[HANASHIR:16513] Re: music for preschoolers

[rahel <rahel...>]

At 10:51 AM 1/8/2004 -0800, you wrote:
>I teach the little guys songs ranging from the classics to shticky 
>songs.  They are usually sponges and will sing and do just about anything 
>you ask them.  At that young age, they grasp language very easily, so I 
>make sure to do a lot of hebrew songs (ie the classics) and add shticky 
>songs when needed....


Shalom,

I do not mean to insult anyone with the following. What was said above is 
exactly the reason why we need to be careful about what we teach, and about 
what we ask little kids to do. Thank you Ilana, for clarifying the issues 
about dinosaurs. Little kids can totally understand that our Torah is only 
X years old, and that dinosaurs existed in a different time period - so 
let's choose a Torah related figure to lead us in song! And if I may be so 
bold as to suggest that, rather than telling them what to do, why do we ask 
them instead. Give them the tools they need: make a list of words, - 
preferably in Hebrew - then write the songs and make up the activities. I 
can safely say that kids will get a lot more out of a participatory lesson 
where they are making up the song/activity rather than being told what to 
do! If you want to help a person, don't just give him the fish - teach him 
HOW to fish. Teach the kids how to look into our own sources. In order to 
do this, they need to first find the sources. So give them a Tanakh - find 
the stories there first. At least this way they will know that we actually 
have a Tanakh and they will know HOW to use it. Go from there.

Rahel

>
>
>
>ilana axel <iaxel (at) yahoo(dot)com> wrote:
>>Perhaps I can help here, not with an opinion, but with
>>an understanding. My sister-in-law, who became very
>>observant in her adult life, asked my husband and I
>>not to send dinosaur items as gifts to her children.
>>The reason she gave was that since according to the
>>Torah, the world was created 5764 years ago, dinosaurs
>>could not have possibly existed. This is the only
>>conflict I know about with regards to Judaism and
>>dinosaurs, and I think it would concern some orthodox
>>and Chasidic Jews. But my understanding is that the
>>discussion here has more to do with which secular
>>symbols we liberal Jews feel comfortable with, or not,
>>and for what reasons. Hope this helps a tiny bit.
>>Ilana
>>--- Amy Fried wrote:
>> > Could you tell us the rest of the words to "if you
>> > see two neirot hide your
>> > eyes??" Sounds cute.
>> >
>> > Also, Rahel brings up an interesting question:
>> > what's un-Jewish about a
>> > dinosaur? Sure, they're not mentioned in the bible,
>> > but does that make them
>> > secular?
>> > -Amy
>> > ----- Original Message -----
>> > From: "erik contzius"
>> > To:
>> > Sent: Thursday, January 08, 2004 10:12 AM
>> > Subject: [HANASHIR:16463] music for preschoolers
>> >
>> >
>> > > wow, that was a large digest to sift through!
>> > >
>> > > i would only advocate that for the sake of
>> > > preschoolers who make great affective connections
>> > to
>> > > their judaism at their age, that there be taught a
>> > > BALANCE of music--that which teaches them in
>> > English
>> > > certain values/rituals of judaism, irrespective of
>> > > musical form, AND that which teaches them
>> > something
>> > > about traditional Jewish music. I'll do silly
>> > stuff
>> > > like, "If you see two neirot, hide your eyes..."
>> > (if
>> > > you're happy and you know it) at the same time as
>> > I
>> > > have them all sing the traditional "Heiveinu
>> > shalom
>> > > aleikhem" or "zum gali gali." preschoolers will
>> > grow
>> > > up with positive connections to their judaism
>> > based on
>> > > their positive affective memories. i want to
>> > ensure
>> > > that those memories are both filled with
>> > informative
>> > > things as well as things which musically sound
>> > jewish.
>> > > if people want to do some dinosaur song, great.
>> > but
>> > > please, for the love of jewish culture, throw in
>> > some
>> > > simple niggunim or kick it "old school" as well.
>> > let's
>> > > not forget the oldies but goodies (whatever those
>> > may
>> > > be in your communities).
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > =====
>> > > Cantor Erik L. F. Contzius
>> > > New Rochelle, New York
>> > >
>> > > COME TO THE ROZHINKE RETREAT: http://rozhinke.org/
>> > > http://community.webshots.com/user/eriklfc
>> > > http://soundswrite.com/swstore1.html#howexcellent
>> > > http://tinr.org/
>> > >
>> > > __________________________________
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