Creative Curriculum - Cooking

Why Cooking Is Important?

Cooking enables children to experiences the world of food firsthand. They learn not only how food is prepared but how it contributes to their health and well being. Cooking offers children opportunities to experiment with food, to be creative, and to prepare nutritional snacks. It could be considered a "survival skill" that is basic to the education of all boys and girls.

Coking can be one of the most satisfying activities in the classroom. Not only is food preparation enjoyable, it's also a true laboratory for learning. As children melt cheese, they learn about science. As they measure a cup of milk for a pudding recipe, they learn about measurement and volume. As they stir peanut butter, knead biscuit dough, and peel carrots, they develop physical skills and increase their vocabularies. Making hummus teaches children about good nutrition and cultural preferences. When they make zucchini muffins for their morning snack, children see a task through to completion and can take pride in theiraccomplishment. Cooking appeals to children's senses and provides a wealth of learning opportunities.

One of the most appealing aspects of cooking for children is that it is one of the few activities ini which they are allowed to do the same things that adults do. In the block corner they make pretend roads and bridges. In the house corner they imagine they are parents, teachers, and doctors. In cooking, they have an opportunity to behave just as grown -ups do a rare treat for children.

A Letter to Parents on Music and Movement

What We Do and WHy?

We do alot of singing and creative movement in program. Singing and moving to music give the children a chance to move freely, practice new skills, and feel good about what their bodies can do. The children love our daily time for singing together, and it helps them develop the ability to cooperate in a group. Here are some of the things we do to encourage a love for music and movement.

• sometimes we take a tape recorder outside and play jazz or folk music, and the children dance and act out the songs
• We give the children colored scarves and paper streamers to use as they move to the music
• We play musical instruments, some of which are homemade
• We use chants to help us get through the daily routines, suc as clean up time.

• We have a comfortable listening center with a wide variety of tapes for children to listen to on their own.

What You Can Do at Home?

You don't have to be musical to enjoy music to your child. Taking a few minutes to sit together and listen to music can provide a welcome break for both of you. Also the music you share with your child doesn't have to be only "kid's music". It can be rap, reggae, country, jazz, classical or any music you like. Here are some ideas for enjoying music and movement with your child:

• Children love a song or chant about what they are doing at the moment, especially when it use their games. While pushing your child on a swing, you might chant, "Swing high, swing low, this is the way that Julie goes." The child likes this because it is about her and what she is doing, and rhytm mathces her movement.
• Songs and finger plays help keep children involved at tough times, such as during car or bus trips, while waiting in line, or while grocery shopping.
• Chanting or singing also helps at times when your child needs to switch gears and start picking up toys, getting ready to go out side, undressing for a bath, and so on. You might try a chant such as, "water is filling up the tub, up the tub, up the tub..." or "pickin up a toy and put it on the shelf.." (to the tune of "This Is The Way WeWash Our Clothes")
• Musical instruments can easily be made or improvised at home. You (or your child) may already have discovered that cooking pots and lids make wonderful instruments. We have directions for making a variety of musical instruments from household objects such as empty oatmeal containers, paper plates, and buttons.
  

Sharing Music and Movement with Parents

When parents and children enjoy music and movement experiences together, they can share hours of pleasure and creativity, and children's development and learning are enhanced. To help parents appreciate the rich potencial for increasing children's learning and enjoyment of music and movement, you can incorporate these acttivities in parent workshops, involve parents in the classroom, and share ideas in a letter.

Conducting Workshops on Music and Movement

Singing and movement games can be great icebreakers at parent meetings and workshops. You may choose to include these activities in other parent workshops and meetings rather than dedicating a session to music and movement.  Or you may decide to plan a special music and movement workshop with some of the following kinds of activities.

