Camp has been amazing this week. We have tried out the flute, recorder, piano & violin. The children have enjoyed playing music circle games, making the Grass Heads and going to the playground after lunch.
After lunch on the playground
Ifshin Violin Today
Today the children were taught about violins, violas, cellos & double bass by Debbie at Ifshin Violin. We had a great time and learned a lot. Arin even promised Debbie that he would return to play his violin and guitar for her and he noted that both instruments have cases which Debbie was happy to hear : )
Session IV has started!!!
The children in session IV have been having an amazing time in camp so far as we made Grass heads (notice the one in the middle is 6 weeks old from Session I).
The children have been taking care of the chickens this week and today we collected two eggs from the hen house (not the nest boxes where they are supposed to be.)
Extended care always features something special and on Monday - Arin enjoyed a Cotton Candy flavored ice cream treat. Doesn't he look happy? I guess ice cream does that!!
Ifshin Violin - scroll down to see pictures near the end of this blog.
Session III Finale: Every Day Is Earth Day
Wow! What an amazing summer I am having because of the wonderful children who are coming to summer music camps. Tonight we had the final performance for the parents & families of the Teresa Jennings musical about Earth Day. It was amazing. All of the children did a great job. I have to say special "WOWs" to Henry and his imitation of a principal. It was a surprise to even me as he took it up a complete notch in creativity. I hope someone taped his principal dance during The Green Blues - it was priceless. I really enjoyed the creativity of the children as they added many special elements tonight. Emma as Mother Earth was really great and her creative ending to be in a tree at the end was great. Miranda was outstanding as one of the teachers - her singing is always incredible. Isabel & Ruth did a great routine for the Three Bees - Bike, Bus & BART - not bumble bees. Tyler, Cole, Stella, Bijou & Kira all made their acting debuts and it was a special moment for me to see that they remembered all their lines and sang so beautifully. It was also great to have Kai & Jasper come up with so many creative ideas such as Kai hanging from the tree during lines & songs and then Jasper shared his amazing dancing abilities with us in the show. Special thank you to Sako who just starred as Baloo in The Jungle Book KIDS (our session II musical) and then came back to be an incredible leader in the Earth Day musical. I always love Sako's creative costumes she invents and her ideas of narrating from the tree were priceless. I laughed a lot, so the casts' sense of humor was really outstanding and then I cried a bit during the moving songs. Thank you children and families for an amazing two weeks.
The children were so lucky to have Kai's Mom Deirdre teach them about the different kinds of tie dying today. The children all got to make a tie dye shirt that they will wear in the scenes from the 1970s when earth day began (Jingle Jeff has a picture of him as a little boy collecting trash on the first earth day!!). Thank you Kai, Josh & Deirdre for hosting this lovely crafting event for the children. It was so very kind of you. For many children it was their first time to tie dye, so what a lovely memory you have created for them!!
Henry plays the part of a very tricky Horse Trainer & you can hear the neighs (screams of delight) as the horses are anxious to "run away." Henry's Horse Trainer dance is a classic (and his own creation).
The first week of Session III has been really amazing. The children have learned so much of the musical and all the blocking was completed on Friday. Some of the children know all of the songs & a few will be learning the rest this weekend : ) You can see from the pictures that we are having a lot of fun. The songs are beautiful and I think I may cry at the performance. Wait til the cast members see all the props on Tuesday.
Every Day Is Earth Day will be the musical for Session III - Here are some pictures of our rehearsals and the fun the children are having.
What an amazing performance tonight of Disney's The Jungle Book KIDS. The children were able to sing beautifully and do all the choreography and speaking parts on their own!! I did not even have to direct at the performance. It was such a fun group of children to work with. This is the final post for Summer Session II and Session III starts next week! Featuring the musical: "Every Day Is Earth Day" by Teresa Jennings. 6:00 pm, Friday July 30.
Today we had a dress rehearsal and we had several costumes that needed adjusting. Thank goodness our Junior Counselor Dandy knew how to reshape and fix the costumes with his trusty glue gun & pipe cleaners. Thank you Dandy!!!
The children designed, drew and silk screened these t-shirts. Some children chose blue print, green print or red & blue. They enjoyed this craft today.
We continue to have fun while preparing for the Jungle Book musical. The cast this year is AMAZING and they know all the songs, the blocking & choreography. It will be quite a show on Friday.
We have had an amazing week preparing for the musical "The Jungle Book." The children know their parts and this year we have added choreography because the children came so prepared to camp! In the pictures below - it looks like they are having a lot of fun. Just look at the t-shirt art the children completed with Dandy the Junior Counselor's help. The children did an amazing job and they will be wearing their art home at the end of the week.Session II: "The Jungle Book KIDS Broadway Junior Musical" and rehearsals are underway. We are having an amazing time. The children arrived to camp knowing all the songs and could sing them beautifully on the first day. So this performance is going to be really amazing. In the pictures below you will see the children relaxing on the rug while singing through the score and learning all their parts. You will also see some happy campers with flower pots they painted and then planted flowers in them. We had a lot of fun today as we did a practice run through on the Albany Village outside performance stage.
Last Day of summer music camp and the children are wearing their silk screened t-shirts they made!! They were very happy today as they celebrated their musical knowledge (plus they ate pizza & drank pink lemonade - how fun!!!)
Session I: June 21 to July 2 "Music Exploration for Elementary Students"
During session one we visited Ifshin Violins and Debbie Dare showed us the differences between violins, violas, cellos & double bass. She played each for us and then her and Emily played a violin duet for us. The violin repair technicians also showed us how violins were made & repaired. Here are some pictures:
