This was the last month before I took a few months off to be with Sarah, born March 8. A few of the new songs we worked with this month were Conejo Saltarín and La cancion de los números.
Conejo saltarín is a song about a jumping rabbit-- a great one to use to work off energy and the kids LOVE it. (The 4-year olds beg for it every week!)
We start this song by making fingers with bunny ears and we make the bunnies hop using only our hands. The chorus goes like this:
mueve las orejas (we wiggle our bunny-ear fingers next to our ears)
mueve la nariz (we point to our nose)
mueve la colita (we wiggle our hips)
y se pone a reír (we smile big with hands next to our faces)
When the singer gets to "brinca, brinca, conejo saltarín", the kids jump around the room.
La canción de los números is a very sweet song that the kids enjoy as well. This is an easy one to follow along, and most of the children sing with me on this song. It counts to 10, and we have actions for each number. The favorite part is for number 9: "el nueve es una culebra para espantar a diez". I have a snake that jumps out to surprise the children as we all say "diez" and hold up 10 fingers.
This month we also worked with songs about food to support the healthy-eating topics in many of the classes. We sang songs about foods we eat when we are hungry (tengo hambre), and how much fun it is to eat the colors of the rainbow (me gusta comer como un arcoiris). These are simple songs that I have created. Grab me in the hallway sometime if you want to hear the songs! Also, see if your child can do the sign for rainbow when you say arcoiris (arco-EE-rees).
We pulled together numbers and food using the Bible story of Jesus feeding 5,000 with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fishes. Exciting that, with the help of pictures and drama, they can understand stories like this using the vocabulary they have learned through songs and other activities.
I realized today that other educators have checked in on this blog and even left comments. I apologize for not replying! If you would like to contact me, please send a message to shannon@shannonspaintbox.com. I would love to exchange ideas!
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Monday, January 17, 2011
January
January's theme at Mom's Day Out has been Winter, so we have also been talking about cold weather (hace frío) and cold weather clothes. Try saying "hace frío" (AH-say FREE-oh) to your child and see if he/she pretends to feel cold.
We have sung "Mami, ¿dónde está mi abrigo?" a lot, which is a song about losing a coat and asking our mommy where it is. I hide a picture of a coat under a picture of a chair (la silla), a lamp (la lámpara), a bed (la cama), or a table (la mesa). As we sing the song, we look under each piece of furniture. If the coat is not there, the children answer "no, no, no"; if it is there, they say, "¡sí, sí, sí!"
We read the book Froggy se viste to talk about clothing:
We have focused a lot on el abrigo (coat), los guantes (gloves), las botas (boots) and (cap) because these are articles of clothing many children are wearing right now to play in the snow. We are doing a chant that goes: "guantes, botas, gorra, guantes, botas."
I like to link to Bible stories in our Spanish lessons as well, so we are talking a bit about Joseph and his colorful coat. This gives us a chance to also review and reinforce colors. One song that we sing to practice colors is a list of colors set to a fun tune. This is a song that comes from a CD called Sing, Laugh, Dance and Eat Tacos.
azul
blanco
rojo
violeta
amarillo
anaranjado
verde y
rosa
(una vez más)
The colors listed are blue, white, red, purple, yellow, orange, green and pink. Sometimes different countries use slightly different words for the colors (you might hear morado for purple, rosado for pink and naranja for orange)... so if you have learned a different word for a certain color than what's listed in this song, that's probably why! We will be singing other songs about colors that use variations.
We have sung "Mami, ¿dónde está mi abrigo?" a lot, which is a song about losing a coat and asking our mommy where it is. I hide a picture of a coat under a picture of a chair (la silla), a lamp (la lámpara), a bed (la cama), or a table (la mesa). As we sing the song, we look under each piece of furniture. If the coat is not there, the children answer "no, no, no"; if it is there, they say, "¡sí, sí, sí!"
We read the book Froggy se viste to talk about clothing:
We have focused a lot on el abrigo (coat), los guantes (gloves), las botas (boots) and (cap) because these are articles of clothing many children are wearing right now to play in the snow. We are doing a chant that goes: "guantes, botas, gorra, guantes, botas."
