: Here We Go ‘Round the Mulberry Bush)

This is the way we play our drums

Play our drums, play our drums

This is the way we play our drums

So early in the morning!

(speak/sing – these are music dynamics – an opposites, too!)

I can play my drum very softly! (they play)

I can play my drum very loudly! “

I can play my drum very slowly! “

I can play my drum very fast! “

Tap-A-Drum!

Children should use their pointer fingers as “drumsticks” to gently tap the first verse. Open hand and let’em wail for the second verse!

Tap a drum, tap a drum, tap tap tap

Tap a drum, tap a drum – SHHHH!

v.2 Bang a drum!

NOTE: if you put ½ cup of something (popcorn, rice, etc) in the drum before sealing it, you can do v.3 – Shake-A-Drum! It's a favorite. We do some additional "listening" to determine who has rice (soft sound) and who has beans (louder sound).

Now let’s add a familiar song:

This Old Man

This old man, he played one hold up one finger

He played knick-knack on my drum tap drum

With a knick-knack, paddy-whack beat drum with alternating hands

Give a dog a bone in time with the song

This old man came rolling home! Roll hands in front of you

v.2 he played knick-nack on my shoe – tap shoe

v.3 he played knick-nack on my knee – tap knee

v.4 he played knick-nack on the floor - tap floor

Echo Drumming – you play a pattern, then the children echo it! We start "hands on knees" (picture right) so that they listen first, then repeat what they heard.

I would not add this activity until after a few drumming sessions. With children 2 – 6 years old, I start by using the syllable “ba” for each beat. It emphasizes the sound, and they can copy it with greater accuracy.

BA BA BA! (they play the even, steady beat back to you – BA BA BA!)

BA BA BA BA BA! (they echo)

BA BA BA BA BAH BA (they echo)

BA (rest) BA BAH BA! (they echo)

Now let’s get up and put the beats in our feet. This is a Kodaly-based pattern. I use a mini-timpani drum – but anything that you can beat out a good, loud beat with will work! Be sure the children are all travelling in the same direction. This is a spoken piece. When you're done, let each child have a chance to play the larger drum, encouraging them to play both loud and quiet.

When the Drum Says…

Walk walk walk when the drum says walk

When the drum says stop, you stop! (pause)

Jump jump jump when the drum says jump

When the drum says stop, you stop! (pause)

Run run run when the drum says run

When the drum says stop, you stop! (pause)

Tiptoe, tiptoe tiptoe when the drum says tiptoe

When the drum says stop, you stop! (pause)

The Beats: The “walk” beat is a medium tempo and steady. My “jump” beat is 2 quick beats with a slight pause – as in a gallop tempo. “Run” – fast, but not too loud! “Tiptoe” beat is quiet and quick.

NOTE: As the children get more familiar with the different beat patterns, you can stop saying the lyric and just beat the rhythms. They should be able to identify what rhythm goes with what movement.

There are many wonderful types of drums: wave drums, bongos, djembe, etc. But even mastering the activities above is a great way to introduce your children to the joys of rhythmic drumming! Children of all abilities love to drum – what are you waiting for???

Yours for a Be-bop-a-loo and a Wham-bam-boo!

“Miss Carole” Stephens

Macaroni Soup! Active Music for Kids!

Sounds of The Birds and the Bees!

Anonymous — Wed, 01 May 2013 10:00:00 GMT

THE MONTH OF MAY! WELCOME!!!

It's time to turn another page on your calendar. Debbie Clement of RainbowsWithinReach here. Queen of this collaborative effort. Happy monarch of sharing: rainbows, polka dots and learning new things. I'm so excited about today's article. It's FILLED with sights and sounds and inspiration and joy and color and ideas and giggles and fun and snippets and projects and spring!

I've learned about SoundCloud in the last 24 hours. For the first time in my seventeen career as the 'music lady' and five years as a blogger, I can now share a little taste test of my ditties. I have also learned how to link a photo to another article! This is a LOT! I'm learning! I'm growing!
Oh happy spring-time!!!

This is the official beginning of the genuine, no-kidding race down the homestretch. The finish line is in sight for traditional classroom teachers. Have you begun your countdown? How many more Mondays do you have on your calendar?

Let's get started with some of those May flowers that we've anticipated from all of the April showers!

The clever spring bulletin board photos above are from Amber Osterman's "Kindergarten Rocks" hallway. I was able to make a serendipitous visit to her elementary in Osseo, WI on Monday. We met over the weekend at the 35th Annual ECE conference at UW-Stout. The blooms below were created in their art room.

