There was one adult and 11 children, only one of whom was new, in attendance today. The enthusiastic group sang Clap Your Hands, Now Sing 1, 2, 3, Funga Alafia, Sunday Monday, Corner Grocery Store, Apples and Bananas, and What Are You Wearing? We combined some geometry with our singing by clanging on the triangle as the instrument of the week.
It was the last class at Gooch today, and boy did we have a long list of requests to make our way through! One of the moms made the comment that we should just start at the beginning of the Rainbow Songs Foundation CD, and I agreed that it was a GREAT IDEA! I started at the beginning and sang song after song. We also tossed in some favourites from Halloween Week, as well as Five Little Pumpkins and I Shut The Door. We had some extra jam time today as well, playing through a couple of my own favourite tunes (Rockin' Robin, Stand By Me, and Twist And Shout).
Some of the little ones had to leave before the Goodbye Song, but most were able to stay to receive their certificates, along with a hug and a high five. I chatted with a couple of the moms and they seemed very grateful for the RSF experience, and gladly filled out some evaluation forms.
As always, I was sad to say goodbye to my friends, but happy to bring some music into their lives. I hope to return to Gooch one day, where the staff and families have been so good to me!
Class was surprisingly quiet at Robertson House this evening. At the beginning of class only one mom had made it, with her two month old, but by the time we were done singing Hello, two other moms had shown up – one with a newborn and one who is currently expecting. I took this opportunity to cover some material more suited to babies, as I don't play this material much because of the wide age range of the children that usually come to class. The moms seemed to really enjoy it and I think it will be useful for them. The moms especially enjoyed doing the dance for All Around the Kitchen, and it rocked the two newborns to sleep. They were then awoken by the tingsha bells which were the instrument of the week. It was quite an interesting turn of events! At the end of the jam, another mom had shown up with her toddler to catch the tail end of class.
It was a fun, intimate class, however, I'm hoping more moms and children show up next week as it is the last class of the session. There are quite a few moms who have been coming regularly each week and I really want them to receive their certificates. Here's hoping!
There were two lions, an elephant, a turtle, a humpback whale, an orca, a cheetah and a fly at the Birkdale Zoo today for Animal Week. We sang about many of those toys during the songs Listen to the Water and Johnny Didn’t Have Any Breakfast. The ten children also sang about sharks, poor little bugs, ducks, and frogs, as we passed the Thai Wooden Frogs around to everyone.
Though we sang a lot of songs and had a lot of fun, the highlight of today's class was definitely the singing bowl! Our wee participant very carefully held out her flat palm in order to get a good sound from the bowl. She had a little trouble keeping the sound ringing by rubbing the mallet around the outer rim of the bowl, but she determined to get it! Eventually the bowl became less of an instrument, however, and more of a toy when our little bowl ringer decided it would also make a good cereal bowl with the mallet as a spoon. We then had a great jam session, peppered with the sounds of the singing bowl alternating with the sounds of the tambourine!
It was a smaller class at Gooch today, but you wouldn't know it from the good time we had celebrating our special theme: Animal Week. I made sure to bring along some fun props, including a raccoon hat, bunny ears, bug antennae, butterfly wings and a turtle puppet. We sang through as many animal-themed songs as possible, including The Turtle Chant, Itsy Bitsy Spider, The Flea Song, Baby Shark, Listen To The Water, Old MacDonald, Horsey Horsey and The Ants Go Marching.
For the instrument of the week I surprised the class with wooden frogs from Thailand. We passed them around, creating a bullfrog orchestra, as we sang Little Green Frog and Three Green and Speckled Frogs.
Jam time was spent Going To The Zoo where we saw crocodiles swimming in the water, monkeys swinging from the trees, owls hoot hoot hooting, and brown bears huff huff puffin'. We finished with some Rockin' Robin. The parachute was a perfect way to finish our animal-themed class with some Sleeping Bunnies snoring away underneath.
What’s on the agenda for next week? REQUEST WEEK! I made sure to tell the grownups to have a couple favourites in mind to finish off our session with a musical bang!
In the spirit of Animal Week, I led an animal themed class at Robertson House this evening. The moms and children enjoyed wearing the animal hats I provided and were very much feeling the animal theme. We started with The Turtle Song. Everyone loved the "1-2-3 PEEKABOO" at the end, with many giggles of delight. We continued on with other familiar animal songs, like Old McDonald, Baby Shark, Here Comes Crocky Crocodile, and everyone's favourite, The Little Green Frog. I brought the wooden frogs as the instrument of the week, and everyone was very excited to play them while singing Five Green and Speckled Frogs. They sounded great during the jam too! With only two classes left for the session, I strongly encouraged moms to return so they could receive their certificates of completion.
It was the smallest class yet, so I was able to really teach some things, including the scale (do, re, mi) with hand signs and a few new Christmas songs, including Jingle Bell Rock and Deck the Halls. Because of the small numbers I was able to bring out the parachute, which I don't think I've done in years. The children loved jumping around underneath and I could tell the moms were overjoyed to see the children having so much fun! We ended the class with a Christmas jam: Jingle Bells, Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and Frosty the Snowman. All in all a really fun and productive class!
There were four children and one adult, who were there for the first time today. They were added to the six children and two adults, some of whom have been there almost continually since the beginning of the session. After singing BINGO, Allouette, I Shut the Door, and What are you Wearing, everyone enjoyed pounding on the djembe.
We had a very active group today! You may not think that five kids can be all that noisy, but they certainly were today – in all the best possible ways! Since we had a wide age range (6 months to 6 years), I led a variety of songs to engage all our different age groups. It was especially great to have the 6 year old, who could do all the sign language right away, help show his younger sisters how it's done. We counted buttons with One Button, Two Buttons, made different body parts stick together with Sticky Sticky Bubble Gum, and came up with a looong list of animals that we can find in or by the water to help us sing Listen to the Water. Because our group was always in motion, we also did a lot of standing up and dancing around songs, like Elephants Have Wrinkles, Zoom, Zoom, Zoom, and The Hokey Pokey. We ended with an awesome jam session where we learned how to play the spoons, which was a definite highlight!
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