Patterns for Learning Success

Patterns are everywhere! Does your child notice them? Patterns are in words like button. consonant, vowel, double consonants, vowel, consonant. Patterns are in numbers. 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, etc., Patterns are in nature, like the colors on a butterfly, the rings of trees, the flight paths of birds. So many patterns everywhere. Each week at Kindermusik we are working on patterns and helping your child be aware of them. Here are some ways we've worked on patterns this semester:

Village (ages 0 -18 months): Babies have been moving to high and low sounds as they come repeatedly in songs like: Irish Trot. We go around, go up, go around, go down, and go around again! Not only are we experiencing patterns, but also high and low sounds. The more experience with high and low, the better your child will understand this important language and musical concept later on.
 







Our Time (ages 18mo-3yrs): One of our class's favorite songs is: "Toe-Tapp'n Blues" which leads to egg-shak'n blues, swing'n blues, and much more! Our Time has really enjoyed exploring all the movements while listening to the pattern of the melody and chords in the song. This song is in the blues style and has its chord pattern:

Family Time (all ages): We clap and recite "Doctor Knickerbocker."  Feeling these patterns will help us move in space and in time and help children recognize when patterns change.

Patterns are so much fun, especially combined with Kindermusik. As you can see each age group follows a logical progression from experience to cognition, recognition, and production of their own patterns. That's the benefit and the value of Kindermusik, we grow with your child to give them the next step in the learning process!

Sing your baby talk

Posted by Kindermusik International
March 29, 2010

Even before your baby is born, she responds to the sound of your voice. Researchers have observed that a baby in the womb can respond to the sound of a mother’s voice as early as 5 months into pregnancy.

After your baby is born, you’ll naturally talk to him or her in a cooing, sing-song-y language formally called infant-directed talk (IDT) or child-directed speech (CDS). Some also refer to it as “motherese” or “parentese.” But we know it more commonly as baby talk.

Research shows that these are the first sounds that your baby will try to imitate with cooing and babbling. Studies have also shown that children can recognize and even imitate certain musical notes. So, mix up your language-building parentese with singing, talking, and rhyhming. This will help expose your baby to a variety of sounds to aid her singing and language development.

Kindermusik Tips:
• Your Baby: In the first year, your baby will be especially interested in listening to the sound of you singing. So, choose songs that you love, hold her close, and sing and dance together.
• Your Toddler: Simple songs that go back and forth between two notes are easiest for toddlers to repeat. Songs with this interval include, “Rain, Rain, Go Away” and “Star Light, Star Bright.”
• Your Preschooler: Expand your preschooler’s musical vocabulary by adding more notes with songs like, “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” “Baa Baa, Black Sheep,” and “The Alphabet Song.”

Want to discover even more great techniques to use with your baby? Try a free Kindermusik Village class today. Village is for caretakers and babies from newborn to 18 months.

Bringing the Learning Home Part 2

Guess Who?
At your next get-together, pull each guest aside and record them singing a verse from a favorite song. Encourage people to disguise their voices, and when everyone's had a turn, play back the recording and see if kids can guess who's who.

Lullaby and Goodnight:
Even if the lullabies your great-grandmother sang to your grandmother are long forgotten, singing to your children from infancy on will connect you to the generations past. No one cares if you know all the words or sometims sing off-key. This is a private but powerful time that will sooth not only your tired children, but you, too.

Singing

"Singing is related to the ability to control speech fluctuations, and speech activities appear to help develop tuneful singing skills." Playing with rhythmic speech (poems, rhymes, etc.) as well as simple tonal melodies help children develop both singing and speech skills. McDonald and Simons 1988

Connor and Mommy Moving with Scarves

Music's Power

Take full advantage of music's power for learning, delight, and bonding. Nurturing a true music lover begins at birth (and probably even before).

Try following this prescription (begin practicing during pregnancy):

. Sing EVERY night at bedtime. (You don't have to be a singer...the child hears the heart behind the voice.)
. Enjoy dancing with abandon every day to favorite recording. (You don't have to be a dancer...all movement supports growth and development.)
. Accompany every diaper change with a nursery rhyme.
. Play calming music at naptime(s) or meltdowns.
. Incorporate a time to bounce to a beat. (Just bouncing steadily and stopping will evoke spontaneous giggles.)
. Rock, rock, rock.
-Carol Penney, Kindermusik educator and employee-owner

The Importance of Doing Nothing

Rocking time has many benefits, with vestibular stimulation, bonding, and listening to music being at the top of the list. Equally valuable is the opportunity during this time to just do nothing. Children need time to be stimulated and engaged, and they need time to be at leisure. This down tme is physically necessary for the brain to process the learning that occurs during structured activites and interaction.