Last week I was in Dixon, IL with our very own Carie Ramirez and photographed these next beauties! They are part of my Art History 101 article published over the weekend. The concentric circles are reminiscent of the work of Kandinsky.

BIRDIES. BABY BIRDIES. LITTLE BABY BIRDIES.

Spring is the season of new life. What greater delight is there than watching a nest being built, eggs being laid, and baby birdies emerging. Look at this project. Primary colors! Media in three dimensions. Bingo!

Now. Look what I have learned!

Embed a sound-clip of my own "Little Birdie" sing-a-long.

Listen along to a snippet.

You'll hear just how simple it is.

I use it with finger puppets.

"Busy, Buzzy Bumblebees"

YES! I also have a very simple little dittie all about bumblebees. It's called "Busy Bumblebee." You can take this one on a test drive, too. There are a total of four verses with a whole lot of alliteration!

"LADYBUG, LADYBUG"

Since the theme this month is 'Songs-of-Flight' take a look at all of these little red ladybug projects! Do you think that that ladybugs bring luck? They always make me smile. There are all sorts of possibilities when it comes to ladybugs!

Preschool Ladybugs on the Bulletin Board for Spring

Now for the final snippet of the month, my "Ladybug" dittie.

You'll notice the simplicity of my songs.

These three all have predictability in the lyrics.

Plenty of repetition.

Oodles of rhyme.

Perfect for Prek+K!

BIG NEWS!! All three of my little winged 'songs-in-flight' have now been converted into Mp3s and then placed into a happy bundle of togetherness and inserted into a zipped file.

The zipped file has then been uploaded under our very own cyber shopping, umbrella-of-excellence, at the EARLY EDUCATION EMPORIUM. Look for this image for your purchase and instant download. There is a simple lyric sheet included. Whooohoooo! Progress!

***Now let me see how else I can be a resource for you during this merry month of May! This is the part of the article where I practice embedding a photograph that links directly to another article from 'my' blog. So if you see something that looks interesting, just click on the picture and enjoy! Amy Ahola taught me just yesterday!

-- Debbie --

I'm now at 119,542 followers!

Click this link to go there directly!

As 'queen' of "PreK+K Sharing" Debbie Clement writes the first article here every month. She writes from her perspective of inter- disciplinary interest: quilting together ALL of the arts of music, movement, story-telling and the visual Arts as well.

Debbie has written and recorded over 100 original songs for children onto 6 CDs that she has under her RainbowsWithinReach banner. An additional 3 CDs have been designed for Zaner-Bloser and Redleaf Publishing.

She travels the country sharing her original zest. The photo at left was taken a couple of weeks ago in Dixon, IL. The quilt was created under the direction of Carie-the-kindergarten teacher (who contributes articles here on the 17th of the month) in response to Debbie's first picture book "You're Wonderful." Click on the photo to see another 14 quilts created in her building!!

Debbie is a Pinterest Princess and invites you to join 119,500+ followers of her curated boards. She has also been deemed at 'expert' in the Early Childhood channel at Sulia. Never been there? Give it a try!

Connecting the "DOTS" School + Home Connection by Dr. Danny

Anonymous — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 12:30:00 GMT

Connecting the “DOTS”

Hello from the International Reading Association’s annual conference in San Antonio, Texas. As luck would have it, I am presenting a seminar entitled “The Power of Parents: Building School and Home Connections,” based on a series of kits I have developed. The kits train parents, teachers and administrators how to work together to best meet the needs of each particular child.

As a parent you need to know that your child is important to her teacher. Your child is vital to the success of her teacher’s classroom and the school. Good teachers and administrators recognize how important you are to the development of your child, and they are excited to work with you to help your child. Contrary to what a lot of policymakers and folks in the media will try to have you believe, most public schools are doing a good job. As a matter of fact, their success is severely understated and under-reported, while the extraordinary successes of a few well-funded private and charter schools is heralded (there is plenty of data to show that a public school receiving the same funding as these success stories would achieve the same, or better, results). We can talk about that in a future column.

Let’s talk about you. You are your child’s single greatest teacher, and we educators need you to work with us. Together, we can move mountains.

I understand what you are going through, as I am a proud (and sometimes frustrated) parent of three. I know a lot about education, and even I can find the school system overwhelming. So what can we do together to do what is in the best interest of your child?

We simply need to connect the “DOTS.”

