kindermusings: December 2007

Scroll down to find info on toddlers, preschoolers, and young children.

Village for babies 6 weeks to 1 1/2.

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Cock-a-doodle MOO! This light-hearted curriculum is centered around farm animals and activities. Many familiar American folk songs are included, such as Skip to My Lou, Yankee Doodle and Old MacDonald. Babies enjoy vocal play with This Little Cow Eats Grass. Let baby know how special she is while singing a personal favorite, You Are My Sunshine. Begin the class with infant massage with Hey Diddle, Diddle and limb exercises to Cock-a-Doodle-Doo!
Babies enjoy playing loud and quiet on the large gathering drum to "Yankee Doodle." We enjoy playing specially designed instruments to The Farmer in the Dell. You will love dancing to Hop Up My Baby and Shady Grove. Bonding time is special during our quiet time for listening to Simple Gifts. The board book bears the name of this precious curriculum, Cock-a-doodle-MOO! You will personalize this book by inserting your baby's picture riding on the tractor! Learn about the latest research with babies, why reading & singing to baby is so important, how intentional touch stimulates the regulation of healthy levels of a stress hormone , and more!

We'll continue into spring with Dew Drops. This tender curriculum is centered around flowers and creatures outdoors. Familiar American and United Kingdom folk tunes we will sing include Lavender's Blue, Did You Ever See A Lassie?, London Bridge. Rock with your baby to Greensleeves and The Ash Grove and sing tender lullabies such as That's An Irish Lullaby, Annie Laurie and Sweetest Little Baby. Baby will love swinging in a blanket to Come My Little Darling. Your baby will love playing specially designed baby bells to All the Way to Galway, Rig-a-Jig-Jig and Ride a Cock Horse. All babies love banging on drums to Belfast Hornpipe. Dance with scarves to Jasmine Flower and Come Follow. Relax and bond with baby to Scarborough Fair.

A favorite dance is the Irish Trot and we will experience singing in a beautiful round to White Coral Bells. Baby will love the fingerplay, A Snail and a Grasshopper, as Baby learns about slow and fast. The beautiful board book includes pictures of various flowers. Baby will explore sponges and flowers and unbreakable mirrors. Learn fascinating facts about your baby's development such as why crawling is so important to the developing child to avoid learning difficulties later on and why musical beat reminds baby of mother's heartbeat and is integral in learning speech and reading later on.

Our Time for 1 1/2 - 3 years old.

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Away We Go! Toddlers love to GO! Going is their gift, their license to venture out into the world and their means of retreating to the security of Dad or Mom. With toddlers' desire to go comes an attraction to other things that go----people, animals, pull toys, tricycles, cars, planes, and the list goes on. Our transportation adventures are symbolic of the central theme in the toddler's life----the balancing act between independence (going away) and dependence (coming together). From the toddler's perspective, we run and jump into the arms of our grown-ups, then we fly away from them like airplanes in Run and Jump and Soar. We rush into the circle holding hands, then pull back out and raise our hands in the air all by ourselves in Zoom-e-oh Circle Song. We rock cozily together to Silver Moon Boat Then sit apart from each other to roll the ball while singing Keep the Ball-A-Rolling. Transportation naturally relates to music and movement in the toddler's life. Our lessons demonstrate this, linking music, movement and transportation through the concepts of tempo (fast and slow), level (up and down), and articulation (smooth and bumpy). Transportation sounds are interesting to listen to and imitate, while the toddler is learning to listen (as opposed to simply hearing). Away We Go! explores the concepts of stop and go and steady beat and basic spatial relationships awareness such as forward/backward, under/over, around/through, up/down, in/out and on/off. Some familiar chants and songs are Wheels on the Bus, I've Been Workin' on the Railroad and The Arkansas Traveler. Some music selections are tailor-made for this unit such as Soaring and Riding the Rails.

For Preschoolers 3 - 5 years old

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What’s more exciting to a 3 - 5 year-old than a new toy? How about an entire Toy Shop full of toys! Imagine the eyes of a young child lighting up as he enters an amazing toy shop filled with boats, trains, teddy bears, jack-in-the-box and many other delights. Better yet, imagine a toy boat coming to life and taking that child to a beautiful tropical island. Or a train that takes him wherever he dreams to go. Our newest Imagine That! curricula this spring is Toys I Make, Trips I Take and is designed to bring a young child's vivid imagination to life.

Materials include:a two full-color literature books,a home activity book with songs and activities, an interactive play set, two CDs and a beautiful double-sided purple drum! All new students will also receive the Kindermusik backpack.

Backpack. The backpack will carry items from class to home and creative projects from home to class. The backpack will carry items from class to home and creative projects from home to class.

Toys I Make~Trips I Take Home Materials

For the Young Child age 5 -7
If your child will start kindergarten fall 2008, then this is the class to look forward to!

We will begin a new cycle of the Young Child program fall 2008.
As the capstone to the child's Kindermusik journey, Young Child broadens and deepens the child's introduction to the fulfillment and excitement of musicianship. Young Child helps every child develop a confident, joyful voice for singing and speaking as well as essential building blocks for a future of learning. What could be more natural than the child who explores his world through music? Children love singing favorite songs such as Come and Follow Me, Star Light, Star Bright, Train Is A-Comin and Bell Horses, echoing vocal patterns and singing games like Farmer, Farmer. This semester, Mozart is the featured composer and we listen to many of his compositions, including A Little Night Music and selections from The Magic Flute. Other listening repertoire includes The Clock by Haydn, Cloudburst from Grand Canyon Suite, by Grofe, The Aviary from Carnival of the Animals by Saint-Saens and the percussion and brass families and their individual instruments. The children's favorite activity is playing various percussion instruments for ensembles such as A Weather Story, The Birds and a barred instrument called a glockenspiel for playing melodies. Children love to move to newly composed music for stories like Into the Woods and Magical Dancing Clocks. Other singing games are Dr. Foster, Tideo, Here Comes a Bluebird and Wild Bird. Parents will love the musical concepts that the children learn as we lay the foundation for future instrumental study. Concepts in Semester 1 are quiet/loud, steady beat, fast/slow, long/short, high/low, singing/speaking, melodic direction and actual reading and writing non-traditional and traditional rhythm and staff notation.