Sign and Sing

In a Kindermusik Sign & Sing class (developed by Signing Smart™), we give parents the tools and knowledge to communicate with their babies using American Sign Language. Through songs and play, both parents and babies learn signs for words like “mommy” and “eat,” and as well as practical signs like “more,” “milk,” and when he’s “all done.” This research-proven signing class for hearing children speeds language development, eases frustration, and enhances long-term learning abilities.

What a Parent and Child Experience In Class
Play, sign, and sing -- Using everyday items in engaging small and large group activities, we’ll sing songs and practice the sign as we say the words, play with toys, and help the children learn both the spoken word and the sign.
Expert advice -- Parents will learn to spot their babies’ most “teachable moments” and the sign language teaching methods of the experts. Plus they’ll learn to recognize and respond to their children’s versions of signs.
Communication through sign language -- When a child is chasing a bubble or asking for the ball, make the sign for it and say the word. So a child has the ways to associate the word with the object: the child holds the ball, hears the parent say the word, and then sees the adult make the sign.

Tuition: $70
Enrollment includes:
Developmentally appropriate American Sign language curriculum for parents and hearing children, ages 6 months to 3 years
5 week semester with classes held every other week
40 minute classes plus 30 minutes of playtime
Family Activity Guide, DVD, and Clip-On Flashcards showing adults and children using signs
Over 75 sign language activities and games to play together

Class is held on Thursday evenings at 6:00 at the Cherubs Clubhouse. Enroll now!

New classes!

We have just begun our new term of Family Time this week! I enjoyed one of my returning students picking up brand new songs on the first day of class! Many of the Kindermusik songs are built on bi and tri-tonal melodies which are the first intervals that children readily pick up. Children all over the world sing various songs built on these 2 or 3 notes without even being taught: "
Ring around the rosie", "nanny, nanny booboo", "its raining- its pouring as well as rain", "rain go away." Since children so naturally sing these tones, this is where we start teaching them to match pitches.

We also worked on inhibitory control- which is the ability to stop and start according to directions. We worked on gross motor inhibitory control during movement time as well as fine motor with the instruments.

This term, we began working on some of our school skills at a new level. Instead of the children spending the entire duration of class in their parent's lap or by their parent's side, we encouraged the children to sit on the music squares in the front of the room for some of the activities. This allowed them to learn to sit in a classroom-like setting but still gave them the comfort of knowing that their caregiver was close by.

We do a variety of movements in a Kindermusik class. Most things we do have a specific developmental purpose. This week we talked about activities that cross the mid line of the body thus creating neural connections from the right to left side of the brain. Alternating hands to play the egg shakers, crawling on the floor, or bouncing both hands across the mid line from one side of the body to the other work on this.

We are still enrolling for this class! Be sure to register online today to make sure we order your materials!

The Absorbent Mind

I am currently re-reading one of my favorite works of Maria Montessori, The Absorbent Mind. When I last read this work, it was about 2 and a half years ago when my oldest child had just entered the toddler program at her Montessori school. I decided that it was time to revisit this masterpiece now that both of my kids are older and in a different stage of development.

There are a few things that I have read this second time that have rung a bell concerning my Kindermusik classes. This is one of those books that is very difficult to quote because every paragraph seems to perfectly encapsulate the spirit of aiding life through education rather than simply filling an empty vessel with knowledge.

One of my favorite passages is the following: "Our day has seen a great awakening of interest in the mental life of the newly born. Some psychologists have made special observations of the baby's growth from the first three hours after birth. Others, as a result of careful study, have come to the conclusion that the first two years are the most important in the whole span of human life." To many of us, this is not a new idea. However, at the time period in which this was written, the concept of education beginning at birth was quite radical. However, I believe the education of which she speaks does not concern itself with the filling of an infant's brain with facts, or the pressuring of the child beyond his developmental level, but with the environment in which the child lives. It is about exposing the child to nature, fine art, musical experiences, and culture at an early age. It is about providing order and peace in the home and early classrooms. These early experience become a part of the child in a way that we cannot fully observe and help the child to become the person that they will be.

Montessori quotes Carrel saying, "The period of infancy in undoubtedly the richest. It should be utilized by education in every possibly and conceivable way. The waste of this period of life can never be compensated. Instead of ignoring the early years, it is our duty to cultivate them with the utmost care." Maria then responds to this quote by saying, "Today we are beginning to see the value of these ungathered fruits, more precious than gold, for they are man's own spirit."

So what?
So what are we doing to nurture our own children? Certainly I am not talking about hyper-parenting by cramming each day with enrichment activities with little to no time for relaxation. I am also not suggesting that we allow the children do explore and do whatever they want. But are we parking the kids in front of the TV as a babysitter all day? Are we handing them a video game to keep them busy? I know we are all guilty of that and in my opinion, educational TV and educational video games can even be good in moderation. But are we providing our kids with the opportunity to take an enrichment class that interests them? Are we exposing them to fine art and music, or do we assume that they are too young to appreciate "grown up" culture. Are we taking the time to teach them spiritual lessons, or are we waiting until they are older because we think they will not "get anything out of it" at a young age. Are we spending one on one time with our kids?

