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Musically Montessori: Make Way for Music! Preparing Your Preschool Music Curriculum

ON YOUR MARK, GET SET NOW, READY TO SING...MOVE...PRACTICE...MASTER MUSIC! 

One of the best ways to prepare your Montessori preschool curriculum & learning environment for the upcoming school year is to take a training.



Of course, I am going to recommend taking a music workshop or an on-line training! 

BUT...WAIT A MINUTE...
How about a fabulous deal where you can join a community of Montessori educators who are sharing ideas about organizing their classrooms for the upcoming school year AND get a wonderful 30-minute Montessori Music mini-training from me?!




 HOW I AM PREPARING FOR MY MUSICALLY MONTESSORI SCHOOL YEAR

GETTING INSPIRATION: 
Taking and teaching music workshops

I recently completed a one-hour  on-line music workshop at Age of Montessori and I learned at least half a dozen new things I can incorporate into my preparations for the upcoming year of Montessori Music Activities for my Preschool groups. 

And, that recent on-line music workshop got my creative juices activated for the annual AMS Music Workshop that I presented last month at Fountainhead Montessori Adult Education Training Program. 



While preparing to  present my recent AMS music training with FMAE, I was re-energized to do some more reading about Montessori's music curriculum that was developed by her colleague, Maria Maccheroni: Montessori and Music Education

Then, I dug into one of my favorite books that I obtained many years ago that was one of the original inspirations for my own Montessori Classroom Curriculum. This is an amazing PhD project by Karen Miller published in the 1980's, and I go back to it every year for even more ideas for music in the Montessori pedagogy. The Montessori Music Curriculum for Children up to Age Six.

GETTING ORGANIZED: 
Going to "Bootcamp!"

Now, after all my inspiring summer Montessori Music experiences and research, I am itching to not only set up my music Activities for the upcoming school year, I am also acutely in need of re-organinzing all my materials for teaching. (And, I have tons of materials!) 

Two years ago I enrolled in Seemi's on-line Montessori Classroom Bootcamp with the idea that I would check it out since I had been recommending it to my student/interns in the AMS training programs where I taught. 

To my delight, I got a gazillion new ideas for simple organizing strategies and techniques for me as a Montessori music specialist! 

These days, I don't teach in one Montessori classroom, but rather I travel around weekly to more than 25 Montessori preschool/lower elementary classrooms in the SF Bay Area as a music specialist. 

However, after decades of being a classroom teacher, I still get the "hankering" in late summer to re-organize, repair, take inventory, buy new supplies, and set up what I need for the year in an organized fashion.  

And, that's what I continue to do each year! 

However, I only have my tiny studio space (set up for making my eCourse videos) where I have a staging room, a small office, and my storage. And, nowadays I am working alone. 

GETTING SUPPORT: 
Joining the Montessori Community on the world-wide web who are also organizing and setting up

So, first off, when I joined Seemi's Bootcamp, I got to join in with lots of Montessori educators from around the world who were all excitedly sharing experiences and photos on the FB page for the Bootcamp eCourse. 

All of a sudden I had a COMMUNITY of folks who were re-organizing, preparing, taking inventory, buying new supplies, and setting up their organization system, JUST LIKE I WAS DOING!

It was almost like those Prep weeks during years past when I was setting up my classroom as a Montessori Preschool teacher! 

Just what I needed.

So, I am looking forward to joining, once again, the other Montessorians world-wide who will be participating in Seemi's Bootcamp 2018! 

GETTING EXPERT TIPS & STRATEGIES:
Seemi Abdulah brings together & shares her amazing skills in effective organizing 

Here are just a few of Seemi's ideas I have found helpful:

~ "Shelf maps" (Seemi's unique concept complete with a download to make your own shelf maps for your environment)
~ Covering inexpensive bankers boxes (for storage) with some nicely designed contact paper so that you can even have these in your classroom and they are not an eyesore, but rather, a lovely corner
~ Her use of a labeler machine to make EVERYTHING easy to read and keep organized
~ Creating a Cultural Studies Calendar: "Year-at-a-Glance Grid" that you can look at in a glance, as well as keeping extensive individual plans for each cultural unit (another handy set of downloads)

I INVITE YOU TO CHECK IT OUT YOURSELF  

This year, I have been invited to be an affiliate in marketing this "go-to" eCourse for setting up your Montessori environment. When you use this link to explore and possibly enroll in Seemi's eCourse, I will be receive a monetary compensationMontessori Classroom Setup Bootcamp at Trillium Montessori Courses. (Thank you very much for your support!)


Oh, and Seemi has included a section in the Bootcamp for setting up your Montessori Music shelf! So, you will come out of this eCourse with a beautiful, comprehensive, and fully authentic Montessori environment for your group.

BOOTCAMP WEEK #2: 
"SENSORIAL AREA BONUS"...MUSIC!

A very special "training-within-a-training" is waiting for you in Module 2 (Sensorial Learning) in the Bootcamp eCourse! 

It is an entire 30 minute segment during the second week with a portion of my Montessori music presentation from Trillium Montessori On-line Summit (2016) and so you will get a little mini training from me for creating and implementing your Montessori Music Curriculum to enhance your Sensorial and Cultural Activities.

Have you checked out my Subscribers Freebie Collection recently? 




