I've Got Rhythm

This week at Jessie's we focused lots on finding and touching different body parts; we touched our fingers to our noses, ears, cheeks and toes, and we found our heads, shoulders, knees and toes, amongst others! One of the best parts of the class was near the end, though. Our little participants were right into the music and one little guy who is around 20 months old impressed us all with his innate sense of rhythm; our instrument of the day was a hand drum and this kid pounded out quarter notes right in time to the song Somebody's Knocking at my Door during our jam time. It was amazing! We all presume he'll be a famous drummer one day.

Beatrice House Boogie!

It was another jam packed, crazy, rock concert at Beatrice House. Moms, kids, tots and babies all piled in to the room for a very high spirited class! We started off with a few popular songs: Roly Poly, Wheels on the Bus, and Row Your Boat, before teaching them The Little Green Frog and Shut the Door. Then we went on a journey: Zoom, Zoom, Zoom, etc., before finishing with a rambunctious version of Three Little Birds, and an ABC/Twinkle Little Star medley.

Here we go Robertson House!

After having some time off this summer, I was eager to return to Robertson House this evening for the start of the fall session. I was delighted to hear that moms were excited for the class and planning to attend. Moms and children showed up for class smiling and ready to sing, and I had a positive feeling that class would be a lot of fun today. I worked on simple and familiar songs, like Roly Poly, Wake Up My Hands, Wheels on the Bus, and Row, Row, Row Your Boat. Everyone sang and participated. Maracas were a hit today for the instrument of the week and, as always, there were lots of giggles during the parachute. Class ended on a very happy and uplifting note, as moms left the room saying they had lots of fun and were looking forward to next class!

Back Together Again!

It was so wonderful to be back with the staff and families at Jessie's Centre! The staff gave me a very warm welcome and I was thrilled to have a few moms and babies (who are now toddlers!) participating in our first Rainbow Songs Foundation session after our summer break. We got right back in to the groove by going over the sign language for the first letter of everyone's names and then belting out the Hello song. There was great energy in the room and lots of great conversation mixed in with the singing about how the moms there were doing and how much their kids have grown and developed since the spring. Great to have such a fun start to another season at Jessie's.

Fond Farewell

Today was the final day at the Gooch Centre and I was sad to say goodbye. I feel like this group of kids really took a lot away from the program because they were all such strong and enthusiastic participants! We sang all of the classics that we've learned over the 7 weeks and it was amazing to see how well they all know the songs now. I lost them for a bit when we were singing "Everybody Knows that I Love My Toes" but then won them back with one of their favourites "What Are You Wearing?" Today they all pointed out to me that my turtle was not a real turtle but rather a puppet. They still had fun singing the song though! We did the caxixi for the IOTW which is great because all age groups can enjoy the caxixi. Once again, it was a very loud jam session but I didn't push it too hard. We all sang a nice final goodbye song and all of the moms were really excited about getting their certificates. I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to build relationships with the kids and parents and staff people at Gooch over the last 7 weeks. It's a wonderful and welcoming community that I was really lucky to have been a part of.

Caxixi: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caxixi

Goodbye for Now

End of the spring session and fun times at Birkdale for now. Over the course of the session, there were 22 adults and 36 children who attended at least once over that time. One child was there for every class except for one. It has been fun playing and singing with all of them. And I hope to fulfill the directive given to me by one of the mothers as I made my way out the door: "Come back."

Caught in the Crowd

Last Thursday was a little bit of a chaotic day at Gooch. The group was quite large and I noticed that there were also a lot more parents than usual--which is great! We sang some new songs such as "Everybody Knows That I Love My Toes" and the "Turtle Song", they really liked the puppet! We also tried out "Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes" for the first time. We did the Singing Bowls for the IOTW and they really seemed to enjoy them, even though it was a little tricky to pass the instruments through the crowd. Next week is the last class and I'm really going to miss this group!

Singing Bowls: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singing_bowl

That's A Wrap

Quite a small class at Robertson this evening, but the energy was perfect. All were returning participants and they were ready to sing! English is still coming for the children and one of the moms so I stuck to songs with lots of repetition like "Roly Poly", "Hands Together Hands Apart", and "Finger in the Air". I also did some fun songs like "The Little Green Frog" and "Wheels on the Bus". I brought chime bars as my instrument of the week. There were only four children and I had four chime bars so I let them each have one and they played away while we sang "The Firetruck Song".

It was a very fun and enjoyable class. It was also nice to have Sean there as a volunteer from RSF. He was a great help with the moms filling out feedback forms. We gave out certificates at the end and the moms were very pleased to receive them. I got a nice big hug from one of them which was very meaningful and she said her son and daughter will miss the program during the summer.

So that wraps up a long and fun spring session! I'm looking forward to continuing to work with RSF :)

Party Hard

Nice to see several of the new adults from last week come back again. While there wasn't anyone new today, there were 7 children and 4 adults in attendance. We sang "Sticky Bubblegum", "The Wheels on the Bus", "Two Little Blackbirds", and "6 Little Ducks". They found the Jaw Harp fascinating, and again partied hardy during the jam session. The highlight of the day, however, came after class. On my way out, I saw a child who had not attended any classes this session, but had been fairly regular last year. On seeing me, the child insisted that I pick him up and hold him, and would only let me put him down when his mother came over. Ainu musician playing the jaw harp: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjXAEmysidE

Monkeying Around

There was a very calm energy at the Gooch centre today. The group was on the smaller side (compared to the usual big group) and most of the kids were ones that I recognized. It is amazing how well they are all getting to know the songs. They sang along to "Wake Up My Hands" and "Little Green Frog" with ease. I decided to take advantage of the small class size and do more movement today because it is normally difficult to get such a big group moving in a small space. We did "Five Little Monkeys" for the first time and they all jumped around and laughed and had a blast the whole time! When the monkeys "went to bed", we became sleeping bunnies. The kids love this song and had a lot of fun waking up and going back to sleep. We did the singing bowls for the IOTW and two other staff members helped me pass them around. The kids LOVED them!

It was one of the little boys' birthday so after we sang the goodbye song, the group went over to the table to sing happy birthday and have cake. The mom asked me to play guitar and sing with the cake, which I was more than happy to do! This was a really nice way to end the class today and the kids were singing "ABCD"--one of the songs we did during our jam session--as the grown ups passed around the cake. It's really exciting for me to see music extending outside of the circle!

I love working with this group and can't wait for next week--I've already had a request for the "Turtle Song"!