I like to link to Bible stories in our Spanish lessons as well, so we are talking a bit about Joseph and his colorful coat. This gives us a chance to also review and reinforce colors. One song that we sing to practice colors is a list of colors set to a fun tune. This is a song that comes from a CD called Sing, Laugh, Dance and Eat Tacos.
azul
blanco
rojo
violeta
amarillo
anaranjado
verde y
rosa
(una vez más)
The colors listed are blue, white, red, purple, yellow, orange, green and pink. Sometimes different countries use slightly different words for the colors (you might hear morado for purple, rosado for pink and naranja for orange)... so if you have learned a different word for a certain color than what's listed in this song, that's probably why! We will be singing other songs about colors that use variations.
December
We did lots of Christmas vocabulary and traditional Latin American Christmas songs this month. Unfortunately, our last week before Winter break was cancelled for snow so we didn't act out the Christmas story as we usually would. We did sing some fun songs, though.
The first song is called "Los peces en el río" (The fish in the river). That doesn't sound Christmassy, does it? It is a very popular Christmas song and actually has a wonderful message. The lyrics are:
La Virgen se está peinando (here we pretended to brush our hair)
Entre cortina y cortina
Sus cabellos son de oro
Y el peine de plata fina
Pero mira como beben (here we did the fish mouth and swam like fish)
los peces en el río
Pero mira cómo beben
por ver a Dios nacido.
Beben y beben
y vuelven a beber.
Los peces en el río
por ver a Dios nacer.
La Virgen lava pañales (here, we pretended to put away diapers)
y los tiende en el romero,
los pajarillos cantando,
y el romero floreciendo.
You can download the version of the song that we sang at MDO here:
Another very popular Latin American Christmas song we sang was "Campana sobre campana". Campanas are bells, and in this song, as the angels ring bells, we ask what "nuevas" (news) they are bringing. We held bells and rang them during the chorus.
We read a wonderful book called El arbol de navidad. This book appears to be out of print, but there are some used copies for a few cents on Amazon if you want to order one! It uses very basic (but useful) vocabulary, and it is in Spanish and English for those of you who like to see the meaning of the phrases on each page.
I had planned to sing one more song with the children that we used last year, but the snow stopped us. This is a song about a child riding a little donkey (burrito) into Bethlehem (Belén) to see the baby Jesus. It has a fun beat. If you have children who are small enough, it is a good one to sing (or listen to) as you bounce the child on your knee, as if he/she is riding a donkey.
The first song is called "Los peces en el río" (The fish in the river). That doesn't sound Christmassy, does it? It is a very popular Christmas song and actually has a wonderful message. The lyrics are:
La Virgen se está peinando (here we pretended to brush our hair)
Entre cortina y cortina
Sus cabellos son de oro
Y el peine de plata fina
Pero mira como beben (here we did the fish mouth and swam like fish)
los peces en el río
Pero mira cómo beben
por ver a Dios nacido.
Beben y beben
y vuelven a beber.
Los peces en el río
por ver a Dios nacer.
La Virgen lava pañales (here, we pretended to put away diapers)
y los tiende en el romero,
los pajarillos cantando,
y el romero floreciendo.
You can download the version of the song that we sang at MDO here:
Another very popular Latin American Christmas song we sang was "Campana sobre campana". Campanas are bells, and in this song, as the angels ring bells, we ask what "nuevas" (news) they are bringing. We held bells and rang them during the chorus.
The lyrics are:
Campana sobre campana
y sobre campana una
asomate a la ventana (we pretended to look in a window for the baby Jesus)
verás al niño en la cuna
Chorus
Belen campanas de Belen (we rang bells just like the angels)
que los angeles tocan que nuevas me traes
Caminando a media noche
donde va mira el pastor
que llevarte y a cuidarte
como Dios mi corazon
Some of the children requested that we sing a song that they recognize in English, so we sang the Spanish version of Silent Night (Noche de Paz). Here is the version I used:
We read a wonderful book called El arbol de navidad. This book appears to be out of print, but there are some used copies for a few cents on Amazon if you want to order one! It uses very basic (but useful) vocabulary, and it is in Spanish and English for those of you who like to see the meaning of the phrases on each page.
