There were a couple of new faces at Birkdale this morning, so after some introductions we sang Hello. We started with the finger chant "My Thumbs", a new song that practices wiggling each body part one at a time, beginning with the thumbs, arms, toes and finally whole body. I saw a couple big yawns and was feeling a little sleepy myself, so I said to the class "Let's play pretend and re-wake up all over again!?" This brought about a number of responses like, "tuck me in mom!" and "turn out of the lights!". It was hilarious to see the kids role play! After waking up, I asked the kids "what should we do next?!", to which one child yelled out "BRUSH THE TEETH!". Great answer! We sang "Brush Your Teeth" and hopped on the bus (Wheels On The Bus) to get to "school" on time. Once at school, I asked "what are some of the things we learn at school?" Some of the answers were math, science, writing, reading, days of the week and colours. I took two of those answers and quickly incorporated them into our very own Rainbow Song lesson plan! Together we sang "Days Of The Week" and "What Are You Wearing".
IOTW was the Cabasa, a percussion instrument that is constructed with loops of steel ball chain wrapped around a wide cylinder. The cylinder is fixed to a long, narrow wooden or plastic handle. The player places his non-dominant hand on the metal chain, to provide pressure, while holding the wooden handle with the other hand and twisting the instrument back and forth as per the rhythmic pattern desired. Another interesting piece of information that I shared with the group is that the Cabasa is frequently used in music therapy, particularly with individuals who have physical/neurological disabilities as it requires minimal hand movement to produce a sound. I taught them all the signs to "Clean-O" and we sang it slowly all together, using the Cabasa to mimic the sound of us scrubbing each body part. It was really fun to hear a new layer of tone color provided by the Cabasa.
We jammed to "Clean-O" to reinforce the learning of the lyrics and signs, and to have an opportunity to pass the IOTW around the circle. Considering how beautiful the weather is today, I was also inspired to sing one of my favourites, "Mr. Sun!" We brought out the parachute and danced around to "Some Like It Hot" and sang goodbye all together. My time at Birkdale is FLYING by! It crazy to think we are about half way through the spring session.
Oh boy, everyone was very sleepy in class today! I think the gloomy weather and allergy season was to blame for the absence of the majority of participants today, however, the rest of us soldiered on and I was VERY excited to sing some new songs with the group today. We started with a review, singing "Roly Poly", and "Where Is Thumbkin". Then I introduced a new finger chant called "One Little Finger". It focuses on using the whole hand to count to the number 5. We began by tapping the pointer fingers together, then putting them up in the air, down to the ground and in our laps. We did the same with two, three, etc. It was fun to see even the littlest ones trying to find three fingers on each hand. What a challenge! To follow, we woke up all our body parts with "I Wake Up My Hands". I asked the group to spread their arms out as wide as they could, and taught them another new song called "I Shut The Door". Once we shut the doors, we pretended to climb the bus steps for "Wheels On The Bus". (LOTS of non-locomotor movement today!). We took the bus to Old MacDonald's farm, where I asked the children, "What animals do you see?" Remembering that I had "quizzed" them on animal sounds and signs last week, I wanted to see what they could come up with on their own. Some of the answers were frog, cat, dog, pig, chicken, bird, crocodile, mouse, bug, rooster and cow...WHEW! After singing through ALL the animal verses, we stood up and sang one of my favourite songs, "Elephants Have Wrinkles". It was a great time for me to assess which children were able to find specific body parts (feet, knees, hips, ears, nose and teeth), and it was nice to stretch our bodies after sitting (and focusing) on the floor for longer than usual.
We stood for this week's IOTW. Hailing from Brazil, the Caxixi (pronounced as Ka-Shee-Shee) is a percussion instrument consisting of a closed basket with a flat bottom filled with beads and/or seeds. Like a maraca, it is sounded by shaking. First we practiced saying this new word all together to a rhythmic chant which the group echoed, "Ka-Shee-Shee, say it with me!" We passed one pair around the circle as we sang a couple of songs, "Shake My Sillies Out" and "Hey There Shakey Shakey". It gave everyone a chance to imitate and explore this new sound without the pressure of having to "perform" for the group. I decided to bring out the maracas to compare the similarities and differences, and demonstrated a rhythm that could be played on either instrument.
