Dear (Contact First Name),

I was just contacted this week by a past Kindermusik mommy whose son was in our very first graduating class at Musical Pathways, 8 years ago.  Yes - Musical Pathways is celebrating its 10th Anniversary this Spring.  This sweet mommy wanted me to know that Alex had competed in the District Music Festival this past weekend, and was so successful and is going to State to compete next.  She also wanted us to know that her son is in fact now targeting music as a career.  She expounded on how her son is confident and is so successful in everything  (a common theme from Kindermusik parents), and then she added the part that always brings a tear to my eye.  She wanted us to know that she feels that Kindermusik played a significant role in her son's growth and successes in life.

We are thrilled that we can help you with your important first steps in teaching your children, so that they may experience success in all they do later in life, so that you can enjoy a bonded relationship with your child, and so that music can be a joy that will last for the remainder of their days.  Thank you for allowing us to "play" an important role in your child's life.  It mean the world to us! 

By the way, now is the perfect time to REFER A FRIEND and earn Referral Reward $ as well.  Share the joy, the love, the knowledge that is Kindermusik!   

Betsy Flanagan, Director 

Musical Pathways Foundation

This week we began moving, singing, and playing with a NEW Musical Focus - Up & Down.  Many of our new activities this week are filled with Up & Down fun:  The Major Scale movement song, Hickory Dickory Dock over the clock, Dickery, Dickery Dare exercise time, Sonata for Flute patterned dance, Beat the Drum vocal play, and so much more.  Learning something new can be challenging. How did you feel as you learned the new dance, Sonata for Flute or the new Intentional Touch Song Oranges and Lemons?  We all react to new experiences in different ways. A challenge can be fun, frightening, or a bit uncomfortable.

Your experience in class this week was a great reminder of what it feels like to be a learner once again, and your child can FEEL YOU learning and in turn will learn "how to learn" and "how to LOVE to learn" from you.  Learning Challenges are part of your baby's life several times every day.  He/She is presented with new people, toys, foods, emotions, and more. By providing your child with secure places to explore, being by her side (as in dancing), and giving her love and care, she will be more confident in how she faces the world.  As she masters new skills, she will realize that she is a powerful little person and will develop a strong self-confidence and a JOY OF LEARNING.   So have fun while learning!  It's about the joyful process vs. any performance outcome.  The more you focus on the outcome, the less your child will learn. WHAT?  Yes - exactly opposite of what our society is spewing at us daily!    

By next week you'll both feel like Sonata for Flute is an old friend!  Dance Away!  See you then.

 HOME ACTIVITY SUGGESTIONS 

1)  Home Journal Week #3 -"Catering to Baby" is our home focus this week!  Click here to download your Hickory, Dickory PDF Journal!

• Here are a couple of websites to help you in your ASL:Sign Language discovery.  Signing Savvy and ASL Pro   

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)  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."

7)  Continue enjoying your new Literature Book, Hickory, Dickory, Tickle & Bounce

THIS WEEK'S ADDITIONAL LEARNING POINTS FOR PARENTS  

ABOUT THE MUSIC:

This version of Oranges and Lemons is an abridged version of an old English folk song that includes additional verses and melodies relating to other famous church chimes in London.  There is a children's game associated with the song similar top that played with the song London Bridge.  In the game children pass through an arch formed by two children (one the "orange" and one the "lemon") who are holding hands.  Periodically a child is "caught" in the arch and chooses to get in line behind one of the children forming the arch.  Eventually there is a tug of war between the "oranges" and the "lemons."  

LIVE LANGUAGE:   Dickery, Dickery, Dare
Live Language has greater value for Baby than language heard through other media.  "It's important to know that language coming from a television, even from so-called educational programs, ha no value for an infant.  Those sounds are meaningless because the flickering shape on the screen is abstract and the speech is too fast.  Most parents and caregivers automatically gear their speech to the child, speaking slowly and clearly, with the child's full attention."       

- Simple Steps, by Karen Miller, pg. 38 

REPETITION:  Peek-A-Boo
Baby can enjoy an activity for many repetitions.  With this "practice" new connections are made and then strengthened with a substance called myelin in Baby's brain, actually helping the neurall connection grow stronger and Baby experiences the satisfaction of intentionally causing an effect in his/her world.  In one study on this subject an 11-month-old joyfully rolled a ball to a willing adult playmate 180 times before losing interest!  Sound familiar?

BRAIN DEVELOPMENT & MOVEMENT:  Stars and Moon Lullaby
"Brain development is directly linked to movement.  Holding Baby in different positions develops different neural connections in the brain."
- Anne Green Gilbert, interview by Kindermusik International, Creative Team, Tape Recording, Browns Summit, NC, 3 November 1997.

Socialization for this age means just "being" with other children, sometimes referred to as solitary or parallel play.    

Karen Miller tells us that just moving together in a similar fashion is like an invitation to socialize for a Toddler.   

