EVENING CLASSES CANCELED 2/9/10

Family Time, Our Time and ABC Music and Me is canceled tonight due to road conditions and the weather. Use those home materials and I’ll see you next week.

Conscious Discipline

In my weekly newsletters this semester, I am covering some general ideas from Conscious Discipline by Becky Bailey. I highly recommend that parents, teachers, grandparents, and any caregiver read Easy To Love, Difficult to Discipline and Conscious Discipline by Becky Bailey. I cannot begin to do justice to her information in short little snippets. Today, I was looking for an analogy I heard a colleague of her’s use at a convention. I want to be sure to quote it correctly. In the process of this, I found a series of videos she has on YouTube. This is not the first video in the series, but since the recent weather, sickness etc I have heard many people be frustrated, irritated, depressed and downright angry about not getting out or doing what we want. I thought this would be a great video to share with you. So be a STAR and take back your power after watching this short clip.

Ahhhhh, God has given the wonderful gift of a snowed in Saturday. I should have been busy from early this morning accompanying high school students at the District XVII Solo and Ensemble Contest but, it was canceled due to our beautiful winter storm.

I have had a leisurely day of waffling back and forth between working and lazing on the couch reading a book under a quilt. There isn’t quite enough snow and ice for me to blow the entire day off because I know tomorrow we have to be back on schedule.

One of the things I have been working on is adding a couple of Valentine activities to the classes this week. I have pulled my books and appropriated which one is best for which class and am setting up play lists. As I was going through the books, I came across one of my very favorites. I believe every mother should own the book LOVE YOU FOREVER by Robert Munsch. However, I can promise you that I will never read this book aloud in class because I cannot get through it without tearing up and sniffling.

I also have found some great Valentine songs and activities at Kididdles . This website has printables, lyric sheets and sound files for many different themes and activities. It is a great resource for parents who need activities to do at home, homeschooling families, and teachers. The link can be found in the column to the right of this post.

Hannah is working on her Valentine Box for school this week. She also is doing homemade Valentines since we don’t really want to have to run to town today. We cut a sponge into a heart shape and she has stamped posterboard with paint made with the following recipe. She stamped one heart for each child in the class. As soon as they are dry she will cut them apart and print her name on the back of them.

Homemade Fingerpaints:

1 cup flour

2 TBLS Salt

1 1/2 cups cold water

1 1/4 cups hot water

food coloring

Put flour and salt into a saucepan. Add cold water and beat with whisk or eggbeater until smooth.

Add hot water and boil until mixture is thick.

Beat again until smooth.

Color as desired with food coloring. Cool to be able to touch (especially if using as finger paint). Spread or paint on posterboard or fingerpaint paper (the shiny backside of freezer paper works) and enjoy. Leftovers should be stored in the refrigerator. This recipe makes a lot – so you can divide it for multiple color choices.

I have updated the suggested book list to the right to reflect some of my favorite Valentine’s day choices. Enjoy!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Here is a slideshow of our first week of fun. Not enrolled yet? Give me a call – it is never too late to join us. 740 707 3631

If your class isn’t pictured, I will get you in a future slideshow. I sometimes get busy and forget to take pictures during class. My camera is almost always with the teacher materials in the classroom. If you ever see something happening you want a picture of, please don’t hesitate to grab the camera and take a shot. I love when parents take pictures in class – sometimes I even end up with pictures of me with the children.

Enrollment Video

It’s a new semester

I feel just like I did when I was younger when it was time for a new school year to start. All my pencils are sharpened, the instruments are cleaned and sanitized, I know what I’m going to wear (even got some new clothes and socks over the holiday). I’m going to see lots of my old (if you can call 2-5 year olds “old”) friends and get to meet several new friends this semester too. I’m so excited I’m practically jumping up and down.

The difference this time is that I am the teacher and I feel this way every time we are starting a new semester of Kindermusik. It gets better every year because I’m not very comfortable with the curriculum and have had just about anything that can happen in a class happen. We all survived, we laughed, we cried, we tell great stories about it now.

There have been some changes that are going to be really good for all of us. I now have Shelly working in the office a couple times a week. This means there should be better bookkeeping and it should be easier to keep track so I will know your balances more readily. She already has done an amazing job with the filing system and getting my books under control (that is no small feat). EZ Enroll on the Kindermusik website has made it easier for me to keep track of the roster and class transferrals have been so easy. I apologize to those of you who received an incorrect balance due. I’ll work on that for the future.

I’m a little sad because there are a few people I haven’t heard from yet about whether or not they are returning. Please don’t ever think it is too late!!! The only time it would be too late is if your class was canceled because no one enrolled or because the class was full. In any situation, there is probably a solution so you and your child don’t have to miss your Kindermusik experiences. I still am eager to sign up some more new clients – especially for Sign and Sing and Village.

Over the break I got some new books, some new props and a brand new sound system that I can’t wait to use in all my classes.

