I just read this comment made by a Kindermusik mom in Pennsylvania. I think it sums up the Kindermusik experience quite well:
"Kindermusik gives young children the opportunity to learn about the world around them using pretend play, singing, dancing, and musical concepts. They don't even realize that they are learning."
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Coming This Fall!
I'm SO excited about the classes we have coming up this fall. I was thinking about some of my favorite activities from each class. Here they are:
Village (0-18 mos.) - Zoom Buggy is the name of this unit and it's all about going. I love giving the babies rides in the laundry basket as we sing "Riding in the Buggy" Another thing I really look forward to is when we all dance and sing to "Pretty Baby" and celebrate the beauty of each child.
Our Time (18 mos. - 3 yrs) - Milk & Cookies is all about doing things around the house. Everyone loves building a house with a hammer that goes "rap-rap-rap" and a saw that says "see-saw-see." And then we clean the house with our dustcloths and sponges, which the children love to do as we sing "In My House." Moms love it, too, because it makes cleaning fun!
Imagine That! (3-5 yrs) - Hello, Weather! Let's Play Together takes us through all the weather events with songs and stories. Near the end of the semester, I have the children lie down on the ground and I drop "snowflakes" (squares of toilet tissue) on them as we sing about snowflakes falling. Then we get up and have a "snowball" fight using the poem "Snowballs." We have lots of laughs!
Kindermusik for the Young Child (5-7 yrs) - This is Semester 1 in the two-year sequence of training young children in the fundamentals of music reading and performing. See my previous post for all the highlights.
There are so many other highlights that I haven't listed here, you just have to come to class and experience them all for yourself! I hope to see you soon!
Village (0-18 mos.) - Zoom Buggy is the name of this unit and it's all about going. I love giving the babies rides in the laundry basket as we sing "Riding in the Buggy" Another thing I really look forward to is when we all dance and sing to "Pretty Baby" and celebrate the beauty of each child.
Our Time (18 mos. - 3 yrs) - Milk & Cookies is all about doing things around the house. Everyone loves building a house with a hammer that goes "rap-rap-rap" and a saw that says "see-saw-see." And then we clean the house with our dustcloths and sponges, which the children love to do as we sing "In My House." Moms love it, too, because it makes cleaning fun!
Imagine That! (3-5 yrs) - Hello, Weather! Let's Play Together takes us through all the weather events with songs and stories. Near the end of the semester, I have the children lie down on the ground and I drop "snowflakes" (squares of toilet tissue) on them as we sing about snowflakes falling. Then we get up and have a "snowball" fight using the poem "Snowballs." We have lots of laughs!
Kindermusik for the Young Child (5-7 yrs) - This is Semester 1 in the two-year sequence of training young children in the fundamentals of music reading and performing. See my previous post for all the highlights.
There are so many other highlights that I haven't listed here, you just have to come to class and experience them all for yourself! I hope to see you soon!
Kindermusik for the Young Child
I am very excited about starting this class for children age 5-7, and I wanted to let parents know a little bit more about the class before we start.
Children of this age are ready to learn fundamental musical concepts which they apply to playing instruments, vocal study, and music composition. All this takes place in an encouraging and fun, yet structured, environment.
In this class, we'll be working to expand each child's vocal range and teach them to become accurate singers. They will learn to read rhythmic and melodic patterns. We'll use expressive movement to experience musical concepts and will also focus on fine motor development. Focused listening activities will include orchestral instruments, famous classical music, as well as American folk music and the music of other cultures.
Our instrument this year will be the glockenspiel, a pre-keyboard instrument. And in the second year, the children will learn to play the 3-string dulcimer and the recorder. Throughout both years, an important focus will be learning to play as part of an ensemble.
The Young Child classes meet for 1 hour each week for 15 weeks and there are activities to do at home each week that allow you as parents to take an active role in your child's learning.
This class is a little more expensive ($270) than other Kindermusik levels. This is because the classes are longer, and the glockenspiel is a more expensive instrument. I've worked out a monthly payment plan if you would like that option.
Well, that's a lot of information, but I hope it will get you excited about this wonderful opportunity for your child. As I said, I am really looking forward to this class and to being with all my wonderful students again. We'll be starting soon - - August 18th!! Hope to see you then.
Children of this age are ready to learn fundamental musical concepts which they apply to playing instruments, vocal study, and music composition. All this takes place in an encouraging and fun, yet structured, environment.
