Music Class

Once a week, our music teacher Ms. Christine, visits the full day early childhood classrooms at Barnes, Trombly, Monteith and Ferry. The children love when she plays the ukulele! Children have opportunities to explore vocal pitch, rhythm, speed, and a variety of musical genres. Music can bring together children and adults of all developmental levels and ages. Music supports many areas of our curriculum including giving children confidence in moving through space, gaining control over their bodies, and the ability to keep a steady beat. It exposes them to aspects of language such as rhymes and alliterations, and gives them opportunities to express themselves and build a strong sense of self. Music and movement activities support Bilateral Coordination which helps children use both sides of their body together. This coordination supports skills needed for reading and writing. We are so fortunate to have this special weekly music time in addition to the music and movement our classroom teachers are providing each day! 

Pumpkin Auction

It is time for the annual Barnes Pumpkin Auction! We love seeing the creative pumpkins available year after year! Each child gets a token to cast a vote for their favorite pumpkin. Then the pumpkins go up for auction!! Who will take home their favorite pumpkin this year? All of the proceeds benefit the Barnes Early Childhood Program.

Happy Halloween!

#WOYC18 Wrap Up

Wow! We had a super fun week celebrating the National Week of the Young Child. The Week of the Young Child™ is an annual celebration hosted by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) celebrating early learning, young children, their teachers, and families. Each day had a different theme with plenty of fun to go around! Here is a picture review of our week:

Music Monday:

Tasty Tuesday:

Work Together Wednesday:

Artsy Thursday:

Family Friday:

Pumpkin Auction

The Annual Pumpkin Auction is underway at the Barnes Early Childhood Center!! Children will vote for their favorites, and families can bid in the silent auction if they would like to take a pumpkin home! Pumpkins were created by both children and teachers. Take a look at our creations:

 The Halloween Parade begins at 9:00am tomorrow morning! We are looking forward to seeing everyone in their costumes and celebrating at classroom parties! Please see your child's teacher for additional information.

Summer Break

It is hard to believe that summer is winding down. Our program will be closed August 31st-September 7th, so we can prep our classrooms for the new school year. We are looking forward to welcoming new friends on September 8th.

Summer has flown by! We had a blast sharing it with you!

Sensory Exploration

One thing we love at the GPPSS Child Development and Preschool Program is Sensory Exploration!! Our Preschool classroom even coined the phrase "Messy Mondays" last school year inviting parents to participate in creating sensory materials and joining in to play!

Sensory exploration sets the stage for open ended, hands on learning. The children create their own experience- deciding how to manipulate the materials, testing out their own theories and exploring concepts of math, science, problem solving, and cooperation. While observing sensory explorations, teachers often hear very descriptive vocabulary words and creative ideas!

Whether it is sifting sand, filling cups of water, sorting colored rice, or drawing in shaving cream, the children's senses are engaged and brain connections are growing stronger and stronger!

We love our Messy Mondays.... and our Messy "Every-Days"!

Bubbles!

This morning, Mr. Ron the Bubble Man visited our school to dazzle us with a bubble show! The children were so excited to see giant bubbles, bubbles inside of bubbles, and bubbles filled with fog! Our Pre-K teacher, Ms. Stephanie, assisted Mr. Ron in making a friendship bubble, and also a bubble teddy bear. We learned about what makes bubbles pop and how they change shape.

We are collecting empty Gatorade type bottles, so we can make our own foam blowers just like Mr. Ron! If you have any empty bottles, please turn them in to your child's teacher! Thank you!!

Music and Movement

Ella Fitzgerald once said, "The only thing better than singing is more singing". We are about to be doing a lot more singing over at the GPPSS Child Development and Preschool Program!

Back in May, our program was awarded a grant from the Grosse Pointe Foundation for Public Education for the creation of Music and Movement Resource Kits. We have completed the process of ordering materials and assembling the kits! Each of the four kits consists of a classroom set of instruments, various dancing scarves, a puppet, and a large group material- such as a canopy or octa-band. Two of the kits contain instruments that are safe for infants and toddlers. In addition, we were able to create a lending library with books related to music, instruments and music concepts. These books will be available for teachers to check out and use in their classrooms as well. 

This week, our staff went through a training session to test out the new materials, share ideas and review information about the importance of music in the earliest years. Our teachers are now ready and equipped to begin using the Resource Kits in their classrooms. 

We are grateful that the Grosse Pointe Foundation for Public Education made this vision a reality for us. We are excited that everyone in our program, birth through age five, will be able to participate in music experiences!

A group of teachers test out the XL Stretchy Band

Practicing with an octa-band for large group movement

Welcome Jug Brothers!

We were so honored this morning to welcome live music from The Jug Brothers! Mr. Gordon and Mr. Glenn performed a musical set in each of our classrooms. It was hit with every age group- Infants through Pre-K! For some children, this was their first time hearing a live guitar and banjo. The brothers performed The Hokey Pokey, Twinkle Star, Itsy Bitsy Spider, The Chicken Dance, and many others!  Children were clapping, dancing and moving along to the beat. We truly value the experience of live music in our classrooms!

We want to send a warm thank you to the Jug Brothers for enriching our morning with the beauty of live music. Being able interact with, and incorporate movement to the songs, made our experience so much richer.You are welcome at our school any time!

Express Yourself!

As a preschool staff, we value opportunities for creative self expression. Children find themselves using puppets, wearing dress up clothes, and singing songs all throughout their day. Another way children can express themselves is through visual art.

Art is an important part of our curriculum, where children can "express and represent what they observe, think, imagine and feel through two- and three- dimensional art". (Highscope) This is why you'll often see teachers labeling, and writing captions on children's art work. Their art has significant meaning to them and they often tell us stories or words as they are creating!

At the Grosse Pointe Public Schools Child Development and Preschool Program, art experiences begin with our infants and grow throughout the years. Art may begin with one tiny stroke of a paint brush, or simply by observing others who are engaged in art activities. Visual art experiences develop themselves into drawings of self, sculptures made of play-dough, collages of various materials and paintings with each stroke carefully placed. As art experiences grow, the skills behind them also grow. Children learn about color, texture, mixing, gluing, building, attention to detail, and how to carry out their own ideas.

We hope you find opportunities to creatively express yourself each and every day!