We had a good turn out for the last class, and a new caregiver and child joined us. The kids were very excited about the end of term certificates of completion and the body bell gifts. We used the bells to do a special Jingle Bells jam session with the big bag of instruments.
Today we had three new kids join us for our class! One was keen to get singing and dancing right from the get-go, but our other two got into the dancing, in particular, about half way through. It was a real movin' and groovin' class today, with kids who wanted to be dancing, hopping, or "swimming" the whole time!
Today we had a small but mighty class. They were super excited about the instrument of the week (the Agogo from Brazil) and did a great job sharing the beanbag and special number of the week. But it was when we brought the parachute out that they truly came alive! I played different songs that spanned the 1970s-2000s to get the adults excited.
This week’s session was re-located to the playroom, which initially gave me misgivings (there were lots of toys and books that could potentially distract the kids), but it ended up being one of our best sessions yet. The kids were very focused and engaged, and the traffic-patterned carpet made for some great interactive versions of Wheels on the Bus, and I Have a Little Bicycle. Depending on how things go, I might suggest moving to this room for future sessions, as the additional space would make it more inviting for parents.
We had some new participants join the RSF class today, and it was really nice to have new energy in the group. One of the older kids had seriously good rhythm and the ability to pick up lyrics and melodies quickly. It was really fun to watch how excited he was to sing and dance with us.
This week was one of the best weeks for sharing I’ve ever seen at Ernestine. While normally the kids tend to clamour over certain instruments during jam time, this week they were passing around the drums and tambourines to each other without being reminded by myself or parents. The kids are really starting to sing along to the songs in their entirety as well, as opposed to certain key lines or words. It’s so wonderful to see how quickly their musical and verbal skills grow!
This week I did Part Two of the Animal Week theme that I introduced on Monday. Today I brought a turtle puppet and wooden frogs from Thailand as the instrument of the week. The class favourite was when we bounced a bean bag frog on top of the parachute!
Though sadly this week none of the parents accompanied their children to class, the smaller group was still engaged and participatory throughout. I’m starting to see the kids repeat lyrics and hand signs with less prompting, and their enthusiasm for the songs they have already learned continues to grow. The kids in this class are all very special and have a lot to offer. Hopefully next week they can share their enthusiasm with some more grown-ups too.
I brought Animal Week to the Birkdale shelter today. We sang all sorts of songs about animals (Baby Shark, Crocky Crocodile, I Had a Rooster). I showed the class some sign language for different animals and they caught onto them quickly and enjoyed practicing while we sang along!
This week we had a small group made up of our youngest singers, so we focused a lot of our singing on songs that involve singing about and pointing to different parts of our bodies. It's always really exciting when young ones who have been participating for a number of weeks suddenly "get it" and go from mostly observing to enthusiastically pointing to their noses, ears, cheeks, toes, heads, eyes, knees, and so on!
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