The Flat on Cabaniss Crescent

Fun Day in Baltimore with the kids

I think this is one of the best parts of being in the military and moving around as much as we do is the people we meet.  We are always reuniting with old friends, meeting new friends, and meeting friends of friends.  

The location that we are currently living in seems to be a popular area and many familiar families and old friends from previous duty stations are within an hour or two.

Last week I met up with some old friends who lived in Japan when we did.  We had babies together in the same Japanese hospital and sent them to the same Japanese pre school.  Now we are living about 2 hours apart, so it has been fun to reunite (after not seeing each other for over three years!) 

We met in Baltimore, which is about a 1.5 hour drive for both of us, maybe a bit shorter for her.

We started our day at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra at a Family Concert.

Then we went to the Port Discovery Children's Museum for 4 hours!  It was great fun for all of us.

I got a bit lost on the way home...but at least we made it home safely.

Getting to Baltimore is a bit harder for me to navigate than getting to DC and it is a lot more expensive, but I still like Baltimore and look forward to exploring it more while we live so close to it.

Does anyone have any ideas or recommendations of things to do?  I think we plan to hit the science museum and the aquarium next, but besides that I am open to new ideas.

A perfect homeschooling scene

Listening to John Coltrane and painting with watercolors.

Does it get any better than this?

Don Freeman

Our Mozart Study led us to this book, which presents the Opera: The Magic Flute.  Reading this book reminded me of Corduroy, which I loved growing up, so I decided to check that out of the library for my kids.  I was surprised, after a quick library search, to discover all the other books Don Freeman wrote.  So we started checking them all out, one by one...

Both Corduroy and A Pocket for Corduroy had movies we checked out and enjoyed.  We were also able to listen to both these stories in the car on tape.

This book fit in nicely with several other music books we read while discussing the orchestra, the opera, and instruments in general. 

This charming book would be a perfect one to read in the Fall.  I will have to remember to add it to our fall reading list next year.

We listened to A Rainbow of My Own in the car:

This book would fit in nicely to an art appreciation study, especially one that deals with sculptures.  I may check this book out again right before a trip to the art museum.  Also makes reference to characters in Pet at the Met (they are cousins with Norman) so these books would be nice to read together.

This book introduced San Francisco to my kids.  It would be a great book to read before a trip there!  Always nice to incorporate a little geography in our literature studies!

We also listened to Gregory's Shadow on tape, but this book would be best to listen to at the end of January or early Feb. because it is about Groundhogs Day.  I will have to remember to add it to our 2008 book list for late Jan.

Overall, I have really enjoyed reading all these Don Freeman books with the kids.  There are still a few we have read so we will continue to read his books in January.  Like the Sendak books, this is another author of whom I would love to own MOST of his books.  I am not much interested in all the Corduroy sequels.  I like the original story and the second one, A Pocket for Corduroy, was OK, but I am not going to read all the others.  Tigger found a book about Corduroy's Christmas and is content looking at the pictures.  He has not yet asked me to read it to him.

Time for Mozart

The past two months we have focused our attention, musically, to Mozart.

Our Sendak Study led us into it because the stories on tape were set to Mozart music.

Our library had some great kid-friendly Mozart books. Pet of the Met was probably my favorite.  Written by Don Freeman, it tells about a mouse family who lives in the Metropolitan  Opera House who attends The Magic Flute.  We listened to the story of The Magic Flute on the CD, Mozart's Magic Fantasy and then I ordered the book The Magic Flute to complete our study.

Pet of the Met led us in two different directions....the study of all Don Freeman's books (which we are currently reading) and also the study of the Opera.  We've always talked about the orchestra and music in general, but up until this point we did not talk about Opera.  We found some fun opera books about animals at the library and read them last month, along with some other music books. 

Music Books

We continue to talk about instruments and the orchestra.  Here are some recent books we have read that have guided our talks:

The Dog who sang in the Opera

Opera Cat

We read both these opera books because we just finished up studying Mozart's Magic Flute.  It was good to read these two books together and they held the interest of the children of course because of the animals.

The Bat Boy & His Violin

A good book, but a bit advanced.  We'll try this one again in a year or two.

