Dear (Contact First Name),

 

Betsy Flanagan, Director 

Musical Pathways Foundation

 

 

 

Intuition, experience and trial and error all are a part of catering to your baby. This week your PDF Home Journal asks you 4 questions, and each question will lead you in an alternate form of PLAY.   Remember that all children under age 7 learn best through play, and we can guide that play gently through scaffolding:

• Follow by describing what baby is doing or watching and then also do it yourself.
• Eye-to-eye contact if possible (observers in a group will want to view the action)
• Ask "Can you . . .?" questions.  Can you "tap your ball (roll, shake,etc)?" 

The added joy you have as a parent of a baby is that you get to learn how to "READ THEIR NEEDS AND DESIRES."  It's so wonderful that the most important job on earth can be so much Fun!

The Simple Steps book that is listed on your Journal Card is a great and natural extension of Kindermusik play.   One way to track your child's learning style or funny reactions is to print your journal card and write on the back after your engage in the activity. This is also a wonderful KEEPSAKE MEMORY to pass on to your child when they are older.  Your special time together.  We will be sharing our FAVORITE HOME ACTIVITIES in 4 weeks.  I'm so excited to hear your feedback about what activities you have enjoyed the most!

 

 

 HOME ACTIVITY SUGGESTIONS 

 
 1)  Home Journal Week #4 -"Board Book Peek-a-boo " is our home focus this week!   

  

As your little one flips the book page back and forth in a game of "peek-a-boo" object permanence development is occurring.   REPEAT this as much as baby is interested.   We adults may want to rush on to the next page, and we may feel the need to FINISH the book. This is not the case for your baby.  Sights, sounds, and hands-on fun teaches baby, so label, label, label over and over again. FUN!  

• Here is a link to your  Hickory Dickory Tickle and Bounce Journal  
• Here are a couple of websites to help you in your ASL:Sign Language discovery.  Signing Savvy and ASL Pro   

2) HAMMOCKING:   Stars & Moon Lullaby

Most babies will enjoy hammocking:  however if your baby was initially uncomfortable with this activity in class today, just try again in the comfort ofyour own home.   Remember - there is no ONE RIGHT WAY in class, but we want you to keep offering the alternate options over and over again in different settings until your baby eventually discovers the joy of the variation.  So much early childhood development involved in OFFERING.

 

3)  BOUNCING: The Grand Ol' Duke of York Bouncing

This music provides vestibular stimulation to keep Baby attentive and alert. It also helps to increase muscle tone, as the child has to adjust her posture to stay upright while being bounced to keep from falling over, and as you know, the is that your baby's "steady beat" will be developed as well.  

ABOUT THE MUSIC: The Duke of York was almost certainly Frederick Augustus, son of George III, who campaigned unsuccessfully against the French in the Netherlands in 1793-95.

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

 

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

 

6)  Click here for your copy of Village Helpful Guidelines    

 

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

 

8)  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."

 

 

 

THIS WEEK'S ADDITIONAL LEARNING POINTS FOR PARENTS  

 

 

This welcome song acknowledges Baby's developing self-awareness by addressing her individually.  It also encourages social interaction by inviting her to respond with a greeting - whether that is to look, coo or wave for the first time.  You may find that Baby learns new behaviors from singing this song each week.

 

 

HAMMOCKING:   Stars & Moon Lullaby
Most babies will enjoy hammocking:  however if your baby was uncomfortable with this activity in class today, just try again in the comfort of  your own home.   Remember - there is no ONE RIGHT WAY in class, but we want you to keep offering the alternate options over and over again in different settings until your baby eventually discovers the joy of the variation.  So much development involved in just OFFERING.

BOUNCING:  The Duke of York
Bouncing provides vestibular stimulation to keep Baby attentive and alert.  It also helps to increase muscle tone, as the child has to adjust her posture to stay upright while being bounced to keep from falling over, and as you know, the is that your baby's "steady beat" will be developed as well.

ABOUT THE MUSIC:  The Duke of York was almost certainly Frederick Augustus, son of George III, who campaigned unsuccessfully against the French in the Netherlands in 1793-95.

