This week was one of the best weeks for sharing I’ve ever seen at Ernestine. While normally the kids tend to clamour over certain instruments during jam time, this week they were passing around the drums and tambourines to each other without being reminded by myself or parents. The kids are really starting to sing along to the songs in their entirety as well, as opposed to certain key lines or words. It’s so wonderful to see how quickly their musical and verbal skills grow!
This week I did Part Two of the Animal Week theme that I introduced on Monday. Today I brought a turtle puppet and wooden frogs from Thailand as the instrument of the week. The class favourite was when we bounced a bean bag frog on top of the parachute!
Though sadly this week none of the parents accompanied their children to class, the smaller group was still engaged and participatory throughout. I’m starting to see the kids repeat lyrics and hand signs with less prompting, and their enthusiasm for the songs they have already learned continues to grow. The kids in this class are all very special and have a lot to offer. Hopefully next week they can share their enthusiasm with some more grown-ups too.
I brought Animal Week to the Birkdale shelter today. We sang all sorts of songs about animals (Baby Shark, Crocky Crocodile, I Had a Rooster). I showed the class some sign language for different animals and they caught onto them quickly and enjoyed practicing while we sang along!
This week we had a small group made up of our youngest singers, so we focused a lot of our singing on songs that involve singing about and pointing to different parts of our bodies. It's always really exciting when young ones who have been participating for a number of weeks suddenly "get it" and go from mostly observing to enthusiastically pointing to their noses, ears, cheeks, toes, heads, eyes, knees, and so on!
It took a little while to get all the kids into the room at the same time this week, so they tended to gradually filter in throughout the class. Though they always participate wholeheartedly when they arrive, I’ll make a point of highlighting the importance of everyone starting on time and parents being present throughout the class (there were fewer parents this week and they didn’t arrive until 10 or 15 minutes in). All in all, the class went well, but hopefully next week things are a little more timely in terms of attendance, as I wouldn’t want anyone to miss anything!
Today I had a gentleman with his young child in my class. He brought an acoustic guitar and was eager to play along with me. Although he didn't know the chords I was playing, he noodled along and enjoyed himself immensely. The kids enjoyed having two guitars in class as well!
This week our normal room was occupied, so we had class in the upstairs area next to where everyone has dinner. Because it was more central in the shelter, there were lots of passersby who came to join in singing or clapping along to the songs. Despite the more open location, the kids were really focused and well behaved this week, remembering even more songs and passing the bean bag around the circle with ease.
The class was small today, but quite excited and antsy, so I got everyone up on their feet and we did lots of dancing and movement songs. I introduced the class to the This is my Trunk song, where the kids learn about the different seasons and what happens to the trees during these seasons. We practiced making a yoga tree together as well.
One of our favourite active songs with this group is when we sing "Well you walk, and you walk, and you walk, and you STOP!" Our group is great at walking around, and are always keen to STOP at just the right time (and giggle!). We also did some tiptoeing, marching, and gliding, and it's great to see the kids learn how to use their bodies in different ways as we move to the beat of our song!
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