Christmas is Coming, the Goose is Getting Fat!

Alright, yes, I have been listening to Children's music all night as I prepared my Cherubs outlines and song list. Christmas music really does get me in the spirit of things! So we have some fun Christmas songs lined up for December!

http://www.4shared.com/file/161928749/2302f702/Dec_09_Cherubs_Outline-Web.html

http://www.4shared.com/file/161928781/816c303c/Dec_09_Cherubs_Songs_P2.html

http://www.4shared.com/file/161928811/5bf2cc48/Dec_09_Cherubs_Songs_P1.html

We are going to have a gift exchange for our last class this month. All of the children will bring a generic $1 gift and have a present passing activity. We will end with a treat!

Enjoy, and Merry Christmas!

Autumn and Thanksgiving-November Outline and Songs

Well, the leaves are in plentiful piles for play and the days are getting short and brisk. It's time to celebrate autumn and get ready for Thanksgiving with lots of fun songs at Cherubs! We are playing up the country songs this month, too, especially for the Activity Songs section. And I don't think there is a shortage of turkey songs to be had! Have a fun and happy fall!

http://www.4shared.com/file/145569704/b54b6c0b/Nov_09_Cherubs_Outline-Web.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/145569948/d20fc82e/Nov_09_Cherubs_Songs_P1.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/145569972/19f772f3/Nov_09_Cherubs_Songs_P2.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/145569916/48c0116c/Nov_09_Cherubs_Songs_P3.html

October Outline -- Halloween

Halloween is coming, can you believe it? Wednesday we will start our new Cherubs theme for October: Halloween. There are some great songs. And some of the crafty moms in our group have made some darling props, too! For "Boo, Boo" we have some ghosts on a stick:

They are simple to make. Kellie made these originally with a pencil to hold, you could also use a dowel and cut it into pieces.
Supplies to get: very inexpensive white fabric (muslin or like,) enough to fit your number of ghosts-12”x12” squares, batting, black yarn, dowels or pencils, black Sharpie marker, hot glue

For "Spider on the Floor," We have a spider on a length of yarn. They are too cute! The kids giggle and cringe when you dangle the spider as it "crawls" up them. Supplies to get: pom poms-enough for your group, each spider has two pom-poms (2 different sizes, black, purple, whatever spider color,) googly eyes, black pipe cleaner, black yarn, hot glue

For "Witches' Brew," we pretend we are stirring our brew using our ribbon wands. Use the wand to "toss" ingredients in, and twirl it in a circle to stir.

Here are our outline, song lists, and music lesson idea for this month!

Outline: http://www.4shared.com/file/135910704/76436f3/Oct_09_Cherubs_Outline-Web.html

Songs Lists: http://www.4shared.com/file/135910971/32d179b1/Oct_09_Cherubs_Songs_P1.html

http://www.4shared.com/file/135911113/3c2a89c6/Oct_09_Cherubs_Songs_P2.html

http://www.4shared.com/file/135911389/eb90fff/Oct_09_Cherubs_Songs_P3.html

Our theme song for 2009-10

Our theme song for 2009-10 is "Good Morning" by Old Town School of Folk Music. I love it. It is just a fun welcome song. I wave to all the girls, then to the boys, then have everyone stand up, wiggle, then sit back down on "hello to all you wiggleworms." We also had a fun warm up theme song last year, so it will be sad to say goodbye to "Finger Poppin'."
If you like this new song, you should use it for your Cherubs group! You can listen and download here:
http://www.amazon.com/Good-Morning/dp/B000QQUJC2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1252468851&sr=1-1
I bought and downloaded the whole album, I love the fun beat and variety on these classics.

September outline and songs "It's a Zoo" theme

We have started our new Cherubs year! And I think zoo animal songs are lots of fun. The outline has some good classics and ice breaker songs to help our new members feel comfortable and enjoy the class. We are off to a great start, it should be a lot of fun!

http://www.4shared.com/file/131294490/f217ffbc/Sept_09_Cherubs_Outline-Web.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/131294508/2ccca6f0/Sept_09_Cherubs_Songs.html

Rainbow Color Song

I received an email from Brienne asking about music for the color song, Rainbow Around Me. That's a great question, Brienne! One I have asked my predecessors as well! We have just used the same song and learned it by rote. Unfortunately we have no music for it, but here are the lyrics:

Color Song
The world outside my window, Is a world of color I see.
Rainbow, Rainbow, Rainbow around me.
Rainbow, Rainbow, Rainbow around me.
The _____ outside my window is ________ as _________ can be.
Repeat 3rd and 4th lines.

As far as actions, we hold a blank picture frame (with no glass or mat,) as the "window" for each child to hold an object through. For the 1st verse, I hold up the frame. For the second and third verses, I move my arm in a large arc motion to convey a rainbow going from one side to the other, and then on "Around me," I paint the imaginary rainbow around myself like a lasso. For the next verse we move around to each child and let them hold the object they have brought from home. Each month we choose a different color, so as our color for September is blue, we would sing, "The ball outside my window is blue as blue can be. The shoe outside my window is blue as blue can be." Etc. To end, we sing "Rainbow, Rainbow, Rainbow around me" twice more.

I have done some looking for music to match it in the last year, and this song is probably the same originally, but over time we have made our own version. This one on amazon.com mp3 downloads is pretty close and the same tune we sing:
http://www.amazon.com/Rainbow-Around-Me/dp/B00193775S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1252468060&sr=1-1
You can hear a portion there and buy it for $.99 if you decide.

I also found this one by Miss Lisa:
http://www.amazon.com/Rainbow-round-Me/dp/B001H5ZX7M/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1252468205&sr=1-2
I like the Miss Lisa version the best, but she has added "fiddle-dee-dee," which is quite cute for St. Patrick's Day and the leprechaun-rainbow idea, but I didn't feel so inclined to change what we have been doing.

I hope this helps establish your color song!

Tammy's September Outline

Tammy has a great outline for her Cherubs group. Check out her ideas:

http://www.4shared.com/file/131290790/7f33d6b2/Tammy-0909_Song_Sheet.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/131290814/bbdbdf9e/Tammy-0909_Outline.html