 

BABY BELL CHALLENGES AND BENEFITS:  Bell Ringing Tune
As baby handles and moves the bells, she experiences cognitive and physical challenges and reaps benefits as she overcomes these challenges:  She has the opportunity either to use her fine motor skills to grasp the bells between thumb and index finger or to use a fisted grasp pattern.  She can practice using whole arm movements and simple wrist movements. Depending on her age your child may practice transferring the bells from one hand to the other or reaching for the bells at a distance.

 

THE "MAJOR" SCALE:  Bell Ringing Tune
This song, which illustrates the lesson focus of up and down, also presents a fundamental musical pattern for Baby to hear, a major scale.  Babies' brains are primed to scan their world for patterns such as this.  Since the song is sung on repeated nonsense syllables or one-syllable words rather than lyrics, the pattern is made all the more simple for Baby to detect.

 

This activity helps to develop the vestibular system.  The variety of movements linear and rotary helps Baby develop a sense of gravity, balance and where his body is in space.  The linear movements are soothing and the rotary movements are stimulating.  A well-developed vestibular system provides emotional security, good muscle tone and develops auditory language processing and visual-spatial processing. 

 

Read the following excerpt that lists just 12 of the important benefits of Pretend Play! 

 

"Imagination is the doorway to creativity, but it is the window to learning as well! Children use their imaginations to help them integrate all that they see and hear around them. They explore relationships through play-acting and learn to empathize with others through dramatic play. They share their ideas, problem solve, and develop thinking skills through storytelling. They learn to plan and visualize as they construct buildings and paint pictures. And in all these activities, children experience the joy of self-expression. Imagining and pretending are powerful tools for discovery. They are tools that help children make sense of the world and also help express what they feel and who they are." 

- from 365 Ways to a Smarter Preschooler, Publications International, LTD, 2000, p. 44

 

Fiddle-dee-dee provides a great catallyst for pretend play by introducing your child to so many wonderful animal friends and activities.  This week's stuffed animals/finger puppets are GREAT CREATIVE tools, and serve as a Catalyst to Pretend Play.  Stuffed animals can be "real" pets to your children. The goal is to carry the meaning of the "play situation" to full realization.  

 

Just this week we imagined that:

1) We were bouncing our way across fields and jumping fences(lap bounce where parents also instill tempo and beat),

2) We were dogs barking (listening, vocal play and sequencing skills),

3) That Baby Rover was "our dog - Bow Wow"(object manipulation to a steady beat, social sharing, leading),

4) We were taking "creative"walks while doing tricks (gross motor and  movement labeling)

 

And we encouraged the children to be creative and share their ideas for ways to say hello, to play their rhythm sticks in Old Joe Clark, and to discover ways to move like our fast and slow animals in our circle dance, Jing Jang.  We provided ASL (American Sign Language) for all of the animals to help promote language and fine motor development.  .

 

Read on for more information that shows why Kindermusik is "SO MUCH MORE THAN MUSIC!"

 

ADDITIONAL VALUE FOCUS INFORMATION 

Pretend Play and Creativity 

 

Research to Consider:
Read this Pretend Play article that notes that there is a growing body of evidence supporting the many connections between cognitive competence and high-quality pretend play.  Research suggests that high-quality pretend play is an important facilitator of perspective taking and later abstract thought, that it may facilitate higher-level cognition, and that there are clear links between pretend play and social and linguistic competence

 

7-Year Continuum:  

How Kindermusik fosters your child's imagination, pretend-play, and creative development over 7 years 

 

Village:  Children need to know about an object before they can pretend it is something else.  Children also need to know about the things which they want to pretend to be or imitate.  Pretend play can't happen until that knowledge is gained, so these first steps in Village are priceless.   

 

Our Time: Toddlers love to imitate others.  Imitation is one of the first steps in the development of the ability to pretend.  In Our Time classes, adults model pretend play in various activities. As toddlers develop more vocabulary, the ability to construct sentences, and more social skills, their pretend play moves from simply pretending to use objects or that one object is another object, to pretending to BE someone or something else, such as a dog or a mommy or a firefighter.

 

Imagine That:By age 3�, imagination is a KEY to learning. During the preschool years, children love to contribute ideas, to see their ideas implemented, and to interact with their friends in more complex pretend play that can go on for a long time! The Imagine That curriculum (note the title!) is designed to engage preschoolers through open-ended questions, problem-solving, and tons of pretend play.

