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Here you can find all the information for the classes each week! 
Select the class your child is in to see all the posts so far for your class!


Sand 
& Sea
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Pink 
Piggies
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Blue
Bugs
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Yellow
Arrows1710465964564.png
Orange
Roots

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Bridge

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Sand and Sea #5

Friday, July 4, 2025 | Sand and Sea Lessons

Lesson #5


It’s so fun as we get to know our songs better so we can play our activities! Thank you for listening to the music and playing!

Just a reminder, if you cannot come to class, please just text me and let me know!

Music has been used for many purposes throughout history. In addition to work songs that helped pass the time (like Lukey's Boat), music has been used to express joy in celebration, influence social change, express religious devotion, and connect communities.

Please text and let me know one thing that your child remembered about music class that surprised you!

Next class we'll sing these songs:


  • A, You're Adorable
  • Over the Deep Blue Sea
  • Major Scale
  • Instrument Listening (Steel Drum, Ukulele, Sand Blocks, Fish Guiro)
  • Waves On the Sand
  • Bickle Bockle
  • In My Class I Have Some Bells
  • Over In the Meadow
  • Lukey's Boat
  • Baby Shark
  • Three Little Fishies
  • Pearly Shells



The Sound Beginnings tagline is “education through musical PLAY” for a reason! Yes, we are strengthening the bonds between you and your children, and we are having a ton of fun, but your children are learning as they play! They are learning preschool skills AND music skills! The first form of learning happens when children recognize something. Then they repeat something. Then comes the understanding and connecting to various other things in their lives. It’s such a magical process – and it’s different for everyone! Be patient if your child is not exhibiting what others are doing – they are on their own timeline, and if YOU continue LOVE and PLAY, it is guaranteed to work!


Echo Edie helps children discover their head voice (or upper vocal range). Practicing this skill helps train and strengthen the voice, and is an early step to learning to sing in tune. You can use page 12 of your workbook to play even more at home!


Optional home fun activity: Hunt for the sea creatures on page 16 of your workbook. (Remember, these activities are optional but can be a great bonding experience to do with your child during the week.)


Learning various languages not only opens your child’s mind to different sounds, but also helps them identify similarities and differences between people – this is a good thing! Want to learn how to say the names of some sea creatures in Spanish? Watch this video!


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Sound Beginnings is education through musical play! It prepares children for success in Kindergarten and Let’s Play Music. Sound beginnings provides research-based elements that stimulate growth in the areas particularly crucial to the development of the young child. These elements make up the foundation of the Sound Beginnings curriculum.  Here is just one:
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Our classes teach intelligent llistening and understanding of classical form in a fun and interactive way. Each semester we study the timbre (tam'-ber) of various instruments and our 'smart moves' dances involve the whole body in an enjoyable, classical music experience.

Sand and Sea #4

Friday, June 27, 2025 | Sand and Sea Lessons

Lesson #4


Your kids are "A" adorable and I love each of them! One of the most important things I learned from Sound Beginnings was how to play with my own kids! Eye contact, physical touch (holding hands, hugs, patting, etc.), and telling your child you love playing with them shows them how much you love them! 


Attaching a physical action to the alphabet letters (like in our song A, You're Adorable) improves fine motor skills. It also forces the brain to multi-task, and processing this extra information increases its ability to recall letter names and sounds! 


I would like to know who is reading this newsletter. Please text to let me know what song your child has requested to be played again most often!


Next class we'll sing these songs:


  • ABC Song
  • Over the Deep Blue Sea
  • Five Little Sandcastles
  • Instrument Listening (Steel Drum, Ukulele, Sand Blocks, Fish Guiro)
  • Major Scale
  • Aquarium
  • Three Little Fishies
  • Lukey's Boat
  • Charlie Over the Ocean
  • Pearly Shells



Learning about different types of instruments is not only fun, but it helps the kids be aware of many different types of sounds. Their ears will be able to pick out and identify sounds and rhythms – even when they are all together! Your child may even have a favorite instrument sound! Or maybe they will enjoy playing a certain kind of instrument. We experiment with many types of simple percussion instruments in many different ways to not only practice coordination with our hands, but introduce many types of sounds that can be made with the same instrument!


The interval between the pitches of SOL and MI occurs naturally in singing and calling. This makes it a perfect place to start when learning to sing in tune! A terrific example of this is our song Bickle Bockle.


Optional home fun activity: Match up the numbers and animals on page 13 of your workbook and play simple counting games. (Remember, these activities are optional but can be a great bonding experience to do with your child during the week.)


Here's a band playing steel drums, and here's a quick demonstration of a fish guiro.