Arturo's Baton

This was great because it was an easy reader and it was funny but it had basic concepts about the orchestra and the conductor and a few references to specific instruments.  Also a nice tie in right now because we are reading all of Syd Hoff's other books this month.

Manuelo the Playing Mantis

I am shocked I had never heard of this book before (or any of Don Freeman's other books for that matter, besides Corduroy!)  We recently discovered some of the other books Don Freeman wrote and they are excellent!  Doing some research on him, he was a musician before he started making children's books which explains why some of his books have a musical theme to them.  This book made reference to several instruments and the orchestra.  It had a nice story line and was enjoyable to read to the kids.  It also (similar to Eric Carle books) referenced several different kinds of bugs.  It was perfectly age appropriate for my kids and I would like to own this one some day!

Beethoven is now in our Home

In Which we talk about The Orchestra and begin our Composer Study...

It was this print from our Degas Study that got us started with our Music Appreciation Studies. 

We started last week with these books:

Both are on a 3rd-4th grade Reading Level but had good illustrations and several facts we were able to pick out.  I will definitely return to both these books over the years.  These books introduced us to the topic of instrument families nd also the different musical eras (Honestly, a good refresher for me!)

I found this on line and it is great:

FUN KIDS MUSIC INTERACTIVE WEB SITE

Then we read my favorite book as a review:

The kids are already familiar with this book, since we have been reading it for years, but it seemed appropriate to read again this week.  For a new spin on it, we went through the book and tried to identify which music family each of the instruments belonged to.

We started listening to a Beethoven Lives Upstairs CD at Bedtime.

This book goes well with the above CD and has nice pictures for the children to study.

 

This was a funny book, but I appreciated it and the kids found amusement with it. 

The best book we read about Beethoven (for facts at least) was a Great Names book I found at our local library: Beethoven Great Composer by Ann Carew-Miller and Vitali Konstantinov.  It had many facts interwoven into a story format.  Much of it was too advanced for the kids, but they still got a lot out of it.  I also enjoyed learning from this book. I will look for this book again to read to them in future years. 

FOR GEOGRAPHY:  We learned Beethoven was born in Germany and went to school in Austria. 

Eventually I'd like to make a timeline with all the Musical Eras and plug the Composers we know onto it.  This will be a nice history lesson.  But first we have to study several composers.  We will probably do this at the end of our school year as a review.

Tonight we will read this book:

We also discovered that our favorite TV show, Little Einsteins, has a great interactive website with preschool friendly games that teach instrument recognition.  This website is so engaging for the kids.  They love it and it gives me an instant hour off to do other things!

Our composer study will continue with Beethoven for another 2 weeks.  Then we will move on to Mozart.  We will continue to talk about the orchestra, the instruments, and all the instrument families throughout the year.  Click here to see my entire Music Education Plan.

Degas Study

In Which we study not just Art, but Geography, Science, History, Family History, and Music Appreciation...

For Art Appreciation we are doing a Picture Study.  I plan to focus on one Artist with the kids for 4-6 weeks, studying a new print each week.  We are just about done with our Degas study.  Here's what we did:

WEEK 1:

Woman with Chrysanthemums

GEOGRAPHY: We talked about Degas and where he lived (Paris) We found Paris on our map.

MINI SCIENCE LESSON:  Chrysanthemum Flower.  We looked this flower up on line and practiced pronouncing it correctly.

LITERATURE: We read this book Chrysanthemum, a fun little book that just reinforced the Chrysanthemum flower and how to pronounce it correctly.  By the end of the week, the kids were saying the name of this flower just as simply as they would say a rose or a tulip.

I understand there is a movie, based on this book, and I hope to find that at our library.

WEEK 2:

This was our print.  I waited to introduce the ballet prints until the second week because I wanted to spend the first week just talking about Degas himself.  I am glad I did because with Piglet all focus went to the ballerina and ballet.

We read this book, which I picked up at a Used Book Shop this past summer:

WEEK 3:

Our print was: At the Races.

A mini-Horse Study would have been nice here.  At the time I did not think to do anything with horses, but I am sure there are some good horse books we could have read.  Also, a field trip to go horseback riding is a good idea.  Next year, when we do this study again we will have to keep that in mind.