 

Young Child:  Pretend play from ages 5- 7 years is developing into self-expression and musical creativity.  Kindermusik Young Child classes offer opportunities for children to express their creativity through ensemble (group) and individual instrument play, writing music, musical story-telling, movement activities, singing and more!

 

AH!  LISTEN PLEASE! 

 

Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you'd have preferred to talk.  ~Doug Larson  

 

Well-developed listening skills are becoming more and more important in our world. Listening is a learned skill that can be developed, and our Cities! classes have many opportunities for that development.   Sometimes we listen to silly pieces such as Traffic Jammers, and then imitate the sounds we hear. Other times we listen to sounds or to recordings of people singing, and today we listened to three different instruments and compared their timbres or distinct sound qualities in We Are Fine Musicians!  

 

As your child listens and analyzes the timbres of the instruments in the Traffic Jammers and We Are Fine Musicians

 

Click to read  How YOU CAN IMPACT YOUR CHILD'S LISTENING SKILLS.   

Read on for more Listening research and info . . . 

 

DEVELOPMENTAL FOCUS 

 

It is important to remember that "hearing and listening are quite different.  Hearing is a process involving nerves and muscles that reach adult efficiency by age four to five.  Listening is a learned behavior, a mental process that is concerned with hearing, attending, discriminating, understanding, and remembering.  It can be improved with practice.  Llistening affects social interactions, one's level of functioning, and perhaps one's overall success in life." (Weiss and Lily-White, 1981)  -Early Childhood Experiences in Language Arts, by Jeanne M. Machado, p. 137. 
 
Sometimes it may seem that your child's talking skills are much more developed than their listening skills!  Often a group of children will be talking more and more loudly as each one hopes to be the one the teacher hears!  When this happens in class it is a wonderful opportunity to help children understand the importance of listening.  "Wow, you are all really enthusiastic!  I can't hear everyone at the same time.  What can we do so everyone has a chance to be heard?"  This is often all that is needed to help the children come to the conclusion that they need to both listen and talk when it is their turn.   Each child then learns that their contribution is valued, and in turn each child begins to value the opinions of others as well. By practicing good listening skills in your home play, you are providing your child with a model to imitate.     

 

"Attentive listening skills empower lifelong learning by providing tools of communication and understanding in the following ways: 

• Unifying of intelligence through active listening of mind, body, and emotions."*
• Providing a means for children to become aware of the sounds around them. 
• Providing an opportunity for children to respond in creative ways.  

Rhythms of Learning, by Chris Brewer and Don G. Campbell, p. 26

 

Lastly, listening is a social skill that must be practiced and is necessary for success in social functioning.  Making it fun - makes it easy to practice!  Your Home Activity this week is the perfect opportunity for FUN Listening Play!!!

 

 

 HOME ACTIVITY SUGGESTIONS

 

1)  Week #3 Family Activity: "I am a sound collector.  Listen to my city's sounds."   p.6  

• Listen to Traffic Jammers and ask your child the question posed in your guide.
• Make a Recording of your chil's own city sounds, using a variety of noisy household objects,your voices, etc.
• Create a city sounds journal with pictures and descriptions of the sounds.
• NOTE: Please bring resonator bars to class each week.     

2)  This week play Cities! Game "Listen and Match" p. 26 in the Family Guide

 

3) Continue to listen to your new CD's

 

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

Reminder: 3 Elements:  Eye Contact, Touch, Poem or words specific to this moment of reentry (versus "I Love You" or other phrases used generally). 

Discuss when you will do this ritual (upon your reentry to the classroom.)   

Chat about how excited you will be to hear all about what happened during their playtime while you are out of the room, etc. 

 

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  for our newcomers this week. 

 

7)  Click Here for a copy of the Parent Class Handout for our newcomers this week. 

 

PLAYING "c-a-d" MELODIES    

 

The journey to music literacy is a step by step process, and the children are enjoying each and every step along the way!  Today, with great excitement, they discovered how note heads on the music staff connect with rhythmic symbols (ta and ti-ti) to make complete music notes! They also discovered how bar lines help organize music notes on the staff into measures. 

 

To ensure that the symbolic aspects of music not become too dry, we incorporated lots of singing games and movement in today's class with a Lucy Locket partner dance and a lively circle game to Mouse, Mousie.  NOTE: If you have noticed a reluctance in your child to "play with you"  at home, then consider incorporating the fun dancing or tapping games that are a great "play starter."   See if that doesn't just do the trick!