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Sound Beginnings is education through musical play! It prepares children for success in Kindergarten and Let’s Play Music. Sound beginnings provides research-based elements that stimulate growth in the areas particularly crucial to the development of the young child. These elements make up the foundation of the Sound Beginnings curriculum.  Here is just one:
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Little hands need to be strong in order to perform life and learning skills such as dressing oneself and writing. In class, students gain finger dexterity and hand strength as they participate in finger plays to favorite nursery rhymes and manipulate tactile props and instruments.

Sand and Sea #3

Friday, June 20, 2025 | Sand and Sea Lessons

Lesson #3


It is so fun playing with you and your child(ren) in class! It usually takes the kids (and sometimes you) a few lessons to get the feel for class and relax and fully participate. The more you listen to the music at home and familiarize your children with it, the more they will enjoy class and grow in their musical skills! 


If you have any problems accessing the music, please let me know! Use the lyrics printed in the front of the book if you’d like extra guidance on words.


Please reply and let me know one thing you and your child(ren) have done with your scarf that you've enjoyed at home! 

Next class we'll sing these songs:

  • ABC Song
  • A, You're Adorable
  • Bickle Bockle
  • Instrument Listening (Steel Drum, Ukulele, Sand Blocks, Fish Guiro)
  • Waves on the Sand
  • Over in the Meadow
  • Three Little Fishies
  • Baby Shark
  • Charlie Over the Ocean
  • Lukey's Boat



We are practicing more than just music in our Sand and Sea class! Preschool skills such as taking turns, name recognition, following instructions, and taking care of our supplies are all skills we used today! We also used a lot of vocal play and echoing today (listening skills), along with keeping the beat (did you feel the subdivision we are doing? This uses the math side of our brain and prepares it for future learning!), and imagining the waves with our blue scarves and ocean life (strengthens our creativity and problem solving skills)! 


Helping children identify their feelings (like in Over the Deep Blue Sea) promotes healthy emotional development. When they learn to label emotions in themselves and others, they are better able to respond to strong emotions in healthy ways.


Smart Moves dances (like our Sea Diver's Dance) allow children to use their whole body to interact with the musical elements in a classical piece of music.


Optional home fun activity: Color the "Sea Diver's Dance" on page 15 of your workbook. You can hold a paper on each side of the bell if you'd like to help them to color in the lines. (Remember, these activities are optional but can be a great bonding experience to do with your child during the week.)

Watch this amazing family perform “Aquarium” by Camille Saint-Saens. Or watch this educational video with real sea creatures while you color!

Wasn’t it fun to try out some Hawaiian dancing with our hands and tell your child how much you love them this way? Watch this clip to play at home! (Our version is a bit simpler!)

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Sound Beginnings is education through musical play! It prepares children for success in Kindergarten and Let’s Play Music. Sound beginnings provides research-based elements that stimulate growth in the areas particularly crucial to the development of the young child. These elements make up the foundation of the Sound Beginnings curriculum.  Here is just one:
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In class we experience steady beat and imitate rhythmic patterns with our voices, bodies, and through hands-on use of instruments. We incorporate Eurythmics, which is movement-based rhythm training that is perfect for toddlers!

Sand and Sea #2

Friday, June 13, 2025 | Sand and Sea Lessons

Lesson #2


It’s so fun to see all of you playing with your little ones in class!


Please remember to LISTEN to the music and PLAY with your children at home – in class I teach you fun ways to play at home!  Young children need to hear these songs about 100 times - keep it PLAYing!

I would like to know who is reading this newsletter. Please text to let me know what your child's favorite activity is so far!

Next class we'll sing these songs:


  • Name, Name, What's Your Name?
  • A, You're Adorable
  • Over the Deep Blue Sea
  • Five Little Sandcastles
  • Bickle Bockle
  • In My Class I Have Some Bells
  • Charlie Over the Ocean
  • Lukey's Boat
  • Aquarium
  • Pearly Shells



Children’s ears begin forming in the womb. As fetuses, they are capable of identifying their native (most spoken) language, tones, vowel sounds, and syllables. As newborns, they can segregate and recognize tones, detect beats, and recognize and process sounds. Their ears and voices continue to grow throughout their life, but the greatest growth occurs during the formative years between 0-8 (we call this the music window and is the reason for Sound Beginnings/Let’s Play Music!). If you’d like more information, listen to our LPM podcast: Music in Utero with Dr. Krystal McCoy.


Call and response songs (like Charlie Over the Ocean) allow children to imitate short patterns and song fragments which helps them learn to sing with accurate pitch.


Besides being fun to use, dancing scarves promote self expression, full body movement, coordination, and imagination in young children.


