Bad Blogger, Cute Pictures

I am a bad blogger. It's okay, I know it. You can tell me without hurting my feelings. I only posted one blog post in the month of June. Travesty. However, I will try to make up for it with the following really cute pictures from class:

I like to call this photo, "Eating Bubbles." It's okay - they're non-toxic. They actually taste pretty good, but you're not supposed to eat them, really. The kids don't know that. We don't tell them because watching toddlers try to eat bubbles is too funny!

5 Little Seashells. The kids do a great job waiting for their turns to "swish" away the seashells. We don't let them eat the seashells. I have a really big seashell for the kids

who can't be trusted not to try to eat them. So far, so good.

Many kids like to sing hello this way. This practice keeps my chiropractor in business. Email me if you'd like a referral.

Happy clapping! We just love our class! How could we not with kids this cute? (Note to the studious reader: Please refer to the research referenced in my April blog, "Does Kindermusik Really Make You Cuter?", for more information on the correlation between Kindermusik attendance and cuteness.)

Thank you very much to Sharon for sharing these pictures with me, and to everyone in the class for giving me permission to share them with you!

Just One More Blog...

Behold, proof that I really do work 14-hour days, as evidenced by the fact that I am still on the computer writing a blog. However, look at this little boy. Can you blame me? He comes to every class prepared with a huge grin, a great attitude, and at least three adoring family members at any given time. Favorite activities include clapping, patting, smiling, giggling, socializing, giving kisses, playing with scarves, and putting instruments away.

I don't want my families to think that I have posted this child's picture because he is my favorite, because as everyone knows, all the children are my favorites! However, I can only share pictures of kids whose parents have expressly given permission to publish. Therefore, if you have pictures of your Kindermusical child that you would like to share, please send them my way!

Imagine That!

Okay, so now that I sort of know how to blog, I have to share what an amazing time we had in our Imagine That: Toys I Make, Trips I Take class today. I'll admit, I was nervous, and not without reason. We had explored the Toy Shop in Weeks 1-4, and in Weeks 5-8, we were successfully able to transition into a musical discussion of boats, including songs about boats, stories about boats, building boats, and sitting in a variety of pretend boats. However, today, we started focusing on trains! Excuse me? How dare we spend only four weeks discussing boats when there was certainly more boat fun to be had!

It consistently amazes me how we adults so easily assume that children are getting bored with something just because we find it repetitive. We tend to forget that children thrive on repetition. Nonetheless, these children's parents paid for a class that included toys, boats, and trains, and my job is to give everyone their money's worth.

Eventually, the kids realized that trains were just as much fun as boats, and they came up with some great impromptu ideas that reminded me why this program is called Imagine That! We took our trains to Disneyland, to the fair, to the forest, and finally -- you guessed it -- to a boat. We created human trains while sitting on the floor, chugging in a line, and dancing across the room. We sang a train echo song, which taught me that these kids really are making tremendous strides in their singing ability. During Sharing Time, we even learned how to square dance!

The children's social skills seemed to be blossoming as fruitfully as their musical skills. Formerly shy singers led the group in song. Children who had been reluctant to interact volunteered ideas for new activity adaptations. All of the kids seemed to be learning how to balance their needs for instant gratification with the desire to work cooperatively with the group. After class, several of the children stayed to finish reading our library book about Johann Sebastian Bach. Even their attention spans are growing!

Could 3 1/2 - 5-year-olds receive all of these benefits from any other program? I doubt it. What's so exciting about Imagine That, like all of Kindermusik's core curricula, is its ability to effectively utilize the zone of proximal development to nurture the whole child-- in other words, to meet the children where they are and gently move them forward in all of the areas in which they need to grow.

I love my job.

Blogging Buddies

I must express my appreciation to Kindermusik Educator Helen Peterson and Kindermusik mommy Paige for helping me learn how to blog. You would think someone who spends an average of eight hours a day on the computer would naturally know how to do this, but alas, osmosis seems not to be a viable pedagogical tool after all -- at least, not outside of the music and movement classroom. Young children can naturally pick up rhythms, melodies, and even social skills just by being in the room while their friends and loved ones are engaging in enriching, research-based musical activities, perhaps in part because they are still in that critical neural period during which their little brains soak up everything around them. Alas, such is not the case for adults attempting to learn to use new technology. Attempting to rhythmically entrain with the buzzing of the computer may result in a zen trance and contribute to sleeplessness and loss of visual acuity, but it does not a blogging expert make. So, thanks very much to the true experts who have helped me figure out how to do this:

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Uh-oh. There was supposed to be a picture there. Apparently I still have some learning to do.

Does Kindermusik Really Make You Cuter?

I can't believe we've already filled up one of our summer classes, and we're even accepting enrollments for Fall! We are grateful to have the best families ever in our program. Oh, and if you were thinking of signing up for Kindermusik but weren't sure if you should, consider this little-known fact: Only the cutest kids sign up for Kindermusik. It's true! The hundreds of kids we've had in our program have always been uncommonly cute. As a matter of fact, they are usually approximately 30% cuter by the end of their first session. Kids who stay in Kindermusik for the full seven-year program increase their cute quotient by even more - a staggering 75%!!!

Okay, so I'm making most of that up - but it is based on my experiences. Here are some facts about what Kindermusik really does for children (see the images at the bottom of this blog page..."Miss" Lindsay has not yet figured out how to format her blog properly...or how to speak in the first person, apparently...)

Taking the Plunge!

Since I spend most of my time on the computer anyway, I thought it might be nice to start a blog, especially since many of my Kindermusik families have very cool blogs. The only problem with these other people's blogs is that there is just not enough stuff about Kindermusik on them, hence my need to create a blog solely dedicated to Kindermusik.