 

Music of the Pacific Islands and Japan - Week #4  

 

Click here to watch a great RECORDER QUARTET .  This group is so fun.  They begin by playing a very unique Quartet with just Bass and Tenor Recorders.  The 2nd song uses all 4 members of the recorder family: soprano, alto, tenor and bass recorders.  There are 4 songs total - and they are all unique.  Your child will love them!.  We used to have to pay good money to see this quality of performance - and now it is FREE on the internet.  Exciting to be able to expose our children to such quality musicianship and such FUN at an early age!!    

  

Last week the children were able to hear the difference in two pitches on the recorder. Today we focused on hearing and recognizing a rhythmic pattern that was buried in layers of sound.  The children became familiar with four different rhythmic patterns by saying and clapping them as well as by playing them on rhythm sticks. Then I sang a song that used one of those patterns over and over. Using their listening skills, they were able to identify the "matching" rhythm pattern. Next I sang the song while they used one of the other rhythms against my sung rhythm, holding "their own" spoken and playing part in a 5-Part ensemble. TERRIFIC!

The development of listening skills can affect your child's life in many ways. Besides the obvious Musical Skills they are building, they are developing the ability to understand verbal directions, learn foreign languages more easily, recognize sounds of caution, enjoy the sounds of nature, participate in a conversation, and the impact listening has on academic success is enormous! Kindermusik provides the opportunity for your child to broaden and expand upon skills used daily!

 

 Lastly, "Kapulu Kane"  stretched our cooperative ensemble skills to the max this week!  What fun!!!   

 

 

 HOME ACTIVITY SUGGESTIONS

1) MAH Card #49   

Use your Music at Home 49 card as a reminder to play some of the songs your child has learned in class. 

• Specific instructions are included so that cover ALL of your child's skill categories: voice, memory, note names & rhythms, recorder, glockenspiel.  
• Color in a star for every time you play your "star light" song.   
• Help your child review the proper way to hold and play the recorder: Rest, Ready, Play!     

2) Duet Anyone?

• 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?

3) Kapulupulu Kane Fun!

• Enjoy some ensemble rhythm and coordination play with your rhythm sticks - maybe add a 3rd person this wk. 
• Pat - Tap - Partner Tap - Tap (Repeat)      

4) 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.

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

 

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

 

7) Color in your Song Book

Elite Artistry  

Premier Music Instruction  

Piano, Voice, Violin, Guitar 

 

                       NEW MUSIC - MORE FUN!

The time after the holidays can leave us feeling like we are missing something, but when you pour yourself into NEW MUSIC and NEW CHALLENGES we can once again be inspired to learn!

 

      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?

 

Tune in to the following for announcement or join our VIP TEXT CLUB to receive weather notices:  

TEXT: LOVEKIDS

TO: 36000

 

Radio: WTDY 1670 AM, WMGN 98 FM, WZEE 104 FM

 

TV:      WKOW-27, WISC-3

• 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.

As is common practice, cancellations due to weather or other circumstances beyond Musical Pathways' control will not receive a credit. On the other hand, either make-up classes will be offered or credits will be applied for cancellations due to teacher illness or absence.  If you would like to visit an alternate class as a make-up, please call 849-9712 or email  Miss Andrea to schedule.

How we will communicate:
Should classes be canceled, we will send an announcement via Constant Contact email and a TEXT to our LOVEKIDS club.  Want to join our TEXT CLUB, then just text LOVEKIDS and you are in. The radio and television stations are constantly updating their cancellations as well, so be sure to look for Waunakee Schools postings. Evening activity cancellations are not always listed on TV, so please do consult your email for a notice of cancellation of our evening classes.  We will also consult State and County Travel Advisory's to make our decision about Evening Class Cancellations.

          Musical Pathways Foundation

DIRECTORY 

We are a Charitable Foundation that exists to aid families through the education of parents, children and grandparents.   Our desire is to educate the early child 0-7, youth 8-18, parents and grandparents in whole child development, childhood behavioral management, and senior quality of life attainment.  We rely on the financial support of both individual benefactors and corporate contributions.  If you are able to help us in our mission, please click here and we will contact you, or click here to go to our website to make a donation .  If you would like to contact one of our team via email, just click their name below.