Question: Is it typical for each class to be very similar each week? We’ve noticed that we are singing the same songs each week and I’m hoping that the class changes a bit from week to week. Could you let me know?

Answer:
Your question was both astute and excellent. That tells me that you are paying attention in class! (Which is wonderful, since seriously, I’ve had a few mommas that text the entire class time!)

While we as adults may quickly tire of an activity, it is important that we recognize the importance of repetition to our children’s learning. Learning, or the growth of neural connections in the brain, is strengthened through repetition. A one-time experience is not enough for a neural connection to form and stabilize. It is through repetition that possibility becomes ability. That is why Kindermusik activities are repeated over and over.

We will, however, do “extensions” of activities. The brain loves to be a little surprised once in a while; a surprise causes the brain to pay extra attention. One week we might sing a song, the next we’ll sing the song and add a manipulative. We might do the same lap bounce for 5 weeks in a row, but change up the words in the 4th or 5th week. This allows children to have mastery of an idea before we add a new one.

Three interesting facts :

1. Learning requires electrical energy to create neural pathways. The less “automatic” something is, the more electrical energy is required. Think of something you do automatically – like count by 10′s. It takes very little electrical energy for your brain to travel that “counting 10′s” neural pathway, because you’ve done it a lot.

The more well-traveled a pathway, the less energy is required. That’s why you can do two things at once. Watch TV and knit, for example. When you are first learning to knit, it takes all of your effort. Looking, counting stitches, watching your needles. As it becomes automatic, you use less brain energy, so you can layer another activity on top of that without fear of accidentally turning those mittens into a hat instead.

Communicating Neurons

2.  Did you ever wonder why children expect a favorite activity to be repeated again and again and again? Repetition is a necessary building block of development. Children’s brains KNOW that they need repetition. They are pretty smart little creatures! Do you remember the show Blue’s Clues? (Never the same for me after Steve left…). The creators did research while developing the show as to what preschoolers wanted to see in the show, and you can probably guess the answer by now – repetition!

3. So what about the fact that we always have a hello and goodbye ritual, a bounce, a steady beat, rocking time, and story time (in the older classes)? As my friend Heather Wiebe says (she a Kindermusik teacher in Alberta who is fascinated about the way the brain works, just like me) “Patterns make children happy.  Knowing what to expect and having things happen in that way not only helps children know what to expect and feel at ease, it’s also how they mark time.” When the environment and routine is predictable, then a child feels safe and learning can naturally happen.

We know you’ll be ready to move on to another activity before your children will (believe me, I’ve been there three times with my own kids!) know that you’ll get new music and activities soon enough. And a Kindermusik Education is the most powerful tool you can give them now, for future success in school, work and life.

-posted by Miss Analiisa, who would love you to email her and let her know your questions. (She can’t read your minds, you know. She does have eyes in the back of her head, but not mind-reading powers. Though now that her children are getting older, wonders if she can trade those extra eyes in for psychic abilities. Or maybe she doesn’t want to know what is going on in there!)

Are we talking about the minute machinations we all do with our lips, teeth, tongue, and our hard and soft palettes to form phonemes?

Or do we mean the inflections in spoken language that tell a listener we are asking a question or telling a joke?

YES! Vocal development is all of these things.

I have dozens of activities I love to do in class to nurture vocal development, but I’m going to limit myself to just one today.

It’s the little ditty Above the Sea, aka “the song with the bathtub fish”. I love those fish because they open the door to world of vocal development for your child in a tangible and engaging way?

What makes this song and fish so special?

It’s a story song.  Songs that tell stories engage children in a deeper way by growing and developing and changing. They have characters to connect with, so the child’s emotions are brought into play.  This gives us a song the child is more interested in participating with.

Above the Sea has a conversation, and the song’s melodic pattern also mimics that conversation.  When we ask a question, our pitch will naturally slide up at the end of the sentence. When Little Fish asks “What’s above the sea?”, the pitch moves up as well.  So, when we sing this story we are helping our child to understand how people use language to communicate with each other.

Above the Sea also develops your child’s ability to produce spoken words.  Singing is often easier for a child than speaking, because singing is slower and more deliberate.  Syllables are broken down and clearly pronounced when you sing; consonants are enunciated and vowels are drawn out.

