Connecting with a child, a hand, and a story

“Connection… is the key to cooperation.”  These are powerful words by Becky Bailey.  As most of you know, I fully believe she is heaven sent to help all of us adults (parents, teachers, etc) learn the best ways to help ourselves and our children develop successful life and relationship skills.   The following is an excerpt [...]

FANS get LOTS on the MC Facebook Page

My best friend from college got me started on Facebook, and it is amazing the connections I have made (people come popping out from the recesses of my memory).   It has been fun to relive and renew. I am ALL about connections, esp. little musical ones, and I started generating ideas on what I could do with [...]

Connections between Music and Reading

“Books help children become whole people; reading facilitates both parent-child relationships and language as it helps to create a child’s understanding of the world.” -  Claudia Quigg, Executive director of BabyTALK   Parents hear over and over again how important it is to read to their child, and the need to build pre-reading and reading skills.  [...]

GREEN is the color to BE

GREEN has been my 4 year old daughter’s favorite color for at least 2 years now, but little does she know all of what GREEN is starting to mean.  Even in this FALL season, I am amazed at how much GREEN is springing up all around us.  It has been marvelous that Polk County has [...]

Music stimulates the brain, at home & in Kindermusik

I recieved an email from Montessori Services last night that had the most wonderful quote about the musicality of children, with great ideas for home activities.   Make sure to note the importance of the “sensitive period for music” during the youngest years.  Following the quote, you’ll see how Kindermusik takes these ideas to a whole new [...]

Molly McGuinn – “I AM Kindermusik”

At the last Kindermusik Conference, I was fortunate to meet Molly McGuinn, one of the staff at Kindermusik International.  I just want to share with you the kind of philosophy and commitment that is prevalent at the headquarters of this company.            http://mollyskindermusik.blogspot.com  Molly has her own BLOG, which I frequent regularly, as it is [...]

Happy Easter

   May your Easter be filled with the spirit of spring, renewal, and  rebirth. For some Easter fun, coloring pages, mazes, games, and great links, check out http://www.kidsdomain.com/holiday/easter/ .  We printed out the Peter Cottontail game. Because you move by drawing a color, it’s kind of like Candyland, without having the option of being sent back to the [...]

Using Sign Language with hearing children

Hickory, Dickory, Tickle, and Bounce                     Week 2  Throughout Hickory Dickory, Tickle and Bounce, you will learn various signs in American Sign Language.  We started using signs with the song “Love Somebody”, and if you need to review the signs, you can find them in your Home Journal in the back.  This week’s journal page is [...]

Music and Movement – Why we move to learn

Kindermusik for Young Child  Semester 4 – Wk 8   In Kindermusik we cover a large amount of material concerning music terminology, pitches, songs, composers, playing instruments, etc. Meanwhile, we never forget the importance of movement! Just today we continued to dance while singing “Bow Wow Wow” and also incorporated a fun movement game into [...]

More Resources THIS WEEK

I am determined to let you folks know about a lot more of my favorite resources this week.  I’ve been a little slow on the uptake, but there is much I would love to share with you, specifically on the subjects concerning daily routines and everyday home life.  I’ve already shared my thoughts on a [...]