Preschool and piano

Preschool and piano

The piano has always been an instrument of curiosity at our house.

It is a great instrument because anyone can make it work. This doesn't mean that they can actually play it but the can make sound come out of it!

My daughter is looking forward to taking lessons so she can play tunes on it. Around here, most teacher like to start kids when they can read. This way it isn't as frustrating and they catch on faster.

Mother Goose Time sent a fun piano game with todays curriculum.

It was a keys on a paper piano and colored notes to go with the keys.  

Since we have the real thing-okay 2 piano's and a key board at our house- I quickly cut out the colored circles on the paper keys and taped them to the piano.  I then had my daughter cut the colored notes out and place them on the piano.

She spent quit a while changing positions of the notes and playing the tune (okay-sounds)

over and over.  

We talked about where the low and high notes are on the piano.  We talked about how sound waves from the piano strings make the different sounds. We talked about how when you press on a key a small hammer hits the strings to make them vibrate, which makes the sound waves.

We then opened the back of the piano to see the different strings. ( Yes, we have a baby grand, so this was fun) Some strings are short and thin-these make the high sounds, some are long and thicker-these pay the low sounds.

We counted the back keys and then the white keys and then all of them together.

Wow, what a lot of counting.

We then talked about what kind of animal might be able to play the piano. A cat, yes. Ours walks across the keys often. A bird, maybe. If it weighs enough to make the keys go down.

A monkey, yes. But we don't have any of those at our house. 
Learning about the piano was fun.

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Sights and sounds of Winter/mgt

V is for violin

If you know me, you know I love music. The only person in our family that may love it more than myself, is my husband.

All of my children sing and play some kind of instrument (except my youngest).

Besides the fact that music can be uplifting, change your mood, and bring happiness into the home. It can also help with learning. It is proven that if you put something to music or in a song, you will remember it better than if you just try to learn it the normal way.  Playing music,helps with learning numbers,and counting. 

Today we talked about the violin. I play the violin so my daughter knows a little bit about it and how it is played.

She was excited to make her own violin out of chip board, and rubber bands.  However she was disappointed when it didn't sound like a real violin when she played it.

She got a little more excited about it when I turned on the CD of the month and let her pretend to play along with the string symphony. 

We also talked about the guitar. Instead of making our own play guitar, we just pulled out her dad's and had some fun with it. Counting the strings. Listening to the different sounds of the strings.

Did you know that a guitar has 6 strings but the violin only has 4?

We sang a song called Play Guitar

(Sung to the tune of Skip to My Lou)

Play, play, play guitar,

Play, play, play guitar,

Play, play, play guitar,

Play guitar with me.

Very simple and fun song to sing.

Add some actions to it and make change the word guitar to different instruments and see what happens.

Black Friday sale

Because I mentioned in a previous post just how much I love Thieves cleaning products,

I thought I'd share the love.

Want to try out this amazing cleaner? Now is the time...

Young Living is having their Black Friday sale and Thieves is on that deal.

If you want some, I'd be happy to add it to my order and have it mailed directly to you at my price-of course.

Let me know by Friday evening!

You can email me at

Tracirerickson@hotmail.com

Airplanes/mgt

Airplanes

This month we have been learning about transportation. Today we talked about airplanes.

Things you can discuss about planes...

What helps an airplane to fly in the air?

What can you see from an airplane window?

Where does an airplane land?

What are the parts of an airplane?

We made a paper plane and then blew it with a straw to see how far it would go.

We used a fun landing zone that was in our kit.

The landing kit helped learn numbers, shapes and colors.

Like I've mentioned before, I'm highly believe that learning should be fun.

We used tangrams to make airplane shapes.

This is a great project to strengthen small muscles for writing.
Learn how shapes fit together and colors.

Mother Goose Time

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Numbers and cars/mgt

Todays topic is Cars...

What makes cars go? Fuel

Did you know that there are different kind of fuel.

Some fuel burns dirty and pollutes the air we breathe.

Some fuels burn clean and leave the air we breathe clean.

Ethanol is a clean fuel made with corn.

Make your own clean fuel car..

This is how we did it.

I loved this art activity because in involved both large and small motor skills.