See the book "Ages and Stages" by Karen Miller.    

Here is how you invited your child into social fun over 30 times in class this week:  onto our laps for our group Hello, turn-taking while following each child's individual special Hello, invitations to listen to Dogs Barking, invitations to turn-taking in Bow-wow-wow doggy bounce, invitations to follow musically cued-movement in Walk Along Rover  as we walked, ran, rolled, and wagged, invitations to sign & sing on every page of our Animal Serenade story, invitations to dance slow and then fast and follow the music in Lento y Rapido, invitations to a challenge in our scaffolding time with either our bells or our sticks (depending on your class),  invitations to snuggle rock, and then invitations to hold hands and/ or move together in our  Social Dance Jing Jang.   

Is it any wonder that studies show that children who remain consistently in Kindermusik through 1st grade have self-control and team-work skills extraordinaire compared to their peers?  We are so happy to be a part of your child's social development!   For more info read on . . .  otherwise  scroll down to your Home Activities for the week.

ADDITIONAL VALUE FOCUS INFORMATION 

Social Development 

Research to consider:

1) Circle Songs and Community:  "Jing Jang"
"Historically, community has meant the overall social context in which people live out their lives . . .  [C]ommunity remains central to children's social and emotional development." * Circle songs such as this help to establish a secure sense of community in the Kindermusik classroom.  It takes time to develop the trust, but such a joy to watch it happen over time.
- *Fostering Children's Social Competence:  The Teacher's Role, by Lilian G. Katz and Diane E. McClellan

7-Year Continuum: How Kindermusik fosters your child's development using Tempo

Village:  We begin the process of socialization with your baby, through safe touch & greet activities.  Here we help your babies grow accustomed to multiple levels of stimuli in a group environment:  other faces, sounds, motions, touching others, turn-taking, sharing instruments, etc.   Additionally they learn social interaction through modeling, watching the grown-ups talking, playing and dancing together.   

Our Time:  In Our Time we invite play between parents and children as a basis for understanding social interaction.  We invite your child into "sameness" while "honoring differences."  The class provides opportunities for both parallel and cooperative play with others using instruments and props. As your child matures, we see the beginning of peer relationships with other children in class. Turn-taking and sharing are practiced with care and age-appropriate expectations. 

Imagine That:  In Imagine That social skills take another leap forward as children not only learn to lead and follow while alone in the classroom, but they learn to "create" together.   During ages 3.5-5 years, children will have the opportunity to interact one-on-one with other children in class as we play games, take turns, become partners, share ideas, show respect for others ideas, and practice empathy in class each week. Typically, one observes more non-social play at this age, however in Kindermusik we observe fabulous interactive play. 

Young Child: In Young Child for ages 5-7, we experience the capstone of your child's social-emotional development.  The ensemble activities present opportunities to work together towards a common goal, which is true cooperative play.  Children will create compositions together, play music together, and promote success in school because of the emphasis on social skills.  

PARENT PLAY - THE WAY TO ENSEMBLE 

It is so exciting as a teacher to watch the children learning to enjoy working together (ensemble), cooperating, functioning as one unit versus independent play. To think that the path to "group play" is first through "independent exploration" sometimes seems like an oxymoron, but it is in fact the truth.  If I want to encourage a young child to do something with me and like me, than the quickest way for me to achieve that is to enjoy his/her free exploration and describe - describe - describe what the child is doing while I show that I am also enjoying the discovery.  It's hard to imagine how educational that merely describing our children's actions can be for our little ones. The experts say that you are giving a tremendous gift to your child in this one-on-one play, and setting them up to be able to JUMP IN and PARTICIPATE in group ensemble activities with more confidence and joy.

                                                    DEVELOPMENTAL FOCUS 

PRE-ENSEMBLE SKILL DEVELOPMENT AND EYE-HAND COORDINATION 

Zum Gali 

Musical Ensemble also require a great deal of eye-hand coordination.  By making patterns, using speech and "body percussion" together as a group or family is another preparatory experience for ensemble.  In Zum Gali Gali the children are prepared for this ensemble experience by singing the rhythmic "zum gali gali gali zum gali gali" pattern while practicing the steady beat bilateral movement on their knees before transferring it to their resonator bars.  Playing the resonator bars together with the music builds ensemble skills as well as eye-hand coordination.  In playing the resonator bars, your child's eyes are required to measure the extra distance created by the mallet in order to accurately strike the bars in front of him/her.  You can expand this activity, dependent upon your child's ability, by playing the resonator bars with "alternating" hand movement.  Some children may easily alternate between hands, while others may not have developed this skill yet.  This is a wonderful "opportunity" for parent involvement.  You can hold the mallets "with "your child and guide them in the alternating movement to the beat.  As your child work on this movement through the semester, observe his/her development.  Remember to PRAISE your child on his/her accomplishments.

