Group forming (sing til everyone joins together and is in circle)
Round and round the earth is turning
Always turning round to morning
And from morning round to night
Speech - seasonally appropriate songs (all have movement involved too)
Sing a song of May days Hi dee ho dee hay!
Showers of flowers from breezy bowers Hi dee ho dee hay!
Dancers and prancers in the green green grass Hi dee ho dee hay
Joyfully skip each young lad and lass Hi dee ho dee hay!
Happy oh happy May days, May days!
Happy oh happy May days, May days!
Mother Earth, Mother Earth, take our seed and give it birth
Father Sun, gleam and glow until the root begins to grow
Sister Rain, Sister Rain, shed thy tears to swell the grain
Brother Wind, breathe and blow then the blade all green will grow
Earth and Sun and Wind and Rain turn to gold the living grain
ENKI action verse: Tall stand the Sailor Men
(ENKI materials are copyrighted, so I won't post the whole thing but this is a verse for Lateral midline crossing, and heavy on the Proprioceptive system work)
Looking glass EYE SPY - right now we're focussing on looking with the right eye for Nature Girl - she's the only one who gets that instruction. For now it's just looking - as we go on we'll combine this with out phoneme work.
Hear the birds sing their song
Now that spring has come along
Hear each voice sweetly singing
Joy and light to each heart bringing
Robin Redbreast, Sparrow, Lark
Thrush and hummingbird listen hark!
Other voices sing loud and clear
It’s the happy children – springtime’s here!
Rolly polly rolly polly up up up!
Rolly polly rolly polly down down down!
Rolly polly rolly polly out out out!
Rolly polly rolly polly in in in!
Rolling the hands round in a spiral following instructions - Proprioceptive system - naval radiation)
12345
Once I caught a fish alive
678910
But I let him go again
Why did you let him go?
Because he bit my finger so!
Which finger did he bite?
My little finger on the (?)
Act it out grasping up with 12345 and down with 678910 - helps with body awareness (lateral midline crossing and quickly identifying left or right)
EXTRA LESSON Body Geography Simon Says
In this exercise you give instructions to the child without acting anything out yourself. At 8 I have Nature Girl using the terms right and left, with a younger child you start with right, and then move on to left after a few months. Nature Girl is nearly 9 so we are crossing the midline and having her touch her left side with her right side and vice versa. You build up to a verbal sequence of three (Nature Girl can't handle more than one at a time right now) "take your right hand and touch your left ear, then touch your right knee, and your left big toe"
Nature Girl does not have a firmly developed right dominance yet. This usually happens between ages 6 and 7. Why is this important? Firmly developed dominance happens at the same time that there is a growth spurt in the left hemisphere of the brain and both hemispheres have developed localized and holistic functions. - as a result concentration span increases, language development is in sync with the imagination, and the individual has more control over visual perception - able to perceive the switch between 2 and 3 dimensions instantaneously. This is necessary for learning to be done at a subconscious - comfortable level.
Fairies funny five are we
Laughing happy as can be
HA HA HA
HEE HEE HEE
HO HO HO
WEE WEE WEE
And Away we go
(repeat with left hand)
hand and finger coordination fingerplay (necessary for handwriting) Nature Girl HATES these things so we're changing it to fairies from Dance Thumbkin Dance. She is a perfectionist and not being able to wriggle her ringfingers freely makes her quite upset!
Two little beaks went tap tap tap
Two little shells went crack crack crack
Two little chicks peeked out and Oh!
They liked the looks of the big world so
They left their homes without a fret
And two little shells are now for rent!
Tactile and auditory - this one involves tapping fingers and fists on the head or opposite hand
We often repeat these sorts because they are popular
Clap, Snap, Stomp sequence game
This is another sequencing game and Nature Girl has a hard time with following right now. It's an Extra Lesson game from Take Time. Make a rhythm sequence to follow clap clap snap stamp stamp (for instance) Nature Girl is more likely to engage if she gets to lead to. So go back and forth leading the sequence.
Verse for formdrawing forms
Little drops of water (vertical lines)
Little grains of sand (scoop a curved line)
Make the mighty ocean (curving running wave form)
And the pleasant land (smooth hillock running form)
Great A little a (body makes a large A quickly crouch to make little a)
Today is pancake day (clap with beat)
Toss the ball high (catch ball tossed)
Throw the ball low (throw the ball back)
Those that come after (salute)
Can sing heigh ho! (canter round circle while next child gets turn)
This is my right hand I'll raise it up high
This is my left hand I'll touch the sky
Right hand left hand
Roll them around
Left hand, right hand
Pound, pound, pound!
Bean bags or balls tossing games according to frustration level
The rainbow toss:
Bean bag in right hand toss in arc over head to catch in left - feet planted
Pass bag back to right across midline in front
Practice doing it without losing balance or looking up.
Switch sides (start with bag in left hand)
Crawling toss
Throw balls into basket
Crawl to retrieve
Relaxation exercises
Yoga - salute the sun
shaking out hands left hand then right hand
shoulder roll
Head drop
Deep relaxed belly breathing - remind child to pause!
Low sounding - MMMMMMMM
Sing vowels (short vowel sounds)
Listening game: listen intently to natural sounds and list (its nice to lie down for this, heads together making a spoked wheel - in our case a peace symbol)
Focusing verse
I am a star
From heaven I came - point above
To earth below - point down
My friends to meet - hands to sides
To be truthful in deed - right hand over heart
To love all I know - left hand crosses right
To walk with my angel - hands behind shoulders
To shine like a
STAR! - jump into star form
Closing verse (sing)
Birds in the air (hands link and fly through air)
Fish in the water (hands swim through ocean)
Stones on the land (fist on flattened hand)
I'm in God's hand (both hands cupped gently then together upright as to pray)
Namaste!
For those of you reading to get an idea about circle time - this is NOT your average circle! In a kindergarten you'd have a circle calling song (same all year) , a group forming action verse, one verse for balance and rhythm, 1 for midline crossing, 1 for music prep, one for spinning (proprioceptive) and one for closing (same all year) 7 verses - 2 you use all the time, 5 new ones to learn each season, and you'd work up to that!
Because Nature Girl is doing Extra Lesson therapy I have incorporated as much of that therapy as possible into circle so it stays playful and fun. She has anxiety issues and I need to keep this moving quickly so she doesn't get caught up in something she perceives as difficult - our circle has 22 parts! AND I've been doing these verses for a long time - I had 4 to learn new in this whole big thing. Learning 4 verses is a lot of work! It really is. I practice in the shower!
