Transitional Ages: Nearing 5

0 CommentsSaturday • March 20, 2010 • by admin

Should I enroll my child in Imagine That or Young Child?

Kindermusik for the Young Child realizes the developmental leap to school-age child. Musically, it is the culmination of all that has come before; in addition to movement, instrumental play, singing, and creating, Young Child students begin to learn musical notation (note and rhythmic), and begin learning to play a melody instrument, the glockenspiel. We strongly recommend that the step to Kindermusik for the Young Child be made by children who are entering Kindergarten, rather than those who are still in preschool. If your child has an early Fall birthday that falls after the school cutoff or you have elected to wait for the following year to begin school, consider the following guideposts when choosing to begin Young Child or remain in Imagine That.

The child ready for Kindermusik for the Young Child will exhibit the following characteristics:

Physical

• Can jump forward many times in a row, hops, gallops, is learning to skip
• Has good fine motor control – reproduces shapes and letters, enjoys puzzles, games, drawing

Cognitive

• Eager to learn and developing self-motivation – can work independently for short periods towards a set goal
• Has developed classification skills (i.e. can sort things that have a single common feature) and can sort by size, color and form
• Counts to 20; recognizes numerals 1-10
• Engages in dramatic play that is close to reality
• Has basic pre-reading skills; understands that writing moves from right to left and from the top of the page down
• Has good abstract thinking skills – can answer questions such as “How do you think a composer can make music sound like birds?”

Emotional

• Impulse control is emerging and developing
• Exhibits self-confidence and reliability
• Sense of right and wrong is growing
• Beginning to see things from another’s perspective
• Developing self-motivation – can work independently for short periods towards a set goal

Language

• Speech is nearly 100 percent intelligible (exceptions may include children with hearing and language delays)
• Uses grammar correctly (i.e. past and future tense)

Social

• Enjoys friendships and group activities
• Shares, takes turns, plays cooperatively
• Is affectionate and caring
• Follows directions reliably, can participate in an activity with groups doing different things simultaneously

Musical

• Sings a whole song
• Beginning to match pitches consistently
• Developing ability to match to group steady beat
• Is ready to begin understanding concepts of practice, proper handling of an instrument, and playing a tune as opposed to exploring ways of creating sound on an instrument

If after reviewing the characteristics on this page, you feel your child is really too old for Imagine That! but not quite ready for Young Child, we recommend that you consider enrolling your child in ABC Music & Me. Periodically we are offer ABC Music & Me as a transitional class for the child who is ready or nearly ready to start the Young Child program now. The ABC Music & Me classes cover many of the same concepts as the Young Child program without being cumulative in nature, which allows it to serve as a perfect preparation for the next step of musical study, whether it be Young Child Semester 1 in the Fall or private lessons. Please contact us if you have questions.

Posted in: Footer