Reunion at Robertson House
The group seemed excited to begin, so after singing The Hello Song, I covered a bunch of songs including a new one appropriately titled What Are You Wearing? To help introduce the song I went around the room asking each child to name one colour that they were wearing. It was nice to have some of the older participants assist the younger ones in naming what colour their shirt/sock/sweater was. Following we sang through The Wheels On The Bus, Little Red Wagon, Old MacDonald, Sleeping Bunnies and The Ants Go Marching.
To help focus I used both Roll The Ball and The Bean Bag activity this week. Both were successful in channeling the somewhat rambunctious energy of the group. It also gave me a chance to connect one-on-one with participants who seemed a bit more shy than usual today.
For the Instrument of the Week I decided to bring an instrument known as the Agogo. After demonstrating how to make two different sounds (both using the mallet inside the bell and tapping it on top of the bell) we stood on our feet and did a movement activity swaying our hips side to side and we marched around the room to one of my favourite songs, Sauvemente, performed by Elvis Crespo. It was fun to see how differently we all move and express ourselves while dancing to music and it sounded wonderful alongside the Agogo.
Jam time was spent singing a couple of our favourites including Hot Hot Hot and Jamaica Farewell. The use of repetition week to week has seen everything come full circle here, and most, if not all of the grownups were singing the majority of the words with confidence.
We finished class with the parachute and The Goodbye Song which was met with more participation than ever before. I stayed a bit longer than usual after class today helping to hand out snacks and chat with the grownups. Many said that this was the best part of their week and hearing that always makes me feel lucky to do the work that I do.