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ABC Music & Me is a program created by the folks at
Kindermusik who have been teaching award-winning
classes for parents and children for over 30 years.
ABC Music & Me is proud to be helping children,
teachers, and families build listening and early literacy
skills through music, storytime, and movement activities!
To learn more visit us at:
www.abcmusicandme.com
Reading, writing, listening, and speaking activities created by Simone T. Ribke.
The ABC Music & Me™ Family Guide is published by Kindermusik® International, 203 South Church Street, Greensboro, NC 27214.
Published as the Family Guide to the Up in the Sky unit, part of the ABC Music & Me™ program. Copyright 2011, 2008, 2004 Kindermusik®
International. All rights reserved, including right of reproduction in whole or in part, in any form. Printed in the United States of America.
Up in the Sky
Listen up!
(p. 2)
Take a “bird
walk”
(p. 4)
Up, up, and
away!
(p. 10)
The windy day
Drums,
drums,
drums!
(p. 17)
(p. 5)
Who’s in the night sky?
(p. 8)
This month’s learning focus:
A day in the life of
a robin (p. 5)
ABC Music & Me is more than just a music class—it’s a learning class. Research indicates
the importance of music at a very early age, and ABC Music & Me has created a carefully planned
program to enhance each child’s learning and growth during these important early years. When young children sing, play, move, and interact in their ABC Music & Me class, the
sounds, rhythms, and movements of the activities enhance their emotional, social, physical, and cognitive growth. Inhibitions fall away, self-esteem grows, and social skills develop.
Through moving, dancing, and playing instruments, children also develop muscle control
and coordination.
Each ABC Music & Me lesson includes a strong literature component, encouraging the
development of important skills such as listening, sequencing, anticipation, empathy, and literacy.
ABC Music & Me helps children learn how to learn, and have fun while they’re at it!
Every ABC Music & Me lesson contains a variety of activities designed to encourage many
different kinds of learning:
• Greeting and Goodbye Rituals help children feel comfortable, individually recognized,
and ready for learning.
• Singing is a natural way for children to express their innate creativity and growing sense
of rhythm and melody.
• Vocal Play helps children develop expressiveness and confidence when speaking.
• Movement activities help children develop coordination and rhythm.
• Instrument Exploration and Play-Along activities help young children practice
fine-motor skills and experiment with sounds, rhythms, and steady beats.
• Storytime exposes children to new vocabulary and prepares them for reading.
• Focused Listening activities give children an opportunity to practice the skills of attention and careful listening.
Kindermusik® International is the world’s leading publisher of music
and movement curricula for parents and their children, ages newborn to 7 years old.
For more information, please visit our website at www.Kindermusik.com.
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A new Family Guide and Home CD are included with each month’s unit of ABC Music & Me.
Look forward to more fun next month!
Parent Notes e e
This month’s learning focus:
ABC Music & Me™ Learning-at-a-glance
This month’s
areas of development
In ABC Music & Me,
your child . . .
In ABC Music & Me,
your child . . .
In ABC Music & Me,
your child . . .
Expressive Movement
Movement is another way for a
toddler to communicate, and with
a little guidance and a lot of
freedom, he can share his moods,
ideas, personality, and energy
through expressive movement.
is becoming more skilled at
coordination and balance, key
components to expressive
movement. As his control over
his body and his movements
grows, so will his ability to be
expressive through movement.
has a growing repertoire of more
nuanced expressive movements.
Just as he is becoming more
articulate with language, your
3- to 4-year-old is becoming more
articulate with body language
as well.
will wave, tap, swoop, soar, twinkle,
float, gallop, twirl, trot, twist,
stretch, curl, wiggle, and “fly!” The
“Up in the Sky” unit incorporates
oodles of expressive movements;
your toddler will be moving,
learning, and having fun!
Fine-Motor Development
The small-muscle movements
involved in instrument-playing and
sing-along motions help your child
develop her dexterity and sharpen
her fine-motor skills.
is beginning to use her small
muscles for more detailed
activities, such as twisting
caps, playing with shapes, and
coloring.
has a growing facility with finemotor activities requiring smallmuscle control and precision.
will practice eye-hand coordination
and fine-motor activities such as
tapping, gesturing, and playing
instruments. Finger plays such as
“Mister Robin” are great practice
for a toddler’s developing finemotor skills.
Playing Instruments
2- to 4-year-olds love instruments.
As they become more aware of the
different sound qualities that
instruments can produce, they
will become even more engaged
with the variety of instruments and
playing styles.
likes to watch and imitate
others, and is learning to use
his small muscles to manipulate
and control objects. He loves
to explore using and practicing
these emerging skills, and
delights at his ability to create
musical sounds!
is able to play instruments in a
more deliberate fashion now,
matching beats or even playing
specific patterns. He loves to
be creative, coming up with a
variety of new ways to play an
instrument. He may even be able
to use instruments to express his
ideas and feelings.
will play one-bell jingles, egg
shakers, drum containers, and
Zig Zag blocks all on his own.
