Dear Parents,

These last few weeks have been upbeat and sunny for the the Indigo Primary Students, especially during work cycles and outdoor playtime.  The sun has certainly put everyone in a good space as the kids have stayed motivated and happy in general.  They all seem to have something to look forward to lately such as weekend events, school celebrations, and family vacations.  Here’s a closer look into our last weeks of the school year here at the Primary Studio…

Father’s Day Preparation & Celebration

Let’s backtrack just days before the father’s day celebration to learn just how much your kids looked forward to this event.  After such a lovely time with moms, the kids were so excited to have yet another celebration for dads.  During the week, they took turns in small groups to prepare their gifts.  Carrie set up a little work station on the floor where they used oil based markers to draw pictures on mugs for their dads.  Afterward, Carrie baked the mugs in the oven to ensure that their artwork would last a while.

On the celebration day, the kids were on their finest behavior as they were so very happy to have their dads to celebrate for.  We appreciate the moms who could fill in for any dads that couldn’t make it as we know it’s not easy for everyone to attend.  After “dougnuts with dads,” we took some photos of the children spending time with dads and moms as they browsed through library books…

Group Lessons

While we start our mornings off as an entire group, we continue to divide the students up into two smaller groups to give the kids more opportunity to participate and share.  This routine has kept their interest as we teachers switch groups every 15 minutes to ensure each child has seen various lessons from each of us.

Carrie has been going over calendar dates and times, songs, rules of the studio, reviews on material of the classroom, and games that get the kids moving.  Carrie is also teaching basic demands in sign language, having the kids take turns asking for different colored objects.  Lately, I’ve been going over new material, playing vocal warm ups on the piano for the kids to practice singing various letter sound combinations (oo,ee, ay, etc.), and lessons that often give opportunity for discussion.

Lessons on Music to Inspire Children to Get Creative 

I began a recent lesson on “how music makes us feel” with a video of classical music performed by Joshua Bell, one of the most celebrated violinists today.  Many students especially pointed out how the music made them feel at peace and how sometimes the musician himself appeared serious or sad, even.  I then read the children’s book called The Man with the Violin, a beautifully illustrated story about a child who was smitten by the music that Joshua Bell played on his violin one day in a busy subway where everyone else seemed too busy to notice the music.  This led into the discussion of how music can touch and inspire us and that perhaps kids are paying more attention to detail at times than we busy adults.  At one point, a student asked, “can we watch a video of Joshua Bell when he was a kid?”  Sure enough, Youtube saved the day with a video of Bell playing the violin as a child.  The kids were mesmerized by this young Joshua Bell video.

As you may have read in previous posts, we give occasional lessons on making music with the instruments we have in the classroom.  I have demonstrated exercises on percussion instruments to show the kids how to create their own beats (while being mindful that we must not make loud noise while others are working).  They all enjoy exploring the piano and continue to come up with their own melodies during work cycle.  Sometimes children play alone, but often times, others love to chime in to form a “music circle.”

Below, Daniel observes the piano as another child practices playing.

Lesson on Poverty 

Every year, I eventually lead up to encouraging deeper and more thoughtful conversations in my small groups, especially after the kids have been practicing new words to communicate their feelings.  I always try to hit a few topics on global awareness having to do children in the world who are not as privileged as we have it.  If you have any curiosity or concerns on my approach to bringing such awareness to your little ones, I have included an explanation in my article, “Poverty & Education,” also located under the “Extra Extra” section on the home page.

End of the Year Activities

While the kids are mentally preparing for summer, we realize that they too need some “downtime” as we’ve had them pretty busy with works this year.  So far this week, the kids have have enjoyed a very large circle time gathering with the 2’s class as we sang songs together, followed by an episode of Sid the Science Kid.  We have also been working on some fun art activities that don’t seem like work as we walk them through instructions that require good listening ears.  You will have a better idea of what I mean by this when we send the art home later this week…

Thank you all for a wonderful year!  We hope to see many of you on the last day of school this Friday.  Just FYI, I have so many more photos of your children that I wish I could include, but I have to be selective on the blog, so let me know if you would like to see more as I would be happy to share them with you.  Thanks again for all of the love and support this year. Endless gratitude!  Have a great summer and please stay in touch!

Last but never least, some photos of the kids during work cycle…

Luke’s Celebration of Life

Daniel’s Celebration of Life