Do Play. The “D” in “DOTS” stands for “Do,” as in “Do Play.” It sounds like common sense, but – as my friend Davy Tyburski likes to say, “common sense is not common practice” nowadays. The role of play is critical in your child’s development. It sounds so easy, and that is why many folks scoff at its importance. Well, standing, walking, talking and eating are all fairly “easy,” yet critical, processes. The benefits of playing with your child are as widespread as a healthy diet, so make sure to “feed” your child’s emotional and psychological development by playing board games, going on outings and spending plenty of silly moments together.

Observe and Model. The “O” in “DOTS” stands for “Observe,” as in “Observe and Model.” Being the father of three children who have all grown up under the same roof, I am constantly amazed by how different my son and two daughters are from one another. All are gifts from God who have their own distinct gifts, and my job – as their father – is to determine their strengths and weaknesses and accommodate them. While my oldest daughter is naturally very motivated, my son can take some prying to do certain things. Meanwhile, my son is one of the kindest souls I have ever seen, while my daughters often fail to empathize with those around them. As parents, we need to observe our children and model for them expected behaviors. As an educator I can confess that before I meet most students’ parents on “Back-to-School” night, I can easily match them with their children, as they behave similarly. Kids who are late to school usually have tardy parents, quiet children often have quiet parents, etc.

Talk About Books. The “T” in “DOTS” stands for “Talk,” as in “Talk About Books” with your child. What can I say? Reading is my passion, and I have gratefully passed along that passion to my children (despite school’s attempts to take it away by requiring meaningless exercises, like book reports). If you want your child to succeed in school and in life, your child needs to be a passionate, efficient reader. Make life easier on your child by giving her the joy of reading. I can guarantee that children who like to read usually turn out to be better readers than their peers who detest it. Why? They choose to do it on their own outside of school, and every extra minute your child spends reading enhances her “reading muscles” the way exercise helps your overall physical fitness.

Support/Reward. The “S” in “DOTS” stands for “Support,” as in “Support/Reward” your child’s reading. By support I mean that you need to follow the interests of your child: if she wants to read nothing but fashion magazines, let her read fashion magazines. If she is fascinated with lemurs, help her get her hands on as many texts about lemurs as you can find (I speak from experience on this one). And when I suggest you should reward your child for reading, I do not mean you should give her pizza and candy for getting through Little House on the Prairie. That just creates a new generation of obese children who think of reading as a chore. Rather, reward your child with frequent trips to libraries and bookstores. Heck, discount stores like Dollar Tree and 99 Cent Store have all kinds of inexpensive books, writing supplies and other items that send the message to your child that reading is a reward in and of itself.

Parenting is not easy. Nobody hands you a manual at the hospital.

You need to understand, though, that you are doing a good job. If you read this column, I know you are a good parent because you are a concerned parent (my theory states that concerned parents = good parents). You want what is best for your child, and by working with your child’s teacher and your school’s administrators, I am confident that together we can move mountains with your child. More importantly, we will make learning fun and meaningful for your child so that she becomes a lifelong learner.

Danny Brassell, Ph.D., is “America’s Leading Reading Ambassador,” helping parents and educators inspire kids to love reading and achieve more. He is the author of 14 books, and he acted as the lead consultant for the Building School-Home Relationships kits (Shell, 2012) that have been enthusiastically adapted in school districts across the country. A father of three and professor in the Teacher Education Department at California State University-Dominguez Hills, he is the founder of The Lazy Readers’ Book Club, www.lazyreaders.com, Google’s #1-ranked site for cool, “short book recommendations” for all ages. Watch video tips and learn more from Danny at www.dannybrassell.com, where you can check out his TEDx-Village Gate talk The Reading Makeover and download other free resources.

Preschool Experience

aryanbhatt — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 10:13:03 GMT

Hi , I wanna share my experience . Recently I have sent my child to Chennai'S Top Preschool Little Millennium and I have found that it's very interesting school. The school focuses on the overall - development of the child. My kid remains very happy in the school.

April: Month of the Military Child

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 10:00:00 GMT

MONTH OF THE MILITARY CHILD

April is the month of the military child. There are several hundred thousand children today in US or overseas public schools whose parents are in the military. A high degree of mobility is demanded of these children and of their parents.

Relocation is a reality that a significant number of these dependents are separated from at least one parent due to overseas deployment. Kids of Active Duty parents, move around the world, acclimating themselves to new cultures, new friends, new homes and new surroundings.