In this class, we'll be working to expand each child's vocal range and teach them to become accurate singers. They will learn to read rhythmic and melodic patterns. We'll use expressive movement to experience musical concepts and will also focus on fine motor development. Focused listening activities will include orchestral instruments, famous classical music, as well as American folk music and the music of other cultures.
Our instrument this year will be the glockenspiel, a pre-keyboard instrument. And in the second year, the children will learn to play the 3-string dulcimer and the recorder. Throughout both years, an important focus will be learning to play as part of an ensemble.
The Young Child classes meet for 1 hour each week for 15 weeks and there are activities to do at home each week that allow you as parents to take an active role in your child's learning.
This class is a little more expensive ($270) than other Kindermusik levels. This is because the classes are longer, and the glockenspiel is a more expensive instrument. I've worked out a monthly payment plan if you would like that option.
Well, that's a lot of information, but I hope it will get you excited about this wonderful opportunity for your child. As I said, I am really looking forward to this class and to being with all my wonderful students again. We'll be starting soon - - August 18th!! Hope to see you then.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Goodbye, Friends
Today at the end of Our Time (1-1/2 to 3 yrs) we were singing our goodbye song as we always do. I sing "Goodbye," and then everyone echoes me, and then "it's time to sing goodbye to our friends." Well, while the singing was going on, Maeson was speaking goodbye to all the other children and waving to them, "Goodbye, Jackson. Goodbye, Tyler. Goodbye, Ben. Goodbye, Caroline. Goodbye, Ellie." Even "Goodbye, Tyler's mommy." She ended her litany of goodbyes exactly as the song ended and then said "Goodbye, friends." It was like the perfectly-rehearsed finale of a Broadway play (Kindermusik style). It was precious!
So Sweet!
Well, I haven't posted anything in a while, which doesn't mean things aren't happening, I just haven't gotten here.
A couple of weeks ago, I prepared a poster for my Imagine That! class (3-6 yrs), with all of their names on it and then we were going to write their balloon color choices next to their names. When I first pulled the poster out in class, one of them said "You wrote my name on the poster! Thank you, that was so sweet of you!" Then they all proceeded to thank me and each one of them gave me a hug. How great is that? I get thanks and a hug just for writing your name on a poster! Wow!
I guess it shows how everyone likes to be thought of enough to have their name written on a special page.
A couple of weeks ago, I prepared a poster for my Imagine That! class (3-6 yrs), with all of their names on it and then we were going to write their balloon color choices next to their names. When I first pulled the poster out in class, one of them said "You wrote my name on the poster! Thank you, that was so sweet of you!" Then they all proceeded to thank me and each one of them gave me a hug. How great is that? I get thanks and a hug just for writing your name on a poster! Wow!
I guess it shows how everyone likes to be thought of enough to have their name written on a special page.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Class Picture
Don't you love Katie's picture of our Imagine That! class? I'm the third from the left, surrounded by all my wonderful students. I don't remember who is who, but I do know that they all have smiles on their faces and some are holding hands. That makes me happy. |
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Red-violet, please
| Yesterday during Imagine That! class (3-6 years), we were singing about sailing in our big blue boat. I asked each of the kids to tell me what color their boat would be if they painted it themselves. Most answers were predictable: yellow, green, pink. Then Ainsley thought about hers a minute and said "red-violet." It was tough to fit that many syllables in the place of "blue" to sing her verse, but we did it. It just goes to show . . . we need the whole crayon box! |
Out of gas!
| In yesterday's Our Time class (18 mos. to 3 yrs) we were pretending to be airplanes, soaring around the room and singing. Jackson just stopped in the middle of the room and stood perfectly still, with his "wings" still extended. His grandma asked what he was doing, and he said he was out of gas. We tried filling him up, but to no avail. We could not get his plane going again. Next time we need to make sure everyone's tank is full before we leave the hangar. |
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Group Rocking
| Today in our Village class (0-18 months), we did a new activity called Group Rocking. We held the babies in our left arms and stood in a circle with our right hands on the shoulder of the mom next to us, then we rocked back and forth in unison to the music. This was a wonderful way to experience the music with one another and the babies loved being so close together! I could tell that they really like to see each other up close, and to see the adults, too. It is a wonder to see how they are growing in their social development. This activity even brought a smile from a first-time baby who had been quite cautious and reserved up to that point. I loved it, so . . . more group rocking! |
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