Little Beans

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Learning about animals through MUSIC & MOVEMENT

BUTTERFLY by Victor Tan
Butterfly, butterfly
Gently flying low and high.
Butterfly, butterfly,
Always friendly, never shy.

Say to the flowers, Good Morning, Good Morning
See how colourful are my wings.

I've always loved this song, ever since I heard it more than 7 years old when I took Javen to attend Victor Tan's music and movement class. When singing the song, the children were given a cloth/scarf each and they were encouraged to dance and move gently, like a butterfly. The fluidity of the children's movement as they danced and swayed to the music was very graceful, and the young children (he was only two then) could relate to the way a butterfly moves.

See how colourful are my wings - as the children spread out their arms, this beautifully describes the colours and flow of the butterfly's wings. I also told the older children that the wings are usually symetrical.

I've since introduced this song to the children in Little Beans and they too could relate very well to the song - moving their arms gently as well as swaying their body up and down accordingly. The music too is very soothing and calming - the effect a butterfly can have on stressed nerves!

CRABS ARE CRAWLING by Victor Tan

Crabs are crawling, crabs are crawling
Crawling day and night.
Crabs are crawling, crabs are crawling
Crawling day and night.

Always move from side to side
Move from side to side

Another action song. The tempo is fast and actually mimics the pace of the crabs walking... too bad I can't sing the song here. Perhaps your child can sing it for you.

As the children sing, they move from left to right and right to left; never forward or backward as crabs cannot do so! The tempo picks up towards the end, and we always end up laughing as we sing the song!

INSECTS by Victor Tan

One, two, three
Four, five, six
Three pairs of legs
Crawling up, crawling down
Busy all day
Insects have six legs
No matter big or small

This, of course, teaches about the 6 legs of an insect!

There are many more songs composed by Victor to teach about animals and many more concepts. Thanks Victor, for the wonderful resources.

Trip to Mitri Easy Bakery

BEAUTIFUL CUPCAKES - too pretty to eat. That's what we did when we visited Mitri Easy Bake as part of our community theme. We had a great time rolling and beating the dough to make the Bread Stix as well as decorating the cupcakes. Surprisingly, many of the children wanted to take the cupcakes home to share with mummy or daddy.

Making the bread stix by rolling and stretching the dough into a long stick.

Roll it and stretch it like this?

This is the way we roll the dough, roll the dough ...

Gee.... soft and mushy!

This is fun!

All ready for the oven!

Fresh from the oven, time to dip the stix into the chocolate sauce and coat with the delicious grounded almond.

Mmmm.. our lunch, fresh from the oven!

The Joy Of Reading!

I've always loved reading as a child and would love to inculcate this love to as many children as possible. My home as well as the taska are full of books, and to see a child flipping through the pages always warms my heart.

I had half an hour to spare and I let my 6-year olds read and read to their heart's content. We have a big basket of books in the class and whenever they have time to spare, they can take a book or two to read. Of course, the books are changed constantly to avoid boredom.

Honestly, not all children love the books or can read very well, but once they see many of their friends doing so, they will join in the reading. Some chose to read in pairs, sharing and telling the story to each other, some preferred to read on his/her own. Most are confident to read aloud, and usually enjoy a book more after I've read or told them the story.

As an extension to reading quietly, I took the mic out and ask them to read in threes or fours. The objective is two-fold - to shorten the waiting period, but more importantly, the more confident readers can guide their friends along. Everyone took to the mic with ease and I love the expression as they tried to act out the storyline or mimic the characters, just like how Teacher Yvonne has taught them!

Monday, May 31, 2010

Learning about Animals through ART

A picture speaks a thousand words ... in our case, through a picture or an art, we can teach a child many things.

During our animal theme, we have done many art and craft activities. And, besides being aesthetically beautiful, the children are exposed to many developmental aims along the way.

Take for example, the creation of the octopus by the 5 year olds.

First of all, they colour the paper in shades of blue, green and yellow to create the background of a sea. This has to be coloured meticulously and patiently.

Indirectly, the children are gently reminded that the sea is not only blue- which is the normal way they colour it but rather a combination of beautiful colours!

Next, they are asked to finger paint the octopus - they love the tactile experience! Also, they are given only two primary colours - red and yellow.

They explore with their fingers and in the process, one boy commented "Look, my octopus is turning orange." I love this comment - it shows that the boy is discovering secondary colours through this art activity - beats teaching them about red+yellow= orange any time!

They also learn that an octopus has eight tentacles, and I see some of them carefully counting the tentacles as they go along to make sure that they have the correct number.

This activity promoted sharing and taking turn as they are using the paint from the same palette. It teaches them responsibility too as they ensure that the place is cleaned up later on.

Some are hesitant initially, but once they get over their reservation, they are free to express themselves. Every piece is different - even though it came from the same instructions. The fishes add a very nice touch to the overall effect!

Look at the fluidity of this octopus as it sways gently in the ocean!

Other crafts which we did include:

The elephants are moulded out of newspaper. As the children scrunched and twisted the papers, they are also creating wrinkles - which are an integral part of an elephant! They tactilely and visually learn about the elephant's BIG trunk, ears and tusks. Again, no two pieces are alike - entirely up to the children - look closely, and you'll see that the elephants are indeed very unique and there is a lot of movement - even though the focus is just on the head!

Another art is, of course, the porcupine, where the children learn more about its' spine.

Finally, I love the owl that the children painted - fat owl, thin owl, angry owl, party owl, etc. Here, they learn that owls are nocturnal animals from the moon in the picture - something that the children will remember easily because of the hands-on experience!

Aren't the children' art just lovely?

UNDER THE SEA

Here is the other theme board for the animal theme- the octopus, starfish and the sea are made by the younger children.

The sea background is created by sponging tempera paint and the bottom of the sea is sprinkled with sand - very tactile for th children to explore!

Whenever the children see me with a camera, they get very excited and are willing to pose for me. Love the spontaneity, don't you?

May Theme - The Animal Kingdom

Yiks!! That's a porcupine! Look at the spines - be careful, don't let them prick!!!

That's our theme for May - The Animal Kingdom, in which we talked about animals on land, under the sea as well as minibeasts. This is a very large theme which took up the whole month.

The above porcupine is made by one of the students. For this month's theme board, most of the animals are made by the children themselves. There is a great sense of pride and ownership as they look at their own masterpieces and tell their friends and parents about them.

As I am taking the pictures, the four year olds immediately came out and posed in front of the theme board. They are not shy, and are very spontaneous in front of the camera. That's what I like - no pretense!

The theme board up close - look at the porcupines, the snakes and the birds. Some of the wild animals (although not proportionate) are coloured by the children.

Look at the slithering, twirling snakes and the spotted leopard. Also, the birds perched high up in the trees!

We also have another theme board featuring animals Under the Sea.

The children are very knowledgeable about animals, but it is always interesting to bring to life some of the features of these animals, as well as to introduce new ideas to them. For example, we talked about the fastest, strongest, tallest, biggest, smallest or slowest animals on earth.

When we discussed minibeast, the children are familiar with the life cycle of a butterfly - in fact, we always have caterpillars and chrysalis from our lime tree to show them the metamorphosis of a butterfly - simply amazing! We talked about earthworms and dug for them, and also observed a snail.

Alas, I promised to find a stingray and live crab for the children, but have yet to find them. But, we will continue to look for them in the market.

A very interesting theme indeed, and we are still learning together with the children!