Service First
Education and
Training
P.O. Box 561323 Charlotte, NC 28256
Office: 1-800-729-1949 Fax: 704-596-4490
Email: sftng@aol.com
Ideas from the
Teacher's Nook.....
PRIME TIME TOGETHER WITH MUSIC –
Let’s
Have Fun!
Are you
having fun as you develop age appropriate activities for the
children in your care?
When planning learning activities for young
children, there are several
ideas to consider. First, it is especially important to provide
activities,
projects,
and themes
suited to the age and individual needs of each child.
Second, carefully think about each of the following elements while
planning:
Your
curriculum should include fun things as well as providing a solid
foundation for children to build their knowledge, understanding, and
experience of the world. Plan your activities according to weekly themes,
seasons, holidays, or the interests and abilities of the children in your class.
Infants
Some research findings suggest that babies can hear music even before
they are born, while still in their mother's womb. Sing simple, short songs
to infants in a high, soft voice. Make up one or two lines about bathing,
dressing, or eating to sing to them while you do these activities.
Nursery
rhymes said with rhythm and repetition sound pleasant to older
infants. You can also provide rhythmic activities for younger infants by
rocking them or clapping and patting their hands together. Babies will
respond with excited movements like swaying, waving, and bouncing.
Gurgling, cooing, and happy shouting are the baby's own way of making music!
Toddlers
Children from 18 months through 2 years like short songs. Their memories
are not fully developed, so they can remember only a few words at a time.
Motion is interesting to them too, and actions that are put to words help
them remember their order. Repeating songs encourages the use of words
and memorization.
Preschoolers
Children who are three, four and five enjoy singing just to be singing!
They like songs that repeat words and melodies, rhythms with a definite
beat and words that ask them to do things. Preschool children enjoy
nursery rhymes and songs about familiar things like toys, animals,
play activities, and people. They also like finger plays and non-sense
rhymes - with or without musical accompaniment.
**********************************************************************
TEDDY
Teddy
Stallard certainly qualified as one of the least. Disinterested in
school,
musty, wrinkled clothes, hair never combed. A glassy, unfocused
stare. When
Miss Thompson spoke to Teddy, he always answered in
monosyllables.
Unattractive,
unmotivated, and distant, he was just plain hard to like.
Even though
his teacher said she loved all in her class the same, deep
down inside she wasn't
being completely truthful. Whenever she marked
Teddy's papers, she got a certain
perverse pleasure out of putting X's
next to the wrong answers and when she put
the F's at the top of the
papers, she always did it with a flair. She should have
known better;
she had Teddy's records and she knew more about him than she
wanted
to admit. the records read:
lst Grade:
Teddy shows promise with his work and attitude,
but poor home situation.
2nd Grade:
Teddy could do better. Mother is seriously ill.
He receives little help at home.
3rd Grade:
Teddy is a good boy but too serious. He is a slow learner.
His mother died this year.
4th Grade:
Teddy is very slow, but well-behaved. His father shows
no interest.
Christmas came and the boys and girls in Miss Thompson's class brought
her
Christmas presents. They piled their presents on her desk and crowded
around
to watch her open them. Among the presents there was one from
Teddy Stallard.
She was surprised that he had brought her a gift. But he had. Teddy's
gift
was wrapped in brown paper and was held together with scotch
tape.
On the
paper were written the simple words, "For Miss Thompson From Teddy."
When she opened Teddy's present, out fell a gaudy rhinestone bracelet,with half
the stones missing, and a bottle of used cheap perfume.
The other boys and girls began to giggle and smirk over Teddy's gifts,
but Miss Thompson
at least had enough sense to silence them by immediately
putting on the bracelet and
putting some of the perfume on her wrist.
Holding her wrist up for the other children to smell, she said, "Doesn't it
smell lovely?"
And the children, taking their cue from the teacher, readily
agreed with "oo's and "ah's."
At the end of the day when school was over and the other children had left,
Teddy lingered
behind. He slowly came over to her desk and said softly,
"Miss Thompson... Miss Thompson,
you smell just like my Mother.... her
bracelet looks real pretty on you, too. I'm glad you liked
my presents."
When Teddy left, Miss Thompson got down on her knees and
asked God to
forgive her.
The next
day when the children came to school, they were welcomed by
a new teacher.
Miss Thompson had become a different person. She was
no longer just a teacher, she had become
an agent of God. She was now
a person committed to loving her children and doing things for them
that
would live on after her. She helped all the children, but especially the slow
ones, and especially
Teddy Stallard.
By the end of the school year, Teddy showed dramatic improvement.
He had caught up with most of
the students and was even ahead of some.
She didn't hear from Teddy for
a long time. Then one day, she received a note that read:
Dear Miss
Thompson:
I wanted you to be the first to know. I will be graduating second in myclass.
Love,
Teddy Stallard
Four years
later, another note came:
Dear Miss Thompson:
They just told me I will be graduating first in my class. I wanted you to be
the first to know. The University has not been easy, but I liked it.
Love,
Teddy Stallard
And four
years later:
Dear Miss Thompson:
As of today, I am Theodore Stallard, M.D. How about that? I wanted you to be
the first to know. I am getting married next month, the 27th to be exact.I want
you to come and sit where my mother would sit if she were alive. You are the
only
family I have now, Dad died last year.
Love,
Teddy Stallard
Miss Thompson
went to that wedding and sat where Teddy's mother would have sat.
She deserved to sit there; she had done something for Teddy he could never
forget.
**********************************************************************
Transitions
Walk A Ron-I
(tune: Yankee Doodle)
Yankee Doodle went to town a-riding on a pony
He stuck a feather in his hat and and called it walk-a-roni
Walk, walk, walk, walk down the hall
Yankee Doodle Dandy.
Mind the music and your step
And with the girls be handy.
In Which
House Do You Live?
“I got two A’s,” the small boy cried,
His voice was filled with glee.
His father bluntly asked him,
“Why didn’t you get three?”
“Mom,
I’ve got the dishes done,”
The girl called from the door.
Her mother very calmly said,
“Did you sweep the kitchen floor?”
“I’ve mowed the grass,” the tall
boy said,
“And put the mower away.”
The father, looking at the rug,
“You didn’t clean off the clay!”
The
children in the house next door
Seemed happy and content,
The same things happened over there,
But this is how it went:
“I got two A’s,” the small boy
cried,
His voice was filled with glee,
His father proudly said,
“That’s great; I’m glad you belong to me.”
“Mom,
I’ve got the dishes done,”
The girl called from the door.
Her mother smiled and softly said,
“Each day I love you more.”
“I’ve mowed the
grass,” the tall boy said,
“And put the mower away,”
His father answered with much joy,
“Son, you have made my day!”
Children deserve a little praise
For tasks they’re asked to do;
If they’re to grow up feeling good,
So much depends on you! Author Unknown….
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