Mostly Music

TUNING UP: The kids had quite a lot of music homework this morning. First, they had to draw a picture of a scene they remembered from a Native American "Raven trickster" story told to them by Miss Nancy the week before Christmas. (Mercifully, they had no trouble recalling the story and coming up with something.)
Next, they had some new note pattern cards. They had to look at those patterns and find them in a song they're learning ("When the Train Comes Along"). Then, they copied those note cards onto lined paper and transcribed the entire song to to staff paper.

DVD-DISCOVERY: While rooting 'round looking for a video game, the kids came across a DVD from their childhood (I know, I know, they're still children ...) which they haven't seen in years. It was a collection of music videos by Laurie Berkner . They were both very eager to watch it, so I pushed of some things that could wait and let them do just that.

They sang and danced and jumped (on the trampoline) for about 40 fun minutes of time well spent.

ROARING '20s: Around midday I got an email from a friend who knows I enjoy doing research. She was hoping to find info on some Guy Lombardo recordings from the 1920s, as her uncle was a part of his band then.

I told her the first place I would start would be YouTube, where music lovers post all sorts of stuff - including, as it turns out, Lombardo recordings from the 1920s. I had Lombardo's "Coquette" from 1928 streaming through the speakers when Annabelle said, "I like that music. It sounds like it would be in 'Steamboat Willie.' "

I told her I thought she was right - and we were surprised to find out that Steamboat Willie was also from 1928. How 'bout that?

We spent some time listening to a few other old time-y songs of the same decade, including the catchy "Hi Diddle Diddle" recorded by the Charley Straight Orchestra in 1926.

Gosh it's so great to have YouTube giving us access to all this good ol' stuff!
CALENDAR CREATURE: This morning we got a link to the very cool Curiosity Calendar of the Month Web site (thanks, Undine!) Via the site, you can download a super cute PDF that allows you to craft a desktop calendar. (Cool - a craft project and a calendar all in one!)

The kids just loved the adorable Yeti that is this month's project.
The Curiosity Calendar is brought to us by the Curiosity Group, a Portland, Ore.-based marketing agency.


The PDF we printed out was two pages - the first page included instructions and a cute poem the kids loved. They kept reciting it all night long:

The once was a cat-loving Yeti
Whose favorite dish was spaghetti
'Til he went to Nantucket
And looked in a bucket
And saw ice cream topped with confetti.

I loved the poem because it gave me a chance to talk to them about Limericks! :)


The yeti involved a LOT of precision cutting. CJ wanted to call it quits several times, but you know I wasn't about to let that happen.


He soldiered through and both kids were thrilled with their resulting desktop decorations. BACK TO THE MAT: After missing last week, we were back to yoga this afternoon. The kids' regular teacher was back from her Christmas holiday, and they were happy to see her. There was a new student in class today - another boy. I think it's the first time he hasn't been the only dude in the class. ...