After handing out the rest of the non-pitched percussion (drum, maraca, tambourine, clave sticks), we incorporated the Caxixi rhythm into "Jamaica Farewell" for our jam. It was encouraging to hear how well the group was able to keep the rhythm going while singing a melody simultaneously. If we had tried this activity in the first week of class, I am not sure we would have been so successful! We finished with the parachute, which is always a highlight for the children. I decided to keep the Caxixi with me and play along to the various song samples while sitting underneath with the children.
Singing goodbye was thankfully a little less dramatic than last week, and with a couple of yawns being passed around from face to face, I sent them off for lunch!
I am constantly amazed at what innate and natural rhythm these ladies at June Callwood Center have. They consistently show me that they can pick up the most difficult of rhythms (ie: holding a clave rhythm beat while I demonstrated the guiro rhythm) and they have even amazed me by coming up with their own tambourine and drum rhythms while we are in our jam session. We had a lot of fun today and the energy was REALLY high in the group which made me come alive even more!! The women were really focused and into the session today. I was thankful for the focus, energy and enthusiasm. We had 8 babies and 10 moms there this week. We are getting consistently higher numbers lately which is really nice as well. We had a new mom and dad with their baby and it was nice having a dads energy in the group.
We had a lot of fun this week. We worked with rapping and word plays. Having started off with “Boom Chicka Boom”, where the group repeats after me in a variety of different voices and ways. We headed into a few songs before standing up and doing the “Monkey” and the “Freeze”. I brought out the Guiro (a percussion instrument with ridges that you scrape). As usual the instrument made its way into everyone's hands. We had children and mothers with 1 to 3 staff in the room with us. Our regular location was unavailable due to a staff meeting in our regular space so we set up our program in the cafeteria. As a result, we started promptly at 6:30 as many of the participants had just finished their supper and were ready and waiting.
The energy is wonderfully boisterous. I find I have to change gears and move onto new activities quite quickly to keep the children engaged.
I was looking forward to repeating a couple of songs and activities this week; mainly the Meringue movement portion of the class. After singing the "Hello Song", we practiced counting and clapping to "Clap Clap Clap Your Hands" and woke up all our body parts with "I Wake Up My Hands". Using the hands, we rolled 'round and 'round to break down the opposite actions to "Roly Poly". It was amazing to see that ALL the children knew the words and were able to sing along, further developing their small motor locomotive skills. One little girl yelled out "What about Hands Together, Hands Apart? It has opposites too!" It was awesome to see them make the connection between opposites in both the songs.
I decided to repeat a couple of animal songs from last week. First thing was to review animal sounds, so I made a bunch and asked the children yell out the answers; pig, cat, chicken, dog, duck, cow, etc. Then we sang "Old MacDonald", using the sounds to reinforce the learning. I then asked the group "What sound does a frog make?" After hearing some "ribbit ribbit", I asked the group, "How does the frog move from lily pad to lily pad?" One of the older children demonstrated leaping up and down, and encouraged the younger participants to try. Some of the moms/shelter workers were laughing SO hard that it was hard to get through the "Little Green Frog".
Standing up, we practiced bending the knees and swaying our hips side to side. I put on the Meringue track and we dancing around for the duration of the song (marching in a circle, socials - in towards to the middle and back out again, turning on the spot, etc). Then, I brought out a pair of Clave Sticks and the Agogo and again demonstrated how to play different rhythms (both beginner and more advanced). I made sure to hand each instrument to a grownup and encouraged the grownups to share with their neighbor. I realize that because the children are so enthusiastic, the grownups sometimes miss out on the IOTW, and its important for them to have an opportunity to imitate and improvise on the instrument independently. Then, I brought out the Jam Bag and we sang "All De' Nations" and "The Lion Sleeps Tonight".
After a loud and rather demanding request for the parachute (they know who they are! LOL), I played a couple of Latin tracks and we practiced shaking the parachute up and down, and all around! It is always fun to lie down all together and look up at the colorful sky. Some kids wanted to cuddle and hug under the parachute, which I find SO sweet!
Singing goodbye was uneventful and yet some of the children were rather upset that the class was over! It is always flattering when this happens, but I had to help dry and few tears and give some reassuring hugs that I would return next week; same time, same place!
