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Archive for the ‘Village’ Category

Apr
23

The Cupcake Extravaganza

Posted in Bits and Pieces, Village

To me, there are many wonders that take place in a Kindermusik Village class. More times than I can count, I find my self thinking, “this is amazing, and I get to be a part of it!”  Even though I have a carefully thought out lesson plan each week, I can never account for the magic and unexpected moments that inevitably arise in class.  More often than not, these organic moments are the most delightful and memorable.

One such moment arose about a month ago in my Tuesday Village class in Kirkland.  Toward the end of class we were discussing birthdays, since little Kaitlyn was about to have her 1st birthday party that weekend.  The discussion turned to birthday cakes and which bakeries in the Kirkland area people had used and liked best.  This led to the ever popular topic of cupcakes.  Everyone was quite enthusiastic about which bakery made their favorite cupcakes.

Before I knew it, someone proposed that the group have a cupcake tasting and suggested we could do it after class the next week.  I was happy to facilitate.  It was agreed that each grown –up would bring cupcakes from a different bakery and we would rate which ones we liked best.  Judy, Kaitlyn’s Mom, wondered if anyone in the group blogged since this would make such a great story.  I immediately volunteered to write about it for the Studio3 Blog.

Later that week, I received an email from Judy saying that a friend of hers from Currently Kirkland TV thought our story was so cute that she wanted to come film a piece about it.  What began as a simple unexpected conversation in Village class grew into a full-fledged media-covered cupcake extravaganza!

The following week, all were assembled dressed in their finest daywear; ready for the camera, class and, of course, the very serious business of cupcakes.  Camera Man Mike filmed us in all our Kindermusik glory.  Throughout class, every one beamed in delightful expectation of things to come.

Once class time was over, out came the cupcakes.  We ended up with confections from eight different bakeries.  The contestants were Trophy, Lisa Du Pare, Pasta & Co, NY Cupcakes, QFC, Cupcake Royale, PCC, and Pinkabella.  Many had other places and appointments to get to soon, so a frenzy of cupcake tasting, judging, and interviews by Reporter Pamm ensued.  Participants were allowed to vote for both favorite cake and favorite frosting.  After many sugary sweet samples and all was said and done, the clear winner of the day was, ahem, drum roll please, Pinkabella cupcakes, in both the frosting and cake categories.

After the sugary bacchanalia of it all, I was left feeling a bit woozy.  Quite frankly, I don’t care to look at another cupcake for a long time, but I am boosted by the fact that every one, both babies and grown-ups, were in high form that day, and I couldn’t possibly have been more proud of them or more delighted with what was born of one magical moment in Village class.

You can watch the final story, too! If you click on the link, you can see the episode right online.

-posted by Miss Meresa, who is looking forward to the next spontaneous and unexpected magical moment in class.

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Nov
27

Do we have to do this again?

Posted in Child Development, Imagine That, Music and the brain, Our Time, Village, Young Child

Recently, I received a great question from one of our Studio3Music mommas. I’m sure she’s not the first person to wonder, so I thought I should share it with you all.

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!)

 

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Nov
6

synCOpaTION – Tickling the Brain

Posted in Child Development, Music and the brain, Village

Syncopation means an unexpected change in an established rhythm or beat.  In simple terms – syncopation means that the weak beat gets the accent or emphasis. You’ll often hear syncopation in African or Latin music, or jazz.

Take a standard American march like Stars and Stripes. A march has a steady, predictable beat. If you were to clap along, you would automatically clap on beats 1 and 3(unless you were the tuba player – who has the syncopation on beats 2 and 4).

Our brains love steady beats, because the brain loves to find patterns and sequences. In fact, if you listen to music that has a steady, predictable beat (like that march I mentioned), after a while, your neurons actually begin firing at the same rate as the beat of the march.

But as humans, we like patterns only up to a point. After that comes boredom, and we stop paying attention. But when the pattern changes, we begin paying attention again. Syncopation tickles our brains, so to speak. Our brains search for the new pattern, and the sense of unpredictability that comes with change is fun and interesting to both your brain and your soul.

Think about it – when you hear syncopated African or Latin music or Jazz – it makes you want to smile and move, right? The beat is unexpected and interesting.  Take a listen to Leroy Anderson’s “The Syncopated Clock”.  In Village class, we’ve been listening to the jazzy Hop to It. That’s syncopated, too.

But what does this have to do with your little one? Let me explain. You want your child to eat a wide variety of foods, to like an assortment of flavors, textures, colors and shapes. Even if they ask for the steady, predictable mac-n-cheese and chicken nuggets every night, you still want them to have a balanced diet.

The same is true for music.  Our children need a variety of musical experiences. Life is richer and more interesting with a varied diet of music. And some brain tickling.

-posted by Miss Analiisa, who has been feeling rather bored the last couple of days, and feels in need of a brain tickle in the form a new project of some sort.

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Sep
17

Hickory, Dickory, Dock. How fast is your internal clock?

Posted in Child Development, Imagine That, Music and the brain, Our Time, Things to do, Village, Young Child

What is steady beat? Though we associate it most closely with music, steady beat is really just an action repeated at about the same pace each time. Steady beat is required in everything from clapping along to a piece of music, talking smoothly, walking steadily, kicking, reading, cutting with scissors or even typing.

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 2nd 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.

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May
12

Peter’s Story

Posted in Bits and Pieces, Things We Love, Village

He was in our Village class for such a short time….I’ll call him Peter.   Just a few weeks to enjoy the waning days of Rhythm of Our Day and a little Busy Days, but in that short time we saw a flower open.

I remember his first visit to our class.  Peter brought Mommy, Daddy, and Auntie with him and all were intently focused on Peter; his every move mattered.  Any indication of pleasure or displeasure a one year old could convey was noted and evaluated.   There were tears as he clung to Mommy, not knowing what to make of the wiggling bunch of bouncers and shakers surrounding him.   “Peter doesn’t usually hear English spoken in his home.”   But there were many hands to console….six to be exact!  “I think we’d like to join this class…at least for a little while.   They are only here for a short time,” said Auntie.

Only Mommy & Daddy came along next week to shore up little Peter.   Fewer tears, but still well sheltered by slightly anxious parents, Peter’s fearful gaze seldom came my way.   Mommy and Daddy quietly tapped his tiny hand keeping the steady beat he was not ready to feel.

Week 4:  Peter brought only Mommy this week.    Timid hands reached outside the cozy confines of Mommy’s legs to pick up a bright red shaker.    Mommy and Peter stayed around after class to enjoy the chatter of their cohorts.

Today:  Peter sat happily in his white plastic carriage…which looked remarkably like a Target laundry basket.   Even a ride to the “Doctors office” wasn’t so bad if all your friends were going, too!   The sudden stops for red lights created a palpable tension in the circle and even Peter’s gaze turned towards me in anticipation.  Snug in his green towel, he peered out at those around him as if he had been doing this forever….well, for at least 3 weeks.   Time to dance!   I stood opposite Peter and Mommy.   We swayed happily to Mama Paquita, do-si-doed a sly peek-a-boo, and as we met in the middle to say “hello”, Peter giggled and gave me the biggest smile ever!

It’s a friendly and chatty class who linger long, but Mommy and Peter were the last to leave today.   Mommy quietly and shyly said, “This is our last class, Miss Colleen.   We will be moving far away next week.   I just want you to know Peter is much different child now.   He loves class.   He loves you.   Thank you for my child happy now.”

-posted by Miss Colleen, who is happy, too.

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