I've added a few new resources over the Summer. They are waiting for you to create and place on your Montessori Music Shelf to celebrate the beginning of a new school year!

If you haven't joined my Subscribers list so that you can access my Freebie Collection, it is easy to do right here on this Blog, at the sidebar or scroll down!

SUBSCIRBE TO OUR MAILING LIST

Thank you for visiting my Blog today. I hope you you have gotten inspired for the new school year, right around the corner!

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. When you click on them you have no obligation to purchase and your information will not be collected. If you do purchase through the link, I will receive a compensation (Thank you very much!) and your purchasing  information will be securely collected at the site where you make the purchase.  When you subscribe to my email list, my platform, MailChimp will be securely storing your email information so that I can send you my newsletters and occasional notices of my special sales and newest free resources.  

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Musically Montessori: "The Musical Balloon Garden Game," Exploring Pitch with Preschoolers and a Freebie!

MONTESSORI PRESCHOOLERS CAN EXPLORE THE MUSIC CONCEPT OF PITCH WITH THE "BALLOON GARDEN" STORY AND MUSICAL SCALE MOVEMENT GAME! My Preschoolers always say: "Again...again!"


Understanding the concept of "pitch" in music can be a challenge for young children. That's why creating games designed for children to explore this concept of high pitch and low pitch is a real winner in the Montessori music room.

During my Orff-Schulwerk music education training nearly two decades ago, I was fortunate to study with Janet Greene. She introduced us to some fun ways for little children to explore this challenging concept of "pitch" in music. 

One of her games that has been very popular with my Montessori Preschoolers over the years, is the Activity I call the "Musical Balloon Garden." 
PREPARATION
Here's what you need to present this fun Activity to your groups:
  • An open and safe space for movement 


  • Various pictures of balloons being blown up and then popped and deflated 

  • A pitched instrument such as a Glockenspiel, Xylophone, Piano or the Montessori Brass Bells  



  • A small hand drum  

THE STORY

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful garden. (1) Not an ordinary garden! This was a garden of balloons. (2)



However, all the balloons were flat. Completely flat! (3) 


So, they had to all be blown up...(4)




Puff...Puff...Puff...Puff...Puff...Puff...Puff...Puff! (teacher pretends to blow up a balloon, while playing an ascending scale on a pitched instrument)

Then, the balloons were floating all around in the sky (5) and up in the trees. (6)

All of a sudden, the balloons got caught by a prickly part of the tree (7) and BANG! they all popped and fell flat on the ground below. (8) (teacher or child taps a hand drum to make a bang sound, then teacher plays down the scale quickly on the pitched instrument)



Now, all the balloons had to be repaired.  That way they could fly up in the sky again. So, the balloons got patched.  (9)

Then they were blown up all over again, (10) and the balloons from the "balloon garden" (11) flew up in the sky once more. (12)


Every time these balloons were flying up high, they kept bumping into prickly things that caused them to pop! 

Then, they would fall flat down on the ground, and have to be patched over and over again... 

HOW TO DO THE ACTIVITY
1. Start by showing the children some pictures of balloons when they are flat and then when they are all blown up.

2. Invite the children to pretend like they are balloons in a "Balloon Garden." 

3. Begin telling the "Musical Balloon Garden" story (see above) and have the children lie down flat like balloons waiting to be blown up.


4. Play up the scale (ascending) on the Pitched Instrument: Pretend to blow on a balloon each time you play one of the ascending notes on the instrument. (See chart below in this article: do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti-do' or C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C')

5. Invite the children to move from lying flat to gradually standing up until you have reached the high "do" on the pitched instrument.


6. When you have reached the high "do" (or C') on the instrument, then play a glissando to accompany the children pretending to be balloons flying up high in the air. 

A "Glissando" means rapidly sliding the mallets across the bars or keys of the instrument so that you are moving up and down the scale. 


7. As you tell the story to the children, the "balloons" are flying in the trees where they get pricked by a prickly part of the tree and then they pop.  Here, you tap the drum to create a sound like a balloon popping. POP! Then, you play down the musical scale (descending) on the pitched instrument, to indicate the falling motion of a deflated popped balloon.


8. The children then fall flat to the floor, as if they were popped balloons.


"AGAIN...AGAIN!"
9. This part of the story can become a fun little game in which you go around to each child and pretend to repair each "balloon" with a "patch" so that the story can be re-inacted again. 

10. You will probably find, as I have, that the children love to act out this musical story over and over and over!



I INVITE YOU TO DOWNLOAD
WITH MY FREE 
"BALLOON GARDEN" VISUALS  FOR THIS ACTIVITY!

This set of Activities has been a great success in my Preschool classes for decades! It has turned out to be a really fun, hands-on way to present a first introduction to the concept of pitch (high and low) in music and the musical scale. (ascending and descending tones)

I've created a "Balloon Garden" Freebie for my Subscribers Freebie Collection and my subscribers can access it HERE!


If you are not a subscriber to my email Newsletter list, you can easily join by signing up right here on the sidebar of this Blog or by scrolling down to my sign up form at the end of this article.

JOIN MY EMAIL LIST


I invite you to check out my Pinterest Boards HERE.

You might also enjoy a really fun Musical Scale Activity from Lesson 7 in my Musically Montessori eCourse, "First Twelve Weeks." 


Thank you for visiting my Blog today! I hope you and your group enjoy these musical activities.














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