Dear (Contact First Name),

YEAH!  Our world has righted again.  Your back in our classrooms and at your private lessons, parents loving and playing with their children, pianos - violins - and voices soaring, and the Kindermusik Magic is back in our world.  We sure missed you all!   

Helping you is our #1 goal!

In that spirit of helping, Musical Pathways Foundation publishes a weekly Newsletter just for you, which is unique in the Kindermusik world!  This is something unique to our Foundation that we publish ourselves vs. something we receive from Kindermusik to pass on to you.   Our motivation for deciding to publish our newsletter came from requests from our parents to receive: 

• Current week's Class Information and Home Activities - (Use Quicklinks to get to your class info quickly) 
• Early Childhood Research in Easy to Learn Language 
• Calendar of Semester Dates, Vacation Dates, Enrollment dates, Event Dates
• Weather Cancellation Information  
• Staff Contact Email Links & Phone #'s  

Betsy Flanagan, Director 

Musical Pathways Foundation

P.S.  We look forward to seeing all of you who are still needing to attend our Sunday Parent Orientation from 2-3:30 in the Fireplace Gathering Room upstairs on the main level of First Presbyterian Church 

        NURSERY RHYMES 

Nursery rhymes have delighted parents and children for decades, and it turns out they are educational as well as fun. According to the Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network, reciting nursery rhymes to children teaches them the rhythm of speech and helps them become aware of the syllables and sounds that form words. It draws attention to the grammatical structure of language and helps children learn to pronounce consonants clearly.  We will also be using Nursery Rhymes as a tool for you to enjoy bonding, joyful time with your baby, as well as to help you teach Steady Beat, American Sign Language, Social Confidence Building, Spatial Reasoning, High & Low and the Joy of Learning.  All this in our next 7 classes.  FUN!

Reminder: There are many ways to engage your little one in an activity.  If you and your baby  are HAPPY, then you are "RIGHT!"  Lap babies, crawlers, and walkers will all be at different emotional and physical development levels.  We must be sure that they are "emotionally happy" in order for any retained learning to occur.   So, enjoy, enjoy!

 HOME ACTIVITY SUGGESTIONS 

1)  Home Journal Week #1 -"A Treasury of Mother Goose" is our home focus this week!   

Click here to download your Hickory, Dickory PDF Journal!

What a priceless gift for your child whether it be in the form of a scrapbook beginnings, video beginnings, or tape recorder? Can you imagine how you would have felt reading or listening to such a gift from your mom (over and over again) and then being able to pass it down from generation to generation?  FUN!   

2)  Mark Your Calendar to Attend Parent Orientation 2-3:30 Sunday 17th upstairs in the Fireplace Gathering Room 

This is a once in your Kindermusik lifetime experience.  Meet the Musical Pathways Staff, and allow us to share with you the vision we have for your child's whole development from Birth to 7 and then the  exciting customized and unique private lessons that will be available to you in our Elite Artistry studio. 

3)  Click here for your copy of answers to First Class Questions 

3)  Click here to go to "play.kindermusik.com" and enter your CODE from your play.kindermusik.com card. 

4)  Click here for your copy of Village Helpful Guidelines    

5)  Click here for more Mother Goose:  Activities, Crafts, Mother Goose for Moms, and more . . .  

6)  Click here to download your Biography Form to complete and bring to class next week.  

7)  Listen - listen - listen to your CD

Your child will be comforted upon entering the busy classroom if they are familiar with the "sounds of Kindermusik."

8)  Enjoy reading your new Literature Book, Hickory, Dickory, Tickle & Bounce

THIS WEEK'S LEARNING POINTS FOR PARENTS  

BAREFOOT IS BEST:
Barefoot is best for Baby.  Baby learns much about the world through touch.  The skin on the bottoms of the feet is especially sensitive, allowing lots of sensory input for Baby. - Anne Green Gilbert, interview by Kindermusik International, Creative Team, Tape Recording, Browns Summit, NC, 3 November 1997. 
 
MAKE IT YOUR OWN:
The tune for Baa, Baa, Black Sheep is also the tune for the Alphabet Song and Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.  Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote a set of piano variations on the same melody, which actually comes from a traditional French song entitled Ah! Vous dirai-je, Maman.  Feel free to take any song and change the lyrics to make it your own.  Perhaps as you get a bottle or food for baby you can sing about what you are doing to the Baa, Baa, Black Sheep melody?  FUN!
 
