Tag Archives: Movement

Kopf, Schulter, Knie und Fuß / Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes

Posted in Book Materials, Books, Coloring Pages, Pre-K & K Class, Songs, Uncategorized by

Singing this classic children’s song is a great way to teach my pre-k/kindergarten classes about body parts.

I like to back into the song, teaching the parts of the face first. It’s nice to repeat these a number of times, because they only show up in the song one time, while the others repeat three times!

  • Augen (eyes)
  • Ohren (ears)
  • Nase (nose)
  • Mund (mouth)

We repeat those a couple of times. Then I point to them on me in a random order and ask if it is X? First I do it right, then I start to make “mistakes” 🙂 For example, I point to my nose and say: “Ist das die Nase?” They all say: “Jaaaaaa!” But later I’ll point to my eyes and say: “Sind das die Ohren?” Most of the children recognize the mistage and say: “Nein!”

Then we move on to the bigger body parts:

  • Kopf (head)
  • Schulter (shoulders)
  • Knie (knees)
  • Fuß (foot)

Once we have the vocabulary down, we sing the song! We usually start seated and then sing it again standing. This year we repeated the song one last time at the end of the lesson. It was a nice way to reinforce it. And next week, those facial features will come in handy when we start making our Kürbislaternen (Jack-o-Lanterns)!

It’s also fun to read Eric Carle’s book Von Kopf bis Fuß (From Head to Toe) with this lesson.

I always send home a coloring page for the children. Here is one with all 8 body parts. You can download it for free below!

Kopf Schulter Knie Fuß Malvorlage 2 GitADownload

Meine Finger / My Fingers

Posted in Numbers, Pre-K & K Class, Songs, Uncategorized by

Another song I introduce early on with my pre-k/kindergarten classes is “Meine Finger” (My fingers).

First we practice counting to 5 on our fingers. Then when we do the actions at the end of each verse, we do them five times while counting to five again.

I don’t follow the original lyrics exactly. I like to reuse vocabulary that the children know and add in a few funny ones. So with our funny little fingers, we clap (klatschen), pat (patschen), and count (zählen). Sometimes we also tickle (kitzeln), fidget (zappeln), scratsch (kratzen), knock (klopfen), and even play the piano (Klavier spielen)! Just plug in the verb at the end of the last sentence!

Here are the lyrics:

Meine Finger, meine Finger
sind so lustig kleine Dinge
Ich hab' fünf an jeder Hand!
Mit meinen Finger kann ich ... klatschen!

I also always show each hand with the line “Ich habe fünf an jeder Hand!”

Here is a video of the original song. One day, I’ll record our class version!

Unser kleiner Bär im Zoo / Out Little Bear in the Zoo

Posted in Pre-K & K Class, Songs, Uncategorized by

I sing a lot of songs with my pre-k/kindergarten class. We always start by learning our Begrüßungslied – our Hello Song. I often pair that with a common children’s song: “Unser kleiner Bär im Zoo.” In the original song, the bear hops and stomps and dances. But I like to change the actions to practice the ones we use in our Hello Song. When we sing it, the bear claps, pats his legs, and stomps. It’s great for review. And the kiddos love it!

Here are the lyrics that I use:

Unser kleiner Bär im Zoo der schläft ganz tief und fest
Schnarcht mal laut, mal leise, nach der Bärenweise
Doch wenn unser Bär erwacht, dann schaut mal was er macht

Er klatscht, er klatscht, er klatscht, er klatscht, er klatscht den ganzen Tag
Er klatscht, er klatscht, er klatscht, er klatscht, er klatscht den ganzen Tag

Unser kleiner Bär im Zoo der schläft ganz tief und fest
Schnarcht mal laut, mal leise, nach der Bärenreise
Doch wenn unser Bär erwacht, dann schaut mal was er macht

Er patscht, er patscht, er patscht, er patscht, er patscht den ganzen Tag
Er patscht, er patscht, er patscht, er patscht, er patscht den ganzen Tag

Unser kleiner Bär im Zoo der schläft ganz tief und fest
Schnarcht mal laut, mal leise, nach der Bärenweise
Doch wenn unser Bär erwacht, dann schaut mal was er macht

Er stampft, er stampft, er stampft, er stampft, er stampft, den ganzen Tag
Er stampft, er stampft, er stampft, er stampft, er stampft den ganzen Tag
Er patscht, er patscht, er patscht, er patscht, er patscht den ganzen Tag
Er patscht, er patscht, er patscht, er patscht, er patscht den ganzen Tag
Er klatscht, er klatscht, er klatscht, er klatscht, er klatscht den ganzen Tag
Er klatscht, er klatscht, er klatscht, er klatscht, er klatscht den ganzen Tag

Here is a little poster I like to use when I introduce the song. I talk about the little bear (kleiner Bär) and the zoo (Zoo). I ask the children what the bear does in winter. So many of them already know the word hibernate! Then I tell them that our bear is sleeping and snoring – sometimes loudly (laut), sometimes quietly (leise). But when he wakes up – just watch what he does! You can download the poster and teaching document below:

Unser kleiner Bär im Zoo mit BildernDownload

Here is a YouTube video that shows how the original song works:

Yoga für Kinder

Posted in 1st - 4th Grade, Uncategorized by

Our students are working SO hard during remote learning! This week I wanted to shake things up a bit – give them something fun and easy to do. I know my boys are also getting very tired as they work. So one day we did a few yoga poses together. It seemed to help!

Today I made a short video with two yoga flows. Sorry, I’m not sharing the video, because my kids are in it 🙂 But I will share the instructions that are in both German and English:

German Yoga Instructions: Sonnengruß & Atem der Freude (PDF) GitA

The Sun Salutation I did is a modified, shortened one. You stay on your feet the whole time – no downward dog, lunge, etc.

The Breath of Joy really does need a visual to understand it! Here’s a quick video I found on YouTube: