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Comments
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Hi Ana,
What a great experience for our children to learn about Amazon with so much fun!
With the music and rhythm you kept the attention of the group all the time. They were so engaged to the workshop that the time passed and they still wanted more!
It was a rare opportunity to our group to mix Brazilian culture,arts and fun with a special touch.
We hope you will come back soon for another delightful morning!
Thank you very much!
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"Dear Ana,
We haven't used too much from the lesson plan yet because we are using more of an inquiry framework, but we've incorporated Amazonia song into almost every part of our day.
I teach in an all African American urban school in Chicago and my second graders LOVE this song. It relaxes them and inspired us to focus more on the Amazon rain forest. We play the song as the children move to morning meeting.
We also have a "Rainforest Cafe" every Friday where students sample foods of the rain forest and listen to Amazonia over and over again!
The children have developed a passion for saving the rain forests already and we continue to look for ways to foster this interest.
I'll send you more information as we incorporate your lessons more!"
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"....The students then used the Reading Comprehension Task from your lesson plan to find out why they are being destroyed. The students really enjoyed the materials. Thank you for providing these at very low cost."
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"I love to sing, dance and learn about the rainforest listening to your music. I really love "Amazonia" and hope that other children around the world will join me in learning about the rainforest" I enjoy reading books about the rainforest, but listening to the music of Amazona makes you feel like you are in the rainforest."
Feedback
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What an enthralling and uplifting afternoon our children had listening to the inspiring range of Rainforest songs written and performed by Kurumikidz.
It was wonderful to hear our children joining in with the songs, tapping their feet and learning the actions to accompany the singing whilst also listening to the important message about preserving our Rainforests.
Not only is the band's musicianship excellent, they have a knack of relating to their audience in a way that really involves them in the whole performance...we look forward to welcoming you back for another concert soon!
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Hi Ana,
Here is some feedback from Year 1 regarding the rainforest workshops. Overall the response was great as the pupils loved it. The music activities were particularly interactive and pupils had a great deal of fun with all of them joining in well. The only thing we would like to change if we could would be for all pupils to have the opportunity to do the art AND music activity as they were both so good.
Hope that helps and thanks again for sharing your knowledge of the rainforest with us, we all thoroughly enjoyed it.
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"The workshop was a fun and engaging way to begin our Rainforest topic in Year 3. The workshops were inclusive and gave all children the opportunity to enjoy and be successful.
The children learnt some key knowledge about the Amazon and now they can't wait to find out more.
It was a brilliant, inspiring experience that the children will remember for a long time to come!"
One child said : "This was the best day ever!"
Multimedia
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A lovely picture of the Amazon Rainforest full of acrobatic monkeys made by 4- year old Asha, from England.
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The renowned Brazilian TV Programme, "Programa do Jô" talks about our project in the UK.
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Kurumikidz did a workshop to Brazilian children from the Playgroup Breacc
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Workshop at Coldfall Primary in Muswell Hill: at the end of the workshop, we made a school display of the works of Nursery, Reception, Year 1 and year 2 pupils. The materials used by the pupils were mainly fabric and cardboard.
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Ann Benhammed, ESOL Lecturer from West London, prepared this great video with a group of 16-19 year-old students. She used our song Amazonia as background music and our lesson plan Amazonia to add some info to it.
Many thanks, Ann! Fabulous job!
Kurumikidz does show at Spa School- a secondary school for autistic students- see article below by Simon Hughes
Funding from The Building Schools for the Future programme in Southwark has provided Spa School, a community special school for pupils with autism, with a fantastic new building for KS3 pupils. It houses eight new classrooms, including a science lab and a drama space. The funding has also provided a new garden and orchard for the school.
Simon Hughes MP was invited to cut the ribbon and say a few words at the official ceremony to mark the opening of the building on Monday, 10th October. He joined over one hundred friends of Spa School in thanking the planners, architects AOC, and builders Balfour Beattie for all their hard work.
Mr. Simon Eccles, headteacher of Spa School, said of the building, 'This is a lovely jewel of a building with many beautiful and interesting features, all specifically designed to meet the needs of young people with autism. The result for the school is bigger rooms, smaller class sizes, better facilities and more space.'
The celebrations were concluded with music by the popular children's group KurumiKidz.
London Liberal Democrats
Shops selling our CD
Kurumikidz Group
Interview with Kurumikidz to ABRIR (Associação Brasileira de Iniciativas Educacionais do Reino Unido)
Click here to read the interview
Source: Blog ABRIR
Camden New Journal writes about Caroline Chan, autism, and launching Kurumikidz CD
Caroline Chan and Ana Losekann on Camden New Journal
CAFE owner Caroline Chan, who has just produced a children's music CD, has spoken of the challenges she faced in dealing with her son's autism – and how those challenges have inspired her to make positive changes in her own life.
Autism, a neurological condition whose symptoms include obsessive behaviour, can be worsened by what the sufferer perceives as disorder.
Ms Chan explained that even something as mundane as bin collection can cause trauma for an autism sufferer.
She recalled the day when her recycling team were taking unusual care over the position of the bins on her street.
“They were asking me: 'All right like this? But are you sure, love?' And all the bins were sitting in a perfect, neat straight line.”
Unbeknown to Ms Chan, her 24-year-old autistic son, Oliver, had been complaining for some time to the Town Hall about the chaotic return of the bins from the dump-truck.
Ms Chan, who lives in Archway, explained: “Oliver thought they had not been put back in the right place. I had to say sorry to the recycling team and explain I was very happy with my public service! But that is what it is like with autism.”
She talks about how the condition can be “very destructive” and how people lose their patience quickly when they think you are unable to control your children.
But a chance discovery that her singing was helping Oliver's development lead to a new career for Ms Chan – she now sings to children and the elderly, mainly in schools and day centres in Hampstead and Kentish Town.
Ms Chan said: “I found that with spoken words he would not respond. But if I sang it had a different effect. He would kind of wait to see what the end of the song was and sometimes join in.
“I started volunteering at a school and then I thought I should turn it into something more. It's not easy. For example, there was one child who got really upset if I sang four verses. So on the fourth verse he ran off and went into a cupboard and started shouting. It is all part of the struggle.”
Ms Chan took over a café in Belsize Lane two years ago and named it after her son.
Oliver's Café is a hive of creativity, with on-site theatre shows, music and Oliver's art displayed across the walls.
An exhibition last month drew large crowds and many purchases, Ms Chan said.
She has now produced a children's music CD about the Amazon rainforest with her Brazilian music and art teacher friend, Ana Losekann.
They sing about the March of the Ants, Love Birds and the “Rainforest Lament”.
“I think all people feel happy when they sing. But it is quite rare to get the opportunity,” says Caroline.
“The CD is good to put on in a car on a drive somewhere. But we're also hoping schools will be interested in it.”
• The KurumiKidz CD is being launched tonight (Thursday, 17th February 2011) at the Sir Richard Steeles pub in Haverstock Hill, Belsize Park.
Source: Camden New Journal
Children recording the Frog Song
The Brazilian children Oliver, Alice, Isabella and Sophia recording the Frog Song in Portuguese at Tip Top Studios, in Hampstead-London. The Frog Song is ready for download.
Kurumikidz Group
PROUD parents turned out to watch their children's Amazon Rainforest-inspired performance on Saturday.
Kurumikidz has been commissioned by Music and Art group called Team Brazil to work on a holiday scheme, a week programme at Noel Park Primary School. April 2010
The primary school-age children, between 4 and 9-years-old, sang in Portuguese accompanied by the samba drums, and showed off the Amazon backdrop they created in an arts-and-crafts class at Noel Park Primary School, in Gladstone Avenue.
It was also an opportunity for the young people to learn about the rainforest and the animals and wildlife that exist there.
Source: Haringey Independent April 2010