You must have been a beautiful baby

KinderMusik with Teacher Jeannie - 38, originally uploaded by Our Awesome Planet.

Yvette and I were talking today about simple ways to get permissions from families to blog or post pictures of their children from class.

As you all get more comfortable and adept at using video--and I can see that you are--you could incorporate a photo release form into your registration process.

Why?

Build community. Through photos, images, and videos you can create a virtual Kindermusik community online as families come back to see the class experience through a different lens.

Get your families involved. Something about being a parent brings out the photographer in everyone. Though some families are still cautious about posting their child's pictures online (a request that should always be respected) other families are more than happy to share. See if they'd be willing to flex some creative talents in your classroom.

Link to their flickr or online photo albums. If your families have flickr accounts, ask if you can feature some family photos.

Smart marketing. If a picture says 1,000 words, photos of your families having fun in class will say more than any Web site can.

Choose wisely. Post pictures with a little style, humor, or flair, and it will show how serious you are about putting music and children in the best possible light.

While we're talking about videos ...

Miss Sunny, you have utterly amazed me, once again. Watch a video of her parents talking about her Kindermusik program.

Here's how she did it, in her words:

I'm so very excited to share with you that Musik & Motion website now features an in-house video of our very own Kindermusik families in action. In working with Chris Stone (a genius in video editing and story crafting) and Pat Kuske (ditto for cinematography)-- these two amazing and talented people have skillfully and visually captured a bit of what goes on in the Kindermusik class at Musik & Motion in a 5 minute 38 second video. Chris and Pat are consummate professionals, extremely personable, dependable, and willing to go the extra mile for you. I hope to be able to work on future projects with both of them again! Kindermusik families, thank you for generously offering and bravely sharing your testimonials on camera after class. Each of your testimonials whether on/off camera, written or verbal mean oh, so much to me, and I appreciate every word of it!And Kindermusik educators out there, if you're looking to create a video for your program, please don't hesitate to contact me or Chris. Ditto for any businesses, schools or non-profit organizations looking to capture your mission and story on camera.

Yvette's Viral FOL

Yvette took a short video of herself, explaining the importance of attaching positive emotions to early learning experiences. Now it's a visual, viral FOL that parents can share with each other online.

Brilliant. She must be a Kindermusik Educator.

Made me think

This would be a great idea for a mini-video of your Kindermusik students--talking about what they've done in Kindermusik. Makes me think Pinko.

Stella's Dance

I moved around alot growing up. Best, best, bestest friends were hard to come by. Scratch that. Bestest friends are hard to come by even if you live in the same town all your life.

We were b/f in 7th grade, and Rachel and I lost touch somewhere around junior year. I changed schools. She got a boyfriend. We drifted.

Years later, sometime in February 2005, I'd heard that Rachel's husband--and father to Rachel's 1-year-old daughter, Stella--had died in his sleep. Within a few weeks I'd bought a plane ticket to Verona, WI, and met up with Rachel again. We didn't skip a beat. All those years had disappeared. And we laughed and grieved over 1,000 things.

At the time, Rachel was frustrated that she couldn't find any books to help her daughter deal with her grief. So. She wrote her own.

Now available online, and in your Barnes & Noble, and Borders book stores. If not available, ask them to order it and perhaps the store will consider carrying the book.
Stella's Dance.
Rachel and Stella's story in The Capital Times.

Remember this little one?

It's still true today. Thank you.

What's on your mind?

"According to neuroscience and child development research, brain development proceeds at a faster pace between conception and the first day of kindergarten than during any subsequent stage of life. In the early years, basic capacities such as trust, self-confidence, empathy, and curiosity are established. How people think, learn, reason, and relate to others throughout their lives is rooted in their early relationships, experiences, and environments."

Common Vision, Different Paths: Five States' Journeys toward Comprehensive Prenatal-to-Five Systems"

One clarification: Research like this isn't meant to crank up the guilt factor for parents. It's meant to inform the people who are making the the public policy and academic decisions that will affect children who don't have immediate access to a loving, nurturing environment.

