I'm Dressing Up For Halloween

I led a toned down Halloween themed class at Robertson House tonight. Only a couple moms dressed up their children, so I wore my witch hat and taught the group some fun Halloween material. Nonetheless, all the moms were enthusiastic and enjoyed howling in I'm Dressing Up For Halloween. We created a storm with the instruments of the week – the rain stick, thunder tube and vibraslap. It was very spooooooky. I was quite touched that a couple moms, who had just given birth a week or two ago, had returned for class this week. They had attended the first couple classes while still expecting and it was wonderful to meet the little ones we were all singing to. I am constantly amazed at the strength and enthusiasm the moms at Robertson House have - to bring your week old baby to class is really quite something! I hope attendance continues to keep up for the rest of the session.

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

Party of One!

Today was a unique day at Jessie's because we only had one participant and her mom with us! We decided to go ahead and do our class as planned even if she couldn't make it through the whole thing, but this little mover and shaker had no problems! Her mom was also a great participant, so our singing was still nice and loud! Because our little singer was about 3, we got into some Halloween songs – the best songs were always the ones where we got to howl. We also did a lot of counting songs and went over our lefts and rights with The Hokey Pokey. And when you're the only participant, you get the option of ALL the instruments from the bag, so we sang If You're Happy and You Know It and played every instrument!

Dancing the Hokey Pokey

It was a busy day at the Gooch Residence today, so after meeting a few new families we jumped right into the Hello Song. I immediately noticed that it was going to be a busy class with a couple of distractions, so I took some time to review some basic rules in the friendliest way possible. Thankfully everyone was on board, and we ended up singing through tons of material, including some songs to prepare us for Halloween Week (Pumpkin Pumpkin, Five Little Pumpkins, I'm Dressing Up For Halloween, The Very Scary Spider). I could tell that some of the older children had been practicing during the week, and it was fun to hear them singing so loudly. I decided to take some requests to keep the group fully engaged, and we ended up dancing the Hokey Pokey not just once, but TWICE! Other songs included The Wheels On The Bus, I Wake Up My Hands, Bath Time, Little Green Frog and Old MacDonald.

Overall, it was a great class and although busy, the energy was positive. I definitely got the feeling that next week, with some practice, it could run a bit more smoothly.

Latin Fever

We were feeling the Latin fever at Robertson House this evening. I brought the cowbell and agogo as our instruments of the week, and they were a hit! I had everyone practice playing a beat with the cowbell, and a pattern with the agogo, while there was a fun track of Latin music playing in the background. Moms instantly began clapping and dancing with their little ones. It was a lot of fun and a great way to bring some cheer to this rainy evening. I've been really enjoying classes so far this session at Robertson House - the energy has been continuously exciting and upbeat. I'd like to do a bit of a Halloween themed class next week so I'm hoping participants will remember to dress up!

Waaake Up!

Today our group seemed a little bit sleepy at the start, but was quite awake by the end! Since there were some sleepy faces, we did some songs that were calmer at the beginning and then picked up the pace – especially with Bath Time, where the song ends with us singing "It's time to go to bed, goodnight," and following some fake snoring with "Waaaaaake up!" From there we got a little more active, especially as we sang How Now Brown Cow and acted out a whole bunch of vehicles, including a bicycle, a train and a rocket ship! We also got some giggles going with The Tickle Song and, not surprisingly, those giggles continued while we played with the parachute and shook it around vigorously as we listened to some lively banjo music.

All the Nations Like Bananas

A smaller group today – only three adults and three children. But the small group sang well to I Shut the Door, Corner Grocery Store, All the Nations Like Bananas, Apples and Bananas, and What Are You Wearing? They were fascinated by the ocean drum and its dual sounds.

Feelin' Good

It was somewhat of a reunion class today as ALL the participants from last week's class returned with big smiles and contagious energy. It was a very grey day and I was feeling very thankful to be making music with the staff and families at Gooch. We started off by reviewing some songs about Halloween in preparation for our special theme week (Pumpkin Pumpkin, Five Little Pumpkins). Then, we learned two new songs (I'm Dressing Up For Halloween and I Shut The Door), both of which were a big hit among the little ones. We tackled some songs about opposites (Roly Poly, Hands Together Hands Apart and Grand Old Duke Of York), and reviewed some songs about different body parts (I Wake Up My Hands) and getting clean (Bath Time). We took the firetruck for a drive, ringing the bell along the way (Hurry Hurry Drive the Firetruck) and rode the bus to school (The Wheels On the Bus). We finished by zooming to the moon (Zoom Zoom Zoom).

For the instrument of the week I showed the group how to play the clave sticks, exploring a common clave rhythm with five beats divided into two groups. It is a great rhythm that can be heard in many songs, so we practiced keeping the beat while singing All The Children Like Bananas. We then jammed to Brown Eyed Girl and I Feel Good because it DID feel really good making music with my new friends.

Looking forward to another amazing week at Gooch!

Kitchen Dancing

A great day at Jessie's Centre! Today felt like a very full class with 10 of us around our small circle of carpet, which was wonderful! Our little singers especially got into sticking their tongues out during Little Green Frog, and being turned upside down during Grand Old Duke of York. One of the best parts about the class, though, was that during our jam session we sang Twist and Shout and the lovely ladies who work in the kitchen at Jessie's improvised a whole dance number for us from the back of the room – the grown-ups in the room were certainly entertained! It was great to have the whole centre alive with our music and not just our circle of participants. We'll definitely do a reprieve of Twist and Shout in the future and see if we can get the other staff to join in with dancing again!

The Resident Crier

Last week, a cheery greeting; this week, crying. A very young man, also from the previous session, saw me and burst into tears. And cry he did, until we started singing. By the end of the class, he was having just as much fun as everyone else. Our group included six children and four adults, who all were fascinated with our instrument of the week – the Kalimba.

Hello Dundas Gooch!

Today was the first class at the Dundas Gooch residence, and boy was I EXCITED! It has been a while since I have led an RSF class and I was looking forward to making some new friends.

I was able to connect immediately with a young child, age 3. She requested a few of her favourite songs and had such a vibrant, energetic personality that I couldn't help but giggle and smile through the entire class. The moms in attendance were also lovely and sang along, participating fully. We sang through quite a few songs (Roly Poly, Hands Together, Hands Apart, The Wheels On The Bus, Row Row Row Your Boat, Crocky Crocodile, Old MacDonald, Little Green Frog, Mr. Sun, Zoom Zoom Zoom). I also sneaked in a couple songs to prepare for Halloween Week (Pumpkin Pumpkin and Five Little Pumpkins)!

For the instrument of the week I did a general run through of how to play all the instruments from the jam bag. Afterwards I brought out an instrument called a cabasa. It is a percussion instrument with loops of steel ball chain wrapped around a wide cylinder. The cylinder is fixed to a long, narrow, wooden handle. It provides a metallic "ch ch ch" sound when shaken or twisted. We passed it around pretending to brush our teeth using the cabasa to imitate the sound of a toothbrush.

Moving along to the jam, we sang through a couple of my favourites (Brown Eyed Girl, Stand By Me, Three Little Birds). All the participants were smiling and singing. Some of the young ones were even dancing! The parachute was a huge hit and we sang about all the colours we could see (Red, Yellow, Green and Blue Parachute Song) as well as the stars up above (Twinkle Twinkle Little Star).

I truly couldn't have asked for a better start at Gooch! Feeling very thankful this Thanksgiving.