Your child may have have trouble figuring out which sound forms the end of a word. Rhyming books give your preschooler practice identifying these ending sounds. Because our new book’s rhyming pattern always starts with a “t” sound, it can help your child quickly understand how to form the rhyme on each page and how to make up new verses.
Rhyming is one of the methods used to help dyslexic readers. Early child development research shows that rhyming reduces stress and strengthens memory for young readers.
Throughout the week, you will find many opportunities for “tippities” and I imagine you’ll have a lot of giggles together as you do.
Don’t forget to have your child bring in a favorite stuffed animal (or two) to share with the class next week! Eva has reminded me about this several times already!
We have a full line-up of camps for the summer. The Imagine That! camp is very fun. Our crafts, snack, story, and activities are centered around a carnival/circus theme. I’m keeping enrollment available to our current and former students only until April 27. At that time we will open it up to the general public.
Isn’t it fun watching the children grow and development? If you think back to when your child first started Our Time, you can probably see a big change in their abilities. For some of you this is your child’s 4th semester of Our Time!
Remember when waiting for an instrument was so hard? Or when sharing an instrument was even harder? Do you remember when maybe only two children would actually sit through at least some of story time? Many of the children could barely talk when they first enrolled in Our Time. Now they are telling whole stories! There’s quite a difference isn’t there? It’s been fun to watch each child grow. It’s also fun watching them interact with each other like old pals. They are all so precious.
Zoo Train Kindermusik Summer Adventures Camp for the Our Time age is in my opinion one of the best camps we offer. We will dive like seals in the sea, have some fun wearing white socks on our “polar bear paws,” listen to kookaburras, take weekly trips on the ‘Alley Alley Oh’ and much more. We will also have special Zoo crafts and snacks. Because of the many requests we have had for this camp, we are offering it on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. We are keeping the registration limited to our current and former students until April 27. Sign up today to save a spot for your child.
This week we had fun making our own music in family ensembles. The children did very well following me. For the most part they played the appropriate instruments at the right time. When they chose to play a different instrument from the one I had, they still watched and kept a steady beat.
One day, these children may want to participate in a team sport or play in a band. Kindermusik provides them with the opportunity to develop and practice skills that are required to perform in an ensemble, such as distinguishing between sounds, listening for the appropriate entrance, timing the participation, accomplishing the steady-beat play with an outside sound source, and playing with others.
Next week we will be our last Family Time class. I will be sending a note out as soon as the summer camp schedule is posted. We have a full line-up of summer camps for all ages and for Family Time.
What’s the train going to do next? It depends on where you are in our Train-Is-A-Comin’ activity.
This game—purchasing a ticket, leaving the station, going faster—gives your preschooler the notion that some things happen in order. It’s a concept called sequence of events. Like turning pages of his/her favorite book, your child can predict what happens next in the sequence. Simply knowing what happens next gives your preschooler a sense of confidence and control about his/her world.
At home this week, look for other sequences, such as what happens from the time your family gets up to when you go to school to how you end your day.
This week your assignment in class is to look around your home and find objects that make noises that are representative of the different aspects of our chant, Choo-Choo Train. I’ve written the chant below with the instruments we used in class. You don’t have to bring anything in with you unless your child finds some new noisemaker he/she would particularly like to share with the class.
This is a choo-choo train rolling down the track (egg shakers)
Now it’s going forward. Now it’s going back. (Glockenspiel)
Hear the bell a’ringing. (triangle)
Hear the whistle blow. (train whistle)
What a lot of noise it makes everywhere it goes. (all instruments)
A fun way of representing forward and back is to fill glasses with different levels of water. Put the glasses in the order according to water level. You can then use a spoon to play the ascending and descending sounds.
Below you will find a video that demonstrates one mans use of water bottles to create music.
Our new lesson focus, smooth and bumpy, introduces your toddler to two more important musical concepts.
A bumpy sound is called staccato. It sounds “choppy” like popcorn popping. A smooth sound is called legato, and it may sound more “flowing.” These different musical styles give music emotion, excitement, and expression.
By listening for and moving to these sounds, your toddler is improving his listening skills and developing a strong sense of music appreciation.
I hope everyone who has been sick is feeling better.
Making music together is powerful! Lessons 9 & 10 will focus on music ensembles, two or more playing or singing together. Cultures all around the world value the experience of ensemble, in all kinds of forms—drumming circles, marching bands, folk sing-a-longs, and symphony orchestras each offering their own unique musical experience.
In Family Time, we’ve made music together, and participated in the creation of many ensemble experiences. What more natural ensemble than a family and the community around it? We played resonator bars in an instrumental ensemble during “I Like to Sing.”
You can enjoy a "Kitchen Ensemble" this week at home. Get out some wooden spoons, pots, bowls, or other kitchen items along with your Kindermusik CD. Enjoy playing together but don’t forget to give everyone a solo-part, too. Why not try a "Bathtub Ensemble" or a "Bedtime Ensemble" as well?
The wheel hunt game on page 23 of your home activity book should have you both on a roll for a while.
This week, take the game off the page. Look for wheels wherever you go. Finding these wheel shapes is an important step in your toddler’s development, symbolizing his ability to form categories in his mind—an important skill for school someday.
You’ll find them in obvious places like cars and buses, but your toddler may notice wheels in places you’ve never seen before. Make sure you talk about that broken wheel in our Giddy-Up! storybook!!! (Isn’t is funny how fixated they are on that?)
It means “getting faster” and in music indicates a change in tempo or speed. This change can take place gradually or in certain parts of the music. Noticing the difference in these tempos hones listening skills as well as music appreciation in your child.
The train is a good illustration of this concept. And throughout the week you and your preschooler can find many different sound samples or physical feelings of accelerando in daily life: the car going faster while pressing the accelerator or a ball rolling down a hill.
This week notice accelerando while listening to your home CD or the radio.
This week at home you will help your child create his/her very own map. See the Family Activity Book for more details. Please bring the map to class next week. I will be asking your child to share something special about their map with the rest of the class.
The last couple of times we have met we played with the value of music notes. We learned that a quarter note gets a clap, a half note gets a clap-squeeze, and a whole note gets a clap-squeeze-squeeze-squeeze. This week we used craft sticks to make a visual representation for the values of those notes. My goal in Imagine That! is to gently introduce certain musical elements to your child. Hopefully this will make any formal music education your child may receive in the future less daunting. It can also help with early reading and math skills.
Make sure you do some “flashlight conducting” at home this week. Try to make your conducting movements larger when the music is loud (forte) and smaller when the music is soft (piano). Mozart is great music to use for this exercise. Don’t stop there though. Try all different genres or music. You may want to get out the video camera!
Have you noticed each week that we are enjoying familiar activities in new ways? Last week we played sticks, bells, and egg shakers at just the right time to the recording “We are Fine Musicians.” This week we pretended to play the instruments featured on this same recording. Repetition of something familiar along with a new twist strengthens the development of your child’s brain.
“We Are Fine Musicians,” on your Home CD, will quickly become a family favorite! Bring Kindermusik home this week and find new ways to experience this song. Your older child might enjoy finding pictures of instrument families on the computer. Or, turn those left over boxes into instrument art projects—make a cardboard guitar or trumpet. Your toddler is on the move! So funnel that need to move into an energetic motion that goes along to the sound of a specific instrument—instrument aerobics for toddlers. You’ll be tuning ears as well as bodies!