Pathways

Our Family Time Kindermusik class has been focusing on pathways during the last 2 weeks. We have been exploring pathways with our hands, out feet, and with the flashlight. Last week we worked on using the jingle bells to draw circles, zig zags and curves in the air or on the floor. This week they were really showing improvement on that! It is amazing to see the progress they make from week to week. This is why we generally spend 2 weeks on particular concepts in class. They need that repetition to fully absorb the activities.

Another aspect of our class this week was taking turns. We each took turns ringing the bell that starts our class. We each took turns playing the glockenspiel. The children did great passing the instrument to the next classmate!

We also made visual representation of beat groupings today. We used the parachute on a song that had 2 sections- a section in 6/8 and a section in 2/4. We moved the parachute to show the difference in the grouping of the beats in this song. We also did a line dance to Lil Liza Jane. In addition to providing social interaction and helping them learn to follow aural instructions, line dances help them to visualize not only groupings of beats but varying sections in the music as well. They also felt the groupings as they were holding the parachute or feeling the waft of air each time we moved the parachute.