Teaching music with the keyboard cards

A few nights ago, Alicia decided that she needed to play the piano and I decided that since she was in the mood, I'd just take out the keyboard cards that I'd made earlier to just refresh her memory.

Playing earnestly

What's the next note?

D!

Now that she's able to recognise alphabets, it does make teaching music notes a little easier! I'm only targeting at her ability to recognise the pattern of the keyboard actually. How those music notes fit in would probably come at a later stage but there's really no harm trying now. :)

Hop over to Simply Mommie's Precious Handmades to check out this learning aid and others too! :)

Review of Eric Carle's Draw me a star

Before I move on to the book review, I just need to say that I am so fortunate to have borrowed a copy that was autographed by Eric Carle himself(!) and he wrote about his inspiration for this book (see picture below):

This is yet another book that's filled with colours, bursting with spontaneity. It is hard not to fall in love with his delightful illustrations and that certainly draws any tot's attention to the book.

I must say that I only flipped through a couple of pages of the book before borrowing it and I had a shock when I was reading the book with Alicia when I came to a page depicting a naked man and woman. That wasn't quite what I expected and I guess for that reason, this is probably a book not often read to older tots at school.

While the book seems to have some biblical undertones of Creation, and in particular, the tree of knowledge of good and evil and Adam and Eve in the illustration (there's an apple tree on the left page and the naked couple on the right), I would say that it hardly makes any other significant reference to Christianity.

And upon reading the autograph (see above), you can be quite sure that Eric Carle's inspiration for the book came mainly from his dream about a falling star rather than religion per se.

The story begins with a star and ends with it - and everything in between just falls neatly into the storyline that he created.

It is a book that tots would enjoy. I know, because my Alicia did, tremendously. :)

Review of Eric Carle's From head to toe

If you ever pick up any of Eric Carle's books, you'd notice the beautiful illustrations and a very simple story line that a tot can easily follow.

This book From head to toe is no exception.

As you turn from page to page, you are greeted by an animal on the left doing an action and a child on the right, imitating that action. As you would expect, this spells great fun during storytime for the tot. It is truly hard not to get into the thick of the action together with the characters in the story!

While this book doesn't quite transport the reader to a place less travelled or a mystical place, you can be certain that children will still be enthralled by the animals and their actions, and they will probably be begging you to turn to a certain few pages which excite them more and spontaneously imitate the actions..

Overall, it is a great book for teaching body parts, body movements and even animals! I even used iphone apps to show Alicia pictures and sounds of the animals mentioned in the book and needless to say, that added another element of fun and participation.

Julia Gabriel PlayClub (Term 3 Week 4)

We were the first to enter the classroom on Saturday - it's been eons since we've been early for class! Somehow we managed that day and Alicia had a little more indoor playtime. :)

Theme of the week?

QUICK.

Hence:

a crab that moves quickly

(you can place your thumbs behind the crab - there's a strip of cardboard attached behind so your fingers can act as the crab's legs)

A fast-moving boat at sea :)

The boat is attached to a disposable chopstick and the paper plate has a slit in the middle so you can move the boat horizontally!

Outdoor play was sandplay and she refused to go near the sandpits at all so off she scooted to the playground... when will she ever like sand? :)

Alicia's class size is becoming larger and larger - and I'm really tired of beating the crowd to get her art done. These days, she refuses to play with the toys while waiting and insists on waiting AT the table and trying to get her hands on the artwork. Needless to say, that means lots of struggling as I try to get her away from the table...

Lessons have become very noisy and inconducive with the new kids taking turns to cry. And since it's JG's philosophy to not let a crying child leave the classroom, we've had to put up with lots of noise. Although I do understand their good intentions of teaching a kid to settle in and all, as a parent of a not-constantly-bawling-child, I find it difficult to concentrate as an adult, what more a 2-year-old?

The huge class size also means a change in the teacher-student ratio and to pay that amount for the term with such a ratio, I find it truly hard to accept. Besides, I don't see Alicia picking up much from class this term. Perhaps it's the class size. Perhaps. I'm really not sure. One thing I'm certain though is that she's picking up a lot more at home so I think I should just save the school fees. I'm sure we have a better use for that money. :) That said, Alicia and I have enjoyed the lessons and the teachers, and it was only after much deliberation that we've decided to withdraw after this term...