I had planned to sing one more song with the children that we used last year, but the snow stopped us. This is a song about a child riding a little donkey (burrito) into Bethlehem (Belén) to see the baby Jesus. It has a fun beat. If you have children who are small enough, it is a good one to sing (or listen to) as you bounce the child on your knee, as if he/she is riding a donkey.
November
A family from our Mom's Day Out program moved to Ecuador in November, so we did lots of songs and games to celebrate Ecuador. We looked at a globe to find Ecuador and listened to music from this country. One song/game we played a lot this month was "El patio de mi casa" (107 on the Children's Song CD). As we sang this song, we held hands and walked in a circle. At each "agáchate", we crouch down. After the second one we stayed down and danced. This song is good because it teaches you how to say a few letters in Spanish (h, i, j, k, l, m, n, a). There are multiple versions of this song. This is a good one:
El patio de mi casa es particular
cuando llueve se moja como los demás
agáchate, y vuelve a agachar
que las agachaditas no saben bailar
h, i, j, k, l, m, n, a
que si tu no me quieres otra niña me querrá.
We also did a fun song called "El conejo saltarín." This is about a jumping rabbit. We do it often when the children get wiggly. It is an easy song to learn (although it is fast) and it includes words like las orejas (ears), la nariz (nose), la colita (tail), reír (to laugh). At the "brinca, brinca, conejo saltarín" part, we jump like rabbits. I have linked to the version we use, and you can hear the bulk of the song in the sample. Try playing it to see if your child makes rabbit ears at "orejas", points to his/her nose at "nariz", wiggles his/her tail at "colita" and jumps at "brinca".
Conejo saltarín
The Smithsonian Institute has archived lots of world music; the CD "Children's Songs from Ecuador, Mexico and Puerto Rico" includes traditional songs from various Latin American countries. Incidentally, this site is a great resource for lots of music genres.
El patio de mi casa es particular
cuando llueve se moja como los demás
agáchate, y vuelve a agachar
que las agachaditas no saben bailar
h, i, j, k, l, m, n, a
que si tu no me quieres otra niña me querrá.
We also did a fun song called "El conejo saltarín." This is about a jumping rabbit. We do it often when the children get wiggly. It is an easy song to learn (although it is fast) and it includes words like las orejas (ears), la nariz (nose), la colita (tail), reír (to laugh). At the "brinca, brinca, conejo saltarín" part, we jump like rabbits. I have linked to the version we use, and you can hear the bulk of the song in the sample. Try playing it to see if your child makes rabbit ears at "orejas", points to his/her nose at "nariz", wiggles his/her tail at "colita" and jumps at "brinca".
Conejo saltarín
The Smithsonian Institute has archived lots of world music; the CD "Children's Songs from Ecuador, Mexico and Puerto Rico" includes traditional songs from various Latin American countries. Incidentally, this site is a great resource for lots of music genres.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Colores y formas: El otoño
As the Moms Day Out classes focused on colors and shapes in October, I reviewed colors and introduced shapes within the context of the changing seasons.
Because October is a month mixed with warm and cool mornings, we have begun talking about the weather. We do a chant to ask/answer what the weather is for the day:
¿Qué tiempo hace afuera, afuera? ¿Qué tiempo hace afuera hoy? (Hace is pronounced "AH say")
(It's cold: "Hace frío"; It's hot: "Hace calor"; It's windy: "Hace viento".)
In talking about colors, we looked at leaves one day and did leaf rubbings using fall colors like brown (café), green (verde), yellow (amarillo) and orange (anaranjado).
We also sang the classic song, "De colores" and talked about the colors of the objects mentioned in the song and some of the words. The children enjoyed the part of the song that includes three animals and the sounds they make in Spanish:
Canta el gallo, con el kiri kiri kiri kiri kiri kiri kiri. (The rooster sings "kiri, kiri, kiri...")
La gallina, con el cara cara cara cara cara cara cara (The hen, with her "cara, cara, cara...")
Los pollitos con el pío pío pío pío pío pío pi (The chicks with the "pío, pío...)
Here is the version of the song we sang:
There are many other versions available.
