It's always a joy to get to make music with the children and parents in my classes. Last week and this week we sang a song called Can You Do This? The song is in Lydian which might make it sound a little different To you. If you want to play around with the Lydian mode at home you can play from F to F on a piano or keyboard using all white keys.
In one class I had the chance to point out how kids feel the rhythm in their whole bodies, and we can help them match the beat of the song by showing the beat in our whole body as well. adults often stop feeling and expressing music in their whole body. If you watch a toddler they feel the music from their head to their toes. Sometimes the trick is just figuring out how they are experiencing the music and how to help them learn the best for the stage of life they are in.
Last week we sang Apples and Cheries with Ice Cream flavored. Each part of the room got one flavor to sing over and over again. If you haven't tried this along with the CD yet you should. Pick one flavor (one phrase) and see if you can stay on that part during the whole song. We are building up to singing the song in a round.
This week we moved to Los Fandangos. There is a clapping part that goes along with the song. Listen for it on your CD and look for it in the songbook.
This collection also has a lot of call and response songs. Use these to your advantage during the week. They can be fun in the car. Songs like Can You Do This are great for directing you kids to do things. I can wash my hands, you can wash your hands, I can dry them off, you can dry them off. I can hold your hand, you can hold my hand, I can keep you safe, you can keep me safe.
The only song from outside the Fiddle collection was the play along. It was This Little Light of Mine by the Chris Barber Jazz Band. Here is the link to get it.
This weeks geography is the Egyptian Empire. Here is a fun way to combine art and geography!
Build the Egyptian empire out of sugar cubes, construction paper, and straws
We enjoy the Magic Treehouse books. There is a fiction and nonfiction book about Egypt
Science
I like these sorting cards. A simple sorting activity might be fun for all of the kids this week.
Science Experiment
Here is a video of this weeks science experiment. Watch it with your kids after our school day and see what they remember.
http://imaginationstationtoledo.org/content/2011/04/how-to-make-a-naked-egg/
Blobbing
It's finally time to add the continents! This week we will practice tracing North America. Next week we will add it to our blob map.
We are off to a fantastic start for this session of Music Together! Thank you to all of the parents who sang, danced, and played instruments with their kids today. You all did such a wonderful job right from the start. When you model musical behavior you help your kids learn to be musical. It doesn't matter if you always sing on pitch or keep the right beat. If you are having a good time making music your kids will learn to enjoy music. By being exposed to a community of music makers in a Music Together class they will learn to sing in tune and keep a steady beat.
Today I shared with you that I am going to play a new song on the ukulele each week in class. The ukulele is a great instrument to enjoy playing with your child at home. It's also a fun first instrument for kids who are a little older. Because it is small it is easy to put your fingers down for the notes and chords. I have started basic ukulele tutorials for you so you can learn to play at home. You can find the tutorials here
I played the Hello Song and I've Got the Rhythm In My Head on the ukulele in class today. I've Got the Rhythm in My Head only has one chord! It's so easy to play with your little one at home. You can hold down the two fingers needed for an F chord and let your child strum. If your child is ready to try putting their fingers on the strings this is an easy place for them to start!
The only song we did that is outside the collection today was the Freeze Dance by the Fresh Beat Band.
The Fall Music Together session finally starts here Monday! Music Classes at Journey Montessori will start with regularity now that we are past Labor Day as well. I have enjoyed a little break but I'm thrilled to start classes this week. All of the Music Together teachers in Charlotte get together before each new session to share awesome teaching ideas. Here's a little video to enjoy before coming to class this week!
We had a great time learning about the Greek gods with some friends today. The kids are learning the names of prominent Greek and Roman gods this week for school. I found several posts about Percy Jackson books, and parties that were inspired by the books, and decided to have our own fun.
Here is what we did.
We started learning by going on a hunt for 20 different gods and goddesses. Each poster has a QR code on it. When you scan it you find out the name of the god or goddess. You can get them here.
After working hard it was time for a game. We adapted the Mr. Fox game to be a Zeus and Hera game. Whoever was Zeus or Hera went to the top of the hill and turned their back so they couldn't see everyone. They then got to tell the mortals how many steps to take. The mortals job was to go as quietly as possible so they could sneak by. When Zeus or Hera thought they were getting close they yelled, "Zeus is coming down the mountain!" and turned around and chased them. Whoever they tagged became Zeus or Hera next.
After getting some energy out it was time for a quick lesson. We used the CC timeline cards that applied to the gods. We sang the timeline song and stopped each time we got to one of the timeline cards listed and talked about it briefly. We looked at the map as we discussed Greece and Rome being established and how to gods names changed from Greek to Roman when Rome defeated Greece.
Next it was time for shield making! We used cake rounds for the shields and duck tape for the handle on the back. If you use a coupon at Michaels you can get a good deal on cake rounds.
Once the shields were made it was time to talk about the god of war and get ready for battle. Greece and Rome went war in the garage. Both sides were armed with their shields and pool noodle swords. To win the battle you had to have the least amount of balloons on your side at the end.
We enjoyed a fun review lesson yesterday about the kingdoms of living things. This collection of science lessons goes along with the Classical Conversations curriculum. Each lesson is short and ties into the Bible. Our favorite part of yesterdays lesson was drawing our own pizzas. Did you know that you can make a pizza that has four of the five kingdoms on it? Do you know what they are? What would you need on a pizza to represent four of the five kingdoms?
We are going to keep new grammar simple. The goal is to be exposed to the material, not master it. Mastering it should happen at home.