As overseas educators, we are of the belief that those who serve our country should not sacrifice the success of their children. They are strong. They are resilient. They are adaptable. They have inspired us to give it our all as we walk into the classroom each day.

I hope these activities will create awareness of the service and sacrifices of our military's children. They have been specifically designed in support of these children in a unique role.

This is an opportunity to thank children for their support to our nation's fighters, and recognize the important role they play in the strength of our nation by contributing to the strength of the military family.

TheBeezyTeacher writing to you from Germany

~~Department of Defense Dependent Schools Overseas

The photos in this article are examples from my classroom and are taken from my digital download product entitled, "Salute the Military Kids." This digital product is now available for you in our Early Education Emporium. Please shop in your jammies and instantly purchase this product to help celebrate the Month of the Military Child.

Spring is Here! Spring Art Projects!!

Anonymous — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 11:57:00 GMT

WELCOME TO APRIL!!!

"April showers bring.............."
How do you finish that sentence?
Here's one possibility.

"April Showers bring...... mud!"

Spring-time Umbrellas with Painted Dots

Spring Rain Writing in Kindergarten

BRING ON THE SUNSHINE!
This idea always brings a smile. You can't go wrong with footprints and a paper plate!

Let's break out some blossom-inspiration in plenty of time to fill those spring bulletin boards. Let's get started with these painted handprint beauties. Handprints are another all-time easy-peasy project for the bulletin board.

Looking for a fine-motor scissor skill strengthening idea? How's this for your classroom? Snip those edges on a circle. Totally developmentally appropriate. LUV the details of the seeds, don't you?

I LUV LUV LUV this 'open-ended' process-work for spring. Look at all of the variations in this one class. Lots of different color choices for petals and then let the children create their own masterpieces!

I'm also a very big fan of the collaborative Art process. This one was a major big installation up in the hallways of a MI school that I visited. Making school visits and sharing the sights along the way is so much fun!

"Friendship Flower" Collaboration of Preschool Painted Handprints

Butterflies are a 'staple' when it comes to children's art. The folded paper 'blottos' above are a no-fail idea and yet completely unique. These next 'Eric Carle-like' creations were breath-taking in their simplicity. They were on display in Indiana and created under the loving eye of the school's art teacher.

Spring time fun: "The Birds and the Bees"
Let's get started with birdie eggs in a nest. Any open-ended art project that features a paper plate as a base, is one that can easily be replicated by others. These bases were painted first. Shredded bits were glued in place for the 'nesting' materials. Then everyone's favorite media material was added for the subject representation: eggs = PomPOMS!

Eggs-in-a-Nest Project: Bulletin Board for Spring

Spring-time bulletin board in Preschool

This next one is one of my all-time favorite ideas! I created this exercise in a VPK classroom in FL last year..... just in time for Earth Day. If you want to see just exactly how we put it together, you can go over to my blog to see the whole experience unfold. I'm still wild about the final picture, that evolved completely naturally. Once the kiddos were all moving in to inspect the final project, I made a point to get every student's hand in the final photo.

Pool Noodle
Tissue paper and scissors
Glue sticks
Camera + Hands = Priceless!

As you wind down your school year here in this hemisphere and wind-up your year on the other side of the globe, I have two thoughts on adding to your classroom experience from my 'catalog' of work. The first is my digital product for a fun reinforcement of the lifecycle of frogs using my song, "Pollywog" as the 4 verse vehicle to study metamorphosis.

"Pollywog" in Mp3 Format with Fine Motor Support Work

And finally..... so many classrooms in Preschool and Kindergarten alike will conclude their school year with some sort of PROGRAM -- either a Mother's Day presentation, an end of the year event, or a School 'graduation' ceremony-of-sorts. One of my songs, "You're Wonderful" is the perfect choice for such an event. The digital zipped file includes a chart for the sign language -- which makes a performance just that much more memorable. Here's a glimpse at just such an event.

Our Early Education Emporium -- the collaborative store of all of our authors and our friends just concluded our first 'quarter' yesterday!!! There are payments being calculated for our contributors as I type! Thank you readers for trusting us and adding to your resources from our cohorts! We gain additional momentum there every week. By all means, if you have 'product' to share with the early childhood world, please join us..... if you like shopping in your jammies with the authors you've come to know here -- we welcome you to visit our cyber store!
We've spent the weekend with family, friends and our Rockie-Mountain grand-wonders. I've been chasing my wonders -- thru sand and surf. I need some time to add a little more and get this 'article' wrapped up.

