Accomplishment! Getting Things DONE! Delayed Gratification!

THRILLED! THRILLED! THRILLED! 

We've all made it through September. It's in the book! 

All of the effort of launching the new school year is now behind you. 

EXHALE! 

You did it!!

What a sense of accomplishment to have made it through the most energy intensive days and weeks of launching the new school year: the never-ending 'to-do' list of setting up your room, meeting your new students & their families, and getting off to a whole new adventure!

It's OCTOBER!

YOU MADE IT! 

Don't you just LUV having a map?

Doesn't having a map of your plans secure your arrival?

Are you a list maker? 

Don't you long for a map to get you where you want to go? 

I saw this 'music-mind-map' in the hallway of Concordia College in Chicago YEARS ago! 

I was immediately both fascinated and transfixed. 

What a brilliant shorthand *M*A*P* of the uses and benefits of music. 

LUV me a MUSIC-MAP! 

Truth be told: I took that picture years ago, blogged about it and then 'forgot' about both this image and my fascination with it. Then one day this summer I happened upon 'my' photo while investigating my own Pinterest feed. {I now have 165,000 followers on Pinterest!} Someone had repinned the image -- all of these years later. I was fascinated all over again. It was like a homecoming party. Luv'd it then! LUV it NOW! 

What with it being summer at the time and it being my season of rejuvenation, a few extra light bulbs lit! What if I could put my 18.3 years of experience as a 'music-lady' onto one piece of paper? What if I could expand and expound upon the simplicity of the original map with my own spin-on-it? What if? So I got out a drawing board and began! 

MUSIC is the heart of it all: the very center. 

Next? 

Let's take a look at singing within music. 

I got out my colored pencils and had myself a ball. 

SINGING is indeed within music. 

I blogged about it more extensively last month on my personal blog as I finally made progress and got it {my mind map} done! 

I think of the singing benefits as falling into two camps: 

Lyrics = Language [Reading]

The Beat = Patterns [Math]

In my mind-map all things 'language' are above the center point. 

All things beat/math are below. The bedrock. The foundation. 

Even after I had my map finished, it took a while to get into pdf format. 

Then it took another step to get the pdf uploaded as a FREEBIE at our EARLY EDUCATION EMPORIUM!

Patience, grasshopper. 

BANG THE DRUM! Mission accomplished!

Cross it off the list! 

It is *NOW* available for your download!

Want to see a dozen bulletin board type music ideas?

Go back to my blog for those!

While I was attempting to get this accomplished,

I searched my own blog's archive for some additional, earlier music support articles. 

Here's a dozen directions from my heart to yours.

***This article would be especially helpful if you feel you're out of your element when it comes to music and children. We're talkin' basics!   

Here's a different dozen. 

This time focused on "Music as Motivator." 

This next one is no doubt one of my widest-researched articles: 

"The importance of rhyme." 

If you are feeling like there's just not enough time in the day for 'sing-ing' 

then you need to read this article for reinforcement to combat the "Wolf at the Door" 

and get back to some basics! 

Speaking of delayed gratification..... 

Last winter began a whole new era of fun for me. We had a day of video filming in a professional studio on behalf of Zaner-Bloser, the handwriting company in Columbus, OH. Green screen fun with two of my WonderPeeps [grand-children] plus a few more! 

How I wanted to click my heels and have the videos finished...... 

PATIENCE!

THE DAY HAS ARRIVED! 

THE VIDEOS ARE FINISHED! 

THEY ARE UPloaded over to YouTUBE! 

THEY ARE FREE!!!! 

YOU WILL LIKE THEM!

*Here's a glimpse and an image you could pin for me! 

We shot two videos. 

The first in the set is called, "SKYWRITING" and is an upbeat, 

blast-off to using our imagination, our visualization as a tool for handwriting success. 

It features a rocket ship blasting off and an octopus. 

It would be great for a 'brain break' and getting some oxygen. 

The second video is "Top to Bottom" and I predict will be your favorite. 

You can use it EVERY day this month! 

The more you use it the more infectious the learning becomes!

It is a marching, getting faster, 'print directionality' master piece if I do say so myself. 

Plus there's a duck and a bear. 

And moi and my WonderPeeps! 

What more could you ask for? 

Here's the link to Zaner-Bloser and on to the videos!  

Did I mention that they're FREE FREE FREE!!!!

HURRY HURRY HURRY! 

In honor of all of this progress on my "To Do" list, I have a big celebration going on right now, 

where there will be a lucky winner of some amazing seasonal, downloadable goodies from some of my favorite bloggers. 

You still have three more days to get entered to win! 

Follow this link for those specifics!

Motor Skill Activities for Children

Hi! I'm Carolyn Kisloski from Kindergarten: Holding Hands and Sticking Together.  For many people, this is the beginning of a new school year.  I thought it would be a good time to share some of my favorite motor skill activities for children.

Pre-writing exercises not only help children warm up their fine motor muscles, but also help them to focus on using them the best they can. Here are some fun warm up activities that don't take long, but help children transition into an activity using fine motor skills, like Writer's Workshop.

1.  Windshield Wipers- Children hold their hands above their head and cross straight arms 10 times.  Then, they place the bottom hand over the top hand, and repeat.