What will often times pass by in a blur in spoken word will be clearly heard and understood when sung.   Now they can use those words in other parts of their life, and they can sing along with the song, too.

Each of the sung patterns has visual components to accompany them. The fish face each other when they talk, and I always wiggle the fish who is talking at that moment. When they go up to the top of the sea, we all swim our fish up and sing up a scale at the same time -nice little auditory/visual connection there!

When the fish come back down, our voices descend the scale, too.  The kids can clearly see/hear/feel the patterns in the song.  The more senses we include in the learning process the deeper the learning is!

My favorite part is the verse in the middle whose words we can change.  Does your child love sharks? See the shark- hear him bark, his teeth are so scary!

Dinosaurs? See the dinosaur – and hear her roar, I think her name’s Marie!

What about Lightening McQueen? See Lightening McQueen – hear his engine scream, He’ll win the Grand Prix!

Come to class and sing me your verses. I’d love to hear them!

So go ahead – sing a fishy song with your child today to encourage their vocal development. By all means, play with your words! They are the best and cheapest toys our children will ever have. And, unlike plastic sharks and dinosaurs and Lightening McQueen cars, they will last the longest.

-posted by Miss Allison, who adores words, spoken, sung and written.

There are two kinds of steady beat. The first is internal, which is unique to every person. You are born with your own inner tempo. Think about yourself – how fast does your “clock” tick? Do you walk fast, talk fast, expect quick results? Get frustrated when everything or everyone else can’t keep up? Your internal tempo is probably allegro!

My 9 year old son’s internal beat is much slower than mine. He needs to process and “cook” information. As a Suzuki violin momma, I have to participate in his practice. After 2 years, he finally said, “You’re going too fast. You’re confusing me. It’s too much information at once.” If only I had recognized that before. If I continue to coach him at my pace, I’m going to frustrate him, and he’ll probably end up hating violin. Practice is now relatively easy on both of us.

Faster internal steady beats don’t equal brighter children; my easy-going middle child is just as smart as my speedy 12 year old.  They just both like the information presented to them at a tempo that matches what is going on inside. If I keep that in mind, I’ll be a better parent.

We cannot change an internal working tempo. It’s yours for life. We can, however, teach children to be flexible to match an external steady beat with the activity they are doing. Why do we do this? You don’t want to cut out a delicate paper snowflake at 90 miles an hour! Nor do you want a slow tempo child to read at a snail’s pace.

Babies come ready made with their own internal steady beat. Sometimes in class, a song will play that is pretty close to their own tempo. Then that baby will tap his drum right in time to the music, and all the grownups in class will ooohh and aaahh at this little musical genius!

It isn’t usually until they reach age 3 or so that they begin to be able to match an external source of steady beat, such as playing instruments to a song, or marching. And we don’t really expect consistent beat matching to occur until between Kindergarten and 2^nd grade.

But because the ability to match a steady beat is so vital to success in many other skills, we do start steady beat practice from the very earliest Kindermusik class – Village. You can practice at home, too. Here are some fun ideas to try:

For babies and toddlers: To help these little ones to feel an external steady beat, use their bodies. Put your child on your lap and steadily chant a nursery rhyme, or sing a simple song. Bounce your child up and down, keeping the tempo consistent.

For preschoolers: Hold hands, a rope, a stretchy band or a large scarf between you. Sing a song your child knows (so she doesn’t have to think about the words) and sway or rock back and forth together. You can change the tempo every couple of repeats.

For young schoolchildren: Put on one of your Kindermusik Young Child CD’s or their current musical favorite. Music that changes tempo is especially good, so try some classical music. Give your child a big sheet of paper and some markers or crayons. Have your child draw (lines, dots, circles, squiggles, etc.) to the tempo of the music. Ask questions like: “What does this slow music look like?”

There are lots of fun ways to practice matching an external steady beat. I’m sure you’ll get creative!

-posted by Miss Analiisa, who is determined to workout her internal speedy steady beat muscles by learning to slow down and rest. Actually rest. Stop doing things. Stop thinking. Breathe deep.

Source: Wikipedia (Amon)

Butterflies have been migrating to Woodinville lately….all the way from France!  I was a docent at Natural Bridges State Park,  in Santa Cruz, California while in college, so I do know a little about the migration of monarch butterflies.  So I do realize that they make a journey of sometimes over 3,000 miles, but it usually involves a North/South pattern, not East/West.