This week Jessica was unable to make it to class, so I got the privilege of stepping in. We have been doing animal themed classes all week at Rainbow Songs and this class was no exception. I brought in a variety of puppets and animal shaped musical instruments and we sang songs about animals big and small. Highlights included passing around the wooden frogs while singing "Little Green Frog", "Five Green and Speckled Frogs" and "Joy to the World" (Jeremiah was a bullfrog). We got everyone moving to the groove of "5 Little Monkeys" and "Sleeping Bunnies". Some of the prenatal moms came and everybody seemed to really enjoy our Animal themed class.
Today we focused on some animal themed songs as I am beginning to teach them some new material. Teaching new songs can be a challenge but "Little Green Frog" was a big hit with both the moms and babies! I demonstrated the Ocean Drum and we sang "Listen to the Water" while we passed it around. Everyone was mesmerized by the wave sounds that we all created and it calmed everyone right down. It was fun watching the moms and children all staring up at the bottom of the drum watching the tiny ball bearings run from one side of the drum to the other as they shifted the drum from side to side. This was the most focused and quiet I have ever seen the class! We are in our last music class of the winter term. Today we had 6 babies and 7 moms (1 prenatal mom). I am happy to see a lot of familiar faces returning each week.
There was only one little girl there at 6:30, so the shelter worker took me upstairs to bring the children and their moms down. I led a musical procession to the room where the program takes place. By 6:45 the room was very full with both children and their moms. We had 17 children and 12 mothers in attendance with 1 to 2 staff members throughout the program. This week we worked a bit with counting. The children were encouraged to sit in a circle while we counted to a beat. We then sang “Clap your Hands and Sing 123”. Eventually, the instrument of the week (ie. The Triangle) was revealed and each child had an opportunity to play the triangle, and ring the firebell while we sang “Hurry Hurry Drive the Firetruck”. We finished off with a great jam session and the parachute.
I was very excited to try a new movement activity in class today using an instrument called the Agogo. I decided to combine this with last week's lesson on the clave sticks, and so as I set up the room and tuned my guitar, I made sure to prepare the group by saying "we are going to be doing a lot of dancing today, so get your dancing shoes ON!" One thing that stood out to me today was that many of the children sang the "Hello Song" loudly and with confidence. It was wonderful to hear! I also noticed that singing the "Hello Song" takes longer and longer each week because we have more children and moms joining us. Word is spreading that Rainbow Songs is a GOOD time, so more and more people are joining us week to week. WOO! Knowing that we were going to be doing some dancing later on in the class, I took some time to prepare our bodies for movement by singing "Clap Clap Clap Your Hands", "I Wake Up My Hands", and "Head and Shoulders". Sensing some restlessness, I switched things up by asking the children to tell me what animal sounds (paired with signs) I was making. This was a lot of fun and a good focusing activity. Sticking with what the group knew really well, we sang "Old MacDonald". Noticing that some of the older kids wanted to use their bodies a little bit more, I encouraged them to hop around the room for "Little Green Frog". Still the group was a little restless, so I switched things up by asking everyone to go back to sleep (shhhh...) for "Sleeping Bunnies" and encouraged the group to sing along softly before waking up and jumping up and down.
Once we were on our feet, I put on a popular meringue track called "Suavemente" by Elvis Crespo and showed the group how to bend their knees and sway their hips side to side. It was SO fun to some of the kids doing this VERY well...even better than I! We then tried socials (going in to the centre of the circle and back out), turning on the spot, and marching around all together. Once we were comfortable with this, I had them sit down and brought out two instruments (Clave and Agogo). After demonstrating how to play each one, I passed them around the circle. The group clapped with the Clave on the quartet beat pulse, while each person had a chance to improvise on the Agogo. It was very successful and some participants couldn't stop dancing! I even had a woman approach me afterwards asking about where she could download the song so she could practice during the week! Overall, I was very pleased to see that this activity seemed to bring the group closer together.
We jammed to De-Oh and Jamaica Farewell, both of which we have done in class before, so it was a good chance for me to assess the group. MOST of the moms were singing, while nearly ALL the children were singing. We finished off the parachute, shaking it all around to some more Latin-inspired rhythms and finished with the "Goodbye Song".
I was able to chat with two moms after class today and they had some wonderful things to say about their experience so far. It made me really happy to hear that they look forward to music class each and every week. I let them know that I feel the same way!
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