Dear Families,
Our unit for the next week is “Learn Every Day about Music.” Your child will have
opportunities to develop creativity, reading skills, math skills, social skills, and selfesteem by exploring musical instruments and by listening to different genres of music.
Your child will learn about different types of instruments and will have an opportunity to
explore as many instruments as possible. He/she will explore a globe to learn about the
origins of some instruments and musical styles. He/she will learn about sheet music and
how the symbols on the page represent musical sounds. He/she will talk about what it
means to play in a group such as an orchestra or a band. He/she will learn about theaters
by looking at pictures of theaters and discussing their similarities and differences.
Here are some activities we have planned:
Art Center: Make drums and tambourines; paint pictures to music of varying tempos
and talk about how the music affects the paintings; and make instrument collages using
magazine pictures.
Fine Motor Center: Make string instruments with rubber bands and shoeboxes; and
make kazoos.
Dramatic Play Center: Create paper bag vests and pretend to be in a marching band.
Music Center: Explore many types of drums and tambourines; experiment with listening
for the beat of the music and clapping along; experiment with playing notes on plastic
horns and talk about what it means to be part of an orchestra; and experiment with
different ways to make music using our bodies, such as humming, whistling, or clapping.
Discovery Science Center: Explore drums of varying sizes; explore the sounds made
using our vocal chords and compare those sounds to the ones made with woodwind
instruments; and learn how eardrums act like percussion instruments.
Math Center: Count the notes on a piece of sheet music for the song “Row, Row, Row
Your Boat.”
Block Center: Play on the blocks with drumsticks and talk about how and why blocks of
different sizes make different sounds.
Outdoor Activities Center: Play Musical Hula Hoops (similar to Musical Chairs) and
Musical Races, a game in which children must identify the type of instruments heard on a
recording before racing to a spot on the playground where a poster of that instrument is
hanging.
At home you can:
 Listen to the music your child plays on his/her handmade tambourines.
 Encourage your child to play his/her recorder for you.
 Ask your child to describe the sounds he/she hears on the drive home.
 Make your own kazoos.
 Form your own family band using real or homemade instruments.
We are very excited about the activities we have planned. As always, thank you for
sharing your child with us. Please don’t hesitate to call or email with any questions or
concerns.
Sincerely,