A quick search of Amazon showed me these items: 

I really like the idea of drawing horses and that could turn into a whole new unit of it's own.  We will definitely do more with this next time we do the Degas Study (before we repeat the study we have several other Artists to learn about).

WEEK 4 and 5:

Print of the New Orleans Cotton Mills.  Degas traveled to New Orleans to visit his brothers who worked here and painted this.

GEOGRAPHY:  We traced his voyage from France to New Orleans across Atlantic Ocean on our globe. 

FAMILY HISTORY: Aunt Sapna and Uncle Sam were married in New Orleans.  We talked about their wedding and how we went to New Orleans as a family 2 years ago.  Also talked about how this is where Katrina, the big storm was.

WEEK 5 and 6:

This print was a great intro. to our Orchestra/Composer Study, which started last week. 

I found this nice little book at our library and displayed it at home for the kids to find.  It was neat for them to flip through it because they recognized many of the prints we have studied in this book.  I did not really read the details to them, as they were not interested, but they did enjoy looking at the pictures.

This week we also watched a Degas Movie that I found at the library.  This was the movie that led to my "encounter" with the librarian.  The movie was OK.  It was a little over their heads.   I will have to rent it again as they get older.  It was a HBO movie and was pretty well done and not too long.  I enjoyed it and they got a little out of it.  Tigger got that Degas had a temper and Piglet enjoyed watching the dancers.  They also recognized some prints that we studied in Degas's studio and that was neat.

WEEK 6 (this week):

One reason I chose this print to present to the kids is because it is located at the Phillips Collection in DC.  I know we will be visiting DC sometime in the near future so this will be one piece of Art they will be able to see in a real Museum.  That is my whole goal of this Picture Study: for them to recognize works of art so they will enjoy and look forward to going to museums throughout their life.

This is what we have to look forward to this week as we finish up our Degas study:

Degas Art Activity Pack

Color Your Own Degas Paintings

I ordered these items from Amazon and they should arrive any day now.

Overall, I have really enjoyed studying Degas with the kids.  They really seemed to enjoy this study and also learned quite a bit.  I learned a lot myself.   

Our next artist to focus on will be Manet.  That will start next week.

Music for Movement, Fitness, Learning, and Play

In Which we moved to Florida and I became a Mommy and Me Teacher...

Becoming a Mommy and Me Teacher was not something I really planned.  It just sort of happened.  And I loved it.

We moved to FL when Tigger was 2 and Piglet 10 months.  This was a hard time for me.  Right next door to our condo was a brand new state of the art YMCA.

Not only did they have a pool and offer a ton of group exercise classes, they also had childcare for FREE 2 hours a day for all members so I could work out (or just sit in the lobby for 2 hours without my kids). 

So we joined.

But so did lots of other people.

And the child care room was crazy with lots of kids and not enough staff.  And Piglet was going through all kinds of separation issues and cried every time I took her there.

So I found the child care director and asked if I could apply there for a job.  I knew I was more than qualified and was pretty confident she would hire me.  I had learned that all the staff were allowed to bring their kids to work with them.  My plan was to get hired, take my kids there with me often and get them used to the environment with me right there, and then slowly back off...and eventually quit.  But in the meantime, the Y was offering a decent starting wage, flexible hours, and a FREE Family Membership to all the staff.  Not a bad deal. 

So in February of 2005, one month after I joined the YMCA, I became staff there. 

And my kids became staff kids. 

I loved the facility and the people but knew right away that the KidZone was not for me.  I needed a break from my kids, not 10 more hours a week with more kids.  Even though I was good at what I did, I knew I would burn out fast. 

So as soon as Piglet started to get comfortable (and this did take awhile...I actually even went through a phase where I wore her in a backpack so I could have both my hands free to assist other kids!) I approached my supervisor and asked if I could start teaching classes.  There was a need for kids programs and I was full of ideas.

And in mid-March of 2004 I became a Mommy and Me teacher.  I taught two different classes:

1. A 12-18 month old class (that I took Piglet to with me)

2. A 18 month- 3 year old class (that I tried to take Tigger to with me, but quickly learned he was a HUGE distraction to all the other kids)

Both classes were a hit, so I continued to teach.  And as my kids grew older, my classes changed. 