I also know that a Monarch caterpillar only eats milkweed as it grows, and this helps them gain the invaluable defense of being poisonous.  Their bright colors, both as a caterpillar and as a mature butterfly warn predators away.  Here’s a fun website to learn more about the Monarch. 

Ah! Les Jolis Papillons is the French song we have been singing and dancing to in class.  In English, this translates to  All the Pretty Butterflies.  I’m so happy when the children come up to me in class and ask for a “papillon” stamp.  Singing is a wonderful way to introduce a new language at any age.  We have also had our French papillions make new friends in Imagine That.   They have been singing Bonjour Mes Ami, which translates to Hello, My Friends!

Here’s Ah! Les Jolie Papillons  for you to listen to: (You can also download the song at www.play.kindermusik.com) 2-22 Ah! Les Jolis Papillons (Oh, 1

Enjoy finding out how you can encourage your child to become the beautiful person I know they will become!

-posted by Miss Beth, who floats like a butterfly, but does not sting like a bee.

I hear regularly from parents that the CD’s are a staple of all commuting, and that they are listened to at home, and at bedtime as well because their child will actually LISTEN to the CD’s over and over again.

My gut instinct tells me that they listen to their curriculum CD’s with such attentiveness because almost every song on the CD is related to an activity from class; memories when they listen to “Walk Along Rover”…. They are doing the steps of the dance in their heads when they hear “Jing Jang” or “Little Liza Jane”, and their hands become a rabbit and hop along their arms,  their finger-ears flop, flop, flop, and their bunny eyes blink, blink, blink, and their bunny noses twink, twink, twink, as they listen to “I Saw a Little Rabbit.”  A Kindermusik CD for an enrolled child is a doorway back to the classroom.

It is not just background music.  I am quite sure if you gave a Kindermusik CD to a child who had never attended a class that they would enjoy the CD, but not like your children will.  The combination of meat and potatoes followed by dessert is classic for a reason - it works!

Your child may not actually be interested in the CD at first; they may still want to listen to last semester’s CDs. But as soon as we’ve covered enough of the music on the CD with activities in class, your child will begin the process of transferring their love from Milk and Cookies to Fiddle Dee Dee.  Most of the music on the CD is in a similar order to how it is introduced in class.

There are always tracks on a Kindermusik CD that we won’t use in class. These pieces are there to round out your child’s listening experience and to expose them to music they may not hear regularly.  They also make the CD much more interesting to listen to.

However, these short forays into the unheard are important for another reason; they act like a recess for the child’s brain, which is working and learning while they are listening to the familiar classroom songs.  Children need down-time to process what they have learned while they are in the throes of discovery.

Quiet time on the CD (whether it’s a short piece of classical music or a poem) gives them a few minutes to download before the next spurt of learning begins.  This is why recess really is the most important part of your child’s school day, and why as college students we needed to take a break from studying every so often.  Research shows that studying for extended periods of time is counter-productive.  Every brain needs time off to process information.

Both of your story-books for the semester are also read on your CD’s. “The Animal Serenade” is on CD 1, and “This Little Piggy Played the Fiddle” is found on CD 2.  (You’ll hear the voice of the founder of Kindermusik reading this book, and you’ll hear his rich bass serenading you throughout the Kindermusik repertoire of CD’s.)

On the CDs  are several samples from the classical repertoire. The Scherzo from Shubert’s Trout Quintet, and The Flight of the Bumble Bee, by Rimsky Korsakov. I highly recommend Korsakov’s music, especially Scheherazade; it’s one of my all time favorite pieces of classical music.

Since Fiddle Dee Dee places an emphasis on stringed instruments, now might be a great time to check out some of the many classical pieces of music written for strings.  A great place to start is Dvorak’s American Quartet, written while he was he was summering in Stillwell, Iowa, in the Czech community there.  And you have some classical vocal music as well such as The Comic Duet of Two Cats by Rossini, and Summer is a’Cumin In, the first round ever to have been written down.

So, enjoy your CD’s and listen often.  The more familiar your child is with the music, the faster they learn a new activity in class. And the more they learn, the sooner they are ready for extensions to those activities.

