Wednesday, September 18, 2024 | Brown Teddy Bears Lessons

Lesson #4

Some children take a little time to warm up to the idea of participating in class. You can encourage participation (though never force/bribe) by doing simple things such as:

• Listening to the music at home
• Do some or all of the activities at home
• Play with instruments at home
• Fully participating in class yourself and be an example of how fun making music can be!
  

Next week we'll sing these in class:

• Weather Bear
• Fall Is Here
• Little Boy Blue
• Echo Edie
• Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
• Mulberry Bush
• Rocky Mountain
• Weather Dance
• Lavender's Blue
• Round and Round the Garden

Smart Moves dances engage children in whole-body movement that helps develop gross motor skills while simultaneously providing them with a unique way to experience the elements of a piece of classical music. Children will develop large muscle strength, hand-eye coordination, and balance while training their ear to hear musical elements such as theme, dynamics, and phrasing.

When we point to the letters in our workbooks, we develop left-to-right hand-eye coordination and practice phasing that helps prepare our children to read!

The parachute strengthens large motor skills, develops a sense of rhythm, and encourages cooperation.

I've added many fun bonus activities, as well as dance instructions that you can download from your Student Portal! Just be sure you are logged in and click the "Online Resources" button. This works best on a computer if you would like to print anything you download. If you have children in both Let's Play Music and Sound Beginnings, be sure to select the child in SB. Click through the folders to get to the Brown Teddy Bears section.

Optional home fun activity: Color the Weather Dance on page 15 in your workbook       
(Remember, these activities are optional but can be a great bonding experience to do with your child during the week.)  

Here is a video with the original version of our Teddy Bear picnic song played on the piano!

Sound Beginnings is education through musical play! It prepares children for success in Kindergarten and Let’s Play Music. Sound beginnings provides research-based elements that stimulate growth in the areas particularly crucial to the development of the young child. These elements make up the foundation of the Sound Beginnings curriculum.  Here is just one:
	Little hands need to be strong in order to perform life and learning skills such as dressing oneself and writing. In class, students gain finger dexterity and hand strength as they participate in finger plays to favorite nursery rhymes and manipulate tactile props and instruments.

Have a musical day!     
-Ms. Bethany :)

Wednesday, September 11, 2024 | Brown Teddy Bears Lessons

Lesson #3

All "Home Fun Activities" are optional, but if you choose to do them, remember to keep the puppets and other props in your tote bag so that your child can use them class. We won't use them every week, but when we do, your child will be thrilled to participate with their own creations!    

Next week we'll sing these songs in class:

• Weather Bear
• Fall Is Here
• In My Class I Have Some Bells
• Little Boy Blue
• The Teddy Bears' Picnic
• Going to the Zoo
• Grizzly Bear
• Weather Dance
• Lavender's Blue

Learning to keep a steady beat is foundational to learning to perform rhythms. In class we use both our bodies and simple instruments to keep the beat and we imitate simple rhythm patterns with our voices. As the heartbeat is the child’s most familiar natural rhythm, we reference it in class to introduce the concept of a steady beat. 

The beat mat is a wonderful tool for teaching steady beat and emergent literacy skills (such as tracking left-to-right, identifying the number of syllables in a word, and developing fluency by emphasizing a steady flow). The red hearts represent strong beats, and the pink hearts represent the weaker beats.

Learning about the seasons helps children understand the passage of time and teaches them about change.

Optional home fun activity: Make the Zoo puppets on page 33 of your workbook - you will have the opportunity to use them during class next week!     
(Remember, these activities are optional but can be a great bonding experience to do with your child during the week.)  

Here is a video with our class story about the teddy bears having a picnic! Enjoy!

Sound Beginnings is education through musical play! It prepares children for success in Kindergarten and Let’s Play Music. Sound beginnings provides research-based elements that stimulate growth in the areas particularly crucial to the development of the young child. These elements make up the foundation of the Sound Beginnings curriculum.  Here is just one:
	In class we experience steady beat and imitate rhythmic patterns with our voices, bodies, and through hands-on use of instruments. We incorporate Eurythmics, which is movement-based rhythm training that is perfect for toddlers!

Have a musical day!   
-Ms. Bethany :)

Wednesday, September 4, 2024 | Brown Teddy Bears Lessons

Lesson #2

All Sound Beginnings classes provide an opportunity not only for you to have fun with your child, but to also bond with them. As you participate in the purposeful activities, make eye contact with, and dance along with with your child, you are nurturing a stronger relationship with them!

