Rituals

Rituals~

Everyone has them whether you think you do or not.  The way you buckle your seatbelt, the things you say at Thanksgiving, or even things you do on your birthday -these are all rituals.  In the Kindermusik classroom we use rituals to create organization, comfort, security, and as attention grabbers for the little wandering minds (no, Moms and Dads -this is not you!).  We use a welcome song to get everyone situated and settled in class, and then we use a goodbye song to say our farewells until the next week.  These are just the two capstones of many rituals used in class.  I have been spending the past couple of days thinking about rituals, and how so many wonderful memories are birthed from the simple things we do!  One of my favorite memories involves lots of singing, dancing, and Wee Sing.  I can remember the first class of this Spring semester like it was yesterday!  Smiling faces, exciting new things and sounds -it is such a happy memory! 

So to my families~
Even though we won't be doing our hello and goodbye rituals for a little while, please know that I have enjoyed you all SO much!  Your children are wonderful, smart, cute little movers and shakers, and I hope to see you all soon!

Very musically yours~
Busy B!

Talk the Talk. The Kindermusik Talk!

I'm sure that you all are SO sick of hearing me talk about talking to your children, but I promise that I do it because it is so very important.  Kindermusik International's blog Minds on Music, recently posted on how important your voice is to your baby!

My next post will be on something entirely different, I promise!


Happy reading!

Musically~

Share and Share Alike

I have always wondered how children learn to share!  Do we teach them?  Do their friends teach them?  Who, what, when, where, and well...we're thankful for the why!  As I watched my class participate in "I roll the ball to you..." activity, I had my "Ahaaa!" moment.  It came in the form of a poem I grew up seeing, and even more importantly -reading.

Have you heard of the poem, "Children Learn What They Live" by Dr. Dorothy Law Nolte?  If not, here it is!

If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn.
If children live with hostility, they learn to fight.
If children live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive.
If children live with pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves.
If children live with ridicule, they learn to feel shy.
If children live with jealousy, they learn to feel envy.
If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty.
If children live with encouragement, they learn confidence.
If children live with tolerance, they learn patience.
If children live with praise, they learn appreciation.
If children live with acceptance, they learn to love.
If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves.
If children live with recognition, they learn it is good to have a goal.
If children live with sharing, they learn generosity.
If children live with honesty, they learn truthfulness.
If children live with fairness, they learn justice.
If children live with kindness and consideration, they learn respect.
If children live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves and in those about them.
If children live with friendliness, they learn the world is a nice place in which to live.

By now you may be thinking, "duh Briana!" and if you are, great!  I love it!  I think that this poem is a great example of what amazing things we can do for our children by just being us!  We are living, breathing examples to our children and I am reminded of that in simple ways (like sharing!) every single week.

Here's a HUGE thanks to all you parents!  

Musically yours! 

Rewards!

In my last post I talked a lot about rewards.  We all love them, right?  RIGHT?  I sure do!  Its a simple validation for the hard work we've done, and encouragement to continue on.  I'll take that for sure!

I received an e-mail earlier today from a KM educator in Brandon, FL.  I was a little surprised and thought, "Well surely I'm not anywhere near her class locator...."  I kept reading (perseverance, you know!)  and was VERY pleasently surprised.  She was working on a webinar (online seminar for continuing education) for Kindermusik Intermational and used MY BLOG! (holy moly!  MY BLOG!) as an example!  I know that it is a fairly new blog, and I'm not a large studio by any means but I will take my small rewards as they come to me!  You can find her blog here: Delightful Sounds  She's got a lot of really great entries and has re-inspired me to do 110% for you guys!

I hope you all have a great weekend!




Musically yours!

'Tis the Season for Love!

The month of February is the month for LOVE!  I love love!  No really -I do!  I know that Valentines day is over, but I can't help myself!  I MUST post this goodie for all of you.

I love Kindermusik, and I love my KM families!  Each weekend they reward me with smilies, voices, dancing, learning, and  giggles.  After classes, I'm sure that they reward their parents by taking naps, as well (at least I hope so!  I'm rootin' for you, Mommies and Daddies!).  This past weekend, I was rewarded with lots of kisses!  No...no...not real ones, but the ones that you blow to people when you really like them!  I got lip smack kisses, blown kisses, and "bye bye" kisses from my kiddos in addition to their joyous toothy smiles.

This is a pic of one of my little ones from my Village class!  She is Joy in a little package.  From her on Sunday, I received kisses, instruments, giggles, and smiles (the best rewards EVER!).  Her parents were kind enough to share this pic. with me, so I thought I'd share it with you!  It musically shouts, "JOY!" 

Very often we get to see raw emotions from these little music makers.  They have so much joy and love, and because of that we love them even more!  I hope that you enjoy your little music maker!






Musically yours!

Hot Air!

Just like the modern day lady, I am connected! I've got a twitter, a facebook (or two!), a blog, and LOVE to spend time looking around for crafts, educational, and fun ideas! So, now I imagine that you're asking yourself, "I care about this because?" Well you care about this because I was reading Kindermusik International's blog (Minds on Music), and came to an exciting entry!

I keep telling you that Kindermusik is good stuff for your little grower, right? By now you probably either believe me OR think that I'm full of hot air. I'm really, truly hoping that you chose the former! KM international knows that too, of course, so they've hooked up with other mommies that think it's just as awesome! Here is the link to the Kindermusik International blog's entry: blogs for Mom's who love KM!

Take some time and poke around -they've got a great blog and lots of really neat entries. I like to spend time on there when I need inspiration or motivation (it'd be very difficult to be unmotivated when you read some of these great stories!), or just some joy.

I hope you enjoy it! I sure have!