Do books still matter?

What Makes a Shadow, originally uploaded by xtinalamb.

"We’re just not going to be reading for text anymore,” said Saveri, the Institute for the Future researcher. “We’re going to be ‘reading’ for movies, graphics, images, digital stories, symbols,” she says. “You may say young people aren’t reading the classics, but 20 years from now, there might be some classic multimedia pieces with video, with hyperlinks. That’s the new edge of literacy.”

Saveri suggests parents blog with their kids, make a YouTube video, jump into the new media - and take books along. “We’ve got to get over our nostalgia,” she says. “Denying your child a rich media world is doing your child a disservice.”

Do books still matter?

Super Silver Snowflake

Step-by-step instructions here. Thank you swissmiss.

South Korea's singing highway can save you

Can you name that tune? Watch the abc news clip here.

Via neatorama.

Hopscotch-like music game

instructions, originally uploaded by Zombie37.

Does anyone know how to play this?

Lookybook

Lookybook lets you flip through the online pages and find out if it'll be favorite before you buy online.

Thanks swissmiss.

Myths and facts about raising an only child

don't you love those little feet?, originally uploaded by :: e r i k a ::.

Myth: Only children are aggressive and bossy.

Fact: Only children learn quickly that attempting to run the show, a ploy that they may get away with at home, doesn’t work with friends and a bossy, aggressive attitude is a quick ticket to ostracism from the group. Lacking siblings, only children want to be included and well liked.

Myth: Only children prefer more solitary, non-competitive amusements because they are alone a great deal of the time.

Fact: This preference has more to do with social class than family size. The interests in these amusements stem from parental values and the home environment of middle- and upper-middle class families, which are more likely to have a single child…

Myth: Only children are spoiled.

Fact: Being spoiled is a reflection of our society. The Chinese feared they were raising a generation of “little emperors” when their only child policy was in effect. Looking back 20 years later they found the only children were not particularly spoiled and found no difference in only children’s relationships with friends when studied with children who had siblings.

Myth: Only children are selfish.

Fact: Every child at one time or another believes the world revolves around him…

Myth: Only children must have their way.

Fact: Children with siblings often have more “who’s the boss” difficulties because they are constantly forced to share toys, television times, and parents…

Myth: Only children are dependent.

Fact: Because of adult guidance and lack of siblings to lean on, only children are more self-reliant and independent than those who have brothers and sisters to fend for them.

Myth: Only children become too mature too quickly.

Fact: Children with siblings relate and talk to their siblings rather than their parents. The only child’s primary role models are parents. The result is that only children copy adult behavior as well as adult speech patterns and develop good reasoning skills early on making them better equipped to handle the ups and downs of growing up. A good thing, for sure…

Source: Modern Mom, CA
http://www.modernmom.com/content/2875/2/

Edukey

The balancing act of early education

circus, originally uploaded by udronotto.

"Journalists have written quite a bit about the phenomena of affluent parents willing to do just about anything to give their kids an edge.

"Cloaking consumerism in pseudo-science that makes natural development seem to depend on the right toys--rather than just loving, talking to, reading to, and playing with your children--helps fuel this unfortunate parental instinct. This impulse among some parents creates business opportunities and it's no surprise companies are out there capitalizing on them.

"Sometimes the universal pre-kindergarten movement overemphasizes education, as well, causing opponents to complain that schooling is more important than just fostering normal, healthy development.

"These issues are worth more critical attention, I think."

Early Ed Coverage

Women In Art

Thank you Jeanne.

Shel Silverstein

I was wandering around Mollie Greene's world and found a link to this Shel Silverstein Web site. That's also when I wandered into this embroidered world on flickr.

First, leave the guitar case open.

Six Business Lessons I Learned as a Street Musician.

The one in the middle is getting married Saturday

What do you s'pose they're singing?

You'll have to read the blog to find out: Musical Notes by Grow & Sing Studios.

Girl with Glockenspiel

Welcoming a new Kindermusik blogger to the blogroll, Launa Hall.

"I feel like I’ve finally found the work I should be doing."