TACTILE PERCEPTION:
"We all need touch to help us grow, develop and feel loved.  Our sense of touch protects us from unsafe things such as a hot stove and it helps us to learn or discriminate things such as hardness, softness, the amount of pressure, shape, size, etc.  Tactile perception helps Baby develop:  1) Body awareness (awareness of body parts), 2) Visual perceptual skills (e.g. linking the visual with the sensation that rain is cold and wet), 3) Emotional security (e.g. feeling loved through hugs and kisses), 4) Social skills (e.g. shaking hands and feet), 5) Academic learning (e.g. writing letters and numbers), and 6) Motor planning (e.g. jumping rope)."  - The Out-of-Sync Child by Carol Stock Kranowitz, M.A., pgs. 63-94.
 
STEADY BEAT:
Internalizing a steady beat is important to Baby's developing physical coordination.  Later on this internalized steady beat will help him/her learn to use scissors, bounce a ball an walk with self-confidence, besides aid in all sports and musical endeavors as he/she gets older. 
 
SIGN LANGUAGE:
Introducing signing (sign language) to hearing babies has the benefit of allowing Adult and Baby to communicate before Baby's vocal chords are developed enough to speak.  This silent communication raises self-esteem, eliminates the frustration of not being able to communicate and engages Baby as an active participant in the learning environment.  - Marilyn Daniels, interview by Kindermusik International, Creative Team, Tape Recording, Browns Summit, N, 2 November 2001
 
BOARD BOOK - PEEK A BOO: 
"Young toddlers enjoy the hinge action of sturdy board books.   You might see a toddler turning a page back and forth over and over again.  She is creating her own 'peek-a-boo' experience, watching a picture appear and disappear over and over again.  Sturdy cardboard pages also help the child learn to use the thumb and forefinger to turn the pages, the skill for mastering paper pages later." - Simple Steps, by Karen Miller, pg. 40.

What fun!  We have received such tremendous feedback on this semester's parent class, and we could not be more thrilled with your participation and thoughtful comments.   For those of you who missed this first week of classes, we hope that you will take the time to catch a glimpse of the incredibly enlightening information regarding "The Dominance Factor" in link #6 below and complete the "self-assessment" to discover your Dominant brain hemisphere and discover which side of your body is dominant for each of your senses.  

This week we introduced you to the Physiology of Learning through Movement.  We helped you discover which of your senses is more fully functional in times of stress and learning and how you and your child can learn to both utilize your most functional senses and increase skill level with the other limited senses to become more whole-brained.  We also helped you learn how to identify if you are Right or Left:  Eye, Ear, Touch/Language, and Movement dominant, and also what hemisphere of your brain is your Dominant.  By completing these same "self-assessment" tests, with the modifications we showed you for children, you can learn how best to present information, learning, instructions to your child, and how your child can best learn from you and in school in general.  We also discussed how through movement you can actually help to "turn on" your child's brain even before you enter a learning environment (P.A.C.E.), and how Kindermusik incorporates activities to help your child increase their whole-brain development intelligence.  

We can't wait to begin Our Time with you and your child in the classroom next week.  Exciting!

           THE DOMINANCE FACTOR

What fun!  We have received such tremendous feedback on this semester's parent class, and we could not be more thrilled with your participation and thoughtful comments.   For those of you who missed this first week of classes, we hope that you will take the time to catch a glimpse of the incredibly enlightening information regarding "The Dominance Factor" in link #7 below and complete the "self-assessment" to discover your Dominant brain hemisphere and discover which side of your body is dominant for each of your senses.  

This week we introduced you to the Physiology of Learning through Movement.  We helped you discover which of your senses is more fully functional in times of stress and learning and how you and your child can learn to both utilize your most functional senses and increase skill level with the other limited senses to become more whole-brained.  We also helped you learn how to identify if you are Right or Left:  Eye, Ear, Touch/Language, and Movement dominant, and also what hemisphere of your brain is your Dominant.  By completing these same "self-assessment" tests, with the modifications we showed you for children, you can learn how best to present information, learning, instructions to your child, and how your child can best learn from you and in school in general.  We also discussed how through movement you can actually help to "turn on" your child's brain even before you enter a learning environment (P.A.C.E.), and how Kindermusik incorporates activities to help your child increase their whole-brain development intelligence.  

One additional highlight of this week's parent class, that was presented while discussing PACE (4-steps to ensure your child is ready to learn) was our discussion of the Chronic Dehydration condition in the United States.  Estimates are that 75% of U.S. population is chronically dehydrated as compared with world average of 50%.  Considering that the brain is 85% water, and our body is 70% water, we feel this is a KEY element of which we can actually take control and help our little ones.  For those of you who would like a bit more info, follow this link to the Symptoms of Dehydration .  We enjoy this site as it is concise and easy to read.

We can't wait to begin Our Time with you and your child in the classroom next week.  Exciting!