• Lead the group in singing some songs that are the children's favorites and ask the parents why they thing these are so popular. Ask parents to suggest other songs that their children like or that they themselves remember liking when they were children.
• Ask for a volunteer who knows a finger play and will teach it to the group. Then ask: "Would this finger play be hard for young children to learn to do?" "Why or why not?" "Does anyone know an easier finger play? A harderone?"  Teach the parents finger plays at  different developmental levels and discuss why children enjoy them.
• Challenge parents with movement problems that call for problem solving and creativity  ("Move sideways and see what different things you can do with your feet as you go").
• Hold a workshop where parents make simple instruments for their children to use at home (Using the directions provided in this section).

Involving Parents in The Classroom

Some parents have special abilities and experiences with music and movement that they would probably enjoy sharing with the children.  A parent who plays an instrument, for instance, can show it to the children and demonstrate how it is played. Parents might be willing to share the songs, dences, and instruments of their culture or make tapes of the music they enjoy. It's a good idea to provide parents with blank or recycled tapes for this purpose.

Parents can also help in videotaping the children dancing, singing, jumping, doing finger plays, and engaging in other kind of movement.  Seeing themselves on tape intrigues children and enhances heir self image and awareness of what their bodies can do.

Creative Curriculum - Extending and integrating Children's Learning

You can extend and enrich children's music and movement experiences by frequently adding new recordings in the listening center and new musical instruments to be explored.  Use the public library to rent tapes, make tapes from records, and encourage parents to help build the classroom tape collection.

One teacher started a "sound table" with a few small boxes and an assortment of objects such as buttons and paper clips and suggested that the children add tho the collection.  The children brought objects they found elsewhere in the room (beads,small blocks) and outdoors (rocks, wood chips, gravel).  From time to time the teacher added new materials, including rice, marbles, tiny bells, and boxes of varied sizes, from band-aid boxes to coffee cans.  Encouraged to try different combinations of boxes and objects, the children became more aware of sound and more interested in exploring the sound making possibilities of the instruments.  They used some of the sound boxes (with the tops glued or taped shout) to accompany their songs and as sound effects for stories and dramatic play.

Group Singing and Movement activities

Singing and moving together is enjoyable for children and helps everyone feel a part of the group.  Even shy children tend to feel a little more at home when singing with the group. Group singing and action games also help children learn to cooperate with agroup, including learning to sing when the group is singing and be quiet when every one is quiet.

Here are some types of songs and related activities that are popular with young children:

Simple songs with lots of repetition ( a repeated line or refrain).  Children's affection for songs such as "Yellow Submarine", "Old McDonald Had a Farm", and "Skip to My Lou" is partly based on the easy , repetitive refrains of these songs.  Even if children cannot remember the verses, they can always join in on the refrain.

Songs WIth Finger Play.  "Wheels on the bus", "Where is thunbkin", and "Eensy Weensy Spider" are a few of the many songs with finger movements that children love.  Some children may participate by moving their hands and fingers before they actually singing.

Songs with funny sounds or silly lirics. Nursery rhymes have lots of funny sounds, like "higgledy,piggledy", "hey -diddle-diddle," and "rub-a-dub-dub."  Many folk songs have silly lirics.  Children like songs that play around with familiar words, particularly with their own names (Annie,Annie,Bo-Bonnie).

Creative Curriculum - Selecting Materials

The listening center, typically located in the lybrary corner and including story and music tapes, should be comfortable and inviting. To foster children's awareness of various types of music and their own preferences, try to provide access to music during times of the day when children are free to select their own activities. To make this possible, you need to ensure that the listening center include :

• easy to operate tape recorders and earphones
• shelf space to make tapes accessible to children
• labels to identify tapes (e.g. poctures of children dancing, marching, resting, etc.,to match the music; or colors or symbols to identify types of music such as bluegrass, classical, or rap) and
• variety of tapes, including music that is:

• fast and lively or slow and soothing so that children can cose music to fit their mood, diverse in style and tradition (such as folk,classical, country, jazz, rock, reggae, bluegrass, and ragtime) and
• representative of the children's cultures.

If you change the materials in the center regularly, children know that new discoveries await them when they come to listen.

Creative Curriculum - Creating Space

It isn't necessary to have a permanent dance and movement area in the classroom. However, you may want occassionally to set up a special area - a place with plenty of space, musical instruments, a tape recorder, and a variety of props that lend them selves movement.