Add some math to your day with this fun game.

Roll the dice to see which parking spot your car gets to park in.

(Number identification)

What color is your car? What shape is on your car?

(Color and Shape identification)

Continue until all of your cars are parked.

And of course we can't forget preceding skills.

Letter recognition and phonics-all in one.

This is how we play this matching game...

 Every time a card is turned over identify the letter and say the phonetic sound that goes with it.
If cards don't match turn them back over just like any matching game. If they are the same keep them.

More more your child plays this game with you or friends the more they learn and remember.

And of course you can't end your day with out a good book.

What a fun day with cars.

Mother Goose Time

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YL essential oils and why I use them....

Young Living oils and why I use them...

I have had horrible allergies for many years.  I went to an allergy specialist and started doing injections and had a bad reaction to the 6th one I had so I stopped.

After a few more years of horrible allergies and many, many sinus infections, I went to another allergy specialist where I again started the injections. I made it a whole year this time..going in every week for a shot. However, because of another bad reaction and an epi shot to stop my throat from swelling closed, both the doctor and I decided that I needed to stop.

I then went on to the next best thing...drops under the tongue everyday. I did this for 1 year and was still having bad allergies and sinus infections. So, I just quit. Why pay money and time doing something when it isn't working for you.

Weeks later, a friend of mine started post on FB about how her husband was using oils for his allergies and he wouldn't leave home without them.

She then invited me to an oil party.

I was very skeptical, I had other friends that swore by them. And I hate to say it...but I thought they were just strange and how could a plant do so much. 

At the party they told about how and why oils work.  At this point I would try anything to help ease my allergies. I was in.  That night I bought  a Premium Starter kit and couldn't wait to try the oils.

I'm lucky, because I live right here in Lehi Utah, where Young Living head quarters are..so I got in my car and went and picked up my kit.

I immediately mixed together, lavender, peppermint, lemon oil and vegetable oil and applied it to my wrist. Within minutes I could feel it working. Does it take away my allergies completely-no.

But it helps a great deal.

Since then, I have done a lot of reading and learning on my own about oils and about Young Living.

I have learned that not all essential oils are equal. And there for if you buy the cheap ones they probably aren't going to work as well. Also, not all oils are 100% pure, they have additives in them. This makes them have a shorter shelf life and not work as well.

Young Living has what they call seed to seal promise...They own their own farms, and distilleries. There is no middle man.  They know what happens form start to finish and promise that you will only get the best product.  They and a third party test their oils and if they don't pass the high quality standard test--they aren't sold.

Since purchasing my first kit , I have purchased many other products that I love and know are safe for me, my family and the environment.

We use oils for almost everything now, colds, sore throats, fevers and more.

However, because of diffusing oils, we don't get sick much.

My latest find is Thieves laundry detergent. It is so concentrated that you only have to use 1 TBS per load. It cleans great and smells amazing.

I have to say...I am a believer and have many products made with EO's in my house.

If you want to learn more about essential oils, go to my website...

Little drops of Sunshine

Pesky germs and Preschool

Pesky Germs and Preschool

One of the biggest drawbacks to teaching preschool out of your home is all of the pesky germs that walk through your front door with the children.

Over the years, I found myself getting sick every fall because of all of the pesky germs. 

I decided that something needed to be done, not just for my sake, but for the kids. Passing on germs isn't an okay thing with me.

So,last year, I took it upon myself to remind parents that if your child was showing signs of an illness, or say that they aren't feeling well, to please keep them home.

But with so many little toes and fingers ant preschool that wan't enough.

I have always had the children wash their hands before snack time but decide that maybe it needed to be done more often...but that would take up time we just didn't have.

 Instead, I opted to use hand sanitizer as they arrived and after snack.

(Am I worried about using so much hand sanitizer-No, because I don't use the stuff found at the store which contains alcohol. Instead, I use a waterless hand sanitizer made with essential oils that kills those germs and is safe and natural).

Why after, because those little fingers have been in or close to their mouth and face.

Of course, they still wash their hands with soap and water, before snack.

This foaming soap is great for little fingers.  The kids love the suds and the smell.

