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In this group project I took part in doing the art and music lesson as well as the strengthening language development through play and the how to include play at home as well as that how can creative activities help your child sections of the padlet. We decided to choose first grade for our creative choice for this project, we also decided do use the arts as well as math lessons for our big ideas. This project help me understand how Play is so important in the development of young children. Play benefits children’s intellectual and cognitive development as well as they are thinking skills. To add to this it’s helps their problem-solving, imagination development, attention, and critical thinking abilities. Furthermore, I included a section for parents to learn how to include play at home. This is especially important To include with the pandemic still going on today. The art and music activities included do a wonderful job of including the PA standards. Both activities also keep students engaged and creative. They also have a room for creative individuality. Overall this project helped me better understand how incorporating play it’s crucial to children’s development.

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For this project I chose to do a first grade math lesson plan using buttons. During class students will break off into small groups and be given a bag of buttons, each group having a different amount of buttons in each zip-lock bag. I will then ask a series of questions, for example I would say "everyone take away 5 buttons from your pile and then count how many you have left. The students will also be given a worksheet with buttons that they can color and cut out at home with their parents. I also completed the "how play helps emotional physical development. Play helps because it boost self-esteem and self-confidence in children at an early age. It also improves social skills at an early age on.  I lastly completed the "supporting children with special needs note". For my math activity majority of special needs students will not need an accommodations. But instead of giving the special needs students the worksheet to take home they will be given actual buttons and a coloring page to take home, therefore they won't have to cut anything out.

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How can creative activities help your child?

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How can creative activities help your child?

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Your child's intellectual and cognitive development will benefit from creative activities. Many thinking skills are developed through creative activities for your youngster. "Problem-solving, imagination development, attention, and critical thinking are among these abilities." Creativity is a huge part of your child's development.

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To help special needs students out in the classroom for the math activity, they will be given a button coloring sheet and actual buttons to take home instead of the cut and color worksheet, therefore they won't have to cut anything out. For the art craft special needs students won't need too many accommodations other than the fact that they will be assisted in gluing the popsicle sticks together.

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Strengthening Language Development Through Play  

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Strengthening Language Development Through Play  

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Play allows children to put their newly acquired language skills to use while also broadening their vocabulary. Children can strengthen their speech sounds through interacting with peers and adults and listening to others.

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Speech development is crucial in effectively communicating with others throughout life, yet how can play influence this?

Play has a massive impact on speech development with some children starting to talk as early as 6 months old. By the age of two, most children have a wide vocabulary of single words and are beginning to use simple sentences to communicate their needs, thoughts, and feelings. Around this time, children are also moving away from solitary play and starting to display social skills through first, parallel play, moving towards cooperative play. However, all stages of play support early language development.

Solitary play occurs when a child is entirely focused on their own play and not interacting with anyone else. This encourages attention and listening skills, supporting the child's ability to concentrate for a period of time and focus intently. This skill is needed for a child to hold a conversation with others while listening to what is being said. Parallel play is also an important step in building communication skills and enabling children to begin to interact with others without the pressure of playing directly together. Cooperative play further enhances communication, enabling a child to learn from their peers.

Play enables children to practice the language skills they have learnt and build on their expanding vocabulary. Interacting with adults and peers also enables children to refine their speech sounds through listening to others. Interaction is a vital factor in supporting language; children who have limited opportunities for interaction will often have immature speech development. It is important to ensure each child has play opportunities, promoting the opportunity for socialisation with others. Building social development is fundamental in acquiring and encouraging language development.

Imaginative play is a great way to support and enhance speech development; giving children the opportunity to recreate experiences and share ideas with peers. Language will often increase during role play as children can take on a role and pretend to be someone else. This gives them the confidence to use language that they have heard peers or adult use in everyday situations, without the pressure of getting it wrong. Children will develop ownership over their learning and this will support them to build on their language development.

How the outdoors can help children's speech development

Outdoor play is another great way of building speech development. It has been suggested that children, in fact, learn better outside, with a range of benefits to speech and language development. The outside area provokes a great deal of exploration and investigation skills in young children. This, in turn, provides the basis for questions to be asked about what the child can see, hear, smell or feel; children learn best when using all their senses. Children are also great investigators yet are limited to the knowledge they can gain without adequate communication skills. The outdoors enables children to refine their listening skills while offering an open space for them to project and experiment with their voice.

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Supporting Speech Development Through Play

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Play has a massive impact on speech development with some children starting to talk as early as 6 months old. By the age of two, most children have a wide vocabulary of single words and are beginning to use simple sentences to communicate their needs, thoughts, and feelings.

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How play helps Emotional Physical Development

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How play helps Emotional Physical Development

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It is known that emotional physical development helps with play through building self-confidence and self esteem. Play also helps reduce anxiety in children and helps them be self-expressive. This gives children the opportunity to develop social skills and release difficult emotions.

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This music activity/ lesson for Pre-K, Kindergarten, and first graders includes PA Standard - 9.1.M.1.A1
"Know and use basic elements and principles of music and movement." First the class starts by projecting the "Pete the Cat" sheet music onto the projector screen and playing the melody for them on the piano. The song is then taught through echo singing. The teacher will start by explaining high/low to them. Then ask if they noticed a difference between the song's first and second lines. "In the first measure, the note on “white” goes HIGH and in the second measure, the note on “white” goes LOW. We sing the song again but dramatically move our bodies UP with the first “white,” and dramatically move our bodies LOW on the second “white.”

