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All you need to do is:
• Get some lively music going.
• Dance around with your child or encourage him or her to dance — let your child burn off some of that energy!
• Every so often, quickly pause the recording — everyone (including you) should immediately freeze!
• To spice things up, after each freeze you can call out a new dance word like twirl, twist, leap, wiggle, or turn.
• Now start dancing like that until it's time to pause the music and freeze again.

Don't have any music handy? No problem! Sing a song or bang a funky rhythm on something you have lying around the house. Stop at random times, just like you were pausing the music.

"Just wanted you to know about another exciting Kindermusik activity. Our Young Child classes have always enjoyed playing musical baseball. However, this year was special! The class was thrilled to be GIVEN baseball caps by our new professional baseball team — the Bowling Green Hot Rods — to wear while playing musical baseball. We are working with the Hot Rods office to attend a game in the spring so the girls can throw out the first ball.

Last year one of our favorites, Lisa Rowell, left the ranks and moved to Atlanta with her husband and two girls. Lisa, Ellery, and Emmy are pictured to the right, enjoying the oh-so-common Atlanta snow (it sure has been a strange winter in many places). While at KI, Lisa worked in marketing and, as anyone who knows her would agree, was one of the most funny, smart, silly, and engaging people you could hope to share an office space or conference call with.

We all hated to see Lisa go.

So we were delighted when we recently learned Lisa was still part of the Kindermusik family, although in a slightly different way. Below is a note she sent to our CEO, Michael Dougherty. With Lisa’s permission, we’d like to share it here. It was so nice for us to hear from Lisa, and the note also touches on so many of the fantastic aspects of Kindermusik – the sense of community, the time spent focused on family (both in the classroom and at home), the head start on learning, and of course the unbridled fun!

Thanks, Lisa, for keeping in touch and for being part of the Kindermusik family.

March 2, 2010

In the fall, we took a Kindermusik hiatus, partly so we could settle into our new community and partly because the closest Kindermusik educator just had a baby. However, like other parents in the Kindermusik bulls eye, Clay and I want the best for our girls so we enrolled in Jane Hendrix’s program in Dunwoody (Our Time and Imagine That!). It was like coming home.

Our Imagine That! class includes other Atlanta transplants, who like us, sought out the familiarity of Kindermusik. We meet at 12:30 on Wednesdays for lunch in the classroom before the class begins at 1pm. These parents and children bring with them the experiences of other Kindermusik educators. Educators from California, Texas, and even Australian are represented. This is the type of Imagine That! class that we dreamed about: parents, children, and educator forming connections with each other that extends well beyond the classroom.

The joy my daughters’ experience in the classroom and at home is unique to Kindermusik. Our daily lives are filled with hayrides, bumpy rides on red wagons, Johnny and Katie finger plays, family jams, imaginary trips to toy stores, multiple readings of Shiny Dinah or Noodles from Scratch, and even puppet shows courtesy of Wags, Hopper, and Rascal. There are moments when my extremely verbal four-year-old becomes so excited to be in Jane’s class that she loses her ability to speak clearly.

As an infant, “My Bonnie” from You Are My Sunshine calmed Ellery unlike any other song. This became the final song I sing to them at night. Initially a solo act, my voice is joined now by both my girls. To the outside listener, our voices sound more “Tarzan, Frankenstein, and Tonto” than “Emmy, Ellery, and Lisa” but to me it is pure beauty. This is a moment that only the heart will ultimately catalog.

You can help your little one develop the awareness needed for active listening when you stop and listen to the nuances of sound. Developing good listening skills is vital to helping her learn to follow directions, read, or play an instrument.

