Family Time Starts Soon

Its time! Our Family Time Kindermusik class will be starting back up this week! Family Time is a one room schoolhouse experience. This is our mixed age class for "only" children as well as families with more than one child. Only one home kit is purchased per family which makes this class a great deal for families wit mulitple siblings.

I enjoy teaching this class, and observing the younger children learning from the older children as well as seeing the older children become leaders in the classroom. Last year as we offered this class at the Cherubs Clubhouse, we played at the water table during our aquarium unit, visited the play equipment during our trip to the park, had a bunny rabbit visitor during our farm unit and had demonstrations on the trumpet and violin. I particularly enjoyed hearing the students learn the welcome song during the term, seeing them make friends with each other, and being a part of the new connections being made by the moms in the class.

We still have room in our class so don't miss out on the fun! Come join us at 9:00 am for Family Time!

ABC Music and Me and language development

Ms. Erika attended a conference on teaching English as a second language this summer and had these thoughts about language and ABC Music and Me


Communication is a vital and essential part of each of our lives! Since I have been overseas 8 times, I have experienced firsthand the joys and trials of communicating to those of other languages and cultures. I first discovered my love for working with Internationals at 17 years when I went on my first mission trip to Taiwan. Since that time, I have been overseas 6 more times and at one time, I even anticipated living long-term in the Middle East. I did not end up living in the Middle East but I have had the opportunity to work with Internationals stateside! While living in Auburn the past 2 years, I loved working within an ESL ministry in my former church with those learning English as a second language.

The training I recently received was designed to equip us to teach Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced levels in English language proficiency. We learned how to conduct student placement interviews, basic language learning skills, planning our ESL lesson, how to introduce new vocabulary, teaching pronunciation and communication practice activities. There are four basic skills that are necessary to learn a language - listening, speaking, reading and writing. When we learned our first language, listening was the first and foremost foundational language skill. We then slowly learned how to create and mimic sounds that we heard. It is important to hear the language's individual sounds, rhythm, stress and intonation patterns so that we learned how to speak the language correctly. So it is when learning a second language! It is vital to develop and practice listening skills for any language learning.

Now that I have been teaching with Kindermusik, it is so rewarding to see that one of the major focuses of the ABC Music and Me is listening! According to Kindermusik's ABC Music and Me research "Learning to listen is a prerequisite to listening to learn, " stresses research Mayesky (1986). Listening is the first language mode that children acquire, and it provides a foundation for all aspects of language and reading development. Listening is a very large part of school learning, with students spending an estimated 50 to 75 percent of classroom time listening to the teacher,to other students, or to media" (Smith, 1992). ABC Music and Me is actually a research driven and proven method for increasing language and vocabulary. During classtime, the children are exposed to actively listening to music as well as non-musical sounds and language. We develop routines to help focus the children's attention on listening and following directions, reading stories out loud and even imitation of sounds and words, developing new vocabulary. The best part is that the child is having fun the entire time while learning!

Our ABC classes are all taught in English but we love to diversify and sometimes incorporate songs and instruments from other cultures. Occasionally we have Spanish speaking children and it is fun to see their eyes light up when we start singing a Spanish song. Kindermusik also offers Spanish home materials to help with reinforce the child's first language at home and help Spanish speaking parents connect with their child at home. No matter your first language, we hope you come join us for ABC Music and Me to Listen, Learn and Love music! We believe that music's affect on cognition and skill development is undeniable!

Erika Stewart

Reaching every child with the magic of music!

I am excited to say that in addition to the private lessons and classes that I teach, I will now be this area's representative of the school edition of ABC Music and Me, which is our language and literacy program for preK and Kindergarten classrooms! This research based program has benefits for all children, but particularly benefits those who have intellectual and physical challenges, as well as those who are learning English as a second language.

One of the unique aspects of this program is that it uses music and movement as the vehicle for learning. It is not an official "music curriculum"- it simply uses the magic of music to reach children in all areas of development. This program also involves families at home with the use of the family magazine and home materials.

I look forward to visiting schools in the area to present the program in the classrooms! If you are a teacher or an administrator in a school and would like to have a demonstration of the program, please let me know!

Check out the ABC Website: ABC Music and Me

Kindermusik Demo Class September 8 at the Cherubs Clubhouse

We are having bring a friend week to kick off a new school year of Kindermusik at the Cherubs Clubhouse!

Join us for a Carnival of Music September 8 at 9:30 for babies and 10:15 for kids of all ages. Feel free to invite a friend!

Just a tip, particularly if this is your first time at the Cherubs Clubhouse, please arrive just in time for your class and come straight back to the classroom. It always takes kids a few minutes to adjust to a new place, and if they start by playing on the play equipment they sometimes have a hard time switching gears to class time. We will play after class!