Wednesday, December 18, 2024 | Brown Teddy Bears Lessons

Lesson #15

What a wonderful semester of playing and learning together! Sharing instruments was a great way to end our semester.

I would love to see you all back for next semester--Pink Piggies! Thank you for the opportunity to teach your children.

There are so many reasons why learning music in a group is beneficial! Children are much more likely to enjoy the setting when there are other children around. The synergy of a Sound Beginnings class naturally encourages children to participate and to excel. A large group allows for exploration in ways a private setting does not; through group games, dances and parachute activities. Sound Beginnings also provides a wonderful opportunity for parents and children to bond as they learn, sing, and play together each week.  

Optional home fun activity: No activity this week. You can always complete any you may have missed during this semester!   
(Remember, these activities are optional but can be a great bonding experience to do with your child during the week.)  

Want to have another teddy bear picnic at home? Check out this video of John Bratton's 2-step, which is our "Teddy Bear Picnic" song before words were put to it.

Have a musical day! 
-Ms. Bethany :)

Tuesday, December 17, 2024 | Purple Magic Lessons

Lesson #15

Station Day was so fun! I hope you were all able to see just how much your children have learned over this semester. I also hope you were able to see some things that can be worked on over Christmas break. I hope the kids enjoy and use the Christmas songbook they received!

Please help your child go through the Christmas Challenge worksheet. It will help keep some of the skills and concepts we've learned this semester fresh in their minds when we come back in January. (If nothing else, be sure to do the virtual escape room at the bottom!) If you misplaced your worksheet, you can download it from the student portal. Homework 15 is just for fun, as well as anything else that hasn't been finished in the homework booklet.

Let's Play Music requires all teachers to have their families complete surveys at the end of each semester. If you didn't fill it out on Station Day, please fill it out now! Here's the link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSedEHu03nalInlJ7j9FP0SHmnJBHwzXHw3Zk8Uay8-q89ukHA/viewform

Classes will resume the  January 7th and lesson #1 of Orange Roots is a parent day! Tuition will be due that week for anyone that didn't pay for the whole year in advance. Have a wonderful Christmas break!

Now that we know all the lines and spaces on the staff, we will introduce the 'In a Flash Club' in our orange semester. Check out this online game to quiz your student over the semester break on all of the treble and bass clef notes we have learned so far! Watch out for what clef it is!
   
For an added bonus try this version and have your student 'Say it, then play it.'

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 :)

Wednesday, December 11, 2024 | Bridge Lessons

Wednesday, December 11, 2024 | Brown Teddy Bears Lessons

Lesson #14

Next week is Instrument Day! Please let me know what you will be sharing with the class. It's more fun when everyone participates! 

We'll have some fun stations set up to experience together after we share instruments!

Infant's hearing is fully developed at birth and preschoolers have the ability to separate and distinguish sounds from multiple sources. At this age, the portion of the brain dedicated to sound is ripe for input, so listening to quality music and individual instruments exposes the child to sounds, pitches, and timbres that build a library of musical sound and develop music listening skills.

Instrument Day helps students gain confidence as a musician as they share in class. Even those who don't share in class gain listening skills, exposure to live instruments, and learn how to be a good audience member.

Scarves are wonderful tools for imaginative play and help children express their creativity!

Optional home fun activity: Do the Instrument Day activity on page 18 in your workbook    
(Remember, these activities are optional but can be a great bonding experience to do with your child during the week.)  

Does an instrument need to be really fancy to make awesome music? Nope! Check out this video of "Flight of the Bumblebee" played on a toy 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:
	Research has shown that singing improves reading. Our classes prepare children for kindergarten by exploring concepts and skills such as name recognition, alphabet and phonetic awareness, counting, identifying colors, rhyming, telling time, and sequencing.

Have a musical day!  
-Ms. Bethany :)

Tuesday, December 10, 2024 | Purple Magic Lessons

Lesson #14

Lesson #15 (next week) is STATION DAY! We will have different stations set up to play games and show off what the kids know. You will get to see just how much your child has learned this semester! It is a PARENT DAY and you won't want to miss it! One of the stations is a photo booth, so have your child wear their LPM t-shirt!

This week in class we took a Theory Quiz so the kids can show you just some of the awesome things we have learned this semester. You'll get to see it next week at STATION DAY! 