Often times parents wonder if a child is too young for Kindermusik. An infant under 12 months will probably not be singing along, will probably not be playing the glockenspiel and may not perfectly follow directions in class at that age. But by being exposed to the classroom setting, hearing the music, moving to the music and experimenting with the instruments, you child is absorbing these things into their very being. You may not see the results right away, but by providing your child with an enrichment activity, they are becoming who they will be and developing a love of music.

"There is-so to speak- in every child a painstaking teacher, so skillful that he obtains identical results in all children in all parts of the world. The only language me ever speak perfectly is the one they learn in babyhood, when no one can teach them anything! Not only this, but if at a later age the child has to learn another language, no expert help will enable him to speak it with the same perfection as he does his first." Maria Montessori

A visit to our farm

Our Family Time class ended today! We had such a good group and I have enjoyed getting to know everyone. Next week, April 7 at 10:00 am, will be a demo class for our next term.

I have seen so much improvement in our class this term! A few of the kids who were quiet at the beginning of the term are now imitating animal sounds and repeating words from our class! They have learned that our opening song means time to settle down for class. They are so good at putting the instruments away at the end and are just now starting to develop inhibitory control which is the ability to stop or start as action, like playing an instrument, on command. Today I enjoyed watching them follow directions as well as come up with their own ideas for movement or for instrument exploration.

Today we listened to animal sounds and imitated them to work on verbal skills and phonemic awareness. We pretended to drive our tractors around the farm and waved the colorful scarves like butterfly wings to work on gross motor skills. Studies link movement to brain development so we want to include free movement in each class. We also incorporated gross motor movement with the instruments as we played our instruments up high, down low, and to the side with the Piggy Jig. This also emphasizes verbal skills as the children see and make the movements as the hear the directional words spoken.

They were so good at following directions today as we put the instruments away, acted out our book, _Flip Flap, Sugar Snap_ and as they worked on inhibitory control as we stopped and started playing instruments.

The children really enjoyed our guest farm animal today as well! Each child was able to pet our real live rabbit at the end of class and we all held our puppets and rocked them to our last song.

I hope everyone can join us for another term of Family Time. Our next session will be, "Movin and Groovin." We will also be beginning a session of Sign and Sing on April 14 as well.

A trip to the aquarium! Week 8

Piano this week

We had wonderful piano classes this week! We had an instrument demonstration on the violin. Each class played computer theory games. My older classes learned how to set up algebraic equations to determine the missing beats in the measure.

My private piano students are beginning their music history research projects. We will all be choosing recital music soon and we will all be researching our composers. Our recital is held at a nursing home as a special treat for those who live there.

Our practice-a-thon is still going strong! I know a lot of kids have worked very hard on practicing and on raising pledges for the Free Wheelchair Mission. We have until your lesson or class this week to continue working toward our goal. Contribution can be made on our fundraiser website (a link is on the right side of the blog)

A trip to the aquarium!

Bring your cameras next week!

Today our family time class took a trip to the aquarium! We started out in our blue tulle "ocean" with sea animal puzzles and toys. Then we worked on gross motor skills while swimming to the music. We used scarves to pretend to be whales deep in the ocean and used our scarves to leap out of the sea. The large tulle "water" made great waves and currents during this song!

The kids are really starting to respond to story time! I remember the first few weeks of class, when we would have a few attempted escapes from the room or crying during reading time. They are enjoying the story time a lot more and this is showing great progress in attention skills and school readiness!

The parachute "waves" were a fun activity we used to help the children hear, see and feel beats in groupings of three. The organization of steady beat at an early age not only prepares them for future music study, but also helps with early reading and math skills. A few of use were "bonked" with the balls during this activity, but it was fun anyway!

I thought the children would enjoy a quick demonstration on the trumpet today! We noticed that the mouthpeice by itself sounds a lot like a duck but not much like a trumpet. Each child was able to press the valves or buttons on the trumpet. Kids love to see instruments like this and it inspires them to learn more about music.

The children loved the free movement with the bubbles today! Hopefully, we can use our bubble machine a little more next week! This is one wonderful thing about teaching at the Cherubs Clubhouse. There are so many great props to use that I wouldn't have any where else!

Our last main activity was the water table we the sea creatures! Next week, I plan to add a few new items to the table. Playing in water is very relaxing to children so we incorporated this into our relaxation time at the end of class while we listened to one of our Spanish songs from the CD. I thought by using the water table at the Cherubs Clubhouse, we could have a hands on, multi-sensory experience to go along with our aquarium theme. Just another on of those perks of Kindermusik classes at the clubhouse :-)

We are already registering for our April term of Family time and Sign and Sing. Be sure to sign up if you are interested. Those currently enrolled will have first priority to register if they sign up before spring break. I will be doing a demo class during spring break and we may have several sign up then! We already have 2 interested in joining our class in April so sign up before all the spots are gone!