Sense of Balance

As you rock from center to one side then the other or forward and backward, there is an experience of alternating between being on-balance and off-balance. This gentle motion stimulates the vestibular system, helping children develop an improved sense of balance.

The Movement-Vision-Reading Connection

"Our visual sense functions...when our eyes are actively moving..., when the body and head move, the vestibular sytem is activated, and the eye muscles strenghten as they move in response. The more the eyes move, the more the muscles of both eyes work together." Later on, this "eye-teaming" will enable these now-toddlers to focus as well as to track and to conentrate as they learn to read in school. Smart Moves, by Carla Hannaford

Barefoot

Barefoot is best for Baby. Baby learns through his senses, especially on the bottoms of the feet.

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web site: www.kindermusikwithangie.kindermusik.net
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Literacy

Reading picture books together with adults helps children internalize some skills that are crucial in the development of true literacy.
Reading Together:

• fosters reading enjoyment
• provides predictability through repetition
• expands understanidng of story structures
• promotes critical thinking
• encourages language play and creative expression

Kindermusik Music and Story Time provides all these important benefits as well as helping devleop music literacy through the rhythm and movement element of the Kindermusik story books.

 

 

Angie Janson, Kindermusik Teacher

503-708-2827

web site: www.kindermusikwithangie.kindermusik.net

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The Movement-Vision-Reading Connection

"Our visual sense functions...when our eyes are actively moving..., when the body and head move, the vestibular sytem is activated, and the eye muscles strenghten as they move in response. The more the eyes move, the more the muscles of both eyes work together." Later on, this "eye-teaming" will enable these now-toddlers to focus as well as to track and to conentrate as they learn to read in school. Smart Moves, by Carla Hannaford

Kindermusik Teacher
503-708-2827
web site: www.kindermusikwithangie.kindermusik.net
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Active Listening

"Active listening is a process that goes beyond the physical act of hearing. It is an intellectual and emotional process that integrates a full range of inputs in a search for the meaning of and an understanding of a sender's message. It involves listening between the lines to hear what is not said as wll as what is said."
Early childhood Education, Blending Theory, Blending Practice by Lawrence J. Johnson, M.J. LaMontagne, Peggy M. Elgas, and Anne M. Bauer


Kindermusik Teacher
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web site: www.kindermusikwithangie.kindermusik.net
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Sensitivity

Hearing music with contrasts in register and timbre helps Baby become more sensitive not only to music, but to his whole environment.

Kindermusik Teacher
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web site: www.kindermusikwithangie.kindermusik.net
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Kindermusik Village

Two key elements of the Kindermusik Village learning environment are variety and repetition. Through exposure to variety (of objects, instruments, people, movements, songs, etc.), an array of possible skills, aptitudes, and perceptions are stimulated in the form of new neural connections. But not all these connections will remain intact. It is only through repetition that neural connections are strengthened and that possibility becomes ability.

Kindermusik Teacher
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web site: www.kindermusikwithangie.kindermusik.net
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One More Time

Baby can enjoy an activity for many repetitions. With this "practice" new connections are made in Baby's brain, actually helping it grow, and Baby experiences the satisfaction of intentionally causing an effect in his world. In one study on this subject, an eleven month old joyfully rolled a ball to a willing adult playmate 180 time before losing interest! Sound familiar?

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Sound Maps

It is important to include a wide range of timbres in Baby's environment. This includes hearing the sounds of many languages. Each kind of sound maps new connections in Baby's brain. Repeated listening solidifies these connections.


Kindermusik Teacher
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Musical Instruments

In class we explore a variety of musical instruments with different timbres (pronounced "tam-bers" or characteristic sound qualities, such as the scratching of egg shakers, the ringing of baby bells, and the resonant "boom" of the drum. As Baby hears this variety of sounds, she is developing the listening vocabulary necessary for sound discrimination preceding language. And if she plays the instruments, she learns that she can create a nice-sounding result.


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web site: www.kindermusikwithangie.kindermusik.net
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Vestibular System

Moving in different directions and in a variety of ways is important to the development of Baby's vestibular system, which effects his/her developing sense of balance.

Kindermusik Teacher
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Touch

In addition to being a way to create adult-baby emotional bonding, intentional touch has many physical benefits, including stimulation of the digestive, circulatory, and lymph systems. If Baby spends any extended time in a baby carrier, massage on his back aids his posture as well.


Kindermusik Teacher
503-708-2827
web site: www.kindermusikwithangie.kindermusik.net
blog: www.kindermusikwithangie.blogspot.com
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