So, get ready to come to class and sing, dance and learn for another 15 weeks. I can’t wait to see how much you all have grown (the kids – not the adults<G>) and visit with you again.

What to do on a snow day?

I posted this on the Kindermusik with Miss Christa and Friends page at Facebook but thought I should share it here too.

Okay, so we are on snow day number 3 in a row. It is seriously sounding like we will be home again tomorrow. Kids are getting bored (we’ve only had one day of school in the past four weeks and parents are getting frustrated and stressed. So, I went to google to find things to do on a snow day but most of the suggestions are for older children. I decided I would create my own list here. Keep in mind that I’m pretty good at coming up with ideas, but my kids will tell you, I’m not always as great at actually doing them with them. Since my kids are older, I usually leave them to their own devices for most of the day so I can do work in my office. But, if you have younger children who need/crave your attention and something to do, here is my list.

1. Turn on some music and have a dance party. Most of us have video camera capabilities now, make a crazy music video. Kids will get into it even more if you are dancing too.

2. Clean out a closet or a drawer – see what you can find to play dress up, build a fort, make a puppet etc. Throw out old/broken things and make a stack to take to a second hand store when the weather is good.

3. Make a weather chart for the Kitchen. The kids are mostly used to tracking the weather at school, let them do it at home too. Divide a circle of paper into wedges for rain, snow, sun, cloudy. Or ala Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, make up silly things the weather could be.

4. Create a family band – what can you find in your house that makes pitched or unpitched sounds. Turn on some music (it doesn’t have to be kid music) and rock out.

5. Read books – I know old hat but seriously how many of us actually have as much time to read to our children as we should. Find some favorites that have been forgotten or discarded because the child has supposedly outgrown them. I still love reading Green Eggs and Ham and I’m 40 years old.

6. Make paper hats – there are lots of websites with instructions

7. Sort socks – this can be a great exercise in size, shape and color.

8. Bake cookies – okay not great for all those new year’s diets but kids love to measure, pour and stir.

9. Make playdough – less fattening than cookies and you have a secondary activity once it is mixed up.

10. Have a snow ball fight indoors – empty your box of tissues all over the living room and enjoy throwing them at each other. It won’t break anything and is easy to clean up.

11. Enjoy cotton ball fun – can you build a snow man? walk across the room with one on a spoon? Balance one on your nose, toes, elbow?

12. If you have a roll of freezer paper or some leftover wrapping paper from the holidays, trace your child’s body and then let them draw on their features, clothing etc.

13. Throw a blanket over the kitchen table and have a picnic underneath – eat summer food like hotdogs, fruit, chips.

14. Watch Cartoon Network – expose your children to the glory days (when we were young of course) of good cartoons.

15. take a nap. Okay I know kids will fight you on this one so you have to trick them into it. But, often if they are bored some of that can be alleviated by some snuggle time. Let them sleep in your bed, on the couch, under that dining room table.

16. If you can get out, go to the library. There will probably be others that are there too and you will find conversation for yourself and a playmate for your child.

17. If the temps are too frigid, take a walk outside – even 5 minutes of fresh cold air and some physical activity will make everyone feel better.

18. Make stone soup – tell the story (google stone soup story if you don’t know it), find a rock, wash it with dishsoap and rinse well, then make your own with things you find in your kitchen. Let the children help add ingredients, do some stirring etc.

19. Look at photo albums. Kids will get a kick out of seeing mom and dad much younger, when they themselves were babies etc.

20. Play games such as I Spy, Red Light Green Light, Mother May I, Simon Says, If You’re Happy and You Know It, Hokey Pokey

21 Make them play by themselves. This is one I think we all tend to forget. They will not die if we don’t entertain them every waking moment they are in our house. Set a timer, make them play in their room, toy room whereever is best. But during that time you are going to do what you want or need to do also. 30 minute periods spread throughout the day interspersed with activity from you will help everyone maintain their sanity.

So, there they are. Please feel free to comment with other suggestions or ideas. We could generate quite a list here if we all put our heads together. I’d love some new ideas as well!

Happy New Year Ramblings

We had a wonderful Christmas/New Year’s week celebration that involved all of us being on vacation, visiting with family in the Cincinnati area and having friends to our house. It was so nice to not be scheduled, stressed or overwhelmed, but I have to admit that part of me always longs for a little more routine and getting back on track. I scheduled two weeks for myself to work around the house and particularly in the office before my Winter Kindermusik schedule commenced. Monday was not quite normal because Sarah had a doctor’s appointment to follow up on her collarbone. Tuesday – SNOW DAY. Wednesday SNOW DAY. It’s really not looking promising for Friday as we are supposed to get even more snow on Thursday night. Oh well, maybe next week.

