Activities

Recent studies suggest that playing and listening to music at a young age improves learning, memory, reasoning ability and general activity. Children acquire a lot about music by learning to make and control sounds on an instrument. We plan to create a fun learning process that is as enjoyable as participating in music-making with classmates. The piano instruction series has been designed for 3-6 year olds while stimultaneously developing listening skills. Through careful pacing, children discover musical concepts through singing, listening and movement. The children are introduced to a variety of musical styles, tempi, dynamics, moods and feelings. The following skills are combined in each lesson to create a fun and enjoyable class – listening, pitch matching, keyboard techniques, singing, rhythm and movement as well as music appreciation.

Wednesday mornings in the Preschool Big Class are entirely dedicated to Tennis. We walk together from First Steps to the Sports Centre Sportpark in Vedano al Lambro, in all kinds of weather. We ask the children to be equipped with the appropriate clothing for rainy and snowy days. It is a twenty minute walk, approximately, which gives us the opportunity to teach our ‘big guys’ the basic rules of road safety, to follow instructions such as ‘turn left’, ‘stop’, ‘hold hands’, ‘wait’ …and to recognize direction (north, south, east and west). The actual Tennis lesson is from 10 to 12 o’clock.

We have an ongoing tournament between the Red and the Green team. The first part of the lesson consists of different circuits every week, races which aim to develop coordination and familiarity with the ball and racket. Points are awarded for every race … so it pays to listen to instructions, concentrate, help each other and work well together, as a team. The second part of the lesson is dedicated to learning and practising forehand, backhand, volley and smash shots. Points are awarded by our tennis coach, Alfredo, for technically correct shots and for shots that go over the net. We then have short individual tennis matches, a Green Team member against a Red Team member, so that the children experience the ‘real’ Tennis game. After the Tennis lesson we have lunch together at Sportpark and walk back to school, feeling privileged to be in the Big Class!

Much has been written about how Art enhances creativity, imagination and self-esteem, but far less is said about how Art encourages cognition, critical thinking and learning. While art educators and child development specialists recognize that the “Arts are not a “frill” or enrichment activity, but are basic to education.” (K. Robinson).

Our Art Course engages children’s senses in open-ended play and develops Cognitive, Social, Emotional and Sensory-Motor Skills. They live in a cooperative learning experience that provides pleasure, culture, challenge and sense of Mastery. The Course has been created for 3-6 year-olds and through making, observing and talking about their own artwork and the art of others, children express their feelings and emotions in a safe way; they can express and handle negative as well as joyous feelings through positive action.

They practice and gain fine muscle control and strengthen eye-motor coordination by holding paintbrushes and learning how to use tools. They develop perceptual abilities by learning the basics of different techniques in a simple and funny way and exploring and creating their own magic world of Art. Basically they learn the concept of light and shadow, easy perspective, some funny eye tricks, drawing technique, charcoal technique, watercolour and acrylic paint (instead of oil that is toxic).

The School often proposes trips to visit art exhibitions and in the Art Course children can “meet” the great Masters of Art through their lives and Masterpieces with simples videos or tales; at the end of the year the children enjoy challenging themselves by painting their own masterpieces on canvas.