Here are some Kindermusik tips for you:

• For your baby: Sit comfortably and hold your baby on your knees so that you’re facing each other. Imitate her facial expressions and sounds. Allow long pauses, letting her notice that you’re really listening.
• For your toddler: When you hear an interesting and easily repeatable sound, such as a doorbell, a knock, or footsteps, ask your toddler, “What’s that sound?” Imitate the sound yourself and then ask if she can make the sound too.
• For your preschooler or big kid: Play “I Hear” (instead of “I Spy”). Start by saying, “I hear with my little ear . . . something in the kitchen.” Your child can ask questions about the sound or try to identify it. Then switch roles. Here's another one — try playing the “If you can hear me” game. Say, “If you can hear me, hop on one foot.” Let your voice get softer and softer, while the actions get sillier and sillier. The crazier the actions, the more fun you'll have.

With preschoolers and early elementary, blowing develops their diaphragms and builds muscle control necessary for singing and wind instrument playing.

Blowing also helps children become aware of the fact that they can use breath to make a variety of sounds, move things, blow out candles, or create a cooling breeze.

Blowing for all ages
· Blow kisses – even babies can do this!
· Blow through a straw into your milk, juice or water.
· Blow bubbles.
· Play a slide whistle or a harmonica (like the one in this semester’s Our Time).
· Put a dab of watercolor or thinned tempura paint on a piece of paper. Blow on it with a straw and make beautiful designs.

For older children
· Put a fluffy craft feather partially into the end of a drinking straw. Blow on the other end and see how far you can make the feather fly!
· Place a ping pong ball on the table. With players on each side of the table, try to blow it off your opponent’s side with a drinking straw.
· Whistle.
· Play a duck call or kazoo.
-posted by Miss Analiisa, who wants you to breathe in through your nose, and blow out through your mouth three times right now. Don’t you feel calmer?

Here's one of those emails we got with a little story that made us smile. Kindermusik parent Shaunna sent this story about her daughter Jessie (pictured, right) to their eduator, Linda Courchesne of Kids Music & Movement in Ontario, Canada. It really captures a what it's all about — how Kindermusik classes bring learning into the home.

"I just have to tell you what Jessie did tonight … I always put on the Do-Si-Do CD after her bath (she now runs to the playroom and waits by the CD player for it!), and we did the Hello Song and then just started playing with her toys, as usual. BUT — when it got to the Boom-Pa-Pa song, she immediately dropped her toys and stood up and started dancing and saying, "Ba Pa Pa Pa" and when it got to the "swoopy and swervy" verse, still standing, she bent over in half, dropped her arms all "noodle like" and swooped and swerved her whole body. Then she stood up and clapped for herself! SO cute! I just had to share my happy little at-home Kindermusik moment with someone who would REALLY appreciate it! … Shaunna"

Kindermusik tips…

• Your Baby: At two months, he coos and babbles. In his first year, he’ll begin making vowel sounds (oohs and aahs), and then move to new sounds and vowel-consonant combinations. Your baby is also learning the art of conversation. Bring your face close to his, and talk to him. Ask him a question and let him respond. He is learning that conversation is a two-way street.

• Your Toddler: In a verbal growth spurt, your toddler’s vocabulary expands from about 50 to 200 words. When your toddler displays emotion, give him the language to identify it. “You’re happy!” or “I can see that you’re sad.” You’ll enhance his emotional intelligence as well as his vocabulary.

So, what does make a great teacher, at least those whose students perform best among the over 7,000 TFA teachers? “Superstar teachers had four other tendencies in common: they avidly recruited students and their families into the process; they maintained focus, ensuring that everything they did contributed to student learning; they planned exhaustively and purposefully — for the next day or the year ahead — by working backward from the desired outcome; and they worked relentlessly, refusing to surrender to the combined menaces of poverty, bureaucracy, and budgetary shortfalls.”

Funny thing, this sounds exactly like what we train our licensed Kindermusik teachers on during their Kindermusik Fundamentals course and as they grow in various Kindermusik Professional Development courses. Moreover, it is what we observe among our very best licensed educators. I’m proud to say Kindermusik licensed educators are provided extensive opportunities for in-service training and that their relicensure requires them to take full advantage.