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Saturday, December 17, 2011

Great songs to use in the winter

Currently I'm working on a theme called "Weather & Seasons."  I didn't choose this theme - it's part of the pre-k curriculum chosen by my county.  I've been trying desperately to find concrete activities that my students could participate in, to help them understand what they would experience during the different seasons.  These two snowflake songs are excellent for getting little ones up and moving while learning about weather, natural phenomena, personal space, and how to move in a creative fashion:


"Swirl, Twirl, Melt and Pop Up" by Kate Kuper and Neal Robinson
"Snowflake Dance" by Surie Levilev

A friend, who is a performer herself, found out that I really wanted white dance scarves.  I've searched the internet for two years trying to find such a product.  I can't say how pleased I was when my friend presented me with a bag of them!  The children use the scarves to represent snowflakes, and it really allows them to feel the lightness and delicacy of how a snowflake would move.  It often seems to me that if young children are given completely open-ended time for dancing, they become slightly wild.  I have observed that the scarves allows children to exercise their creativity but also gives them an object to focus on so they do not get out of control.

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