DORA THE EXPLORER!

Our first week back for 2012 and it was my birthday! So we had a party with a DORA theme - all week long.
It was a great theme to play with.
*  We began our class with a warm up song "Dora's Party Mix". We danced with our ribbon sticks...of colors pink and orange.
*  Everyone got a bag (Dora's back pack) filled with objects as the "back pack"song played. All the kids knew it! I told them not to peek inside. They were only allowed to use their hands and not their eyes to find me a balloon (not yet blown up). Before the class I had blown up orange and pink baloons and placed them in a big bag. When they found their balloon I told them that they could have a balloon that was already blown up from my bag that matched the color of theirs. We then bounced the balloon into the sky following the lyrics to a song that told us to bounce it on various body parts.
* "Back pack, Back pack" played again and the children knew exactly where to go. This time they had to reach their hand in and find a star. I had laminated A4 size yellow stars.
* Parents held the stars above the children's heads as they jumped up and tried to touch it.
Dora has a song "Reach For The Stars".
* Next everyone was asked to place the star on the floor as we were about to play Musical stars! Parents and children moved in a circle around the stars and when the music stopped they had to stand on a star.
*Back pack" played again and the children ran their bags to listen for the object that was next.
A ball!
* All children sat in a circle with their legs crossed with the ball slightly in front of them. The teachers sat in the middle and told the children that they were going to be SWIPER! It was swiper's job to try and steal a ball from someone. If the children wanted to stop Swiper they had to put their hand out and say "Swiper no swiping"!
This was fun. Even the children who were usually very quiet spoke in a loud voice. Lots of giggles all around.

Hope you enjoyed reading just a few of our Dora theme activities. Let us know your thoughts.

Teaching landing positions in Kindergym

We all know how important it is to teach the children how to land safely so each week our Kindergym classes practice as part of their routine.
We dance through our warm up song holding our hand held apparatus (such as ribbon sticks, pom poms of various sizes, shapes and textures, scarves, etc.)
After this song is finished we lay our apparatus on the floor to make a visual line in front of our feet. We all stand behind our line, clap and count 1,2,3! On 3 we jump to the other side and show our landing position...many refer to it as the "MOTORBIKE " position. Knees bent and arms in front of the body.
This begins at the age of two and continues upward.
The jumps over the line may vary...star, tuck, half turn, forward then backward. There is so much you can teach them over these lines if you think about it.
In our three year old class we even started counting to three in french....un, deux, trois. I was amazed how quickly they remembered this.
Many of our parents say their children will line up objects on the floor at home and count 1,2 3 and practice their jumping and landing.
YEAH! SUCCESS!

Trampoline rhyme

I started singing a song for the younger children when they were jumping on the trampoline so they could join skills together in a sequence. It has been a big hit and I now hear all the staff using the words to this song either sung or spoken.

"Show me a soldier jump and show me a star
 Show me a tuck jump and sit down where you are
 ....then stand up"

I use this for my three year olds and upwards in the beginner trampoline class.

What do you need help with?

Let me know what it is that you feel you need help with and I will promise to help the best I can.
Look forward to hearing from you!

Scallywaggs trampoline class

A Quick Sneak Peak Of A Kindergym Class In Scallywaggs