2.  Door Knob Turns-  Children pretend to turn door knobs with arms straight out in front of them and rotate toward the midline for 10 repetitions.

3.  Rainbows-  Have children hold their elbows with opposite hands.  They lift their elbows overhead in a single motion and return to their waist. Repeat 10 times.

4.  Mickey Mouse Ears-  Children put their fists by their ears, open hands, and close tightly.  Repeat 10 times.

5.  Desk Push-Ups- Children put hands flat on desks, with thumb and index fingers forming a triangle. They bend their elbows, put their nose into the triangle, then straighten their arms.  Repeat 10 times.

Coloring and writing use fine motor muscles, but aren't best for developing these muscles and making them strong.  Young children need lots of opportunities to develop these muscles so they don't get tired or frustrated completing activities that use these little muscles. It's just like any muscle that you need to strengthen so you can use it confidently and with best control. Children want to do their best work, enjoy it, and  feel proud of it. They don't want to feel clumsy and do sloppy work. Lots of opportunities to develop fine motor skills, both at home and at school,  are important for young children.

I made a paper that I send home to parents with some ideas that they can use at home to work on developing fine motor skills.  Lots of times parents want to help, but aren't sure what activities would be best.  Click HERE if you would like a copy.

We had a very informative class  with our OT, discussing the book Teaching the Moving Child by Sybil M. Berkey.

She shared some great ideas for fine and gross motor activities for children.

1. Use golf pencils or broken crayons to help children use correct finger grip.

Broken crayons kind of make me cringe.  I could have named my blog "Sharp Pencils and Brand New Crayons,"  because those are two things I LOVE.  OK- even more honestly, it could have been named "Sharp Ticonderoga Pencils and Brand New Crayola Crayons." But that would never fit on a button.

However, cringing aside,  I do see the benefit of using these smaller writing tools for children who need help or reminders using the correct grip.  If a crayon or pencil is small, children can't get all of their fingers around it, and therefore are "forced" to use a correct grip.  This is an especially good tip to remember at the beginning of the year.

I didn't have too many golf pencils, but that wasn't a problem by the end of summer- because this is my husband and son on a typical weekend!

2.  Have children write in a prone position (lying on the floor with a clipboard) or standing and writing on a wall space to put their wrists in proper position.
















I tried this one and you can see it does position the child's arm and wrist correctly.  I did have a couple children who have "floppy wrists" or who bent their wrists around when they wrote.  Lying on the floor made them rest on their forearm and keep their wrist in the right position.  This isn't practical all the time, but I could definitely have them do this more during center times or certain writing times.  I didn't like the wall writing as much probably because I don't have much wall space and the paper has to be at the perfect height for them so they aren't reaching up  or stooping down, which defeats the purpose.


3. Have over-active children do "chair push-ups" or push against a wall to remain calm and more focused.

   

We do like a good "Chair Push-Up" break now and then!  My whole class does this together. I always have a couple children who benefit from this the most, but it is fun and helpful for everyone- as well as a challenge! They love to see who can stay up for a long time. 

We have a ball with the Wall Push.   I don't have much wall space, but we all line up quietly and walk around the corner in our hall, where there are no classrooms.  We try to push the wall as hard as we can.  I tell them we are trying to make Miss Quick's classroom smaller by pushing in the wall!   They really think we have moved that concrete wall over.  Sorry, Miss Quick, for your shrinking room!

These activities are also great for developing some shoulder strength.

Again,  this is a great brain break for everyone in the class!  Who doesn't feel like pushing a wall every now and then? One good thing about doing this in the hall is that I tell them we have push really hard, but be quiet, so they aren't screaming- but putting the effort into the physical exertion.

Mean Soup is a fun book to read before you practice some gross motor exercises- and if your class is ever in a sort of picky mood.



The story is about a boy who had a very frustrating day. His mother suggests that they make soup together, which he does not want to do at first.  She boils water on the stove, adds a little salt,  and screams into the water.  Then, she has him do it. They both scream louder into the "soup" until they feel better.  After that, the mother decides they should stick their tongues out twenty times into the soup- which, we, of course, did as well. (I actually made tally marks each time we stuck out our tongues-  MATH!)  What a fun idea to get out some frustration! We also took out our frustrations on the wall.  Again, sorry, Miss Quick- we are SURE your room is at least a foot smaller by now. 

                                        

It's such a fun way to teach children a safe, productive way to relieve stress.

  

Other good suggestions for an overly-active child were to have him/her do more physical jobs for you in the classroom, like wipe down tables, push in chairs, or carry heavy objects (like a small stack of books) for you in the hallway.  Kids love to be helpers, and this is a way for a child to be a helper and have some physical stimulation. 

(ok... maybe just a small stack!)

 

Go Noodle is FULL of great brain breaks and activities for getting children moving.  It has everything from Zumba to Yoga.  If you haven't used it yet, you and your kids will love it. It's free! Go check it out! I posted about it HERE.

I hope you found some new activities to use in your classroom! Thank you for stopping by! I'd love you to visit me at my blog, Kindergarten: Holding Hands and Sticking Together. 

Have a wonderful school year!