Musically

Hi! My name is....

I always get such great enjoyment out of meeting new people! This past Sunday was the perfect opportunity for me to be "in my element"! I was in the perfect position to meet mommies and babies, families, and others who care about the health, development, and overall well being of babies as much as I do. So -what did I do on Sunday? I was a vendor at the very first Baby Fair hosted by Bloomington Area Birth Services. BABS has given Bloomington such a great resource and I was so happy to be a part of it! Kindermusik by Busy B Music and Me was there and ready for action!

BABS said that there were about 500 people at the event (WAY exciting!), and I'm pretty sure that I spoke to all of them. It brought such joy to my heart to meet parents who already knew about Kindermusik, and even more to spread the joy to those who are new to such a great program. I saw all of my families there (in different variations) with smiles on their faces, and they came by to say hi to me, and to Julianna -the Cabbage Patch Doll that is quickly becoming the class mascot! As I talked with more wonderful parents, I started to get into my groove. What do you say about a program that builds baby brains and helps families learn and grow together. Hmm.... That's a hard one! Luckily for me, I found the words and managed to reach out to so many different types of people.

So -here's the deal!

What is Kindermusik? I like to think of it as "brain food music for your baby!" Hmm...well, that means that we use music, movement, instruments, and books to help your little one (or ones!) gain control over the motor skills, body control, language development, love of learning, and the joy of music! Cool! Even better, though, is the fact that baby LOVES it -it's a game, it's fun, it's joyful and it's almost as rewarding for you, as the parent (guardian, grandparent, nanny, aunt, uncle...etc!) as it is for them. Who doesn't LOVE a toothy (or gumby!) grin, a giggle-shriek, and the almost immediate realization of, "ohh...this makes noise!"
So, here's a thanks to you -those who enjoy these classes with your little ones. Thanks -thanks for making MY day a better, more joyful place!

A special THANKS! to BABS for a very awesome and successful event! Way to make positive waves for Bloomington families. I hope that next year I can join you again to make some joyful noise!

Here are some pic's from the event! More can be found at bloomingtononline.org and bloomingtonbirth.org.


Preparations MUST begin in the morning. Chipper and ready to go!



Welcome to Busy B!!! We'd love to have you as part of our family! :-)



And of course, having family there to lend a helping hand makes everything so much more enjoyable!


Musically yours!

Busy B :-)

Grown Up Steps.

This weekend marks a grown up step for Busy B Music and Me! It will be the first time we'll (I...) be a vendor at any type of informational gather. Yes -I may just be getting my feet on the ground, but this -this is a monument in time!

Here's the low down:

February 7th, 2010 1:oo p.m. to 5:oo p.m
Bloomington Area Birth Services Baby Fair
Bloomington Convention Center

Come see me! We'll make some music, and share the Joy!

Being a good parent means what?

It is so hard to make the right choices for us, as adults, so how do we make good choices as a parent? Where is the "owner's manual" for those decisions? I can't say -I'm not a parent, but I can say that it very rarely do the choices seem easy. I think one of those instances of an "easy choice" is when I see families in my Kindermusik class. Definitely a good choice, or at least, I think so!

I have a deep appreciaction for the parents who have asked me questions about the curriculum (I haven't met one yet who hasn't!). "What can it do for my baby's brain?" kind of questions. I love to answer them, even though it is sometimes difficult, because it shows how much parents care about their little onse, and want them to be happy and successful. I can also tell if a parent has done their homework. If they come to me and already know they've looked into the what I do, well -then I jump right in and start making music! A+!

I said once before that my underlying motivator is Joy. This is still very true, but I think that this applies to you parents as well! Who doesn't love that two-toothed goofy smile they get when they hear a jingle stick, or "walk up a hill" (aka -parent workout!) with some cows. It is worth every second of the question asking, concern, and internet research WAY worth it!

This week, I got to experience a very cool thing: sharing! I was offered shaker after jingle stick, after shaker during a sharing activity. It was surprising seeing as we've only done it once before in class, but -with parent motivation, music, and patience it's amazing what you can accomplish!

Conversing with a baby.

There is nothing more exciting to me than seeing Joy on the faces of small children. When you look at them in an excited state you can't help but wonder, "do I remember how that felt?" and "Did I think that an egg shaker was that cool?" When joy comes out of a new experience and a new adventure, I can't help but smile, and think, "Yes -this is why I do what I do!"

So my underlying philosophy is now: Smile = Joy

I'm thinking of the Joy that came from a little girl, not even a year old, in one of my classes. At the beginning of class she was a little shy and reserved due to being in a stranger's house, with the stranger singing and shaking instruments and waving scarves, and ...you get the picture! However after some singing, rocking, instrument shaking, and scarf waving, she loudly proclaimed, "DAH! Dah dah dah!" in such a way that I said (even before thinking), "Really? I'm not sure how to do that." She smiled and shook her egg shaker with the air of someone who knew exactly what she was doing. As the class progressed, the little girl continued to tell me her opinion. At one point in time she let out a huge "Ugh!" and reached for Julie-Anna (the Cabbage Patch doll I use for demonstrating). Once touching the doll, she continued to shake her egg shaker and say, "du da da da du...." in the most interested sort of way. I was amazed that such a little kiddo could have such attention and determination.

You're probably wondering where music comes into all of this? Well, here it is! Baby loves to look at you -you smell like "home", you feel like "home", and you sound like "home". Watching this little one be consumed by parent's love in a musical setting is taking the experience to it's outer bounds. You are giving your child love (YAY!), you are teaching them language (YAY!), and you are encouraging them, in the best ways possible, to LOVE music AND learning (YAY! and YAY!)

Who could ask for anything better!...?


Musically yours,

Busy B