Today we are celebrating “International Mud Day” with a wonderful poem by Gareth Lancaster.

I’m in love with mud,
It’s sad, I know, but true.

I just can’t help but splash in it,
Or stomp a path right through.

It’s sticky and it’s dirty,
And it covers all my clothes.

But when I see it lying there,
A voice inside me grows…

…You can’t resist, you know I’m right,
It’s fun to play in mud!

Look at it just sitting there,
I really think you should!

I splatter in the grimy gloop,
I can’t resist the ooze!

I run, I jump, I stamp about,
It drips into my shoes!

This post has been added to the following link ups today

to celebrate International Mud Day

I’m a teacher, get me OUTSIDE here!

Hands on : as we grow

Please be sure to pop on over to see how others are getting down and dirty!

Little cottage in the wood.

Little man at the window stood.

Saw a rabbit hopping by.

Frightened as can be.

Help me! Help me! Help! he cried,

Before the hunter he sees me.

Come little rabbit, come inside.

Safe here you will be.

This little song is one we both did as children but have not heard for AGES until our young friends, Tige and Kate, reminded us of it recently, when they gave us an impromptu performance.

The first time they sang the song right through with the actions, but the next time through they didn’t sing the first line, and in each subsequent verse one additional line was dropped until on the 10th time through it was only actions!

Little cottage in the wood

Little man at the window stood.

Saw a rabbit hopping by …

frightened as can be.

Help me! Help me! Help! he cried.

Before the hunter he sees me.

Come little rabbit , come inside.

Safe here you will be.

WOW! Talk about bringing back memories …. what fun!

It would appear that Highvale Preschool has ‘gone to the birds’ …

and we say that in the nicest possible way!

Just how irresistible are these bird cages?

If you have been reading our blog for a while you will know it is no secret that we strongly believe in presenting activities to children in such a way …

as to engage their interest …

and invite them to play.

This beautiful Imaginative play set up reminds us of this great little finger poem …

Five Little Birds

5 little birds,
On a branch by the shore,
1 fell off,
Then there were 4.

4 little birds,
High in a tree,
The wind blew hard,
Then there were 3.

3 little birds,
None of them knew,
1 wandered home,
Then there were 2.

2 little birds,
Sitting in the sun,
A cat came along,
Then there was 1.

1 little birds,
In the setting sun,
Flew off to the forest,
Then there were none.

The children at the table go …

tinker, tinker, tinker …

tinker, tinker, tinker …

tinker, tinker, tinker.

The children at the table go tinker, tinker tinker.

All day long!

This wonderful learning experience took place at Ringwood Uniting Kindergarten because the children were provided with real tools for real work!

On our recent visit to Ringwood Uniting Kindergarten we saw a group of children totally engaged in this icy imaginative play. It brought to mind this lovely poem -

If you should meet a Polar Bear.

If you should meet a polar bear …

on a winter day.

what would you do …

What would you say?

I’d say good morning Polar Bear, how do you do?

I’m glad to meet you Polar Bear. I’d like to dance with you.

Ringwood Uniting Preschool has been added to our Education Directory Page.

BINGO is a familiar song which all of our children know, thanks to the ever popular ABC TV children’s show ‘Play School‘!

We like to teach our children an interactive version of the song each year.

The Anglican Church of St. John the Divine

This year as we prepare for our Christmas Carols concert down in the Church with Father Tim, we are teaching the children a new version of BINGO.

Sung to the same tune we are replacing B-I-N-G-O with J-E-S-U-S

We ran the idea past Father Tim before we taught it to the children as we wanted to ensure it would not appear disrepectful to the church in any way and he LOVED it!

As we did with the B-I-N-G-O song the children start off with the cards showing the letters J-E-S-U-S and as the song progresses,  the children turn their cards around as one new letter each verse is replaced with a clap until we end up with clap-clap-clap-clap-clap. On the very last verse the children all turn their cards back around to spell J-E-S-U-S.

So at our Christmas Carols night this year the children will sing …

There was our God who had a son and Jesus was his name-o,

J-E-S-U-S,   J-E-S-U-S,   J-E-S-U-S

and Jesus was his name-o!

There was our God who had a son and Jesus was his name-o,

clap-E-S-U-S,   clap-E-S-U-S,   clap-E-S-U-S

and Jesus was his name-o!

There was our God who had a son and Jesus was his name-o,

clap-clap-S-U-S,    clap-clap-S-U-S,   clap-clap-S-U-S

and Jesus was his name-o!

There was our God who had a son and Jesus was his name-o,

clap-clap-clap-U-S,   clap-clap-clap-U-S,   clap-clap-clap-U-S

and Jesus was his name-o!

There was our God who had a son and Jesus was his name-o,

clap-clap-clap-clap-S,   clap-clap-clap-clap-S,   clap-clap-clap-clap-S

and Jesus was his name-o!

There was our God who had a son and Jesus was his name-o,

clap-clap-clap-clap-clap,   clap-clap-clap-clap-clap,   clap-clap-clap-clap-clap

and Jesus was his name-o!

J-E-S-U-S,   J-E-S-U-S,   J-E-S-U-S

and Jesus was his name-o!

A fun song we like to do is called “Suzie had a baby”. It has lots of actions and is a bit silly - just what four and five year olds love! It goes like this.

Suzie had a baby, she called him Tiny Tim.

She put him in the bathtub to see if he could swim.

He drank up all the water.

He ate up all the soap.

He tried to eat the bathtub but it wouldn’t go down his throat!

Suzie called the doctor, Suzie called the nurse,

Suzie called the lady with the alligator purse.

“Mumps”, said the doctor. “Measles”, said the nurse.

“Chickenpox”, said the lady with the alligator purse.

Out went the doctor, out went the nurse,

Out went the lady with the alligator purse.

Our State Government Department of Primary Industries provides preschools with a wonderful free of charge program called the “Responsible Pet Ownership Program”.

A dog owner and his/her dog come to the kinder for a one hour session to teach the children how to be safe around dogs.

We have been having this incursion for some years now and always find it extremely worthwhile.

This year we had Angelique and Woody her golden labrador come to visit us.

There are boppy songs, lots of interaction from the children,

bright books and relevant stories and best of all …

a real live dog!

The children are taught when it is appropriate to approach a dog and how to go about it.

Our patient dog visitor is the one they practise on.

We are also provided with a CD and DVD, a book and lots of posters to follow up with.

It is a fabulously worthwhile program and what the children (and parents) are taught really works!

All children love playing intruments and we have a couple of great tracks we boogie and make good music to.

One is “Feeling Free” from the CD  ”Splash”.

The children form a conga line clutching their instruments of choice and follow the leader all through the kinder doing a Carribean style dance.

One aim is for the whole group to get back onto the mat in time for the finish. It just doesn’t feel right if half the group is still trailing around the room!

The other one we love is  “The Biggest Band” from the CD “Bop in the Bath”.

The different instruments have their go …

maracas (egg shakers) …

bells …

claves (rhythm sticks)…

and tambourines.

We play fast and slow, up high and down low all the time trying hard to keep to the beat.

and then we all join in together for the grand finale.

We play lots of classical and other instrumental music in our kindergarten for our music and movement and also when the children are packing their bags to go home.

We play a different track each week and the children try to be packed and down on the mat ready to go before it finishes.

One piece that we play during our music sessions is “The cuckoo in the depths of the woods” from Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saens. It is fabulous for the children’s listening and reflex skills.

While the music plays the children do this activity in pairs.

We have one child standing in front being a tree. The one behind is the cuckoo.

When a cuckoo call sounds in the music the cuckoo ducks out from behind the tree calling out “cuckoo!” The sound doesn’t come regularly so the children have to be really on the ball so that when they hear it they are ready to pop out.

It always causes lots of laughter and plenty of joy!

Virginia from Mini Maestros has taught the children another cuckoo song where the cuckoo sound is echoed.

These are the words:

Little cuckoo in the tree, in the tree, in the tree.

Little cuckoo in the tree, sing a song for me!

Leader sings: Cuckoo and the followers echo: Cuckoo

Cuckoo …………. Cuckoo

Cuckoo …………. Cuckoo

Sing a song for me!

Now we have combined both these activities.

The children made pairs with the tree in front and the cuckoo behind as in ”The cuckoo in the depths of the woods”, but sang Virginia’s song, “Little cuckoo in the tree” with the child behind being the lead cuckoo ducking out from behind the tree once again to sing “cuckoo” and the child in front singing the echo.

Both songs worked really well being acted out and were a heap of fun. It was delightful to see the children giggling their way through the actions while trying really hard to keep up with the “cuckoo”!