He will experiment with different
rhythms, practice a steady beat,
and even come up with his own
ways to play.
Singing
Many young children begin to sing
by using the same limited range
of pitches for singing that they use
for talking. Encouraging children
to sing in a higher range expands
their vocal capability for singing as
well as for expressive speaking.
probably has some favorite songs
that have simple melodies and
lots of repeated words and rhythmic
or melodic phrases. She may
want to listen to these songs over
and over again, and might even
sing along with certain repeated
or rhyming words or phrases.
is singing with more accurate
pitch and expanding her repertoire of songs. While previously
more secure when singing along
with a recording or with others,
she may now be becoming a
more independent singer, enjoying singing on her own.
will be encouraged to sing along
to simple songs with repeated
melodies and phrases. She will
gather confidence singing along
to tunes such as the ABC Music
& Me Hello and Goodbye songs,
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, Mr.
Sun, I Like to Sing, and others.
I can move expressively.
.
I am practicing my fine-motor skills
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  
Activities for you and your child
In ABC Music & Me™, your child will listen to recordings
of a robin and an owl, imitate those sounds, then sing
and move to songs about robins and owls.
At home, you can listen to CD Tracks 7 and 9 to
hear the sounds yourself. Take a “bird walk” around
your neighborhood, listening carefully for bird sounds.
Find pictures of birds, or maybe even recordings of
other bird songs. Better yet, put up a bird feeder to get
a close look at your own local birds.
In ABC Music & Me, your child will learn about
colors by singing about them, dancing with
different colored streamers, and identifying
colored objects in illustrations and around the
room. (CD Track 15)
At home, you can take a “color walk” around
the house, looking for yellow things. When
you’ve found 5, try a different color. (This is
great practice in counting, too!)
In ABC Music & Me, your child will stretch, curl, and
bend like a cloud to “Like a Cloud,” CD Track 14.
At home, you can keep learning about clouds. Find
pictures of different kinds of clouds and imitate their
shapes (long, round, curvy) with your bodies. Then go
out cloud-watching! How many different cloud shapes
can you find?
In ABC Music & Me, your child will listen to a
storytime about a small boy who wants to fly a
big kite. No one will let him because they say
he’s too small! (CD Track 11)
At home, you can build your own kite that’s
just the right size. Check out a kite-building
book from the library, or buy a pre-made kite.
Wait for a windy day and then go try it out.
(Hang on tight!)
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This month’s learning focus:
In ABC Music & Me, your child will
participate in a musical story about
robins waking up, flying around,
looking for food, pulling up worms,
and then returning to their nests. The
cues are given verbally on one track,
then only musically on the next.
At home, you can fly along with the
birds on CD Tracks 5 and 6. Then,
you can give your creativity a nudge
by choosing another animal to imitate.
Try moving like a polar bear waking up,
walking slowly across ice, looking for
seals, and then digging an ice den—or
try moving like a rabbit waking up,
hopping through tall grass, nibbling on
clover, and digging a burrow.
I
In ABC Music & Me, your child will get
exprplay-along
essivelyto. “Aiken
ctoanplaymoinvaedrum
Drum,” CD TrackI 20.
amToddlers
practilove
cing my
playing drums!
At home, you can make your own
simple container-drums from plastic
containers or boxes. If you don’t want
to build a drum, simply use your lap as a
drum, and try a call-and-response game
with your child, asking her to imitate
simple rhythms. Drum play-alongs
are an excellent way for toddlers to
develop a sense of steady beat, a skill
vital to the development of motor skills,
coordination, and rhythm. “Sunshine
Play,” CD Track 3, is another great tune
for a play-along.
In ABC Music & Me, your child will
enjoy playing a game rolling an
inflatable beach ball in a circle with
his friends and classmates.
At home, this could easily turn into
a new favorite pastime. Sit on the
floor with your toddler with your legs
spread. (Gather the family; the more,
the merrier!) Using an inflatable,
stuffed, or foam ball, practice rolling,
bouncing, and tossing the ball to
one another. For the perfect musical
accompaniment, play “Silver Moon
Boat,” CD Track 21.
In ABC Music & Me, your child will move with a large,
flowing scarf, imitating the wind blowing to a song
called “I Can’t See The Wind,” CD Track 13.
At home, you can use a large, flowy piece of cloth to
create a “parachute-style” game. Put the cloth on the
. and your toddler can hold the four
ground,sthen
killsyou
r
o
t
o
m
fine corners and billow the cloth upward, then let the cloth
fall gently back down to the ground. With light fabric,
such as a silk scarf, you might be able to blow the scarf
around while it is still in the air.
In ABC Music & Me, this month’s “Up in the Sky” unit
wouldn’t be complete without “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little
Star,” CD Track 17.
At home, make this a bedtime regular. Sing the song quietly
and do the motions with whole arms first, then just hands,
then only fingers. This is a great way to get a little one to
focus and quiet down for bedtime.