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Who doesn't love "Pete the Cat-I Love My White Shoes?" It's a great book because it's extremely versatile to incorporate into a classroom setting. Today I want to share with you a circle game+name game I created that corresponds with the book. It's one of my favorite back-to-school lessons for Pre-K, Kinder and 1st graders. As a music teacher, I love this lesson because it's music-centered, has literary components, packs in so many standards and the kids have so much fun playing the circle game! Let's dive right in.
Learn the Melody
First, I display the "Pete the Cat" sheet music up on the projector screen, and play the melody on the piano for them. Then I teach the song through echo singing. I talk to them about high/low by asking if they noticed a difference between the first and second line of the song. In the first measure, the note on "white" goes HIGH and in the second measure, the note on "white" goes LOW. We sing the song again but dramatically move our bodies UP with the first "white," and dramatically move our bodies LOW on the second "white."

Read the Book
Next, read the book with your students ( get it HERE) or use with the Youtube version and sing along with the song. Keep a steady beat with the song while continuing to acknowledge the high and low aspect of the song!

Play the Circle Game!
Get students into a circle for the "Pete the Cat Circle Game". Next, put one standing drum in the middle of the circle. Then choose one student to stand and say their name and the color of shoes. This student will walk around the outside of the circle while everyone sings the "I Love my White Shoes" song. Each time it's a new student's turn, the color will be replaced with that child's shoe color. Example "I love my (student's shoe color) shoes! I love my (student's shoe color) shoes!"

This shoe color personalization goes a long way and makes each kid feel special! I usually accompany them on the guitar with the E and A chords found in the sheet music above. When the music stops, the nearest student will now be "it". They'll state their name and the color of their shoes. Then that student walks around the circle next. The previous student now gets to go in the center of the circle, where they'll play the steady beat on the drum. Play this until everyone has a turn walking around the circle!

This is a great way to learn your students names, practice steady beat, and teach high/low. Hopefully you & your students enjoy this "Pete the Cat Circle Game". For another back-to-school lesson idea, hop on over to this blog post. You can also sign up for my newsletter to receive your "Back-to-School Music Survey" for free through the month of August! Also check out my Youtube playlists for some great videos to use in your music classroom this year. Have a great start to the school year, and don't forget to come hang out on Instagram & Facebook!!!

Keepin' it Simple,

Paige

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Pete the Cat-Circle Game+Name Game - Simple Music Teaching

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Who doesn't love "Pete the Cat-I Love My White Shoes?" It's a great book because it's extremely versatile to incorporate into a classroom setting. Today I want to share with you a circle game+name game I created that corresponds with the book. It's one of my favorite back-to-school lessons for Pre-K, Kinder and 1st graders.

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This art lesson for first grade does a wonderful job including PA standards that include Standard - 9.1.V.1.E1
"Use imagination and creativity to express self through visual arts." This simple yet fun activity will keep students engaged as well as help with their small motor skills!
Simple Instructions-
"First, glue your popsicle sticks together to look like a fence {3 jumbo next to each other with two mini across}
* Set aside to let it dry completely. Repeat.
* Now you are ready for paint! Squirt some yellow paint on your paper plate and paint your popsicle sticks completely yellow. This will be Pete’s body!
* Next grab your cardstock. Cut out a head for Pete, as well as eyes and a nose for his face.
* To finish off your Popsicle Stick Pete The Cat Groovy Buttons craft – have children glue on their cardstock pieces, as well as some “colorful” buttons along the middle of the craft.
* Then add your curled pipe cleaner “tail” to the back of your finished piece.
* Set aside to let it dry completely before displaying proudly!!!"

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Using the book "Pete The Cat And His Four Groovy Buttons" by Eric Litwin, students in the first grade classroom will be asked to organize and count buttons. Students will be put into small groups and given a zip-lock bag filled with various amounts of buttons in each bag. Each bag will be numbered and previously counted by the teacher. The first step students will take is counting the amount of buttons distributed to them. The next steps will involve addition and subtraction problems along with a worksheet that gives them the problems to follow. For example students will be asked a series amount of questions after they find the total amount of buttons they were given, like; Taking the amount of buttons you have, subtract 7 buttons.

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It's easy to become worried as parents when spending more time at home due to the pandemic or cold weather, not only because of health concerns but also because of the reality of being at home with rambunctious young children. You can feel less anxious and more prepared if you plan ahead of time for this likelihood and have some activities and experiences available! Children can express themselves via play while "developing their inventiveness, dexterity, and physical, cognitive, and emotional strength." Play is essential for brain development. Children engage and engage with the environment around them through play from an early age.

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Children get more out of play when they take the lead. But the science shows us adults can – and should – join in. Learn more in our report ‘Play Facilitation: The Science Behind The Art of Engaging Young Children’.

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Students will be given a print out sheet of buttons that they can take home, color and cut. Parents can influence their child to practice counting with buttons by relating it to the story we read in class, "Pete The Cat And His Four Groovy Buttons". This will be given out as a craft to do at home, while also practicing mathematics, instead of being given it as an assigned worksheet.