 HOME ACTIVITY SUGGESTIONS

1)  Week #2 Family Activity: "I am an instrumentalist.  I play my resonator bars in many ways."   p.5 

• Zum Gali and so much more . . ..(see above ideas under "Developmental Focus")
• Your child may want to show you, or another family member new ways to play their bars.
• Before asking for any specific instrument playing, enjoy free exploration with the instrument.
• NOTE: Please bring resonator bars to class each week.     

• Have your child "strike" his resonator bars as soon as he/she finds the picture, and then point at the match! 
• If you did not take the opportunity last week, please read this two-in-one document download: Social-Emotional Profile and Games Parent Prospectives    

3) Continue to listen to your new CD's

Listen to Tracks 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 25

4) Practice your I LOVE YOU RITUAL together at home.

5) 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

Energetic = Hydrate!  

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

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

OUR NEW NOTE - "High d"   

 
Something new today! Your children are taking MUSIC DICTATION and now they have a new yellow sticker which indicates the NEW NOTE your little one has learned to play today, d". This new note is in one of your child's favorite songs, Lucy Locket. In Music at Home 18, you will read how you and your child can actually play this melody!

Today your child also received a melody card from our "present" which includes the 3 notes they now know (remember, the musical scale only has 7 notes: a,b,c,d,e,f,g). Use your staff chart (new this week) and note chips. (Reminder: If you would like to write on the staff - please make photocopies of the staff.  Reserve this card staff for note chip use only.)  Play the MUSIC DICTATION game:  You Sing, Child echo sings, and then Child writes your 4-note/4 beat melodies.   Remember to make this time playful. Try to avoid succumbing to society's low-standards of teaching children of this age (tell - do). Making practice time/playtime "FUN" is still the MOST EFFECTIVE way to teach children 8 and under.

The National Association for the Education of the Young Child (NAEYC), the official leader in early childhood curriculum review, fully supports APPROPRIATE learning through play for children 8 and under.  This is just the beginning of an exciting journey to music literacy, or reading and writing music! The more FUN the MORE LEARNING. Keep "playtime" an adventure in learning fun! Even if our parents may not have provided an "early childhood" play example for us growing up,  we can have the "honor" of starting a cycle of play that will be passed from generation to generation, as your child will tend to teach their children in the manner in which they were taught.  How exciting that your play will carry such longevity and impact into the future.

Music of the Pacific Islands and New Note c"  

We asked the children to listen and watch us play the recorder this week, and to determine what we did differently with our fingers. They were able to see (and hear) that we changed from the a' fingering to a different fingering, thus changing the pitch of the recorder. Today's new note is c". Of course, the children already recognize the sound of c" and a', have sung the notes in many songs, and know how both c" and a' look on the music staff.  Now they can play these two notes on the recorder!
 
Since fine motor skills vary from child to child, it is helpful for you to be available as your child practices the recorder this week. Be sure he/she is holding the recorder with the left hand on top doing the fingering!  A simple way to ensure this is done correctly is to be sure your child picks up the recorder from resting position, where they can read their name. That guarantees the right hand on the bottom and the left on top.   

Boy did we have some very cognitively sophisticated partnering this week with our new song "Kapulu Kane."    

 HOME ACTIVITY SUGGESTIONS

1) MAH Card #48  

• Enjoy learning to play your new note c".  
• How many songs can you play on your recorder?
• Rain, Rain go Away, 1-2 Tie My Shoe . . . 

• How about a duet?  Parent on Glockenspiel and child on the Recorder.  This play may seem like simple fun, but it creates retained learning because it extends the playtime (brain growth)!
• NOTE:  At graduation, families will all participate in our entertainment.  This is great FIESTA fun and really works your child's arranging and group leadership skills, so why not begin now?

• Pick up with from Resting position reading your name.  
• 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)

4) Kapulupulu Kane Fun!

• Enjoy some ensemble rhythm and coordination play with your rhythm sticks
• Pat - Tap - Partner Tap - Tap (Repeat)      

5) Review RHYTHMS & NOTE NAMES

• -Make up a set of cards with one Note Name on each card:  a,b,c,d,e,f,g 
• -Make up a set of cards with one Count-value on each card:  1/2, 1, 2, 3, 4    
• -You will need your Note-tote rhythm symbols:   Eighth-note, Quarter-note, Half-note, Dotted-Half-note, Whole-note, Quarter Rest, Half Rest, Whole Rest.   
• You will also need a staff which you can either draw or make on your floor using masking tape. Place a note from note-tote on the staff.  Your child chooses matching cards from the "count" and the "note name" cards. Place a rhythm from the note-tote on the staff.  Your child chooses the matching card from the "count" cards.

6) Transfer a portion of the Mallet Dance melody - or the entire melody - to a keyboard. Or write your own! 

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

8) Continue to listen to your new CD!!   Burn copies for bedrooms, cars, etc.

9) 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