5
Writing
K
You may enjoy listening
to CD Track 12 (My Kite)
before this activity.
is for Kite
Encourage your child to practice writing
the letter K, first by tracing, then on his
or her own. Then invite your child to color
in and complete the other K words.
K K K K K K __ __ __
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__ey
__ing
__ettle
__angaroo
Color the Sky
Ask your child to listen closely to the instructions
below. After coloring each type of object, have
your child tell how many of each there are.
Listening
You may enjoy
listening to CD Track 14
(Like a Cloud) and Track 15
(The Color Song) before doing
this activity.
Color the clouds blue. Now count the clouds.
Color the moons yellow. Now count the moons.
Color the suns orange. Now count the suns.
Color the stars purple. Now count the stars.
Color the airplanes red. Now count the airplanes.
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Play-Along Activity
Whooo
am I?
8
Look in the illustration for clues
to solve these riddles!
In the dark, when critters are out on the prowl,
I perch on a tree branch; I am an ____________.
I show up at night, never at noon.
I’m not the sun; I am the __________.
I look a little like a mouse or a rat,
but I also have wings; I am a ___________.
We’re not Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars,
But we twinkle in the night sky; we are ________.
If you haven’t found me yet, you will very soon.
I have stripes on my tail; I am a ____________.
Read-Along Story
Someone
Bigger
by Jonathan Emmett
illustrated by Adrian Reynolds
Play CD Track 11 to hear the
Sam and Dad had made a kite.
story read aloud.
They’d made it large. They’d made it light.
They went out on a windy day to see if they could fly it.
“Can I hold it first? Can I?” said Sam. “I’m old enough—I know I am!”
“No, you’re too small!” his Dad replied. “THIS kite needs someone bigger.”
Then Dad let go and launched the kite, unwound the string, and held it tight,
while Sam stood by, and watched, and wished that he was someone bigger.
“Someone Bigger” is excerpted from Someone Bigger by Jonathan Emmett, published by Oxford University Press. Text copyright © Jonathan Emmett 2003.
Illustrations copyright © Adrian Reynolds 2003. Reprinted by kind permission of David Higham Associates Limited.
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But the wind blew hard.
And the kite flew high.
And pulled Sam’s dad INTO THE SKY.
And Sam went running after.
10
“Can I hold it now?” asked Sam.
“I’m old enough—I know I am!”
“No, you’re too small!” his father cried.
“This kite needs someone bigger.”
The kite flew up above the town,
where people tried to pull it down:
A postman, a policeman, and his horse,
a bridegroom (and his bride, of course)…
This page is a great counting
exercise. Because of the
complex perspective, it may
prove a challenge for your child
to count the people on this
page. Help him locate all of the
people in the illustration, and
count them one by one.
11
Even creatures from the zoo—a rhino and a kangaroo!
But all of them were pulled up, too!
And Sam went running after.
Encourage your child to
say repeated lines, such
as “I’m old enough, I
know I am,” along with
you.
12
“Can I hold it now?’ asked Sam.
“I’m old enough, I know I am!”
“No, you’re too small!” they all replied.
“This kite needs someone bigger.”
13
14
Play a “When I’m Bigger” game! Ask
your child about some things she might
like to do when she’s bigger, such as
playing basketball or riding a bicycle.
But then Sam caught the kite—at last!
He grabbed the string and held it fast.
And even though he wound and wound,
his feet stayed firmly on the ground!
And one by one, they came back down,
everyone from zoo and town:
First the creatures from the zoo—
then the bride (and bridegroom too),
the postman, policeman and his horse,
and last of all, Sam’s dad, of course!
15
Play “My Kite” (CD Track 12) and
pretend to fly a kite! You can move to
the song by crouching down low and
moving slowly at first, then faster,
and imagining your kite flying high
into the sky, and then coming slowly
back down to the ground. Use a scarf
or streamer to imitate a kite, and
move as the music and lyrics indicate.
16
“I’ll hold it now,” said Sam.
“Because I’m old enough—I knew I was!
I’m not too small, and as you see,
this kite needs SOMEONE JUST LIKE ME!”
Play-Along Activity
The
Windy
Day
Everything keeps blowing away!
Use a crayon to trace the loopy line
from the kite, hat, leaf, and bumble
bee back to where they
came from.
17
Speaking
What’s Up in the Sky?
Look at these pictures with your child, then ask him or her to describe what
is in each picture. You may want to ask some of the following questions:
What do you see in this picture?
How do you think this works?
Where do the people sit?
Which would you most like to fly in? Why?
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blimp
hot air balloon
airplane
helicopter
¥
Reading
Little Stars ¥ ¥
¥
Counting Game
First, cut out the star and number cards,
then invite your child to read each number
card and match it to the card with the
corresponding number of stars.
#
1 one
2 two
3 three
4 four
5 five
You may enjoy listening
to CD Track 17 (Twinkle, Twinkle,
Little Star) and Track 18 (The Stars)
before this activity.
cut along dotted lines