I've had several requests lately to post pictures and ideas of fall bulletin boards. Here are a sample of some of my fall boards (past and present) and boards by other teachers in our school.
Fall, Leaves, Halloween and Pumpkin Patch Bulletin Boards
From our Infant Room! I wouldn't suggest this for older kids!
Fall Birthday Boards
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Most of the teachers at our school know that if they are looking for a song or cd that they can't find, chances are that I will have it. We use music in our classroom activities all day long. I thought I would share with you some of our favorites, so this is by no means a comprehensive list. We enjoy all kinds of music and play quite a variety, from country, to classical, to cultural (like Irish), to rock, to children's favorites. Hap Palmer's "Getting To Know Myself" features timeless preschool favorites like "Sammy" and is a must have for every classroom! You can find it here!
Newbridge Songs For Learning-- "Holiday Songs" cd is filled with original holiday songs. A teacher's guide gives suggestions and ideas for activities and actions to accompany the songs. You can find it here. "Following Directions" cd is filled with action songs that help teach skills needed to follow directions. You can find it here.
"Simple Songs For Preschool" has become one of our favorites! The songs are easy to learn and easy to sing and are topical to children's interests! You can find the cd here on Deborah Stewart's website, Teach Preschool, and listen to a few previews!
Shawn Brown has fabulous rhythms and his music really gets the kids moving! (I've written about him here before: "Super Fun With Shawn Brown". Our two favorites are "Super Fun Show"
And "Super Fun Transitions" which is filled with great songs for transitions, like lining up, cleaning up, coming to the rug and saying goodbye.
You can find them both here at the Super Fun online store. I'm a fan of Jack Hartmann's music and I follow many of the principles of Conscious Discipline, so what could be better than a cd combining the two? This cd is filled with connection making music! Check out "It Starts In The Heart" on the Conscious Discipline website store.
Mr. Al has a ton of great cds and we listen to several. Our absolute favorite of all of Mr. Al's is "Mr. Al: A La Carte"! You can find his website and online store here.
Greg & Steve are very popular and they have tons of cds, as well. You can check out all their great cds in their online store here. Our two favorites are "Kids In Motion", filled with movement songs and "We All Live Together, Vol. 2" which has great songs for circle time.
I discovered Eric Litwin several years ago at a training, before "Pete the Cat" became wildly popular. I love his versatility--he presents a variety of songs in different musical styles! His music really gets us going. "Smile At Your Neighbor" is great fun to move to, especially the hits "Smile At Your Neighbor", "The Fun Thing" and "The 3 Little Pigs Story Song". We act out the 3 Little Pigs with this song as often as possible! You can click here to find his online store.
I have loved my "Tony Chestnut" cd by The Learning Station for a long time. We just can't get enough of the great songs on it. We also love "Literacy In Motion" and use it to help make connections to some of the great children's books we read. The Learning Station has tons of great cds, and I'm working on checking them all out. I recently won 2 cds that I didn't have already, so I'm sure they will become fast favorites! I have also discovered that The Learning Station has a FABULOUS youtube channel where you can watch The Learning Station crew performing the great songs and motions! Definitely something to put in your "favorites"!!!
We also use music at naptime. We try to play a variety of soft music, often classical or soothing tunes. We do have two favorite "contemporary" cds that we listen to at nap. "Bedtime With the Beatles" (blue cover) is an instrumental cd of Beatles hits. You can find it on Amazon here, or at your local record store.
I love Jack Johnson and was thrilled when he did the soundtrack for the "Curious George" movie! The kids love "Sing-A-Longs And Lullabies for the Film Curious George" as much as I do! Look for it on Amazon here or in your local record store.
I'm very excited that I'll have the opportunity to see some of these great names live and in person at the 2012 NAEYC conference next month!!! Look at this snippet of the Conference agenda to see why I'm so excited!
I hope that you have found something here that you will enjoy using in your early childhood setting! Leave a comment about the music your kids enjoy--I'm always on the lookout for new tunes!
I am frequently asked by parents "What do y'all do all day?". Yes, we play. It's play, but it is so much more! My friend and blogger buddy, Alec from Child's Play Music, posted a wonderful article just this week called "The Future Of Education Is Play". ( I highly encourage you to pop on over and give it a read--you'll be glad you did!) While a large majority of my posts here are about the planned activities that we do, much of our school day is unstructured free time, where students choose for themselves where and what to play. Today, I want to share a glimpse into some of what goes on in our classroom on any given day during these times. Our morning started by preparing apples for our crockpot applesauce. (More on that and our visit from Johnny Appleseed coming soon!)
While we were preparing apples, some of the friends were working hard on putting together some large floor puzzles.
Center time was a bustle of activity today. Our "Fruit Stand" in our dramatic play was full of activity (I'm saving those pictures for a post later on our apple unit). In our math center, some of the friends made a "tower with a parking lot" with pegs, peg boards and transportation manipulatives.
Building a "cabin".
There was some farming going on in one area....
And some dollhouse play nearby.
How about this little "tv room with a wide screen tv" ?
Science Center was also quite busy today.
I noticed all the dinosaurs seemed to be carefully placed. When I asked about them, I was told they were all lining up to go see the new baby whale. Anything is possible in the mind of a preschooler!
Some friends took time to enjoy a good book.
Our classroom neighbors found this gigantic caterpillar on the playground today and shared it with us, so we stopped for a few minutes to observe him. He was several inches long and about as thick as a fat cigar. I've never seen a caterpillar this big!
This block structure was built over the course of the morning.
It started off fairly simple, and became more and more intricate as time went on.
Different parts of the structure had different purposes.
These small blocks are "ice cream for the people".
This is a "cave for the people".
These girls are using sanding blocks to make all the blocks "feel soft".
A bedroom.
A "secret hiding place".
I watched as the friend playing with these table blocks arranged each block with precision. I asked about the arrangement and what he was making and was told, "I don't know yet. I'm just building it first!"
It struck me funny that seemingly random arrangements were actually items carefully arranged, while the small table blocks were so carefully placed without an end purpose. Some of the most important learning going on today can't quite be captured in photographs. There was sharing, cooperation, leadership, turn taking, compromise, critical thinking, problem solving and a host of other social skills going on throughout their play today. They are learning so much more through this play than I could ever begin to teach through direct instruction. So when I'm asked, "What do y'all do all day? Do you do any 'real' work?". My answer? YES, we work. Our work is play. And play IS important!
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