Musical Mondays - Tambourine & Bells

Every Monday I teach a Music class for Mommy & Me...in my house...for more information on the class itself go HERE

I am loving that the music class is consistently expanding!!! It's so exciting that the little ones can now interact with the older ones. Every week we use a plethora of different instruments (I like to keep the class moving)...short attention spans and all....my lesson plans differ every week, however there are some elements (and order) that remain the same. For instance...we always start off with signing hello to each child...followed by "warm up" songs...then an instrument...then a dance...and so on....

Ryleigh dancing with the tambourine...

Some of the kids dancing... (including our newest walker...so cute...)
Some of the girls playing bells (showing one of the babies how)...

TOT SCHOOL - WEEK SEVENTEEN - 34 MONTHS

We started our week with Musical Monday...had the girls over Tuesday and Wednesday for school...did a stART project with sea salt...did two letters of the week...lots of baking...many projects...had Art group...and finished it with Dance. I also introduced the felt board to Ryleigh...huge hit... :)

For Valentine's Day...From the Target Dollar Spot I bought two little plants (with the pots included)... one is strawberries and one is forget me knots.... Ryleigh had lots of fun planting the seeds...hopefully they grow and we can watch their progress....

Ryleigh dumping the dry soil into water (like magic...it expands...)

Scooping the soil into the pots...

Braeden...the gnome.... no relevance to school...

Ryleigh working on her water color and sea salt stART project...

On Tuesday I had three "pupils" ... plus the 3 babies...who should be doing tot school by the fall...anyway...our first project was baking ...what I like to call...and I kid you not... "Yummy Yums..." Seriously..that is what I named it.... they are kind of like flaky cinnamon rolls...

The girls spreading a cinnamon and sugar mixture on the dough...

Juliette and Braeden...watching the girls bake...

Next the girls worked on the Letter L...I had them make L is for Lion...First they used scissors and cut up green construction paper for "grass"...then we used orange and brown felt for the mane and head... and added a pom pom for the tail... I was really pleased with the way the project turned out... I can't always be sure how they will actually look when I come up with them:)

Working on the grass...

The finished project...

As we were setting up for the next project..I glanced into the living room and this is what I saw... Juliette is UNDER the jumperoo...Anna in on the gym...and Braeden in the bouncer...crying...I think because Juliette left him and went exploring...

Next, we had the girls use dot painters and paint L is for Ladybug...which I printed from Confessions of a Homeschooler...The girls used Markers to trace the Upper and Lower case Ll's.

Also from Confessions of a Homeschooler- I printed off these great alphabet activity sheets. I had laminated them for repeat use. The girls took colored glass stones from Michaels and placed them in the missing spots on each sheet.

For Wednesday's class I had 4 girls...plus the 3 babies...and we started with baking some corn muffins...

We also did the Letter M is for Mountain...which I got from No Time For Flashcards. To add some texture into the project, I had the girls use white felt for the snowcaps and the clouds.

We did some pattern work (also printed from Confessions of a Homeschooler)

Next, we did some patterns with M&M's....
I think the favorite part was the eating of the candies...

We finished off Wednesday's class with water transfers...I had them use a pipet to transfer water from a plastic cup to the suction cup part of those suction bath grip things....

Recently I made a felt board for Ryleigh to use...this was the first time she saw it...and liked it right away...I think she played with it for a good 45 minutes....

Ryleigh using the board and doing some sequencing...

We also did a lot of pattern work....

At this point Ryleigh knows all her letters and the sounds they make (Thank you Letter Factory!)...So to help reinforce them...and because I thought they would be handy in so many activities...I got scrapbooking letter stickers from the Target Dollar Spot. I got two packs of the same stickers..then I put backs on them to create disks....

Here Ryleigh is playing Match the Alphabet...
and saying which sound the letter makes as she goes....

Braeden watching Big Sister do her Alphabet Tray...

Both kids playing side by side...my favorite picture of the week!

To see what others are doing in their Tot Schools go to 1+1+1=1.

Musical Mondays - Triangle

One of the instruments we used this week at music class was the triangle. All of the kids have gotten really good at playing these correctly. I usually have them "practice" playing them, then we play together following simple directions...i.e....tap until we stop...then we play a song. This particular day we did Twinkle Twinkle Little Star..

Lately the older babies of the class have started getting in on the fun- staying awake and alert...even playing some instruments during class :) How fun it will be when all 5 of the babies join their older siblings!

Ryleigh playing the Triangle

"A" watching her big sister play the Triangle

"L" helping her little sister "E" play the drum...

"J" playing...or chewing...on a baby instrument during class

Braeden watching the kids play the drum near the end of class

Musical Mondays - the babies

After every music class, we have "free play". Some of the babies are now old enough to participate.... soon they will be old enough to participate in the music class itself!

Braeden...with the ladies....