Wednesday, January 29, 2025

Blue Bugs #4

NEED TO KNOW

Blue Bugs #4: Your kids are doing so great! I love watching their little personalities come out in class! Thank you for sharing them with me <3

LPM APP/CD LISTENING: We are going to be learning a lot of new songs over the next few weeks. Make sure the music is being played in your home and car and wherever else works for you! Let me know if you need help with access to the app, or if you'd like a CD copy of the music.

SCHEDULE FOR NEXT YEAR: And be sure to fill out my scheduling questionnaire form for the fall! Thank you to those who have done this already! I'll have my schedule solidified in the next few weeks, and registration for fall opens in March.

T-SHIRT ORDER FORM: Thank you to those who have placed your shirt order! If you haven't yet, here is the link again so you can finish it up. Yay for shirts!

PARENT WEEK/TUITION DUE: Next week is Lesson #5, so parents get to come, and the next installment of tuition is due! I'll send an invoice this week. If you don't get one, it means you've paid for this portion already!

GOOD TO KNOW

JUNGLE RHYTHM: Our Jungle Rhythm song helps us move to a steady beat, divide and subdivide the beat, and do it all simultaneously! It's pretty cool to see how it all works together!

I'VE BEEN TO HARLEM: Learning to hear the difference between major ('happy') and minor ('sad') is the objective of this song and activity. We're experiencing first and labeling later... today we talked about how the words of both verses are the same but one is happy and one is sad. The music vocabulary is "major" and "minor." Understanding this concept can help build sensitive music listeners and caring, intuitive individuals. Yep, music can teach life lessons and build character. You can read more about identifying major and minor chords at this LPM blogpost
*You can also practice playing major and minor on the autoharp in the Let's Play Music app. From the landing screen, click on the two notes (it's a beetle!) in the bottom left corner. Select the Autoharp feature, and there will be a menu option in the top right corner. Select F Major/F Minor. Push the red or black triangle and strum the strings slowly from bottom to top. It works better on a bigger screen, but have fun either way! 

FUN TO KNOW



And for those who grew up in the Toys R Us generation, I love this minor adaptation from when they filed for bankruptcy in 2017.





Blue Bugs #15

NEED TO KNOW Blue Bugs #15: Thank you, thank you, thank you for an AMAZING first year with your students! Seriously, they are so much fun! (...