Communication

Here is Kindermusik International's recent Spotlight on Parenting: Village and Our Time

Big idea: Kindermusik makes it easier to communicate with your baby or toddler

Traveling to another country can be exciting. New sights, sounds, customs, food, and time zones that wreck havoc on your sleep! If the locals speak a language you don't understand, your communication abilities quickly downgrade to that of a one-year-old: the use of full-body gestures and speaking louder and louder in YOUR language thinking that will increase comprehension. Yikes! Where is the loo?

 

At Kindermusik, we know parenting a young child can be a bit like visiting a foreign country. New sights, sounds, customs, food, and your sleep is definitely wrecked! Plus, your little one does not exactly speak your language. Most grown-ups are no longer fluent in baby or toddler. We understand, which is why we intentionally include activities that will increase your child's communication abilities. In class, when we use sign language, sing "Oh well, you walk, and you walk, and you walk and you stop" or when we listen to and imitate different sounds, your child is learning and practicing language. Eventually, this will lead to him speaking your language. (Well, until the teenage years, and then you'll need your passport again!)

Everyday connection: A match made in Kindermusik. Your child loves the sound of your voice. Feed his love and grow his use of language at the same time by singing, listening, moving, and dancing to the music from class.  The repetition helps increase language acquisition and retention. Plus, music is a language you both understand.

  

Just how important is music?

This week I was pondering this question.  For a some non-Kindermusik related reasons, I was conferencing with a school psychologist about how to both assist and challenge students.  Her immediate response:  MUSIC.  It came up over and over again during the conversation.  Her emphasis on music drove me to do a little more research on this topic.

In their article (http://www.paulborgese.com/report_benefitofmusic.html) Ciares and Borgese cite five benefits, in addition to CREATIVITY in the area of music and skill: Concentration, Coordination, Relaxation, Patience and Self-confidence.

The conclusion that was most fascinating to me was the significant relationship between music and academic performance.  Music was related to "positive performance in such areas as: reading comprehension, spelling, mathematics, listening skills, primary mental abilities (verbal, perceptual, numeric, spatial) and motor skills.  The authors cite numerous specific studies' to support this conclusion.

With such a strong body of research presenting numerous benefits of music, why do we not pour more time into giving our kids this kind of foundation?  We (including myself) spend so much time on athletics (my 9-year old's swim team expectations are all-consuming!) that music ends up becoming a lesser priority.  Obviously physical development is important, but hopefully not at the cost of failing to stimulate minds.

So, my sweet little girl, I think Piano is going to shift back to a higher priority this month!!

Another Spotlight on Parenting: 

from Kindermusik International

Big Idea: Socialization

Becoming a parent turns your world (and your social calendar) upside down and inside out. You move from lengthy conversations over dinner to brief chats scheduled around naptimes. Eventually, you progress to speaking in short sentences interrupted by wardrobe and diaper changes, boo-boo kissing, rocking, sharing interventions, and a few paparazzi moments. (Your child does do the cutest things after all!). 

When enrolling in Kindermusik, many parents list "socialization" as one of the reasons. We do help your child develop social and emotional skills, but we also connect you with other parents and caregivers who understand the unique joys and challenges of parenting a child the same age. So, next week in class take advantage of Gathering Time and look around. Your newest BFF just might be sitting next to you or changing a diaper or kissing a boo-boo or experiencing a paparazzi moment, too.

Everyday connection: Come all you playmates! Connect with other parents from class on Facebook and invite them to join you and your child for a play date.  Some of our parents are already doing this!  Through this unstructured playtime, your child will expand his intellectual, emotional, and social skills and you will get some social play of your own.

Some favorite musical moments of the Fall Semester:

Some Kindermusik thoughts from Kindermusik International:

Spotlight on Learning: Our Time Away We Go

Think about the last time you tried doing something for the first time. Maybe it was using your new smart phone, going for the perfect cloth diaper fold, or even figuring out how to feed your baby while checking Facebook at the same time. (Hey, we all need some outside connections!) After lots of repetition, you'll probably master the fine art of that new thing, or at least fumble a little less.

For your child, few things build her brain and open opportuniites for learning more than consistent repetition of healthy activities and experiences.  Every new activity in which she participates makes a new neural pathway in her brain.  Each time that experience is repeated, the neural pathway is strengthened. That's why in Kindermusik class we deliberately repeat activities from week to week and give you the tools to repeat them at home, too.

Everyday connection: Practice makes perfect learning.  Listen to the music from class and do the activities together at home. Repeat. Listen to the music from class and do the activities together at home. Repeat. (Learning is that easy ... and fun!)

The Wonder of Sound

Spotlight on Learning: Village
by Kindermusik International

By exploring with sound, babies and young toddlers practice their visual thinking skills or spatial-reasoning skills. Good visual thinking skills are essential for a child to later excel in math, science, and geography. We spend time in Kindermusik doing this together by playing different instruments and experimenting with lots of sounds, such as the different bird calls we "sing" together. In fact, children participating in Kindermusik tripled spatial-reasoning skills during a recent research project (link to graphic of study).

Everyday connection:
Be a Sound Explorer with your child. How many different sounds can a bath book, baby spoon, and Kindermusik Chime Ball make? Does a sippy cup with milk make the same sound as a sippy cup filled with cereal? What items on your changing table make sounds that can entertain your baby during a diaper change?

Learning through Music

Spotlight on Learning:  Our Time Wiggles &Giggles

Listening skills provide the foundation for all aspects of language and reading development. In Kindermusik, we help your child develop active listening skills that she needs for later school success. When your child starts elementary school, she will spend an estimated 50 to 75 percent of classroom time listening to the teacher, to other students, or to media. In Kindermusik, we help your child develop her listening skills. That's why along with singing, dancing, and instrument exploration, children gather around to listen to the sounds of the bath, an elephant, cat, or other specially chosen sounds. She is learning to understand and make meaning out of the sound. In other words, she is learning how to be an active listener. (That doesn't mean her "listening ears" won't fall off when you ask her to pick up her toys!)

Everyday connection:
Go for a Sound Walk. Ask your child what he hears. Does he hear the geese flying overhead? What about the leaves crunching beneath his feet? Is that an ambulance or a baby crying? Point out sounds you hear and see if he can hear them, too.