Week of June 13, 2023
I sang a couple of songs by a talented woman named Anna Moo, both of which are about insects:
And here are the singalong songs:
CORNER GROCERY STORE – beans, giraffes, corn and rats!
Week of June 6, 2023
In our meeting on Friday, we told the children which songs we’ll be singing for the singalong on the last day of school (and we sang most of them).
We also sang:
Twinkle Twinkle (silly version)
and played the colored cube game again (see the note on this last week). The photos below are what happened when someone got the card that said “Hold your arms and legs off the floor!”
Week of May 30, 2023
On Thursday we had a wonderful meeting in which JJ captivated us with his reenactment of how he broke his elbow years ago while using a skimboard! Earlier in the week, he brought in big x-ray photos from that incident, and we had put one on our light table in the baby area.
We also played a “Roll & Play” game in which you roll a large soft cube with a different color on each side. Let’s say you roll a yellow. You then pick a card from a bunch of yellow cards and everyone does what it says on the card (“meow like a cat” “rub your tummy” “say cheese” etc.). It was enjoyed by all!
Week of May 23, 2023
Week of May 16, 2023
On Wednesday I read one of my favorite Mo Willems books (see below): There Is a Bird on Your Head!
Week of May 9, 2023
I passed around a nest that Wendy (Studio Yellow teacher) lent us, and we even put our birds inside – they fit perfectly! (Some children wanted to know where the eggs were.)
Friday: We used the rope: Shake It All Over Town and Row Row Row, crocodile verse and the putt putt verse.
Week of May 2, 2023
May Day song – I let them know that we’re postponing May Day until next week because of the potentially cold and wet day tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed for next Wednesday!
Paw Paw Patch – we put our pictures on the big heart on Tuesday.
Week of April 25, 2023
May Day song – I previewed what we’ll be doing for May Day, with the whole school: marching with all the classes around the sculpture park, ending up at the big hearts, where we’ll have a Maypole. It will have ribbons and we’ll each hold a ribbon and walk around it singing the May Day Song. When all the classes have done that, Nancy will bring popsicles for us to eat!
On Thursday, we sang Happy Birthday to Julian. But Brad also happened to be in to talk to Mark and Diane about the furnace, and we invited him to tell us what he was doing at meeting. When he heard it was Julian’s birthday recently, he said his birthday was this past Sunday – just three days away from Julian’s! So we had to sing Happy Birthday to Brad, too! (see photo below)
On Friday we learned to play the rhythm sticks, sitting in a circle on the playground, then had a parade with them around the sculpture park, taking the path which we’ll do on May Day. On May Day we won’t be holding the rhythm sticks, but will each have a stick with streamers on the end that we can wave – our “branch of snowy May”!
Week of April 11, 2023
On Tuesday we played a game called “Monkey Around.” It involves beanbags that are pretend bananas, and each child picking a card, and we do whatever is written on it (e.g., “put a banana [beanbag] on your head,” “stand on one leg.”)
Yoga candle mouse snake dog cat
Week of April 4, 2023
We talked about who is in our families, including cousins, grandparents, pets. Then I talked about how Studio Blue is like a family, in that we take care of each other, and extending that to the whole school, and then the whole world. Then I sang: Under One Sky
Itsy Bitsy Spider
ABC
Week of March 28, 2023
Week of March 21, 2023
We sang the ABC’s – they really sing out!
Yoga butterfly turtle, mountain moon elephant star square triangle
Its Bitsy Spider
Twinkle Twinkle (silly version)
Old MacDonald
Week of March 14, 2023
Week of March 7, 2023
Week of March 1, 2023
Twinkle Twinkle (silly version)
Some of us were doing a bit of yoga on Friday, and so I did it at meeting, too.
Yoga candle mouse snake dog cat, and a couple of new ones: butterfly and turtle
Touch the Ground (also on Friday)
Week of Feb 14, 2023
YOGA: candle, mouse, snake (cobra), dog, cat.
Week of Feb 7, 2023
We All Need More Kindness In This World
We got out the rope on Thursday: Row Row Row (crocodile and putt putt verses), Shake It All Over Town
Week of Jan 31, 2023
We brought out the big blue heart and sang Paw Paw Patch, as we did last week.
Friday: We used the rope: Shake It All Over Town and Row Row Row, crocodile verse and the putt putt verse.
Week of Jan 24, 2023
The children have been really enjoying what might be considered “comfort food songs” – ABC, Twinkle Twinkle, The Itsy Betsy Spider. So we’ve been focusing on those, as well as continuing with Yellow Jello. Sometimes you need to reminisce – even when you’re only three!
We’ve also brought out a big blue heart with pictures of all the children on it, and a velcro strip under each child’s picture. I hand out small hearts, each with a child’s picture (the same as on the big heart), then sing Paw Paw Patch, and when they hear their name they place (velcro) their small heart onto their picture on the big heart. I did this on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, and it’s a very reassuring ritual that they delight in.
We tried out the feely jar again on Thursday, with a flashlight inside, and they pretty much all guessed it. Very fun and satisfying.