 HOME ACTIVITY SUGGESTIONS

1) Listen to your new CD's

Listen to Tracks 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 25 as these activities will be used in your first class. If you have an iPod or MP3 player, you can make a playlist and loop these songs.  Love new technologies!

2) Create your I LOVE YOU RITUAL together  

Perhaps sing the HELLO and GOODBYE song to family members coming and going this week.

4) P.A.C.E. (Positive, Active, Clear, Energetic)

Positive  = Hook-ups/Stationary cross-lateral

Active = Cross Crawl/Moving cross-lateral/cross midlines

Clarity = Brain Buttons/Tarzan

5)  Mark Your Calendars to Attend Parent Orientation: Sunday 17th 2:00 - 3:30  

This is a once in your Kindermusik lifetime experience.  Meet the Musical Pathways Staff, and allow us to share with you the vision we have for your child's whole development from Birth to 7 and beyond.

6)  Click here for your copy of Imagine That Helpful Guidelines

7)  Click Here for a copy of the Parent Class Handout 

"Hands-on parenting cannot be underestimated in its effect on young children and their brain development. As parents, we must provide numerous, ongoing, and enriching experiences that will nourish our children's brains. Music is such an experience."

-Good Music Brighter Children, by Sharlene Habermeyer, p. 26

• beat
• rhythmic patterns
• the staff
• the notes c"-a'
• singing and playing the glockenspiel with proper mallet and arm position

• several new notes on the staff
• new rhythms
• new terminology
• new music history (Beethoven, Peter & The Wolf)
• new instrumental families

"Hands-on parenting cannot be underestimated in its effect on young children and their brain development. As parents, we must provide numerous, ongoing, and enriching experiences that will nourish our children's brains. Music is such an experience."

-Good Music Brighter Children, by Sharlene Habermeyer, p. 26

• experiencing music of several cultures and composers
• telling stories with instruments
• ensemble playing
• musical forms
• playing the new instrument, the recorder.  

Your child will learn:

• the C-Major Scale,  
• accidentals (sharps and flats) and
• the G-Clef.  

By the end of this semester, our final Kindermusik Semester, your child will be ready to transition beautifully into private  instruction with much greater ease, skills, and joy than other children who did not have the Kindermusik preparations. Should you like to reserve a place in our private Elite Artistry studio, please contact Miss Andrea.  Our learning goals toward strengthening emotional, cognitive, physical, language, and listening skills will all have been integrated with the development of your MUSICAL child. A gift that lasts a lifetime!!!  We are eager to have your child enter our Elite Artistry program, where they can pursue private instruction in piano, violin, guitar and/or voice. FUN!

 HOME ACTIVITY SUGGESTIONS

1) Help your child review the proper way to hold and play the recorder. 

• Practice speaking the "too" sound before actually playing into the mouthpiece!
• Pick up with Right Hand on the bottom "foot joint" first, and then Left on Top joint. 
• Please read Music at Home 46 for more ideas on how to begin with the recorder. 
• This is a very important week for your child.  Play - Play - Play (take turns with your child)  

3)  Click here to go to "play.kindermusik.com" and download your Lyric/Activity Packet and Free Songs

4) Listen to your new CD. Burn copies for bedrooms, cars, etc.  

5) Review proper holding of mallets and play Mallet Dance together.

6) Transfer a portion of the Mallet Dance melody - or the entire melody - to a keyboard.  

• "c" is the WHITE key just to the left of  "2 BLACK KEYS."
• Now say your musical alphabet to find out where the keys are in your song.  a-b-c-d-e-f-g

7) Color in your Song Book  

Elite Artistry  

Premier Music Instruction  

Piano, Voice, Violin, Guitar 

      2012 - 2013 CALENDAR

Sept: 10, 17, 24

October: 1, 8,15, Master Class, 29

November: 5, 12, 26

December: Master Class, 10, 17, Recital 9th

January: 7, Master Class, 21, 28

February: 4, 11, 18, Master Class

March: 4, 11, 18

April: 1, 8, Master Class, 22, 29

May: 6, 13, 20, Master Class      

June: Recital & Awards Banquet - 2nd

HOW WILL YOU KNOW WHEN CLASS IS CANCELED DUE TO WEATHER?

TEXT: LOVEKIDS

TO: 36000

• If the Waunakee Schools are CLOSED, then Musical Pathways classes will be canceled as well.
• If the Waunakee School district is having LATE START there will be no change to our class schedule.
• If the Waunakee School district calls EARLY RELEASE, then the EVENING classes will be canceled.
• If the Waunakee School District cancels their evening sports activities, then the EVENING classes will be canceled.

          Musical Pathways Foundation

DIRECTORY