Spring 2010 unit descriptions

Registration is now open for the spring semester. Discounted Early Bird period runs through Dec. 15. Don't miss out on the upcoming semester with your little one. Read the descriptions below for each age category.

Village (babies)
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. Each week you will enjoy a Home Activity and journaling your baby’s response. One home activity helps you understand why crawling is so important to the developing child to avoid learning difficulties later on and another helps you understand why musical beat reminds baby of mother's heartbeat and is integral in learning speech and reading later on.

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", "Wind in the Corn", "Shady Grove" and "Jolly Is the Miller". Bonding time is special during our quiet time for listening to "Simple Gifts". The board book bares 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 with the Foundations of Learning Statements and home activities in baby's home journal. Home activities include why reading and singing to baby is so important, how intentional touch stimulates the regulation of healthy levels of a stress hormone in baby's brain and aids her digestion and circulation!

Our Time (toddlers)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.

Away We Go Home Materials

The child's at home materials include a train carry box, a home activity book, 2 CDs, 2 harmonicas and two literature books, Giddy-up! and Shinah Dinah.

Imagine That! (preschoolers)

Toys I Make~Trips I Take

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 for Toys I Make, Trips I Take include:a two full-color literature books, a home activity book with songs and activities, an interactive play set, two CDs and a beautiful Nino 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

Young Child - New Students Welcome!

At this age, the young child learns music best when he is actively engaged in making music! Songs and activities that encourage solo singing are "We Sing Hello," "Ten in the Bed," "We Are Dancing" and "Good-bye." Songs and activities that reinforce tonal or rhythmic concepts for music reading and writing are "Lucy Locket," "Mouse Mousie," "Ten in the Bed," "Go to Sleep" and "Sing and Celebrate." Songs that encourage echoing or a response are "Che Che Koolay," "I Have a Little Melody" and "We Are Dancing." Songs that are playful or familiar and call the children into joyful participation are "Jingle Bells," "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," "Happy Birthday, "John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmitt," and "If You're Happy and You Know It." Songs used in singing games are "Lucy Locket," "Mouse, Mousie" and "Circle Round the Zero." Beethoven is our featured composer as we listen to "Symphony No. 6." Other listening selections include "The William Tell Overture" by Rossini, "The Four Seasons" by Vivaldi, "The Elephant" from "Carnival of the Animals" by Saint-Saens, "Peter and the Wolf" by Prokofiev and "The Young Perons's Guide to the Orchestra" by Britten. Other listening repertoire includes listening to the woodwind and string families and their individual instruments. Children delight in moving to original compositions for learning concepts, "Piano and Forte Dance" and "Dancing Staccato and Legato." Two highlights are the instrumental ensembles, "The Elephant and the Waterfall" where children make sounds to express the story and "Sing and Celebrate," an ensemble for singing and playing different parts. Concepts in Semester 2 are piano/forte, crescendo/decrescendo, staccato/legato, graphic notation and reading the traditional rhythms of quarter and eighth notes and quarter rest and staff reading of f, g, a, c and d.