Young Child Semester 2 wk 26

“Concept learning is a cyclical process. The continued use of the specific idea in varied settings will help the learning to gel and contribute to a breadth and depth of understanding.”*

The children are becoming experts at recognising the difference between staccato and legato sounds! They can move accordingly when hearing the change from staccato music to legato music; they can play both types of sounds on their glockenspiels; and they can sing both staccato and legato.

Listen to music together this week and invite your child to identify different articulation techniques—and other aspects of the music—that he hears.


*“Developing Music Concepts,” by Barbara J. Alvarez, p. 29, in Music in Prekindergarten: Planning and Teaching, Mary Palmer and Wendy L. Sims, editors.

Young Child Week 25

Reviewing material previously learned and working with new material access different areas of the brain. With this in mind, we make it a point to review favourite songs and singing games each and every week, as well as work with novel material.

New this week were the terms staccato and legato, referring to the articulation or detached and sustained qualities of sound. Staccato refers to sounds that are separated and detached. The children found that the word staccato lends itself to this type of sound if you separate it as follows: stac-ca-to! Legato refers to sounds that are smoothly connected. Try saying legato as smoothly as possible.

Continue to sing favorite songs together this week—using your stac-ca-to and legato articulation, naturally!

Have fun at home learning to play Mouse Mousie. We all had a go at doing this in class and got on extremely well. Notice how your child approaches the task; do they rely on their aural memory, or do they follow the written music. Both approaches are valid. Be sure to stick a mouse sticker on your sheet for every day you practice.

Imagine That - Nov 10th

What a great time we had in today's lesson dancing and singing in the rain. We shared our home made rain shakers and played them while we sang our rain song. All the while without really realising it we have been learning about staccato (short detached sounds), and we have begun to use a basic form of musical notation. We are also continuing to learn and devlop our understanding of pulse a crucial foundation skill for our musical development, but also of great benefit to our coordination skills and general learning.

The children's singing is really flourishing too. I noticed particularly this week how well we are singing, pitching the notes acurately and joining in much more.

Next week we continue our rain dancing and singing. The chidlren have been asked to make rain hats at home. you can construct your hats however you like and the home book will give you lots of ideas.

If you are after a quick hat idea have a look at these 60 second hats.
http://www.makingfriends.com/d_60sechats.htm