Tuesday, January 21, 2025 | Blue Bugs Lessons

Lesson #3

Thank you, parents, for coming to class! Your kiddos are learning SO quickly now! I am so thrilled with their progress! Remember that our ‘sol la ti do’ pattern is played on the lower case letter solfege when playing on the bells. ‘sol’ is the big red bell and then step up from there. 

Please be on time to pick up your kiddos! It’s very cold outside now, so please be prompt. 

Can't Bug Me!
It's fabulous how we are learning to ‘read’ bug rhythms from pictures - we mixed up the order of our bugs and they still clapped them correctly! That means that they are internalizing the rhythm of each bug. Fantastic progress!

Bill Grogan's Goat
Today we introduced a silly story about Bill Grogan's goat. If this tale seems strange to your child, check out this funny YouTube video, which tells a longer story about the goat, including where he goes when he rides on the train and what he gets to eat when he meets the queen!

Grab a basketball and use the Let's Play Music bugs to PLAY a game with the ball after you watch this video!

Here is a link to all the skills videos as well as the link to be able to purchase a class video to make up for a missed class. (tap or scan)

Have a musical day!
-Ms. Bethany :)

Tuesday, January 14, 2025 | Blue Bugs Lessons

Lesson #2

Once again, we had a great week. I just love my 1st year students! They are smart and so fun. Just a reminder parents come next week with tote bags, bells, and home fun activity books! Also, the home fun activity goes with whatever lesson # we JUST DID in class. So this week the kids will do #2.Thank you for helping them each week!

If you haven't yet, check out this virtual escape room: 
https://escaperoomlpm.wixsite.com/magicallamp 
This is a great review for what we learned in Red Balloons. If they are struggling with any of the concepts, this will help you identify them and work with them. Or ask me for help if needed!

The kids are very used to me by now and I hope, feel quite comfortable. I am starting to watch them more closely and can see that you parents are doing such a great job helping them. Thank you for doing this. Thank you for making their education a priority. If you’re child isn’t quite singing on pitch yet, don’t despair, it will come. One of the best ways to get them to hear it is to have them sing. That is why in class I keep telling them to sing with me. Even if they aren’t right on they should sing, sing, sing. As nonsensical as it sounds, singing out loud is one of the keys to hearing it inside.

Bug Rhythms
The song “Can’t Bug Me” is the foundational song for counting our rhythms. We'll be using these bugs for the rest of the curriculum. This will become second nature very quickly! Have fun clapping to your bug cards!

Meet the Blue Bugs... enjoy reading about why we use rhythm syllables in Let's Play Music.

(If you check out this link and you like the "food language" chart in the middle, just know that I've created a game with that! I'll share it in a few weeks, after the kids are more familiar with the rhythms.)

Here is a link to all the skills videos as well as the link to be able to purchase a class video to make up for a missed class. (tap or scan)

Have a musical day!
-Ms. Bethany :)

Tuesday, January 7, 2025 | Blue Bugs Lessons

Lesson #1

What a fun week! Thank you, parents, for coming and participating. The kids love it when you are here! Next week only students and homework comes...no bells or bags! If your child did ANY of the Christmas Break Challenge activities, please send it with them SIGNED, so they can get their prizes!

Here are a few classroom reminders…

1. Be on time: If a student is consistently late, they will miss important exercises that will affect their musical training. (The key word is consistent, we are all human with stuff that happens, so just try your very best.)
2. Add your energy to class: Make sure you are participating right alongside your child. I can't do it all by myself. Well, maybe I could, but it's much more fun if everyone is having fun with me! 
3. Please let me know if you can't see the class calendar. It lets you know when we don't have class and when it is a Parent Day.
4. Tuition is due this week and is $280 for the Blue Bugs semester. You can pay via Zelle using my phone number (preferred, so I don't have to pay Venmo transaction fees). Zelle is a way to transfer money from your bank account to my bank account without needing to wait or pay extra fees. It's easy to set up through your bank and even easier to use once it has been set up. You could pay via Venmo @musikandme if you really can't set up Zelle. If you need to make monthly payments, rather than paying for the semester, it will be $75/month. (You will save $20 by paying for the semester up front!)

New Melodic Pattern
Today we learned ‘sol la ti do’ hand signs and notated them on the staff (baby steps going up)! We’ll be hearing, singing and signing this pattern a lot now. Remember singing our cadence patterns over and over again help us to sing in tune and aurally internalize the diatonic scale.       

New Songs 
Many new songs were introduced today. Within the next few weeks we’ll be learning complex skills and concepts from these songs. Things like: identifying rhythms and how to notate them, subdividing a beat, harmony using a round, recognizing a broken chord, playing and reading skips on the staff, and SO much more!       
        
Our new songs from today included: Clickety, Clickety Clack, Can’t Bug Me, Old Paint, Rig-a-Jig-Jig, Johnny’s Haircut, How to Skip, and our new puppet show, Triumphant March. Every activity has a music lesson hidden inside and the exciting part is your student just thinks we are just PLAYING!! It's magical! (But it works best if they already know the songs before they come to class!)

Have fun with reading this blog post on Old Paint! (Lots of extra fun here, so definitely check it out if your child needs more to do!) 

Also, I've added the coloring book/puppet show for our Triumphant March on the student download portal. Please let me know if you have trouble logging in to download it. Enjoy coloring together and making your own puppets! (Don't forget to listen to the music while coloring!)

Here is a link to all the skills videos as well as the link to be able to purchase a class video to make up for a missed class. (tap or scan)

Have a musical day!
-Ms. Bethany :)