Music and Movement- Stop and Go


Music & Movement: Stop and Go
October 3rd, 10:15 and 11am

As this was the first class in a new session, I always include a short little speech about who I am, why I do these classes, and what I expect.

Opening Song: Glad to See You by Peter and Ellen Allard
"When I'm glad to see all of you, I like to clap my hands, stamp my feet, I especially like to shake my hips (wiggle, wiggle, wiggle!), I even like to nod my head, and then I like to see how many times I can blink my eyes (or open and close your hands)."

Parent Piece: We're going to work on active listening in the next couple sessions. Musicians learn, by listening, to anticipate changes in music, and to learn something called "phrasing," which has to do with playing or creating music with expression. This is similar to reading; once a child has a rudimentary grasp of words, we begin to coach them to read with expression, using clues from punctuation and the meaning of words to alter their pitch and pacing so they don't sound like little robots.

I brought out a stoplight prop made by the previous children's librarian from tagboard. We talked about each color and what adults do when they see the different colors when they are driving.

Learn: Green Says Go from Toddler Storytime
Green says, "Go" (march quickly)
Go! Go! Go!
Yellow says, "Slow!" (march slowly)
Slow...slow...slow.
And red says, "Stop!" (stop and freeze)
Go! Go! Go! (march fast)
Slow...slow...slow (march slow)
and STOP! (stop)

Song: "Beep Beep (Blue Danube Waltz)" by Mr. Eric and Mr. Michael from Bouncy Blue from the Learning Groove. I handed out steering wheel props and we drove and beeped our way through.

Cover Art for Red light, green light Picture Book: Red Light, Green Light by Anastasia Suen.

I made Stop and Go paddles created by Library Quine (thank you!) and passed one of each out to all the kids. We used them for an action rhyme and a song.






Learn: I Have a Little Bicycle from Library Quine
I have a little bicycle (cycling motion with hands)
I got it at the shop.
And when I see that big red sign,
I know it's time to STOP! (hold palm out in front with Stop paddle, and a bit of a shout)

I have a little bicycle (cycling motion with hands)
I ride it to and fro.
And when I see a big green sign,
I know its time to Go, Go, Go! (jumping up and down with the Go paddle)

Learn: Sleeping, Sleeping, All the Kids are Sleeping adapted from Your Therapy Source
All the kids pretended to sleep. I sang with the caregivers (to the tune of Frere Jacques) "Sleeping, sleeping, all the kids are sleeping (repeat). Then I said "And when they woke up, they were.... " and picked silly things like chickens, cows, monkeys, and race cars.

Song: "Stop and Go" by Greg & Steve from Shake, Rattle, and Roll 

Parent Piece: Games and songs like the ones we've been sharing today are not only great for building active listening skills, but also for practing self control. It is hard to stop dancing and jumping when the music does! Practicing listening as well as "stopping and going" in fun ways will help your child learn when it is okay to "go, go, go," and when it is time to "stop, stop, stop."

Activity: Have the kids sit in the middle of a parachute as close together as possible. (I was prepared to do two circles, one with bigger kids on our large chute, and one with babes and tots on our small chute). Have the caregivers say or sing-song "shake and shake, shake, shake, shake, shake, and STOP!" as you shake the chute and stop. When I did this, I then turned the tables and asked the kids to tell us when to stop and go.
Several variations of this activity can be found on the Internet.

Closing Rhyme: (borrowed from the librarians at the Ames Public Library)
We read a book / We sang a song / Let's blow a kiss / And say so long.
Teach sign language for book & song, mimic blowing a kiss, wave for so long.

CONVERSATION

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