Next week we'll sing these in class:

• Name, Name, What's Your Name?
• The Four Seasons
• Fall Is Here
• In My Class I Have Some Bells
• The Teddy Bears' Picnic
• Mulberry Bush
• Going to the Zoo
• Grizzly Bear
• Weather Dance

This semester your student will be introduced to the major scale. The major scale is arguably the most important scale in western music as it influences melodic structure and provides the basis for naming the notes of the chords in a piece of music. Sound Beginnings students have the opportunity to internalize the sound and structure of a major scale before more formal music instruction begins.

The most important word to children is their own name. The meaning and value it has makes this a great place to start when teaching them to read.

Physical touch with a caregiver during finger plays and rhymes strengthens relationships through play.

Optional home fun activity: Color the bells on page 9 of your workbook      
(Remember, these activities are optional but can be a great bonding experience to do with your child during the week.)  

Here is a video with some fun facts about brown bears! (The real ones, not teddy bears!)

Sound Beginnings is education through musical play! It prepares children for success in Kindergarten and Let’s Play Music. Sound beginnings provides research-based elements that stimulate growth in the areas particularly crucial to the development of the young child. These elements make up the foundation of the Sound Beginnings curriculum.  Here is just one:
	Sound Beginnings channels the young voice into beautiful, in-tune singing by providing proper vocal modeling in the correct range. Solfege hand signs teach pitch relationships; the minor 3rd (SOL-MI) pattern is used to develop in-tune singing and pitch matching.

Have a musical day!    
-Ms. Bethany :)

Wednesday, August 28, 2024 | Brown Teddy Bears Lessons

Lesson #1

I hope you and your child have as much fun in class as I do each week!! Here are a few reminders that will help you get the most out of our time together in class:
 

• Please keep all materials (workbook, finger cymbals, and class manipulatives) in your tote bag to bring to class each week.
• Please leave food, drinks and toys at home, in your car, or upstairs. They are a distraction to your own child as well as others in the class.
• Please turn off your cell phone during class. Remember, parent bonding is one of the best features of this class!
• Please utilize the “break area” (the hallway by the bathroom) if your child becomes fussy or disruptive.
• Feel free to contact me with any questions you may have throughout the semester.
• Please be sure to download and listen to your class music on the LPM app! The more familiar you and your child are with the music, the more you can both participate in class!
• Tuition is due this week. I prefer payment via Zelle (just use my phone number) because I don't have to pay fees for that, or you may pay with Venmo (@musikandme), which does charge me a small fee, but either one is fine. Tuition is $180 for one student and $220 for a family with more than one child. If you have to make monthly payments, it is $45 for one student and $55 for a family with more than one child.

What songs should you listen to each week? I'll let you know here in case you want to be ready with the ones we'll use next class! Each week we will sing these songs:

• Everybody Say Hello
• ABC Song
• The Letter of the Day
• Everybody Say Goodbye

Next week we'll sing these:

• Name, Name, What's Your Name?
• The Four Seasons
• In My Class I Have Some Bells
• Fall Is Here
• Round and Round the Garden
• The Teddy Bears' Picnic
• Going to the Zoo
• Rocky Mountain
• Weather Dance
• Lavender's Blue

Besides musical skills, Sound Beginnings also introduces children to kindergarten concepts such as name recognition, letters and numbers, and literacy skills. Among other concepts, the Brown Teddy Bears semester will specifically focus on seasons, weather, and rhyming words.  

Solfege hand signs help us use our bodies to see and feel pitch relationships.

Smart Moves dances are designed to involve the whole body in a classical music experience; teaching children to recognize themes and phrasing.

Optional home fun activity: Do the Name Recognition activity on page 20 of your workbook     
(Remember, these activities are optional but can be a great bonding experience to do with your child during the week.)  

Who knew classical music could be so funny? Check out this link for the BEST duet of our Weather Dance song!

Here is a video that will help you to know what Sound Beginnings is all about and how it will benefit your child. This was created by another teacher and she was generous enough to share it!

https://youtu.be/IxZrTdk0pVk

Here's a fun video for ideas of how to interact with your baby during class (if applicable):

https://youtu.be/8nyS_nQlpE0

Sound Beginnings is education through musical play! It prepares children for success in Kindergarten and Let’s Play Music. Sound beginnings provides research-based elements that stimulate growth in the areas particularly crucial to the development of the young child. These elements make up the foundation of the Sound Beginnings curriculum.  Here is just one:
	A child learns when he or she feels loved. In class, purposeful touching, eye contact, partner activities, and generational nostalgia help develop the all-important parent/child relationship.

Have a musical day!   
-Ms. Bethany :)