-- Debbie --

That's the Mr-Hubby-Clement-brains behind the EEE and our wonders!

STRETCHY BAND - My New Favorite Manipulative!

Anonymous — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 09:00:00 GMT

Parent/Child class enjoying the Stretchy Band!

Hi! Miss Carole from Macaroni Soup back with my new-found favorite prop – the Stretchy Band! Ok, it may have been around for a while, but I just picked one up this summer and started working with it in my classes – it’s a BIG HIT!!!

Disclaimer – I am not in any way connected to the manufacturer.

Here’s the scoop:

I bought my Medium-sized band (10’) from West Music at the ECMMA national conference in Wisconsin. It sat in the bag until September rolled around. To my dismay, it came with little in the way of suggestions for use with children from the manufacturer, Bear Paw Creek. Actually, they ask for activity suggestions from users – a good idea! You can purchase the Stretchy Band from either company at the same price - $56 for the Medium. It’s an investment, to be sure – but worth it to me!

Waa waa waah!

I have found I can put 18 children around my medium band – more than that is quite crowded. But even 8-10 kids is very fun, too!

I have had great success with children 2 - 6 years old - you can, too!

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

The Wheels on the Bus with a Stretchy Band

Put the Stretchy Band on the floor, loosely forming a circle. Children sit cross-legged around the band, about 12 – 18” outside the band. On your instruction, they reach forward with one hand and grasp the band in front of them and pull it back to where they are sitting. Grasp band with both hands. Now you’re ready to sing and move – and the fun begins!

windows - up and down!

Sing “The Wheels on the Bus” as you know it, but with the following movements with the Stretchy Band:

1. wheels go round and round – move band in circles away from body – a rowing motion.

2. windows go up and down – move band up’n’down on the words “up” and “down”

3. doors go open and shut – lay back, sit up (yup, it’s sit-ups!)

4. wipers go swish swish swish – move hands from side to side

5. people get bumped around – shake it, baby, up and down - quickly!

6. babies cry waa waa waah – knock fists together, then apart quickly, 3 times

7. parents say sh! sh! sh! – while grasping band, hold up pointer finger to lips on the sh’s!

8. repeat first verse!

Some notes from experience:

Keep the tempo reasonable, even slower than usual.
Most children don’t have well-developed abdominal muscles, so “doors” will be challenging! Also, demonstrate how to lean back without knocking your head on the floor too hard!
Stop between verses to demonstrate the next verse.
Bring the controlled chaos of the “people get bumped” down by singing the “babies” verse a little sadly, then the “parents” verse in a hushed voice.

doors - open and shut - whoa!

I have found this to have similar skills and feel to parachute activities. OT/PT folks tell me it’s great with their populations, too! In my classroom, not a single child declined to participate – everyone has a blast.

Other activities I have tried: Standing inside the band facing out, we take a giant step away from the center, then let the band gently push us back in while sliding our voices from high to low. Then increase to two steps, repeat. I am just starting to add the use of recorded music for activities. The Stretchy Band is great for ocean waves, wind, etc.

If you have suggestions, please comment! One of my friends is trying to make her own band – I’ll let you know how that comes out when she figures it out!

Yours for a Stretching Song!

Miss Carole

MacaroniSoup! Active Music for Kids!

Debbie Clement's Author-Illustrator Slide Share

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 04:22:00 GMT

Author illustrator slideshare from Debbie Clement

SLIDESHARE #1!!

Can you believe it? Did it work?

I continue to attempt to leap tall buildings in numerous small bounds.

Enclosed above you will hopefully find a 53 slide 'scrapbook' of my travels making school visits -- with some library visits mixed in as well. All of this effort, (and I have been working on this for the last two days,) was prompted by three things:

I read an article that said that having "Slideshare" presentations will help Google 'find' your work and get you cataloged. I am truly working on my G+ skills and giving it new-found time and effort. So this 'project' seemed like something that I could 'do' to attract those spidey-bots in my direction.
I had a fellow blogger request info on how to set up a visit for me to come to their school district and she needed something to share with her committee.
My visit last week for "Read Across America" was oh-so-much-fun(!!!) and I'd LUV LUV LUV to replicate the success I've just experienced at other sites. Having a visual tutorial of previous success seems like a great way to generate future success.

Let's see if it worked.
Leave me a comment if you can get it to work. I've even included hyper-links from the slideshare program to a variety of places: here, PreK+K Sharing, my dot com store, Pinterest account, Google+ account and LinkedIN. Can someone test drive it for me?