I love that they don't have to use very much, it kills they germs, is gently on hands and the kids leave a smaller mess behind to clean up.

The soap is also, kid safe and good for the environment.

The table always gets washed off before snack and I added after the end of the day so it would start out germ free for the next day.

I have always washed the toys at least every month and decided that they should be wiped down in between.

I got the children involved in the cleaning. 

Of course they use kid safe cleaning wipes...

 Every Friday after snack they get to wash down their own chair and everyone helps wash off the table.  Silly kids even washed the underside. 

They then choose a few toys to wipe down as well.

Usually, the cars and castle set is the one the boys choose.

and dolls and little people for the girls.

Whatever toys aren't done by the children, I do later that day. I also do a quick wipe on the toys that the kids did...just incase.

I love these safe cleaning products...

(How I found them and why I use them, is a whole other blog).

I also, put Thieves in my diffuser and turn it on after the kids leave...to get rid of germs in the air and on items that can't be washed.

I have found that this has helped me and the kids stay healthier all year round. And things stay a lot cleaner than before.

Not so many pesky germs to share anymore, and I love it.

And to top it off, I haven't been sick as much.

Want to get your hands on these great products? Leave me a comment or email me at

Tracirerickson@hotmail.com

On the Go-transportation/MGT

On the Go-Transpotation

This blog is going to be interesting, in the fact that I took pictures with my old phone, uploaded them( I think) and can't find them anywhere on my computer. Hopefully, they turn up so I can post them.

It's October and that means a new box sitting on the porch full of wonderful learning!

October's theme is, you guessed it, On the Go!

My daughter was so excited about the manipulative's that the first thing we did was build a road.

Yes, we made a road out of blue painters tape on the family room rug.

The silly thing is, that having 4 boys, we have a car rug that has streets and buildings already on it.

However, this months manipulative's, included not only a wooden car but also wooden street signs.

So we built our own streets and city.  

They other manipulative that came were small rubber planes and trains. So of course, there had to be an airport and train station.  My daughter remembered that we had buses from a previous month and ran to get those.  So, a bus station was created.

The planes, trains and buses were quickly put into lines and patterns of course because that is how she plays.  Over the years she has become very aware that there are patterns in almost everything-

One great thing Mother Goose does well.

We learned about street signs and what they mean.  We talked about how street signs keep us safe from accidents. 

We also discussed what would happen if you didn't obey the street signs...

traffic jams

accidents

etc.

For art my daughter painted a paper plate yellow.

When it was dry, she cut it in half to use as the top and bottom of her signal traffic light.

With the already pre cut black paper and large stickers, she quickly put together the

rest of the signal light.

A little bit of glue on the paper plates, attached to the rest of the light and 

walla, her very own traffic light.

She also decide to paint the paper cones (traffic cones).

(I really hope I find those photos or this blog will just sound silly)

Art is a wonderful way to use fine and gross motor skills.

For this art project the fine motor skills where...

painting

cutting,

glueing,

opening paint bottle lids

pouring paint

The large motor skills where...

standing up to go get the

scissors,

paint,

glue

and then of course playing with the traffic light.

Also, with this one small art activity we learn about the colors...

Red

yellow

green

and black

the shapes,

circle

rectangle

we learned about opposites ...

top and bottom

So much to learn about in one days activities!

mother goose time

Learning letters and phonics-MGT

I have always believed that learning should be fun....

And Mother Goose Time is on board with me.  This is one reason I love their curriculum so much.

This months letters are Rr, Aa, and Oo.

Two of the fun ways that we learned these letters this month were with board games.

The first game is called Pick one off your tree

This game we rolled the dice identified the letter on it and then said its phonetic sound. Then we got to move to that space on the board.

 and the second is called Orchard race

This game matched the FIRST sound of a word picture and then placed it on our tree. If we spun the pick one from your tree then we had to take one off.
The first to fill up their tree won.

Being able to identify the beginning sounds of words is important for reading. 

My child loved playing these games with her family and friends.

Yup, learning and playing go hand in hand.

What games does your child play to learn?

Want to create your own letter game board?
Here is a blank board, just for you....

mom inspired life

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