SAMPLE NEWSLETTER

February News

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

Curriculum

HOLIDAYS

Valentines Day Story - St Valentine

Songs - I Love You; I’m a Valentine; Skiddamarink; Pretty Valentine
President’s Day pictures of Abe and George/stories- George Washington And The Cherry Tree; Abe Lincoln’s Hat; George Washington and the General’s Dog

Tea Party Related Books: Tea for Three; Are You Quite Polite?; The Boy Who Wouldn’t Share; Tea for Ruby

RECTILINEAR SHAPES trace/color/cut/prick

GEOGRAPHY

Continue South America; Amazon; animals and levels of Atlas introduction
Books The Great Kapok Tree; Amazon Alphabet;
Selected stories Reen-Reen-Reeny-Croak-Frog, (Columbian tale); How The Beetles Got Their Gorgeous Coats, (Brazilian tale)

CREATIVE MOVEMENT Awareness and control of the body by stunts

MUSIC

singing songs, learning melody and rhythm
singing with accompaniment
exposure to the instrument families
discovering pitch through high and low tones
Instruments of the Orchestra: strings, woodwinds, brass, percussion, electronic, folk
Rhythm instruments

Books The Orchestra; Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin

Song I Am A Fine Musician
Vocabulary orchestra, musician, conductor, composer, melody, dynamics, harmony, family, rhythm, tempo

Composers/Musicians/Vocalists

Dean Evenson Forest Rain
Saint-Saens, book and music of Carnival Of The Animals
Prokofiev, book, music and video of Peter and the Wolf
Lena Horn; Miles Davis; David Sanborn and more

*Consider taking your child to see and hear a live orchestra planned just for kids ages 3-7. Fiddlestix takes place at Heinz Hall. It begins with hands-on demonstrations of various aspects of music and ends with a 45 min. Pgh. Symphony Orchestra performance; call Heinz Hall box office for tickets.

VALENTINES

We will exchange valentines Tuesday, Feb 13 and Wednesday, Feb 14. AM/PM

Please put valentines in a paper bag labeled with your child's name. It isn't necessary to name each valentine; 6 per session will cover all kiddos.

TEA PARTIES

Tea parties will take the place of snack on Tuesday, Feb 13, and Wednesday, Feb 14. No lunch boxes needed.

Kids should wear fancy clothes; we will not play outside these days.

Tea parties provide opportunities to teach table manners and grace and courtesy.

MUSIC

Since we will focus on music this month it is suggested that you play a variety of music at home from jazz, classical, rock and roll, reggae, and pop. You can also call the high school and ask to observe the jazz, marching and stage bands as they rehearse to get a first hand and close up look at the instruments. Also, access music on the computer. It’s not necessary to purchase CD’s.

Music of South America is suggested.

The North Wind Doth Blow

The north wind doth blow
and we shall have snow
and what will poor robin do then, poor thing!
He’ll sit in a barn
to keep himself warm
and hide his head under his wing, poor thing!

“The purpose of raising children is to help them out of our lives and into successful lives of their own.”

—Glenn Nelson