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By Lisa Petzel
Lisa Petzel was looking for
a way to help her daughter's
development. Her daughter,
Natalia, adopted from Russia
at 17 months in Jan. 2003,
was delayed in almost every
way, including her gross
motor and social skills, as
well as emotional
development. Although
extroverted by nature, she
was also timid around other
outside of her home, and she
was having trouble with
language, having heard
Russian for the first months
of her life.
After enrolling Natalia in a
Kindermusik Our Time class,
Petzel noticed a marked
difference in her daughter’s
language skills and the way
she interacted with other
chidlren. I could really see
a difference after just five
weeks," Lisa said. "It was
like I could see an
awakening in her ... a
coming out of her shell."
This observation spurred
Petzel, of Monroeville, to
start her own program, and
in March she will launch
Kindermusik by Lisa Petzel,
a first of such classes in
the Monroeville area.
Classes will be offered at
Synergy School of Dance, on
Wallace Road in Monroeville,
as well as First United
Methodist Church in
Murrysville.
Kindermusik, which means
"children's music" in
German, has been in business
for 25 years and is the
world’s leading music and
movement program for
children from birth to seven
years of age. An article in
the Wall Street Journal
called it the "General
Motors" of children’s music
and movement classes.
Jingling bells, pounding
drums, floating scarves,
"hooting" owl sounds, and
little feet moving in time
to music are just a few of
the sights and sounds
parents and children
experience at Kindermusik
classes. Much of the
activities seem like child's
play, but curriculum is
carefully researched to
expand children’s cognitive,
language functions, social,
emotional and gross motor
skills. Although Kindermusik
offers classes for newborns
through seven year olds,
Petzel initially plans to
offer Our Time classes for
children 18 months to three
years, and Imagine That
classes for three to five
year olds and expand with
subsequent semesters.
Kindermusik believes a
child's most important
teacher is his or her
parent. That's why they are
one of the few programs that
include parents in
activities with their
children. "The philosophy
really is to enrich the
whole child," said Petzel.
Our Time classes are 45
minutes long and include
parents, and introduce
children to singing,
rhyming, sound
identification, instrument
exploration, and creative
movement.
Kindermusik Imagine That
classes pair music with
expressive language,
storytelling, peer
interaction, movement, and
pretend play. Parents and
even siblings are included
in the last 15 minutes of
class.
Classes begin this spring
semester on March 2 and
continue for 15 weeks. The
cost of the classes is $190
per semester, and include At
Home materials that consist
of a two CD set with a wide
assortment of music, an
instrument to take home, a
home activity or literature
book and a backpack or tote.
These At Home materials are
intended. to continue the
musical experience between
parent and child at home and
reinforce what is taught in
class.
Each semester Kindermusik
offers a different
curriculum theme. This
semester Our Time students
will experience the Fiddle
Dee Dee classes, while
Imagine That students
experience Cities! Busy
Places – Friendly Faces.
Our Time classes will be
offered at Synergy on
Wednesdays at 9:30 a.m. and
Thursdays at 7:15 p.m. and
at First United Methodist on
Fridays at 10 a.m. and 12:45
p.m.
Imagine That classes will be
offered at Synergy on
Wednesdays at 10:30 am. and
11:30 a.m. and at First
United Methodist Church on
Fridays at 11:30 a.m.
Lisa Petzel is a licensed
educator and a member of
Kindermusik Educators
Association, as well as the
Youth Choir Director for the
First Presbyterian Church in
Irwin. A graduate d Duquesne
University, she was a former
newspaper reporter and
public relations
practitioner. For more
information, contact Lisa
Petzel at
(412) 374-0729
For more than 25 years,
Kindermusik International
has touched the lives of
over a million children and
their families, introducing
them to the joy of learning
through music. With a
revolutionary combination of
music and early childhood
development research, more
than 4,500 Kindermusik
educators teach children
ages newborn to 7 in over 35
countries around the world.
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