Not only am I working on plans and activities for the upcoming Kindermusik semester (more on that in a bit), but I’m also working on the Music in the Schools Jazz Workshop. This is the fourth year in a row that Mark Pender, currently playing in the Max Wineberg 7 on The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien, will be coming to Nelsonville to work with high school jazz musicians and put on a concert. We really need more financial support in any amount to bring Mark here and are actively looking for some businesses to sponsor him. Kindermusik with Miss Christa and Friends is already a sponsor of the show. If you own a business, or work for one, that would like to help out, please contact me as soon as possible. If you have a young musician (junior high or high school aged) that would like to participate in the workshop and subsequent concert, registration will take place at 1:00 p.m. at Stuart’s Opera House in Nelsonville on March 27, 2010. The workshops will be from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. with the concert at 7:00 p.m. Tickets for the concert are on sale now at Stuart’s Opera House and Blue Eagle Music ($10.00 in advance/$15.00 at the door).

Kindermusik with Miss Christa is now taking registrations for the winter semester that begins on January 15th in Parkersburg and January 18th in Athens/Belpre. The Tuesday morning Our Time Class is about at capacity for Athens, the same is true for the Wednesday Our Time class in Belpre. There are only a couple spots left in those classes. All other classes have plenty of openings and I would love to get several more infants for Village class. Also, I am offering Sign and Sing again this semester. American Sign Language is fun to learn through songs and play. It facilitates early communication between all parents and children and helps inspire life long learning for all ages. Please contact me as soon as possible if you are interested in classes of any type and I will be happy to send you more information.

I meant to tell you about a fun blog you should check out before the Christmas break, but I never seemed to get in here to do so. One of the dads from my Thursday morning class has a blog here on WordPress called What the F-therhood. I enjoy reading his posts and seeing his pictures. I don’t think there are enough “dad” perspectives out there. Check out Mike’s thoughts.

I’m also putting this in the blog roll to the right. While I’m there, I’m going to be updating the book suggestions and cleaning things up a bit. Please let me know if you have any suggestions of things you wish I would add, or delete from this blog.

Finally, I’m still working out how to add my photo slideshows here. In the meantime, visit me on Facebook by searching Kindermusik with Miss Christa – you can see videos, photo slideshows, and even parent testimonials. While you are there, why not become a friend.

Stay dry, stay warm, make lots of music and read lots of books. Happy New Year and I’ll see you in the classroom soon!

Ahhhh Christmas Time is here

Christmas has been my favorite holiday (well – other than my birthday, but I’ve been informed many times that that isn’t a “real” holiday) for as long as I can remember. Yes, there was a time in my life when it was all about the presents. But, even as a young child, I loved the lights, the music, the longing for snow, the tree, the food. Just seeing the lights begin to go up can stir my heart.

As an adult, my love for Christmas hasn’t faded, but my focus has changed. Now, it is about me having an opportunity to continue traditions (homemade salami and white chocolate candy being two of my favorites), bringing joy to other people through thoughtful gifts of the kinds that you can purchase, or services I can provide. I still love the music. Pandora has made it even better because they have Christmas music for whatever mood I’m in. I love hearing my girls sing and play the music and begin to get the same pleasure that I had as a child.

But, my very favorite thing is decorating our house. Greg and I waited 14 years to buy a house and I was so excited to find one that matched my personality and was what I had always longed for. Truly, even though we found the house in the month of August, I pictured it decorated for Christmas. I cannot wait to haul out the holly, light the lights and bring everything out once again.

This Friday night we will be hosting a house trimming party for some of the college students who have not yet gone home but have stayed to work in the library for Greg. Sarah has some of her friends coming over as well. This is something we started several years ago. We didn’t do it last year and Hannah has been asking for a couple of months if we are going to do it this year. Many people are surprised that I will let others help decorate since I am known as something as a control freak. However, decorating the house, to me, isn’t about having it Better Homes and Gardens or Martha Stewart perfect. It is about sharing old memories, creating new ones, and being with friends. Our ornaments are all a hodge-podge collection of things that are meaningful to us – from our childhood, throughout our marriage and items for our children. Yes, sometimes things get broken, or ornaments get clumped all in one spot, or stuff gets spilled on the carpet (have you seen our carpet?), it doesn’t matter. Christmas is not about appearances and what other people think and doing things just because they are expected of us. Christmas is about anticipation, families, LOVE!

So, I wish for you all a very Holly Jolly Christmas. Put on some music, take a walk and look at the lights in your neighborhood, bake soem cookies, have a glass of cider and count your blessings. Do these things not because you HAVE to do them, but because you want to. Don’t worry about the “musts” there are enough of those every day – the whole year through.  This is not meant to be a season of stress, but of joy and peace. Relax, know that it is never perfect, and enjoy.

Win a Free Semester of Kindermusik

 

Hey all! Kindermusik International is running a contest on their website right now. You could win a free semester of Kindermusik if your video is selected. All the rules are posted at this website.

http://www.kindermusik.com/VideoContest/ItsyBitsySpider/ItsyBitsySpider.aspx

In addition, let me know you have posted a video to the contest spot and I will give the first five participants a free musical gift from me for playing.

This is a great way to show off your fabulous kids!