Optional home fun activity: Color your bells on page 7 of your workbook. You can hold a paper on each side of the bell if you'd like to help them to color in the lines. (Remember, these activities are optional but can be a great bonding experience to do with your child during the week.)

          

Did you know that you have tone bells on your LPM app? Just click the note icon in the bottom left corner. Be sure your volume is up and your phone isn't set to "Silent Mode" (if you have an iPhone). Try it on a tablet if you have one!


Please let me know if you have any questions about accessing this awesome feature!


7_elements_line.gif
Sound Beginnings is education through musical play! It prepares children for success in Kindergarten and Let’s Play Music. Sound beginnings provides research-based elements that stimulate growth in the areas particularly crucial to the development of the young child. These elements make up the foundation of the Sound Beginnings curriculum.  Here is just one:
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Sound Beginnings channels the young voice into beautiful, in-tune singing by providing proper vocal modeling in the correct range. Solfege hand signs teach pitch relationships; the minor 3rd (SOL-MI) pattern is used to develop in-tune singing and pitch matching.

Sand and Sea #1

Friday, June 6, 2025 | Sand and Sea Lessons

Lesson #1


What a great first day of Sand and Sea! I hope you and your child had as much fun in class as I did! Here are a few reminders that will help you get the most out of our time together in class:

  • Bring your workbook and scarf to every class.
  • If your child is disrupting the class please take them to the hallway for a little break. 
  • Please turn off your cell phone during class and focus on your child.
  • Please be sure to download and listen to your music often. The kids always have more fun in class if the music is familiar to them! You can do it on your Yoto Player if you have one!
  • Feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns you may have throughout the semester. (Texting is best.)myzelleqrcode.png


Tuition is due today and is $90 if you have one child and $110 if you have more than one. You can pay via Zelle using my phone number (preferred because I don't have to pay fees), or pay via Venmo @musikandme.


I will be posting a blog-style newsletter for this class after each lesson. 
Just so I know you read this post, please reply and let me know what your child's favorite song is so far! Or you can let me know which of the following videos you found the most helpful for you. If you have a child under 2, please watch the baby videos (below) for ideas of how to participate with your child during class. 


Our 7 foundational elements are proven to aid in a child’s development. We will incorporate most, if not all, in each of our Sound Beginnings classes! I encourage you to read through the "Parent Page" in your book more thoroughly at home.


What songs should you listen to at home? I'll let you know here in case you want to be ready with the ones we'll use next class. The more familiar you and your child are with the songs, the more fun you will have in class! Next class we'll sing these songs:


  • Name, Name, What's Your Name?
  • ABC Song
  • Over the Deep Blue Sea
  • In My Class I Have Some Bells
  • Bickle Bockle
  • Charlie Over the Ocean
  • Over In the Meadow
  • Baby Shark
  • Waves On the Sand
  • Aquarium



Besides musical skills, Sound Beginnings also introduces children to kindergarten concepts such as name recognition, letters and numbers, and literacy skills. Among other concepts, the Sand and Sea semester will specifically focus on letters/sounds, sea animals, counting, and feelings.


We will use tone bells in class to introduce children to important musical concepts. Using them with solfege syllables and hand signs will help to build an understanding of pitch relationships.


Optional home fun activity: Do the Name Recognition activity on page 3 of your workbook. (Remember, these activities are optional but can be a great bonding experience to do with your child during the week.)

            

Now that you know more about what to expect in class, here is a video that will help you to know what Sound Beginnings is all about and how it will benefit your child. This was created by another teacher and she was generous enough to share it! (Where it talks about Instrument Day on lesson #15, we will be doing it on lesson #8 for this shorter session!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=qgaNL1HOMOI


Here is a video that will give you ideas for how to participate during class. This was created by another teacher who was generous enough to share it! https://youtu.be/IxZrTdk0pVk


Here are some quick videos for specific ways you can participate with your BABY in class!

Baby - positions: https://youtu.be/8nyS_nQlpE0

Baby - tapping: https://youtu.be/BLTrFKg-qRs

Baby - moving: https://youtu.be/F0_ME4fGTrU

Baby - instruments: https://youtu.be/HjThTkKdmQo


7_elements_line.gif
Sound Beginnings is education through musical play! It prepares children for success in Kindergarten and Let’s Play Music. Sound beginnings provides research-based elements that stimulate growth in the areas particularly crucial to the development of the young child. These elements make up the foundation of the Sound Beginnings curriculum.  Here is just one:
A child learns when he or she feels loved. In class, purposeful touching, eye contact, partner activities, and generational nostalgia help develop the all-important parent/child relationship.