Because October is a month mixed with warm and cool mornings, we have begun talking about the weather. We do a chant to ask/answer what the weather is for the day:
¿Qué tiempo hace afuera, afuera? ¿Qué tiempo hace afuera hoy? (Hace is pronounced "AH say")
(It's cold: "Hace frío"; It's hot: "Hace calor"; It's windy: "Hace viento".)
In talking about colors, we looked at leaves one day and did leaf rubbings using fall colors like brown (café), green (verde), yellow (amarillo) and orange (anaranjado).
We also sang the classic song, "De colores" and talked about the colors of the objects mentioned in the song and some of the words. The children enjoyed the part of the song that includes three animals and the sounds they make in Spanish:
Canta el gallo, con el kiri kiri kiri kiri kiri kiri kiri. (The rooster sings "kiri, kiri, kiri...")
La gallina, con el cara cara cara cara cara cara cara (The hen, with her "cara, cara, cara...")
Los pollitos con el pío pío pío pío pío pío pi (The chicks with the "pío, pío...)
Here is the version of the song we sang:
There are many other versions available.
Los caballos
To celebrate the WEG competitors in town and parallel the curriculum across the Mom's Day Out classes, the vocabulary, songs and games were related to horses (and some other farm animals) for the last few weeks of September.
We played a lot with little horses, making them jump ("¡salten!"), run ("¡corran!"), turn around ("¡den la vuelta!") sleep ("duerman"), and in some classes the students made them fly ("vuelen"). Along with the commands, we talked a bit about the horses' colors and features.
We also sang a song about lots of farm animals called, "Vengan a ver mi granja". If you purchased the Whistlefritz CD last year, you have this song. We used sign language as we sang some of the words:
Vengan a ver mi granja que es hermosa (repeat)
Click here for a sample of the song, or to download it if you do not have it already and would like a copy:
We also read the book Salí de paseo. Students held stuffed farm animals as we "found" them in the book. This book has recently been for sale for a few dollars in the discounted children's book section at Joseph Beth. You can also find it here:
Finally, I introduced a new song that the kids have loved called "Bailar rápido, bailar tranquilo." The song has just a few phrases, which say, "I like to dance, I like to dance slowly. I like to dance, and I never want to stop":
A mí me gusta bailar,
me gusta bailar tranquilo.
A mí me gusta bailar,
Y nunca quiero parar.
This song is set to a salsa beat. I taught the children the basic dance step for salsa, and many of them picked it up easily. The song repeats multiple times, getting faster with each round. It is a very fun song and a great way to expend energy! The song comes from a CD that is filled with songs that expose students to the beat and instruments of Latin music. It is available through the Spanish Scholastic book order. If you would like a copy, let me know and I will place an order for you.
We played a lot with little horses, making them jump ("¡salten!"), run ("¡corran!"), turn around ("¡den la vuelta!") sleep ("duerman"), and in some classes the students made them fly ("vuelen"). Along with the commands, we talked a bit about the horses' colors and features.
We also sang a song about lots of farm animals called, "Vengan a ver mi granja". If you purchased the Whistlefritz CD last year, you have this song. We used sign language as we sang some of the words:
Vengan a ver mi granja que es hermosa (repeat)
Click here for a sample of the song, or to download it if you do not have it already and would like a copy:
We also read the book Salí de paseo. Students held stuffed farm animals as we "found" them in the book. This book has recently been for sale for a few dollars in the discounted children's book section at Joseph Beth. You can also find it here:
Finally, I introduced a new song that the kids have loved called "Bailar rápido, bailar tranquilo." The song has just a few phrases, which say, "I like to dance, I like to dance slowly. I like to dance, and I never want to stop":
A mí me gusta bailar,
me gusta bailar tranquilo.
A mí me gusta bailar,
Y nunca quiero parar.
This song is set to a salsa beat. I taught the children the basic dance step for salsa, and many of them picked it up easily. The song repeats multiple times, getting faster with each round. It is a very fun song and a great way to expend energy! The song comes from a CD that is filled with songs that expose students to the beat and instruments of Latin music. It is available through the Spanish Scholastic book order. If you would like a copy, let me know and I will place an order for you.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Welcome back!
I am so excited to have the opportunity to work with the children at Mom's Day Out this year, and I have been especially thrilled to watch last year's students pick up where we left off in the Spring. The children are doing great!