-posted by Miss Allison, who thinks that dessert is the best part of dinner!

Owen and Patrick when they were in Our Time and Imagine That!

My little Patrick (now 3 1/2)  took out our wonderfully stocked music box on New Year’s day and started doing ~  wishy washy wishy washy ‘wee’  for awhile and then Owen (now 6) found his blue blocks and started to do the same.  First of all, Patrick barely talked much when we did Wiggles & Giggles, so his recall to me was amazing.

Then, I pulled out all our stuff and all the CD’s and we spent all of New Year’s day singing all our old songs, dancing and using all our gear.   Patrick pulled out his puppy house from Fiddle Dee Dee and Owen searched and found his ‘park’ from Imagine That too. 

We have used these items here and there all the time, and especially listen to the CD’s in the car always, but perhaps not as much as when they both used to be in class all the time.

The music instruments are always available; it was the “props” and activity books I put away, but brought them back out after New year’s and what the fun we had!

** THANK YOU ** THANK YOU**  for being such an important part of their happiness.

All the best-

Margaret Klinkenberg

“Where we love is home, home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes.

“Peace- that was the other name for home.” Kathleen Norris  “Where thou art- that- is home.” – Emily Dickinson.

“There is nothing like staying home for real comfort” Jane Austen.  “There’s nothing half so pleasant as coming home again”- Margaret Sangster

“I long…. To be at home wherever I find myself” – Maya Angelou.

“Snoopy, come home” – Charley Brown

“Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam…” (Sing that one)

There are so many famous thoughts and poems and quotes about the four walls we call a home- there must be something more to those four walls than just 2×4’s, windows and doors.

My kids love to be at home. Even now that they are teenagers they will insist occasionally on a jammy day.  We wear our pajamas all day. (Well, now that they are older, we wear our lounge clothes.)   These days are full of book reading, movie watching, and game playing.   We might make cookies or milk shakes.  But we relish our time together, cocooned in the haven that is our home.

We had jammy days when my boys were little, too.  I would come down on a Saturday morning to find them showered and in clean jammies, usually the footed zip-up kind (they wore them for jammy days up until about a year ago).  They would wait for me at the bottom of the stairs. I knew that meant I should back upstairs and put on my yoga pants and prepare to spend the day at home, regardless of what I had planned or needed to do.

We’ve always had a busy life.  So when my boys were little, home was where we decompressed from our many adventures, and the daily events that every family has to do.  Home was where we connected those adventures to the emotional framework that holds our world together.

Not that home wasn’t a great adventure, too.  We built many a tent for camping in the family room.  We battled space aliens in our yard, and constructed a rocket ship,  complete with a light up control panel that beeped, bopped, flashed and wailed when you hit the buttons on the outside (That toy, built by Boppa in an old suitcase, is a whole other blog… what a great toy!) We constructed train tracks that ran the whole length of the downstairs, and then ran our trains around and around.  We hunted dinosaurs, and scaled Mount Everest. We built metropolises out of blocks and demolished them with Tonka trucks, without ever leaving the comfort of our house.

My boys had favorite activities they loved to do on jammy days.  Hammering endless nails into scrap lumber, planting flowers in the yard, or planting anything, including Star Wars guys, Lego, Hot Wheel Cars. (I still dig up an occasional gem from their earlier years.)  They’d make a pot and pan band on the floor in the kitchen and sing at the top of their lungs

As they got older a jammy day was a time to play the never-ending board games that they liked so much, and for Michael and I to show them movies we’d always loved and that they were finally old enough to watch.

For a child, home really is where the heart is; there is no place like home.  It is their safe place, the place they can just “be” in.   It’s where they are most connected to you, and their siblings.  Their whole life revolves around home.

So it’s only fitting that the current Our Time semester is all about loving being at home.   It combines a variety of music, poems, and finger plays about the kitchen, the market, the food we get at the market, what we do with when we get it home, games we can play, the sights and smells and sounds and tastes and textures that make our own home the best place in the world. We even get to build the house.

A good portion of the music could even be considered home-grown. There’s lots of jazz, mostly New Orleans style, but other styles as well. Jazz is truly an American musical genre, one of our unique musical contributions to the world.  And party songs from the early days of our country become dances and games that can be played with your child at home.   Even the music that is not uniquely American is all about home.  Two piano works from Schuman’s Children’s Corner Suite grace CD number one.   This beautiful music was written for his beloved wife to play while their children played around her piano.

I love Away We Go, and Wiggles and Giggles and Fiddle Dee. They are the adventures we have when we are out and about in the world. But Milk and Cookies is the foundation on which those adventures take place. Our home is place we return to after dancing in Arkansas, where we are most likely to find Liza Jane and where Lukey’s boat is in dry dock.

This semester offers us a way to make our home more exciting and meaningful, and to make the adventures we have within those beloved four walls deeper and full of learning, and to discover how significant home is to our children’s development.  They can’t get excited about a train trip if they aren’t fully immersed and attached to home.  Because that’s where their hearts are, and yours, too.

-posted by Miss Allison, who leaves you with her favorite home quote: “There’s no place like home” – Dorothy Gale (Click your heels together, and be sure you say it three times.)

When your mom is a Kindermusik teacher, you get to play with ALL the scarves!

The following is taken from an email one of our Kindermusik moms (and newest teacher!) sent to our Studio3Music teacher loop. It’s an amazing inside perspective, and we thought you’d find it interesting as well.

Right about the time that Samantha turned a year old, her behavior shifted dramatically in class (at least to her mom).  She went from sitting in my lap quite contentedly and grinning at me to being more and more independent. 

The last couple of months, she’s gotten so mobile that I often spend most of the class (again, at least it feels like it to me) chasing her around the room and keeping her out of mischief.  It was SO frustrating when she first started doing it (which was also about the time her “selective hearing” got crazy, too, and she stopped listening to me call her back), and I admit, I was really embarrassed. 

I had no idea why my kid couldn’t keep still in class for more than 10 seconds (when I’m lucky), and why she seemed intent on taking everyone else’s instruments, knocking down their towers, and attempting to pillage the toys behind the sheets.  It really felt like my kid was the only one behaving this way, and I started to wonder if I was doing something “wrong” or if Samantha just wasn’t getting anything out of Kindermusik anymore. 

There were days that I came home feeling totally exhausted and confused.  However, since y’all had already hired me, I decided to attempt to stick it out. ; )

Let me first say that I place none of the feelings I felt at the feet of the amazing teachers we’ve had.  I know had I come to any of you, you would have helped me feel better.  But I was embarrassed and felt that the “failings” were mine alone (can you tell she’s my first kid?).

As I’ve been going through the Kindermusik Educator training, this issue is one that is specifically addressed.  I sat in my living room one morning and listened to part of a presentation about it.  As the traits for the developing walker were discussed, I got misty-eyed.  It meant SO MUCH to be told that my kid was not only “normal,” she was doing everything exactly right for her age.  I realized that it was my expectation of her behavior that had to change, and that while she may not seem to be paying attention during much of class, she was still very much alert and aware of what was going on (which I can attest to – she LOVES her Kindermusik materials).

 I’ve also realized this summer after attending some fairly wide age range groups that while it’s tiring to chase after her in Village, it’s a thousand times more so in an older class.  The little ones don’t generally care too much about her rambunctious nature, and the parents laugh when she sits in the middle of the room during an activity and covers herself in scarves or hoards shakers.  This is SO good for her self-esteem to be the center of attention and to feel like a “big girl.” 

With older toddlers, however, I have to keep her in arms’ reach because they get MAD (understandably!) when she exhibits the same behavior.  The parents are always kind because they remember, but that doesn’t keep a 3-year-old from throwing a fit when Samantha takes the cards from his hands for the eighth time that day.  She throws more fits during these classes and comes home frustrated sometimes.  Again, NOT the teachers’ faults.  It’s just that she’s not able to express herself during class and, well, it pisses her off. ; )

 ­-submitted on behalf of Miss Chris, who declares “I’ve become a poster child for the ‘no Our Time before 17 months’ rule.  I am so grateful for a safe, fun environment in Village class where Samantha can be silly and we can both truly enjoy the hilariousness that is her right now.”

Spatial awareness can be defined as: an awareness of the body in space, and the child’s relationship to the objects in the space. This can include spatial orientation, which is the skill that allows them to understand and comply with simple requests such as: “line up at the door” or “sit in a circle.”

Doing the Hokey Pokey in Kenya!

