"Fiddle dee dee, fiddle dee dee, the fly has married the bumble bee....."

We hope those of you who have been joining us for our "Ourtime" (18m-3yrs) programme have been enjoying yourselves in class. Animals is a great theme for this age of children, creating wonderful and fun opportunities to explore interesting sounds and varied movements. As we progress to the last third of the course we are getting to know our bumble bees and butterflies and will enjoy buzzing and fluttering around together, not to mention wagging our little sheeps tails as well! This age is crucial for your childs language development. Two year olds generally begin their third year of life with a vocabulary of about 200 words and this number is quintupled by the age of three, when they can use about 1000 words! During this language growth spurt, therefore, it is particularly important to introduce movement words that are possibly unfamiliar to your young child.*
So, as you enjoy being butterflies and bees over the next few weeks just remember you're doing the best thing possible to help your childs vocabulary grow! See you in class :)

* "Ages and Stages" by Karen Miller

What will you be learning about in, "The Rhythm of My Day"?

Here is some information about what your "Village" (0-18m) classes will focus on this term. We hope this knowledge will help you make the most of your Kindermusik experience each week

Now, what am I and my baby going to be learning about this

term?

Each lesson throughout your term has a specific music & movement focus that features in a number of the activities you will enjoy in class. During, “The Rhythm of My Day,” you and your baby will be introduced to the following concepts:

Lessons 1&2 – Sol-Mi

In some of the activities for lessons 1&2, we will hear and sing the sol-mi pitch interval in music (as in do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti-do). Some experts believe this is one of the easiest intervals for young children to hear and imitate.

Lessons 3&4 – Syncopation

In these two lessons we will experience syncopation within a steady beat. Syncopation is the shifting of the usual strong pulse in a rhythmic context to a place in which the pulse is usually weak or not recognised. Exposing baby to rhythmically interesting music will allow her to appreciate a broader range of music later in her life.

Lessons 5&6 – Stop & Go

In these two lessons we will experience the physical and musical sensation of stopping and going. By participating in activities that move and stop, Baby is developing the awareness of inhibitory control. Inhibitory control is one’s ability to stop his body on a given cue. “Stop” and “go” are reinforced in class with the use of ASL.

For more ASL signs to use with your child please see: http://www.aslpro.com/cgi-bin/aslpro/aslpro.cgi

Lessons 7&8 – Diversity of Sound

As we focus on the diversity of sound for our last few lessons, we will experience examples of different tonalities and a variety of overall musical effects of a song. Exposing Baby to diversity of sound will allow him to develop an appreciation for music of varied styles and origin.

In addition, every Kindermusik class is full of activities that stimulate 6 key areas of development. For example, playing & singing along to music will help with their music & language development, while group dances help with baby's social and physical development.

We hope you enjoy this time together and look forward to seeing you in class!

January-May 2009 Village Lyrics

We know that a lot of you are keen to have the lyrics to all the songs that we enjoy together in class. As they are now no longer included in your Home Materials, you can access them through the links below which contain most of the music and words for our 2 Village courses:

"Hickory Dickory Tickle & Bounce" and "Rhythm of my Day"

We hope you find this a convenient & environmentally-friendly resource to help you continue the fun and music with your baby at home!

Here are some photos of recent Village Classes at Hong Kong Parkview. Enjoy!

Traditional Play Dough Recipe.
We will be playing with play dough in our Milk & Cookies classes soon. For you to enjoy the same experience at home of "/measuring/pouring-stirring/mixing-making a ball/rolling flat & making a shape & cutting just like that"!- here is the recipe which will be using for the play dough in class. I hope you & your child will have as much fun making & playing with it as we do!!

Traditional Play Dough Recipe

• 1 cup of flour
• 1 cup warm water
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
  
• 1 teaspoon oil
• 1/4 cup salt
• food colouring

Mix all ingredients, adding food colouring last. Stir over medium heat until smooth. Remove from pan and knead until blended smooth. Place in plastic bag or airtight container when cooled. This will last for a long time.

Milk & Cookies Home Activities for September to December 2008

Welcome to Milk & Cookies, the "home away from home" where children help out with the daily chores from cooking & cleaning to washing the floors & digging in the garden!
Please find below the schedule of activities; the activities relate to the class & each lesson focus.

Dear Parents & Caregivers,

Welcome to the “Ourtime” Autumn term here at Kindermusik by Catherine. For the next 3 months we will be having fun with our new curriculum “Milk & Cookies” during which you and your child will have fun building a house, doing the washing, dust, dust, dusting, planting in the garden, making cookies and much more. We hope you have lots of fun with us and to help you get the most out of the course please take a look at the chart below for ideas of what you can do together at home each week and what you can bring to class to make your Kindermusik class as enjoyable as possible!


WEEK #, FOCUS FOR THE WEEK, TO BRING TO CLASS & YOUR HOME ACTIVITY

1 High & Low
“At My House” Book
p2 Sing our new Hello Song together

2 High & Low
“At My House” Book
p8 Have fun building your house & doing the washing

3 High & Low
“At My House” Book
p9 “scrub, scrub, scrub” Do the washing
together or scrub in the tub

4 High & Low
“At My House”
Book & Sponge for scrubbing
p10/11: Plant a flower together in a pot

5 High & Low
“At My House”
Book & Sponge for scrubbing
p14/5 Knives, forks & spoons game.
Choose a recipe & make some cookies

6 Long & Short
“Cookies” Book
Your homemade cookies
p18 Sing hot cross buns together & enjoy
listening to the 2 versions on your CDs

7 Long & Short
“Cookies” Book
p20 Stir it up! Explore your stir xylophone & play along to Pease Porridge

8 Long & Short
“Cookies” Book
p17 Cut toast in different shapes with cookie cutters & have fun popping like toast!

9 Long & Short
“Cookies” Book
Take a photo of your child to bring to your next class

10 Long & Short
“Cookies” Book &
A photo of your child
Make a shaker: bottles, pots, beans, rice ...

11 Loud & Quiet
Your homemade shaker
p26 Play, play, play

12 Loud & Quiet
p28 Shake Hands & make friends. Ding! ding! Knock! Knock!

13 Loud & Quiet
Can you find a wooden instrument?
p22 Cupcakes, cut-out

14 Loud & Quiet
A wooden instrument
Choose a recipe & make some cookies for class

15 Loud & Quiet
Homemade Cookies

VILLAGE "Zoom Buggy" Lyrics & Home Activities

Here is the URL address for the Zoom Buggy Home Activity Book;

http:www.kindermusikeducators.com/new/ZoomBuggyJournal.pdf

We hope you are enjoying this terms Zoom Buggy!


Please find the link to the Lyrics, Home Activities, Foundations of Learning & Ways to Hold Baby posters in the rectangle above, under "VILLAGE Zoom Buggy."

Don't forget to bring in your Zoom Buggy book & toy car to use class.


To beat the rush for the next curricula of Village, (November/December 2008)
"DreamPillow",

pick up your Home Materials from our Central Studio today!
The Home Materials will be in stock from September 24th.

To give you a sneak peak at what we have in store for you this coming November click on the URL below to see the Baby's Home Activity Journal for Dream Pillow.

http://www.kindermusikeducators.com/new/DreamPillowJournal.pdf