Lesson3: Flight Training

Hey Parents!
MUSICBYTES 31. Lesson overview2. Homework3. Yellowcat Publishing website4. Free piano5. Dress up for next lesson!

OVERVIEW"Flight Training with Blue Fairy". See Chapter 4 in the storybook, blue pages. Learn the Flight Rules: Note, Key Finger (NKF)
Which note is on the music sheet?
Which key is it on the piano?
Which finger should I use?

We started with a game of CAT Bingo to review the note values. I was quite impressed that the kids could recognize a whole note, half note and pick out the dot to make three beats. Plus the eighth note pairs and quarter notes. They're good at picking out the Caves and Castles, and also Cat, Dragon and Giant etc on the coloured keyboard I have for the Musicland Game.

HOME ASSIGNMENT
1) Trace the child's hands on the back of the book and date it. LabelUP hand for the right hand and DOWN for the left hand. Number thefingers 1 for thumb through to 5 for pinky. Sing the song, "Where isThumpkin" and wiggle the fingers.

2) Keep playing "Pancakes" on the two black key caves, and "PumpkinPie" on the three black key castles. Practice this as a structured activity. For free play, let them play any combination of black keysonly (it may sound "Chinese").* Remember to keep the hand in a gentle formation, like you're holdinga soap bubble. The little finger joints shall be strong.

3) Practise the song Flying High in the activity book, blue pages.Follow the instructions, perhaps an adult could play the other songsin the section too following the characters in the story.. This is an intro to note reading.

4) Review the Blue Fairy Flight Rules - NKF (see above).

YELLOWCAT PUBLISHING
http://www.yellowcatpublishing.com/product_details.cfm?id=36&cid=5 Yan had asked me about the Musicland Keyboard game we were playing. Here it is online from the Yellowcat store. If you are interested inthat or anything else, perhaps you can let me know and we can do agroup order because shipping from the USA is very expensive.

FREE PIANO
My co-worker is offering his 100 year old Heintzman piano, includingfree delivery (really?). I have some reservations about older pianos,but I haven't seen this one, and Heintzman is supposed to be a goodCanadian built brand. It is an upright piano. Please let me know ifyou are interested or if you know someone who is, ASAP. He got it forfree so he wanted to give it for free too.

DRESSUP
It's October 27 but maybe the kids will enjoy a bit of dressup astheir favorite musicland character, even if it is not in the exactcolour. For example, if I can convince Maggie to dressup as agreen/Purple Dragon or Red Giant ladybug, that would be cute.

Please remember to bring the Activity Book and Trace and Play book.
Deborah