Miss Mary's Music Notes

Kindermusik Our Time  

Fiddle Dee Dee!

“Happiness is a warm puppy.” -Charles Schulz

What a great first class we had today! As we begin Kindermusik’s Fiddle-dee-dee, we begin our exploration of the world of animals! The Our Time-aged child typically loves singing about and pretending to be animals. Today we enjoyed playful puppy activities including a lively bounce to The Dog Went to Dover and romping and rolling to Walk Along, Rover. We focused on our listening skills as we listened to dogs barking. And of course, we enjoyed making our own dog sounds as well. Other animal activities introduced today included the delightful Animal Serenade book. As you and your child enjoy Animal Serenade at home, be sure to listen to the corresponding track 8 on your Home CD 1 and sing along with the songs. You can extend our classroom play by engaging your child in some of the play ideas suggested in your Home Activity Book, for example, Who Is In the Doghouse? found on page 5

Lesson Focus: FAST and SLOW
Tempo, in music, means the speed of the musical piece. Tempo is central to music. It is also central to 1 1/2 – 3 year-old children as they are learning to control and coordinate their body movements. Children this age are naturally interested in the concepts of fast and slow (and the getting faster and getting slower). Mastering these concepts is fun and satisfying for the child.
 
Foundations of Learning:
Movement is key to learning! Our brains fully develop through movement activities such as crawling, rolling, turning, walking, skipping, reaching, swinging and much more! The brain has a plan for development that involves specific and intensive motor activities to make full use of our complicated nervous system.”* And when movement is paired with rhythmic and musical concepts, the learning is even stronger.

Benefits of Rolling: (Roll Over Rover)
Most everyday locomotor movements of children, such as walking, running, and crawling involve the use of the arms and/or legs. Rolling, however, is initiated from the center of the body, with the body being propelled in a prone state by the hips and torso. Rolling is also unique in that it allows the child (or adult!) to experience the sensation of seeing the world from his stomach and back all in one continuous movement. This provides good stimulation for the vestibular system, which is important in many ways to a child’s development, especially for his sense of balance and orientation in space.

--> --> -->