Week of September 13th, 2016

 I Live in the Mitt!

We learned so much about our home state this weekend! =)

We started by taking a look at some photos that have important significance to Michigan's statehood, including our flag, our state flower, state bird, land features, and more!

We also read the book M is for Mitten by Annie Appleford, and began working on the first half of the following fingerplay that will ultimately teach the children the names of all of our great lakes!

I Live In The Mitt

Fingerplay by Miss Chantal

 

My state is my hand

(hold up left hand)

It is shaped like a mitt

(point to left hand with right)

With beautiful water surrounding it

(make a circle around left “mitt”)

It has two peninsulas

(right hand hold up number two)

Upper and lower

(hold right hand above left mitt to signify upper peninsula)

How many great lakes are near us?

(shrug with arms)

There are 4!

(show number four on right hand)

Huron, Superior, Erie and then

(show 1, 2, 3 on left hand)

We can’t forget Lake Michigan!

(wave finger for “no”)

The 3s/4s kiddos were also super thrilled to recieve their very own Michigan coloring book with all of the special Michigan icons we discussed inside! Make sure to look through the book with your child and ask them the extender questions below to encourage more review/learning of music class concepts! 

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR CHILD

1. Where do you live? In Michigan!

2. What is the state bird of Michigan? The robin

3. Can you tell me about some things you will see in Michigan?

Week of September 5th, 2016

Our Very Own Musical Fountain!

This week in music class we kicked off our study on Michigan by talking about our surrounding area and what it has to offer. We found out that MANY of the students (even the toddlers and twos!) had heard of or seen Grand Haven's musical fountain!

I also brought in a fun bluetooth speaker from home that is a mini-musical fountain! We used it to listen to Disney songs like themes from Frozen and the Lion King, and talked about how air and vibration forced the water through the lighted holes. The kids LOVED passing this around and listening to the music coming from the speaker--it was very much like a mini-version of the lighted fountains downtown!

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR CHILD

1) What music did you listen to through the speaker with lighted water in music class?

2) What colors did you see?

3) What state do you live in?