Dear Parents,
One of my favorite things about living in Colorado is the change of seasons! We are so fortunate to enjoy such a beautiful fall. We have been celebrating fall in the music classes by listening to fall sounds, learning Halloween songs, singing about the harvest and looking ahead to our annual Celebration of Light and Love.
I think the absolute favorite fall activity for all the classrooms is the singing story book, Driving My Tractor, by Steve Songs. If your children have been coming home talking about Steve, this may be to whom they are referring. I needed to be out of school last week and left a copy of this book with the Birch classroom and discovered when I came back that this was a mandatory classroom activity while I was gone several times every day. When I brought the book out for the first time in Forest is was greeted with great excitement as if seeing an old friend. It is such a fun song to sing, and they really feel connected to Steve.
Last month our listening activities focused on weather sounds. This month our listening activities were focused on animal sounds. We listened to cat sounds, woodland animal sounds (raccoon, chipmunk, squirrel, coyote, porcupine, and red fox), and several species of owls. The children enjoy imitating these animals sounds which is a good exercise in vocal exploration and flexibility.
Our songs for movement have included “Golden Slumbers,” “In the Forest,” “Macaroni/ trot,trot,trot,” “Rig-a-Jig-Jig,” “Horsey, Horsey,” and “Jig Jog.” Many of these songs encourage and contrast an exploration of rhythm and tempo.
We have several Fall/Halloween chants that we learned. These include, “Pumpkin Head,” “Five Little Pumpkins Sitting on a Gate,” and “Five little Pumpkins Growing on a Vine.” Our fall songs include, “The Itsy, Bitsy Spider,” “Jack-O-Lantern,” “Black Cat,” and “One Little, Two Little, Three Little Witches.” In addition to these songs, we included several of the Light and Love songs in the older classrooms which vary somewhat by classroom.
As we look forward to November, we will be concentrating fairly heavily on our preparation for the Celebration of Light and Love. Since many of the songs we are preparing have such a strong message of friendship and peace, I sing them with the children in all the classrooms whether they are performing them or not. We’re really looking forward to seeing you all there. Have a wonderful holiday season.
Ms. Kathleen