Soon I was teaching a 18 month- 3year old class and a 3-5 year old class.  No one really caught on that I always taught classes that my own kids could (in theory) come to. 

It really was the perfect set up.  I taught 2-3 classes a week, with or without my kids.  If I did not want them with me, they could go to the child care room.  I got my FREE membership so when I was not working, I was working out.  And I always had the option to earn more hours in the child care room if I wanted them.  Sometimes I would help out if Owl was gone for the week and I had nothing else to do.  Sometimes I just subbed for people to be nice.  I liked the extra little bit of money I earned, I loved the people I worked with (most of them at least) and I enjoyed everyone else who came to the Y. 

We lived there for 3 years.  We lived in a pretty small neighborhood and the Y became a truly central part of my life.  The people who attended my classes became "regulars" and since I always taught classes for my kids age group, my kids were able to develop some nice playmates.  And for three years I had the chance to see these kids grow up along side of mine.  I became friends with many of the moms and we had park, pool, and lunch dates after my classes.  I went to their kids birthday parties and they came to ours.  I joined a baby-sitting co op with some of the other moms where we watched each others kids.  It was a great place and it was very hard to leave.  The friendships I made and the support I had was so strong, I almost stayed behind when Owl said he had to go to Flight School for 6 months.  And when it was time to leave, when the movers were gone and our car was packed up, and it was time to drive to our new home, it was at the YMCA that I stopped by to say my final good byes and give a few people hugs. 

So that is how I became a Mommy and Me teacher.

And this is the music I used in my classes:

I have to say that now that I am in Pensacola I am happy to not work outside the home.  I thought about going to the local YMCA here and seeing if they needed help, but I think my Mommy and Me days are over.  They were fun while they lasted though.

Sendak Unit

MAURICE SENDAK STUDY

In addition to our October Seuss Study we have also been reading and listening to Maurice Sendak stories.

It started with the above audio recording we found at the library that we listened to in the car.  This audio, I must add, is a great addition to a Mozart study as it intertwines pieces from Mozart with the stories.  We are currently studying Beethoven, but next week we will begin studying Mozart (and I have renewed this audio recording so we will have it in our car for an additional two weeks).

Up until this point, the only Maurice Sendak I was familiar with myself was Where the Wild Things Are.

There were 8 other Maurice Sendak stories on the Audiotape we rented.  The following 7 we were able to check out of the library this month:

Outside Over There

In the Night Kitchen

Nutshell Library Collection: (Pierre, Alligators All Around, Chicken Soup with Rice, and One was Johnny)

       

The Sign on Rosie's Door

The one book we were not able to find at our library was:

Very Far Away

But at least we had the chance to listen to it.  Maybe our next library will have it when we move.  I can also keep my eyes open at Used Book Shops.  I actually would like to own all of the Maurice Sendak books (we currently have only Where the Wild Things are- a present to Tigger when he turned 1 from my friend Tina in Japan). 

This has been a real enjoyable study for all of us.  Owl remembers his mom reading him Pierre growing up.  This right here tells me these are memorable books.  Any book that you remember from your childhood has to be good, or else you would not have remembered it, right?

I checked the above book out of the library.  It is a great book of essays written by Maurice Sendak.  The first part of the book he reflects on illustrators who have influenced him over the years.  He includes Beatrix Potter, Hans Christian Anderson, Randolph Caldecott, Walt Disney, and Jean de Brunhoff (creator of Babar).  Then the second part of the book is a collection of autobiographical essays, speeches, and interviews.  I really enjoyed reading about what inspired him to create certain works.  I would highly recommend the second half of this book to anyone who loves the picture books of Maurice Sendak.

Then, finally, because our library has such a great video collection, we rented the following: Really Rosie and Where the Wild Things Are...and other Maurice Sendak stories.

What's next?

Maurice Sendak illustrated the Little Bear books, which happen to be easy readers (like Dr. Seuss) and also our library has Little Bear Audio Books.  So in November we will start a journey with Little Bear. 

