4 - 6 Year Old Themes
Sept – Jumping Beans
In class, your child’s memory and sequence skills will strengthen with stop-and-go activities—all set to the music of Latin America. Tucked into stories and pretend play activities, stop-and-go games help your preschooler control body motions and follow directions on the go. Share the stories and activities in your Home Kit and you’ll strengthen self-discipline skills at home, too.
Home Kit: One pan flute instrument, Home CD, and magazine-style Family Guide (includes the class story A Quieter Instrument)
Oct – Join the Parade
You can watch this month’s theme in your own home town with the season’s upcoming holiday parades. In class, we’ll listen to marching music, play pretend parades, and help your preschooler develop rhythm and coordination skills. Marching to the beat of his own drum—in class and at home—helps your preschooler make a vital rhythm and body connection, one that’s necessary to help him master any number of movement activities such as writing, dribbling and shooting a basketball, dancing, and skipping.
Home Kit: Home CD and magazine-style Family Guide (includes the class story Henry’s Parade)
Nov – All Keyed Up
A piano and the well-known composer, J.S. Bach, help your preschooler get ready for school this month. The answer is right at the tip of your fingers. The same fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination your preschooler needs to hold a pencil—are developed through the special keyboard-playing activities we’ll be playing in class.
Home Kit: Pair of castanets instrument, Home CD, and magazine-style Family Guide (includes the class story Coppertop and the Four Keyboards)
Dec – Sing a Story
The Sing a Story unit of ABC Music & Me introduces children to the world of opera. They will meet the Queen of the Night, Papageno, and Papagena, just a few of the colorful characters from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s opera, The Magic Flute. At storytime, children will hear a tale of missing tail feathers and witness the hustle and bustle that happens backstage before an opera. They will listen to examples of solos and duets, practice pre-music-reading skills by singing simple two-note patterns, sing, and play a variety of musical instruments.
Home Kit: Home CD, and magazine-style Family Guide (includes the class story Papageno’s Feathers)
Jan – Rhythms of the Land
In class we’ll explore the rhythms and sounds of Native American music. As we investigate, compare, and contrast a wide variety of drums and the materials they’re made from, your preschooler develops the investigative vocabulary needed in the sciences. When you repeat rhythm patterns at home and share the activities in your Home Kit, your child gets an early start in math, too.
Home Kit: Jingle Stick instrument, Home CD, and magazine-style Family Guide (includes the class story Pedal Pump, Pedal Pump)
Feb – Sounds Abound
This month, we’ll explore all the sounds we can make with our mouths, bodies, hands, plus everyday objects we can find around the house. Your preschooler develops an early understanding of how one material can be used to make something else. Activities in your Home Kit help you bring these big ideas home when you take part in the listening, turn-taking, and sound-effect making activities.
Home Kit: Home CD and magazine-style Family Guide (includes the class story If I Had a Big Blue Boat)
March – Dance With Me
This month, we’ll feature the music and dance of “one-two” rhythms and “one-two-three” rhythms. In class, we’ll hear real instruments from the ballet and learn a few dance steps, too. Activities like dance, where your child follows a short sequence of instructions, helps to strengthen memory and his ability to follow directions. At home, play the CD in your Home Kit and let your preschooler show you a new step or two. Home Kit: Pair of lumi stix, Home CD, and magazine-style Family Guide (includes the class story Dance of Our Own)
April – Drums, Drums, Drums
This month your child will experience the concept of fractions through hearing and playing quarter and eighth notes. In class we’ll do “call and response” activities to the rhythmic sounds of African music. Meanwhile, your child will sharpen listening and attention skills, as well as fine tune her ear to finding patterns. Play the activities in your Home Kit together, and you’ll help your preschooler develop a strong foundation in math, rhythm and coordination, and critical listening.
Home Kit: Home CD and magazine-style Family Guide (includes the class story Drum Circle)