Props might include scarves and streamers, hoops, capes that swirl, wrist bells, maracas and other instruments. A full-length mirror allows children to see themwelves in movement. Most children are intrigued by seeing their shadows as they dance, which you can arrange by placing a strong light source (such as a bright lamp or a projector) in a dim room. Tumbling mats on the floor invite children to explore other kind of movements.

If it's feasible to set up a movement area within your classroom, you may find this particularly welcome on rainy days when children need a place for physical activity. And when the weather is good, the outdoor are is wonderful for music and movement activities.

Creative Curriculum - Arranging The Environment

The block area, the house corner, the sand and water area - each of these distinct areas of the classroom is set up to give children opportunities to play with social materials assembled there. By comparison, music and movement may be enjoyed just about anywhere in the classroom, outdoors, or even on field a trip.

From the time children arrive, when they may be greeted with a song or chant, many teachers find music an effective way of easing children through transitions and routines: coming to sit down for snack, calming down for rest or naptime, cleaning up the room, or putting on clothes to go outside. Music and movement are naturals for times when the whole group is gathered. And children individually and in small groups -on their own or with a teacher- can enjoy music or movement activities.

Music spontaneously enters into many activity areas as children create their own songs or chants to go with their actions pounding clay or pushing a truck. While movement and music aren't tied to one location, there are some points to consider in planning a physical environment that will set the stage for a rich array of music and movement experiences for children.

creative curriculum - Objectives for Children's Learning

Children's experiences with music and movement can contribute to their socio emotional, cognitive, and physical development in a variety ways. The following are some objectives that you might set for movement and music activities.

Objectives for socio emotional development

• participate in agroup
• develop social skill by playing cooperative musical
• Express anger, fear, joy, and otehr emotions through music and movement
• recognize that music and dance express moods and feelings
• Enhance self-concept by sharing the music and dance of each child's culture
  

Objectives for Cognitive Development

• refine listening skill by noticing changes in tempo or pitch
• Increase awareness of different movement or body positions
• develop creativity and imagination by responding to problems in movement or music
• Learn new words and concepts through songs and movement
• Explore cause and effect

Objectives for Physical Development

• Explore the many ways in which a body can move
  
• Develop large motor skilss
• Improve balance, coordination, and rhytm through dancing and other movement activities
  
• Improve small motor skills

This entire list of objectives probably won't be appropriate for any particular child or group of children. However, it provides a framework that you can use in planning an effective and enjoyable program of music and movement for children in your care.

Creative Curriculum - Music and Movement

Why Music and Movement Are Important?

Music naturally delights and moves children. Whether the music is a lively dance tune or a gentle lullaby, even babies feel its force -both emotionally and phisically. An infant only two months old will stop squirming at the sound of music, entranced by what she hears. A baby of ten months will rock her body and wave her arms to atune on the radio. Toddlers will happiy clap, rock, or sway to music. They may also sing along, ang though they may not get the words or the melody right, they love to make music. Preschool and kindergarten children movie intime to music and often make up little dances to dramatize songs or events and to express emotions.

Throughout the early childhood years, children are learning to do new things with their bodies. Young children are also learning that movement can communicate message and represent actions. Athumbs up sign means everything's okay, bringing an imaginary spoon to the mouth indicates eating. Young children are able to perform and recognize pantomimed actions such as ironing, stirring, swimming, or playing piano.

Most young children usually are quite at home with movement. They begin to learn about the world by acting on objects and people, and they "think with their bodies" well before they think with words. This is why body movement is not only fun for young children but also a good opportunity for them to solve problems.

Singing or chanting can help make routine activities and transitions, suc as gathering children into a circle for a group activity, snoother and more enjoyable. And music helps to set a mood. Music and movement are also social activities that help children feel part of the group.

Music brings another dimension of beauty into our lives. An early childhood program that includes time for music and movement provides an outlet for children's energy and high spirits and benefits their development in anumber of ways.