Leave me a comment and I'll have to give a random drawing thank you to some lucky winner!

-- Debbie --

26 St. Patrick's Day Primary Printables {Free}

Anonymous — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 12:00:00 GMT

St. Patrick's Day can still help you teach your standards when you bring in quality, free printables. With St. Patrick's Day themed printables to cover math, language arts, treats and make it all feel fun - you can bring St. Patrick's Day green into your classroom. Here are 26 free downloads for primary grades on bringing the Luck o' the Irish...

Continue reading at Teaching Blog Addict under the "MORE" tab or cut and paste this into your browser: http://www.teachingblogaddict.com/search?updated to see the latest news!

Gentle Hands - Teaching Appropriate Touch

Anonymous — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 10:00:00 GMT

Hit! Pinch! Kick! Punch!

Wow! Bam! Pow! Slam!

Miss Carole from Macaroni Soup here. What’s happening in our classrooms? Why are Kindergarteners getting into fist fights? Why can a three year old go home with bite marks? What made that child so mad at me that they roared with bared teeth 2 inches from my face?

Time Out Everyone!

As an early childhood music specialist, my time each day with a class is limited to 20 – 45 minutes most of the time. USUALLY we sing, dance and learn without negative behavior. Chalk that up to the serotonin released during active participation in music! But every now and then, ZOWIE! Faster than you can intervene a child body-slams a classmate into the floor! What was THAT for?

Many times it’s exuberance. Sometimes it’s anger or frustration. I’m not a psychologist, and there are many solutions to try. But that’s a subject for another month. Today I’d like to concentrate on how we can teach and model touching each other in appropriate ways that feels good and positive with simple activities. I use the phrase “gentle hands”.

I start modelling gentle hands the first time I interact with children – if I hold up a puppet or prop that they can touch, I first demonstrate touching it softly while speaking in a quieter voice. If it’s an animal puppet, I teach the children to pet with two fingers. Why? A vet once shared with me that if we teach young children to pet animals with only two fingers (think making rabbit ears), they cannot grab an ear, tail, whisker or even fur with two fingers! I’ve never forgotten that! Then I invite the children to touch with gentle hands – try it, it works!

Then we can start working with gentle touch with each other. My favorite ending to class is either of the spoken pieces below. Pair the children with a partner. As you can see, my parent/child classes LOVE this activity! It’s more than a tickle – and when done as a group, it’s also a chance to learn to stay together as a group, listening to others as you draw on a partner’s back.

Apple sauce!

Criss Cross, Apple sauce

A child sits facing another child’s back to draw on it. With older children, this can be done in a continuous line, switching direction after completing the verse and repeat.

SAY DO

Criss cross (draw X)

Applesauce (tap shoulders)

Spiders crawling up your back!

(walk fingers up back)

Cool breeze (blow on neck)

Tight squeeze (hug)

And now you’ve got the shivers!

(lightly tickle person)

X MARKS THE SPOT

SAY DO

X marks the spot (make an “x” with your finger)

A circle and a dot! (make a circle, then dot the center)

The ants go marching up your back. (crawl fingers up back)

Rain falls down (tickle fingers from neck) downward)

Plants grow up! (drag pointer finger up the spine)

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 GOTCHA! (pat shoulders alternately, then

hug from behind!)

Once your students get good at this type of activity, start adding circle and partner dances. These help children learn to hold hands without squeezing, walk together without dragging, and clap hands with a partner without hurting.

To hear the above chants, please go to my Macaroni Soup! website’s Recordings page. Criss Cross, Applesauce is on my “Sticky Bubble Gum” cd, and X Marks the Spot is on “Baloney!”

When I do concerts, I often walk through the audience giving “high 5’s” to the kids in the audience before the show. Should a child wind-up by pulling the hand behind their head to give me a whopper high-5, I quickly put my hand down and remind them “High 5’s should not hurt. Let’s try that again!” It’s amazing how quickly they learn to use those gentle hands!

Recently the online community at The Children’s Music Network has been discussing the topic of aggressive and negative behavior in the classroom. There are wonderful suggestions from teachers all over the country – join CMN and access this tremendous online resource!

Okay! I’ve kept it simple this month. Let me know how it goes with the children in your care! I would also love to hear what kind of interactive games, songs or chants you use for teaching appropriate touch!

Yours for a Song!

Miss Carole Stephens

Macaroni Soup! Active Music for Kids!

Oh - and this is the REAL Audrey -
she's as gentle and nice as they come!