Bumpty Bumpty yellow bus

Every morning at 9:45 the children form two groups. One group explores song games and the other explores math ideas.

  These two groups alternate each week so that everyone gets plenty of chance to play with songs and math materials.

In the Fall, we take extra time to learn one another's names.

Each song game time we sing one of our 90 special songs!
Some of the children who have been here a while share their knowledge easily with the other children.

Recently we sang, " Bumpty Bumpty Yellow Bus"

This is a name song, and we use hand gestures to help us respectfully notice one another.


Gwendolyn and Adrianne started to sing this song early in the morning, before we gathered the children for math and music time.  This shows the potential of this song to help us bring joy.

On the way to the forest, they sang the song again and this time they invited to other new children and each child said their name with confidence.

And lunch time, they sang again, this time some children came to their table and sang the song together.

At song game time, some children are not yet confident to say their name aloud. We understand how this happens sometimes. We believe that participation also includes observation. Sometimes the other children help say their names.

Song games helps the children practice the flow of the English language. The children also learn to confidently speak to the group members and they learn to feel a sense of joy when their classmates look at them with care.

Song games are important and central part of learning to be in community.