Week of Jan 17, 2023
Week of Jan 10, 2023
Week of Jan 3, 2023
We All Need More Kindness In This World
On Friday, half the class went outside at the end of the day and six of the children (Theo, Vala, Henry, Wes, Emma and Bea) stayed in and we had a mini-meeting. We sang the Alligator Song, then did Movie Star, Wheels on the Bus, and Peace Like a River. We also sat holding hands in pairs, “rowing,” and singing Row Row Row (crocodile verse and putt putt verse).
Week of Dec 20, 2022
Week of Dec 13, 2022
Here is a link to the songs we’ll be singing for the Lantern Walk
We played jingle bells to Jingle Bells.
We Walk With Our Little Lanterns
Yoga: candle, mouse, snake (cobra), dog, cat.
Week of Dec 6, 2022
Here is a link to the songs we’ll be singing for the Lantern Walk
We played jingle bells to Jingle Bells.
We Walk With Our Little Lanterns
Yoga: mountain, moon, star and square. We also did candle, mouse, snake (cobra), dog, cat.
Rope: Shake It All Over Town and Row Row Row, crocodile verse and the putt putt verse.
Week of Nov 29, 2022
We All Need More Kindness In This World
We Walk With Our Little Lanterns – I introduced this song on Friday. I didn’t tell them about the lantern walk coming up. Instead, I told them that the song tells a story about people carrying lanterns as they walk in a parade. I explained what a lantern is, too. This is of a piece with other songs that I introduced this week by telling the story of the song before singing it. For Over the River, I explained how this told a story about people going to have Thanksgiving with their grandmother, and that to get there they had to go over a river, then through the woods. And they had a horse, etc. Likewise with Jingle Bells, it’s a story about, again, going on a sleigh drawn by a horse, and it has bells on its tail. So we won’t be talking about the lantern walk yet, but we’re warming them up to the concept through the “story” of this song.
Week of Nov 22, 2022
Week of Nov 15, 2022
Week of Nov 8, 2022
Week of Nov 1, 2022
Yoga: mountain, moon, star and square.
We got out the big rope and passed it around the circle so we were all holding it. Then we shook and pulled and pushed it to Shake It All Over Town. We also sang Row Row Row, first the traditional way, and then the crocodile verse, (which requires screaming quietly, so we first practiced screaming quietly).
Week of Oct 25, 2022
On Wednesday and Thursday, we got out the big rope and passed it around the circle so we were all holding it. Then we shook and pulled and pushed it to Shake It All Over Town. Then we sang Row Row Row, first the traditional way, and then I taught them the crocodile verse. But this requires screaming quietly, so we first practice screaming quietly, and then we do it. It went very well!
We also did Yoga: mountain, moon, star.
Week of Oct 18, 2022
Come Sail With Me – if your child talks about a dump truck in the context of this song, it’s because Will pointed out that the pictures I drew of the “cars on the bridge” look like pickup trucks. It seems that other children as well find my drawing skills a bit lacking. So on Wed., we sang “the pickup trucks go beep beep.”
Merry Little Breeze – I sang this on Wednesday. We talked about different kinds of wind, strong wind that blows hard, and soft winds that rustle the trees, and that blows leaves this way and that. They listened to the song with interest, and Etta said, “Again!” and I sang it again.
A B Squeeze – this is a version of ABC that incorporates self-regulation sensory input, taken from Anne Green-Gilbert, a highly regarded dance instructor (now retired).
Week of Oct 12, 2022
Week of Oct 4, 2022
Week of Sept 27, 2022
We also danced with scarves on Tuesday.
On Thursday, Sarah Brockway, from the Learning & Engagement department, visited, and we sang:
We’ve been passing the red mini-medicine ball around again while I sing Magic Penny
Week of Sept 20, 2022
Week of Sept 13, 2022
Week of Sept 7, 2022
At meeting on Thursday we also read Birds, by Kevin Henkes (we all held our birds while reading it!)
Repertoire
(a running list of songs that we’ve sung this year)
3 Green & Speckled Frogs
A B Squeeze
Alligator Song
Baa Baa Black Sheep
Baby Fish
Be My Echo
Bling Blang
Building a New Way
A Cat Had a Birthday
Clap Your Hands
Come Sail With Me
Corner Grocery Store
Draw the Circle Wide
Elephant in my Shoe
Fireflies
Frosty the Snowman
Hickory Dickory Dock
I Couldn’t Sleep Last Night
I Hear a Bee
Inch By Inch
It’s a Rainy Day
Jingle Bells
Little Mr. Robin
Look Out the Window
Magic Penny
May Day song
Merry Little Breeze
Movie Star
Now’s the Time To Go To Sleep
Old Oak Tree
Old Shoes, New Shoes
On Top of Spaghetti
Open Shut Them
Over the River
Owl
Paw Paw Patch/When I See You
Peace Like a River
Popcorn Chant
Row Row Row (crocodile and putt putt verses)
Sailor Song
Shake It All Over Town
Shake the Bells
Skidamarink
There Was a Little Turtle
This Little Light of Mine
Touch the Ground
Twinkle Twinkle (silly version)
Under One Sky
We All Need More Kindness In This World
We Walk With Our Little Lanterns
What Makes the Fire
Where’s My Pajamas?
Wish They’d Find a Home
Wishie Washie Washerwoman
Yellow Jello