I am also inspired by Maurice Sendak to study all the Babar Books sometime in the future. 

Bedtime Stories

In Which I say Goodnight to the Children and press Repeat Play and Walk Away...

We have gotten into a bedtime habit of listening to books on tape.  It started with Peter Rabbit and Jemima Puddle Duck.

This was a gift from Grandma H.  What a hit!  After about a month of listening to it every night the kids started reciting it.  We were shocked.  They had memorized the stories word for word.  Both of them.  They even had a bit of a British accent!

I know children have the capacity to memorize things and this was just proof to me that they will memorize anything we feed them with, if we feed them enough.  So I decided to continue to feed them often with good quality children's literature.  And that is how we started our Bedtime Listening.  That and the fact that our new library here has a great audio selection. 

The next selection for the children was Winnie the Pooh.

I had tried reading Winnie the Pooh to the kids myself and could not hold their attention.  It was frustrating for me so I welcomed this CD that they could listen to in the dark and fall asleep to.  Another benefit of this Audio Book is the voice of the reader.  He uses different voices for all the characters. 

After a few weeks of this we moved onto The House at Pooh Corner

A nice quality of all of the above audio books is the accompanying orchestra music.  I really enjoy listening to these stories just as much as the kids do.

We are now listening to Dr. Seuss selections which has led to an entire Seuss study.  I am working on gathering ideas now for more Seuss stuff on line.  The Seuss books are great because they are EASY READERS and Tigger can read many of the words in them (and the words he can not read he has memorized).

Of course next week we will start the The Cat in the Hat audio book (more Seuss, just some of the longer books...)

Finally, we just started a study on Beethoven so The last two nights the kids have listened to Beethoven Lives Upstairs

We throughout the day, but since I am no longer reading to the kids at bedtime, I make a point to read a story to them after dinner or during bathtime.

In Which I say Goodnight to the Children and press Repeat Play and Walk Away...

We have gotten into a bedtime habit of listening to books on tape.  It started with Peter Rabbit and Jemima Puddle Duck.

This was a gift from Grandma H.  What a hit!  After about a month of listening to it every night the kids started reciting it.  We were shocked.  They had memorized the stories word for word.  Both of them.  They even had a bit of a British accent!

I know children have the capacity to memorize things and this was just proof to me that they will memorize anything we feed them with, if we feed them enough.  So I decided to continue to feed them often with good quality children's literature.  And that is how we started our Bedtime Listening.  That and the fact that our new library here has a great audio selection. 

The next selection for the children was Winnie the Pooh.

I had tried reading Winnie the Pooh to the kids myself and could not hold their attention.  It was frustrating for me so I welcomed this CD that they could listen to in the dark and fall asleep to.  Another benefit of this Audio Book is the voice of the reader.  He uses different voices for all the characters. 

After a few weeks of this we moved onto The House at Pooh Corner

A nice quality of all of the above audio books is the accompanying orchestra music.  I really enjoy listening to these stories just as much as the kids do.

We are now listening to Dr. Seuss selections which has led to an entire Seuss study.  I am working on gathering ideas now for more Seuss stuff on line.  The Seuss books are great because they are EASY READERS and Tigger can read many of the words in them (and the words he can not read he has memorized).

Of course next week we will start the The Cat in the Hat audio book (more Seuss, just some of the longer books...)

Finally, we just started a study on Beethoven so The last two nights the kids have listened to Beethoven Lives Upstairs

We throughout the day, but since I am no longer reading to the kids at bedtime, I make a point to read a story to them after dinner or during bathtime.

My Music Education Plan

My Music Notes...

Eventually I'd like to give my kids the opportunity to pick a Musical Instrument to learn to play (if they choose), but first I want to expose them to all the Instruments and give them an understanding and appreciation for some of the great Composers and their Works.  As soon as they have the fine motor skills, I plan to start piano lessons.  I would like them to study piano for a year or two to learn the basics of reading music.  Then, they can choose another instrument of their choice. 

I have come up with a rough "plan" of what I plan to expose them to and when.  This is a work in progress, so if anyone reading this has any additional ideas (books or CDs I did not list) please mention them in the comments section.  Thanks.