Spatial awareness is also linguistic. The understanding of the positional words people use to define themselves in space is essential to spatial awareness. “I am underneath the bridge….I am behind the tree.” You get the picture.

Next time you are in your Kindermusik class, check out the movement chart on the wall and notice how many of the words are directional or relational. Hoop play is one of the many activities in Kindermusik designed to promote spatial awareness…I am in the hoop, outside the hoop, beside the hoop, in front of the hoop. Another well-loved favorite is the “Hokey-Pokey” …“you put your right arm in, you take your right arm out, you put your right arm in, and you shake it all about…”

Our Time’s “Zoom-E-Oh” which demonstrates up/down, high/low, in/out, away/together, etc. Songs like these and activities like hoop play are allowing your child to learn to organize the available space in relation to themselves and in relationship to objects and other individuals.

In addition to spatial awareness, they are learning things like body parts, rhythm patterns, and a sense of direction. Spatial concepts learned through movement and exploration simultaneously develop muscle strength, coordination, self-confidence, and thinking skills. Spatial awareness helps you distinguish between words on this page and see the letters in correct relation to each other.

Which brings us to the initial question: what is the link between your child’s Kindermusik experience and his ability to read a map? Studies show that the development of spatial orientation leads to increased understanding of location and direction and even eventually the ability to understand and read a map – the point being that spatial awareness or a lack thereof has a direct impact on everyday skills that make a practical difference in our ability to navigate through life.

This same ability applies to reading and writing music on the staff, swinging a golf club, lobbing a tennis ball over the net, heading a soccer ball into the goal, or sending a baseball over the fence.

So…what if the Hokey-Pokey is what it’s all about? Well….in some respects, it is!

­-posted by Studio3Music, with thanks to contributor Theresa Case, our friend and Kindermusik Educator from Greenville, SC.

For instance, once in an Imagine That class a student shouted out that his favorite movie was “Hell Boy”.   I’m not even sure now what we were talking about that triggered this bit of sharing, but his mother was horrified- after we all got done laughing, that is.  (By the way, the only bad thing about the movie is the title.)

But that door swings both ways and occasionally something marvelous walks through.  Today was one of those days.

So we’ve been playing the word game with “There’s a Little Wheel a’ Turning In My Heart”.  (I just wrote a blog about this game, so you can do a search and find out how we play it….) We’d played it twice already in this class and had some pretty fabulous things inside our hearts. 

The typical things are dinosaurs roaring, and balls bouncing, but this class was on an unusual roll.  We had a lovey blanket hiding and a horse making that snorting/blowing sound (Now that was funny – 15 grown-ups singing and then vibrating their lips like a horse…) I asked for one more thing so we could finish up and move on to bouncing.

Imi and Allie

But it was taking a long time so I asked one of my older students, she’s three or so, and comes to class with her little sister. “Allie,” I said, “What’s in your heart? What do you love best?” And she answered in a clear strong voice, (such a sweet little voice), “My sister, Imi, is in my heart”.

There was silence for about 3 seconds, which is a long time, really.  Then every grown up in the room spontaneously said “OHHHHHHHH!” I looked up and several moms had tears glistening in their eyes.  I did. I was suddenly reminded of how much I love my own sister, how much I miss her.  Denver is so far away. 

However, we had a task at hand, and I couldn’t leave Ali hanging, waiting to finish her song, even though every heartstring in the room was stretched taut.  So I asked “Allie, what’s she doing in your heart?” She answered quickly without hestitation.  She already knew what she was going to say.  “Imi is playing with me in my heart.”  Their Mom was crying, and everyone else was sniffling, including me, but we all bravely swung our mallets, rang our bars and sang Ali’s beautiful verse….

Imi’s playing with Allie in her heart, in her heart,
Imi’s playing with Allie in her heart.
In her heart, in her heart,
Imi’s playing with Allie in her heart. 

I’ve been thinking about my sister all day- and what a gift she is in my life.  I’ve choked back tears several times just thinking of how blessed I am to have a sister that is also my dear friend.  Thanks Allie, for reminding me that I should tell her more often how wonderful she is.  I sent her an email earlier today.

-posted by Miss Allison, who says that this is one of those days I’ll never forget. It’s one of the days that makes teaching the very best job that could possibly exist.   Thanks again, Allie.