"GROWING!" A Nutrient-Packed Tidbit Kids Love!

Flowers!

Hi – I’m Miss Carole from Macaroni Soup: Active Music for Active Learners. Sometimes good things really do come in quite small packages. A diamond ring. A newborn. A truffle.  Today I’m sharing a small rhyme. When I first heard it, it had just three lines. I added one more (the carrot), and the “ta-dah!” I call it “GROWING!” I’ve even recorded it on my “Polka Dots” cd. Click on Track #21 to hear my Macaroni Soup Singers doing it!

It’s just a little thing, this rhyme, but it is jam-packed with learning opportunities.

First, I show the children my reading board with my not-so-perfect drawings in each of four quadrants.  We identify each picture together, starting with the flower, then the tree, then the carrot – and ME!  Aha!

More flowers!

Learning Opportunity #1:  we read from left to right (tracking), then go down to the next line and read left to right again.

I invite everyone to stand, and make a flower-face, cupping their hands around their smiling faces, leaning first right, then left with the cadence of the line:

A flower grows like this.

Then we shoot both arms straight overhead and stand tall.

Trees!

A TREE GROWS LIKE THIS.

Learning Opportunity #2:  extend from the shoulder to the biggest stretch we can. I learned from a handwriting expert that good penmanship comes from our shoulder, and being able to detach our arms from our bodies is good practice for early- and pre-writers.

Next, put the tips of your fingers overhead together, then dive your hands to the floor – because carrots grow underground.

A CARROT GROWS LIKE THIS.

Learning Opportunity #3:  folding in our middle to reach for the floor gives us a chance to stretch from one extreme – high – to the other – low.  Physical exercise increases the flow of adrenaline and serotonin in the brain – keeping it firing on all pistons!

Slowly come to an upright position, then strike a pose for the big finish!

And I grow like this!

...AND I GROW LIKE THIS – 

               TA-DAH!

Learning Opportunity #4:  encourage creativity and originality – what does “ta-dah” look like? Does it always look the same? Does Susie’s “ta-dah” look like Edward’s? Sometimes we hold the pose and I snap a picture that we can analyze.

Now, do it again – please!

A flower grows like this.             

A TREE GROWS LIKE THIS.

A CARROT GROWS LIKE THIS.

AND I GROW LIKE THIS – TA-DAH!

Ta-Dah!

Yes, good things can come in little packages – just like the children I teach!  Enjoy!

Yours for a Little Song!

Carole Stephens
Macaroni Soup! Active Music for Active Learners