The review dice with movements and tone of voice are a great way to spice up new grammar, but still keep it simple and to the point!
https://halfahundredacrewood.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/ccreviewdice.pdf
You can look back to the other weeks on the blog for ways to spice up learning prepositions, plant cells, and Latin noun endings.
We will expand on the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World at home this week with some fun coloring maps and model building.
Art
Here are a few fun ideas for ways to do abstract art this week.
This week we are talking about water pollution. Be careful not to put too much food coloring in the water. It really takes a lot of water to undo to pollution (food coloring). We will go over the scientific method again. There are some great worksheets on CCC for tutors and parents.
We are still working on organizing presentations this week. Each student still gets 3 minutes to talk. They are getting better at this time frame. In addition to organization we are going to work on eye contact. Go back and watch your video from last week (I record the students each week so they can go back and watch themselves and share it with their families) did you look at your audience? Here's this weeks fun video. Kid President doesn't look at his notes on the board. He knows what he is going to say and he looks at the audience (or he has something he is reading by the camera).
Blobbing
We are reviewing for blobbing this week. Look back to week 3 for a video. We have the compass rose, Equator, Prime Meridian, Tropics, Arctic and Antarctic Circles on our blob maps now.
I'm going to start with presentation information again this week because I like fun videos. The prompt, should you choose to accept it, is heroes this week. I love Kid President.
"I think you're a hero and you don't even know it yet." What will you do to be a hero?
The Journeyman/Masters class is working on structuring a three minute presentation for whatever topic they may choose this week. I do hope to hear about some heroes though.
Art
This week we are doing upside down drawings. I've posted this video before, but it amazes me!
The Truly Happy Life is the One Filled With Honest Employment.
THE LESSON—That in childhood and youth we should train ourselves to work.
Work is the keynote of the successful life. "An idle brain is the devil's workshop." The talk is designed to catch the attention with a smile and then give an opportunity to present some valuable thoughts in the matter of diligence and the fulfillment of life's mission through honorable employment of the mind and the hands.
The Talk.
"Very often we read some very curious things. The manufacturer of one of the well-known breakfast foods, has placed this strange statement on the outside of each of the packages: 'Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are.' It seems impossible to do this, and the writer of the words probably had an entirely different way of explaining how he would do it from the way we will demonstrate it here on the drawing paper today. Let us suppose that we make the statement that we can tell what a man is if we know what he eats. All right, then, here is a case: There is a certain man who eats three meals a day out of a dish shaped something like this: [Draw lines representing Step 1 of Fig. 37.]
"And then, let us suppose that the food he eats is heaped up like this: [Add lines to change the drawing to Step 2.]
"Now, what do you think this food is? Ice cream? Ah, no, because when I tell you that this is steam rising from the food you will know it isn't ice cream: [Add lines to change the drawing to Step 3.]
"But you will begin to see what it is when I tell you that these two lines represent chopsticks: [Add lines to change the drawing to Step 5.] What is it? Rice? Yes, it is rice, and we will label it in this way. [Add the letters, to change the drawing to Step 5.]
"And now, having found out what the man eats, let us see if we can find out who he is. [Remove the sheet from the drawing board, hold it up and turn it over, exposing Fig. 38 to the audience. With the attention thus centered upon your work, the boys and girls will listen with eagerness to whatever else you may have for them.]
"And so, I tell you of another thing that we can do.
"Listen! Tell me what a boy thinks about, and I will tell you what kind of a man he will grow up to be.
"The man who swears, thought of bad things and used bad words when he was a boy. The man who is a thief thought about dishonest things when he was a boy. The man who is happy and who finds it his delight to do good, formed the habit of thinking and doing good things when he was a boy. The man who loves his work learned to like to work when he was a boy.
"And it is work that I want to speak about today.
"There is no place in the world for a lazy boy or girl. Nobody wants them. Boys who hate to work are the kind that loaf around poolrooms and pollute the air with vile cigarette smoke and language which bespeaks an empty mind and a corrupt heart.
"As Jesus is our great example in every way, He stands out strongly as our example of how a workman should delight in his employment. We should first find the thing which God intends that we shall do, for we are all fitted to do some things better than others, and we should then put forth our best efforts to learn to do that one thing as well as we can. We must center our thoughts upon the things we want to do. Life will then become a delight, because the world is always crying for workers who know how to do their work. The other kind is always to be found but never wanted. The demand is for the ones who know how. It is a significant fact that the first recorded words of Jesus Christ are, 'Wist ye not that I must be about my father's business?' This makes of Jesus a Business boy, and it was God's work he began so soon.
"Gladstone, an inspiring example of the true workman, says, 'The thrift of time will repay in after life with usury of profit beyond your most sanguine dreams, and the waste of it will make you dwindle alike in intellectual and moral stature beyond your darkest reckoning.'
"The happiest people in the world are those who are busy at something worth while, and the most miserable are those who are in idleness for lack of ambition or else are engaged in work which they themselves loathe because of its baseness."
New Grammar
History
Greek and Roman gods
We are going to have some fun with this topic this week!
I bought Percy Jenkins Greek gods book to read with the kids. My husband and I have been amused by it. We decided we should read through each story first before sharing it with the kids.
There are some wonderful pictures that have been created to help you remember your noun endings. Here is a link to a packet for this week. You could make matching games or a book with them.
Science
Here is a fun idea for studying parts of an animal cell at home!
You can find the list of what you need to make this here
