“Good afternoon Kindergarten!”  “Good afternoon Princess Belle!”  “Say good afternoon to Mrs. Bush.”  “Good afternoon Queen Bush!”.  One of my Kindergarten classes has decided to give us titles.  My student teacher, Miss Bell, has been referred to as Princess Belle from Beauty and the Beast, with a lot of my older students even spelling her name that way.  So, when greeting students a few weeks ago, this particular class decided to greet her with a title.  Feeling bad because she had one and I didn’t, I was then conferred with the title “Queen”, as is appropriate since my room is my kingdom.

Just for fun, I decided to write down things the kids blurted out at the beginning of class and during their first activity.  It went something like this.

I’m so tired.

I’m a bat.  I can make bat sounds cause I watched Diego.  (This little girl had her coat on with the hood up and holding out the coat like wings).

I wrote a music note on my hand.

Everybody looks like they’re bowing to you!

I learned it at Little Kingdom.  (a song we were introducing to the class).

I have gloves on. (A little girl kept her gloves and was trying to play the game where you have to hold an object)

I need a high five.

Can I tell you a question?

I haven’t got to be in the middle.

You have to close your eyes. ( for our listening game – telling other kids what to do.  It happens a LOT : )

Their teeth are poisonous for rattlesnakes. (Movement for game slithering like snakes).

Of course, among the blurting is the usual “I have to go potty” or “can I get a drink?” or “I need a tissue” or “can you tie my shoes?”.  These little people depend on us and want to share everything with us.  My room is a place for fun, creativity, play and LEARNING!  Most of them are comfortable with the routine, the space and look forward to new things.  It’s home. While we learn music, we learn about sharing, kindness, cooperation, responsibility, and respectfulness.  Do they do those things well all the time?  No, but that’s why we’re LEARNING.  Speaking of learning, despite the blurting and distractions, here’s what they learned:  singing alone and with others, matching pitches, working on large motor skills, and steady beats.  The foundational skills that bring out the musician we all have inside of us.

Parents will come to me during parent teacher conferences and tell me that their child enjoys music or has fun in music.  They also have questions about what they are learning and how things are assessed.  So the other night, the specialists invited parents to come to our rooms in a rotation and be the students in our classes.  I wish you could have seen their faces when I told them what we were going to do.  I was told later that it made them a little uncomfortable, but to their credit, they each tried things I asked them to do.

Because singing tends to be the thing parents THINK they understand but actually know the least about, that’s what I decided to focus on.  So, we started with quick kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade lessons where we not only focused on singing certain pitches but also played instruments on steady beats and played a game working on individual steady beats.   The moms in the group were pretty enthusiastic to try but the dads on the other hand were really uncomfortable, one of them actually wrapping his arms around his legs while sitting on the floor and putting his head down. Much like his son actually, and it explained a lot to me as a teacher. The great thing was that some of these parents brought their students with them and they did the activities as well.  As I listened to everyone individually, I was able to explain how listening had a huge effect on how well we matched pitch and I was able to help the kids especially adjust their pitches to match mine.  The looks on parents’ faces said it all.  The kids not only sang by themselves for me but also tried to make the adjustments I asked for if they had some difficulty.  There was much encouragement and we applauded every improvement. In the process, we actually found out that more often than not, the dads matched pitch pretty well but just really needed encouragement in terms of believing in themselves.

It does upset me a bit that somewhere along the line, someone either told these people that they couldn’t sing, or didn’t give them strategies or techniques to improve how they matched pitch.  And because they mistakenly believe that singing is a talent, not a skill, and that talents (or lack of) can be passed on to their children, they give their children excuses as to why they can’t or won’t be able to sing.  It brings back bad memories for some adults and causes some to not take our subject seriously.

You see, just like my kindergartners who believe we are in a fairy tale kingdom with a Princess and a Queen, they also believe I can help them sing because someone hasn’t told them yet that they can’t.  So I have my work cut out for me, waving my magic wand to help these kids believe in themselves enough to master the skills and experience a world of beauty and magic that will last them a lifetime.  Whether or not they choose to pursue it later as a career or a hobby or just become an aficionado of the art form, this Queen believes in them and what they can do.