Music Appreciation and Awareness PK-5

PK (age 3-6)

CDs:

Peter and the Wolf (book and CD)

      Sergei Prokofiev (Author), et al.

Carnival of the Animals (book and CD)

      Camille Saint-Saens (Author), et al.

Moving With Mozart

      W.A. Mozart

The Mozart Effect Music for Children, Volume 2: Relax, Daydream, & Draw

      Stepan Turnovsky

Jazz for Kids: Sing, Clap, Wiggle and Shake

      Various Artists

Books:

Bat Boy and His Violin by Gwin Curtis

Max Found Two Sticks by Brain Pinkney

Mole Music by David McPhail

The Philharmonic Gets Dressed by Karla Kuskin

Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin by Lloyd Moss

I know a Shy Fellow who Swallowed a Cello by Barbara S. Garriel

Meet the Orchestra by Ann Hayes

Freddie the Frog and the Thump in the Night: 1st Adventure--Treble Clef Island

Freddie the Frog and the Bass Clef Monster: 2nd Adventure Bass Clef Monster

Outings: Go see Peter and the Wolf

K-2 (ages 6-8):

Continue reading above books.

Begin Classical Composer Study- study 1 composer at a time spending about 6-8 weeks on each composer and listening only to his music during this time

1. Bach

      Bach’s Big Adventure

      Mr. Bach comes to Call

      Bach’s Goldberg Variations (CD and book)

            Anna Harwell Celenza

Cello of Mr. O by Jane Cutler

2. Mozart

      Mozart Finds a Melody by Stephen Costanza

     Mozart's Magic Fantasy

      The Magic Flute by Anne Gatti

3. Beethoven

      Beethoven Lives Upstairs (book) by Barbara Nichol and Scott   Cameron

      Beethoven Lives Upstairs (CD) by Classical Kids

      Heroic Symphony (CD and book)

            Anna Harwell Celenza

Jazz Artist Study- same as Classical Composer study- study one at a time for 6-8 weeks and find recordings of this artist to listen to as well.

Books:

Hip Cat by Jonathan London

Jazz Fly by Matthew Gollab

Charlie Parker played Be Bop by Chris Raschka

John Coltrane’s Giant Steps by Chris Raschka

1. Thelonius Monk

      Mysterious Thelonious by Chris Raschka

2. Ella Fitzgerald

      Ella Fitzgerald by Andrea Davis Pinkney

      a Tisket, a Tasket by Ella Fitzgerald

3. Duke Ellington

  Duke Ellington by Andrea Davis Pinkney

Grade 1-3:

Review previous Composers and Jazz Artists.

Review Music Families.

Start talking about Musical Eras and which one each Composer/Jazz Artist belonged to.

Start teaching kids how to read music/begin piano lessons.

Study New Composers:

1. Haydn

      Farewell Symphony (CD and book)

            Anna Harwell Celenza

2. Gershwin

      Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue (CD and book)

            Anna Harwell Celenza

3. Mussorgsky

      Pictures at an Exhibition (CD and book)

            Anna Harwell Celenza

New Jazz Artists:

?

Christmas season: Read Nutcracker by E.T.A. Hoffman and go see it if possible

Grade 2-5:

Review previous Composers and Jazz Artists.

Review Musical Eras and which one each Composer belonged to.

Introduce New Composers:

Handel

      CD: Classical Kids: Hallelujah Handel!

      Book: Hallelujah Handel by Douglas Cowling

Debussy

      Listen to: Children's Corner; Suite Bergamasque; Images

Vivaldi

       CD: Vivaldi's Ring Of Mystery- Classical Kids

Haydn

Tchaikovsky

        Tchaikovsky Discovers America- Classical Kids

Schoenberg

Gershwin

Copland

Bernstein

Mahler

Wagner

Brahms

New Jazz Artists:

?

(Any CD or Book Reccomendations the above composers for kids are appreciated!  Please leave a comment!)

Books

Review:

Story of an Orchestra: Listen While You Learn About the Instruments, the Music and the Composers Who Wrote the Music! by Robert Levine

The Story of the Incredible Orchestra

Start History of Rock and Roll Study:

Suggestions please!  Comment if you know of any good resources for kids.