September

I can't believe September is over! Last month we worked on so many things in Kindermusik and piano. My Tuesday classes worked on inhibitory control, which is the ability to stop and start. They also experimented with a lot of different instruments. My Monday Kindermusik class learned the 3 black keys on the piano, the steps to a Spanish dance, 5 names of animals in Spanish and they learned about quarter notes and quarter rests. My piano class learned quarters, halfs, quarter rests and 2 eighth notes.

The "Carnival of Music" month was so much fun! Some of us even got to go to a real carnival in town after our last week of class. On the last class, we made a merry go round out of a parachute! The kids had worked on the merry go round circle game all month and did such a good job working together and coordinating their body movements for that part! This week, we started a new unit-- "Animals a dancing". Did you know that mimicking animal sounds is a good way for your child to expand their verbal development? We will be doing a lot of that this month. We are also going to make and take home "frog caller" instruments next week. Another thing that was special this week, was that I played the Mandolin. One of the songs, Old Joe Clark, from the CD just happens to be a song I play on the mandolin! The kids loved that! Old Joe Clark is a great song to develop their ear because it has a different tonal sound than other songs we are used to.

The "Jumping Beans" unit with the 4 to 6 year olds was so much fun. They learned to read quarter notes and quarter rests while searching the rain forest for lizards. On the last day, they got to take some lizards home! They all really enjoyed learning about the piano as well. One of my favorite parts was the resonator bars. The resonator bars are some of my favorite Kindermusik instruments. Instead of starting out with a full glockenspiel keyboard, the resonator bars are broken up into individual notes. First we sang a song and incorporated tapping our legs in the song as if we were playing the instrument. Then we all took turns playing the instrument in the same rhythm that we tapped. They also enjoyed touching the bars and feeling the vibration of the notes as they rang out. Next week, we will begin a unit called "Join the parade!" I plan to bring my trumpet to show them a real marching band instrument.

In piano class, this last month we learned about the black keys on the piano and played a few songs on them. We learned our finger numbers as well as learning about the bass and treble clefs. We also learned quarters, quarter rests, half notes, and even 2 eighths. The boys enjoyed coming up with their own rhythms by placing the notes in different orders. We also learned a poem about silly lady called Miss White. We clap the rhythm to the poem as well as identify the different rhythmic values in the poem.
"Miss White, had a fright, in the middle of the night.
Saw a ghost, eating toast, halfway up the lamp post."