 Celebrate Connection

• Play the RH part with your LH. Then try the LH part with your RH!
• Play a song with a metronome set at 60, then 80!

Skaters
Like our previous puppet show, Skaters (Banditen Galopp by Johann Strauss) has 2 distinct sections and follows the classic ABA form. Listen for the Main Theme (A section-skaters/fallers) and the Lyric Theme (B section- specifically the girl who never falls). There is also a repeat at the end of the B section. (“Dot-dot-do-it-again.”) 

Here is a full orchestra performing our Skaters puppet show live!

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 :)

Wednesday, December 4, 2024 | Bridge Lessons

Wednesday, December 4, 2024 | Brown Teddy Bears Lessons

Lesson #13

Has your child found a favorite activity from this semester that they insist on doing again and again? What might appear repetitive and monotonous to adults is actually a powerful learning experience for the young child. Their innate desire for repetition is their brain’s instinctive way of helping them master skills and concepts.

Instrument day is coming up soon! Each family will have the opportunity to share an instrument with the class. You can even bring something homemade! Anything that makes sound will be fine! :) If you play an instrument (especially if it's one of our semester instruments), we'd love for you to bring and demonstrate it for us! You are welcome to invite someone else to class if they would like to come do a short little instrument performance for us! I'll also have some instruments to demonstrate and the kids will have the opportunity to play some of them! Please let me know what you will bring, just to help me with planning.

Next week we'll sing these in class:

• Four Seasons
• Weather Bear
• Name the Instruments
• Little Boy Blue
• It's Raining
• Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear Turn Around
• The Bear Went Over the Mountain
• Going to the Zoo
• Flight of the Bumblebee
• Old Brass Wagon
• Your child's favorite activity song! Just text me to tell me what it is and I'll be sure to include it next week!

How the brain is structured and how well it functions is determined by the frequency, duration and intensity of an activity. The neural pathways in the brain ‘wire and fire’ in response to activation that occurs when a child experiences stimulation to their sensory systems. Messages in the form of electrical signals are sent along the nerve fibres from the body to the brain. The brain then sends electrical messages back along the outgoing nerve pathways to the body. The more practice the nervous system has at receiving and sending messages, the more efficiently it operates and the more effectively a child acquires a skill.

Repetition is fundamental to helping young children learn. Repeating words, actions and songs benefits memory and encourages language acquisition.

Rhyming helps the children notice and work with the sounds within words.

Optional home fun activity: Color the Teddy Bear March on page 17 in your workbook    
(Remember, these activities are optional but can be a great bonding experience to do with your child during the week.)  

Need more ideas for ways to use your rhythm sticks? Watch this video to see what else you may not have thought of!

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:
	Peek into a Sound Beginnings class and you will see skipping, crawling, dancing, and jumping! Full body movement builds large muscle strength, hand-eye coordination, aids brain-hemisphere function, and develops balance in young children.

Have a musical day!  
-Ms. Bethany :)

Tuesday, December 3, 2024 | Purple Magic Lessons

Lesson #13

Thank you parents for coming to class this week! Your ongoing support is very appreciated. Class is so much fun with you here! (Just a reminder, parents will also attend in 2 weeks on lesson #15 for Celebration Day!)

If you are paying monthly, tuition is due THIS WEEK. 

The students are coming along fabulously with their playing! If you feel that your child is struggling with something in particular, feel free to focus on that more than the things they are already good at. Just be sure to end with something they do really shine at!

Next week I'd like your child to play their favorite variation of "Twinkle Twinkle" for Showtime. OR if the would like to create their own variation, I'd love to hear it! Here is a video of a Let's Play Music graduate playing their own 'snazzy' variation of Twinkle Twinkle!

 Celebrate Connection

• Have your parent sing while you play, then trade places. Now both sing together!
• Perform a song for a neighbor or a friend!

Let's Play Music
As we do dictation and the children are writing what they hear, it is not the time to correct your children—look for the good they are doing. It will take time and lots of practice to build dictation mastery. They are not being graded by having it perfect, but the goal is that they understand just a little more than they did the time before!

Away in a Manger
This repertoire piece is a fun one - using both hands in the treble clef. It's kind of a bonus song along with Jingle Bells. We will show off that we understand the skills in class, but don't forget these fun songs and keep working on them over the semester break.

Transposing Jingle Bells (Homework)

With the holidays approaching here is a Gift-Buying Guide for Musical Kids

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 :)