This year our vocabulary, songs and books coincide directly with the themes for the classes. I am also linking to Bible stories or Bible verses that apply to our topics. We started the year by learning some basic commands and by learning how to talk about our friends. Here are some of the songs and activities we have done:
"Hola, amigo"
This comes from the Dr. Jean CD.
Hola, amigo (we wave to say, "hello friend")
¿Cómo está Usted? ("how are you?")
Estoy muy feliz de verlo a Usted. (We draw a smile on our faces, point to our eyes, then point to a friend to say, "I'm very happy to see you.")
Salude su vecino (wave to a neighbor)
Boogie para abajo (wiggle to the floor)
Dese un tope (give two little bumps with our hips)
y de la vuelta (do a spin)
"Yo tengo un amigo que me ama"
I learned this song at a Vacation Bible School in Mexico. It's a very easy to learn and fun to sing. Most of the children can already sing along with me. It says, "I have a friend who loves me; His name is Jesus." The lyrics are:
Yo tengo un amigo que me ama, me ama, me ama
Yo tengo un amigo que me ama
Su nombre es Jesús.
The signs we use as we sing are:
"amigo" (friend): click here to see the sign
"me ama"(loves me): we give ourselves a hug
"Jesús" (Jesus): click here to see the sign
You can download it or just listen to a sample here:
We have done a little bit of descriptions of our ourselves and our friends. We started with how our faces are similar:
Yo tengo dos ojos (I have two eyes)
Yo tengo una nariz (I have a nose)
Yo tengo una boca (I have a mouth)
Y estoy muy feliz (I am very happy)
We sing that quick rhyme to the same tune as a very fun song about hair color. The part the children are learning says:
Cabeza, cabeza (we pat our heads to the beat; this line says, "head, head")
La cabeza tiene pelo (the head has hair)
Pelo, pelo, pelo en la cabeza (hair, hair, hair on the head)
A veces es ______(a different hair color is mentioned each time)
A veces la cabeza no tiene pelo. (Sometimes the head has no hair)
This song is worth a quick listen. My kids love to sing and dance to it at home.
This year our vocabulary, songs and books coincide directly with the themes for the classes. I am also linking to Bible stories or Bible verses that apply to our topics. We started the year by learning some basic commands and by learning how to talk about our friends. Here are some of the songs and activities we have done:
"Hola, amigo"
This comes from the Dr. Jean CD.
Hola, amigo (we wave to say, "hello friend")
¿Cómo está Usted? ("how are you?")
Estoy muy feliz de verlo a Usted. (We draw a smile on our faces, point to our eyes, then point to a friend to say, "I'm very happy to see you.")
Salude su vecino (wave to a neighbor)
Boogie para abajo (wiggle to the floor)
Dese un tope (give two little bumps with our hips)
y de la vuelta (do a spin)
"Yo tengo un amigo que me ama"
I learned this song at a Vacation Bible School in Mexico. It's a very easy to learn and fun to sing. Most of the children can already sing along with me. It says, "I have a friend who loves me; His name is Jesus." The lyrics are:
Yo tengo un amigo que me ama, me ama, me ama
Yo tengo un amigo que me ama
Su nombre es Jesús.
The signs we use as we sing are:
"amigo" (friend): click here to see the sign
"me ama"(loves me): we give ourselves a hug
"Jesús" (Jesus): click here to see the sign
You can download it or just listen to a sample here:
We have done a little bit of descriptions of our ourselves and our friends. We started with how our faces are similar:
Yo tengo dos ojos (I have two eyes)
Yo tengo una nariz (I have a nose)
Yo tengo una boca (I have a mouth)
Y estoy muy feliz (I am very happy)
We sing that quick rhyme to the same tune as a very fun song about hair color. The part the children are learning says:
Cabeza, cabeza (we pat our heads to the beat; this line says, "head, head")
La cabeza tiene pelo (the head has hair)
Pelo, pelo, pelo en la cabeza (hair, hair, hair on the head)
A veces es ______(a different hair color is mentioned each time)
A veces la cabeza no tiene pelo. (Sometimes the head has no hair)
This song is worth a quick listen. My kids love to sing and dance to it at home.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)