Specialists
Music & Creative Movement
Both our Preschool and Pre-K students have the opportunity to meet with our specialists each week. Mrs Wada has been leading our “Little Musicians Club” for nearly 20 years, and Mrs. Lyng is in her sixth year as our Creative Movement teacher. Both have educational backgrounds in music, and their love of teaching children through music is evident in every session. Mrs. Wada introduces the children to musical concepts such as piano and forte, allegro and andante, and also introduces many musical instruments such as egg shakers, triangles, tambourines, and glockenspiels. Mrs. Lyng really gets the children moving! She uses both familiar and new songs and creates dances and movements to accompany them. The children learn from both teachers to use their eyes and ears to follow along so that they can learn and participate in these engaging classes.
Typical Specialist Class
Hello Song
New concept introduction
Practice with musical instruments (Music)
New or familiar dance or routine (Creative Movement)
Goodbye Song
Dismissal to Classroom
Our Specialists
Noriko Wada, Music Specialist
Born and raised in Kobe Japan, Noriko worked professionally as a director in many productions of major opera companies in Japan. Since she came to the United States, she has dedicated her professional life to teaching. She has over 20 years experience teaching music and the Japanese language to all ages. She is the mother of three girls ranging in age from middle-school to college. Since the time her middle and youngest daughters attended MWS as preschoolers, Noriko has enjoyed sharing her musical experience and passion with all the children at Methodist Weekday School. It’s wonderful to hear even our youngest students humming and singing music from The Nutcracker, Peter and the Wolf, The Carnival of the Animals and other classical pieces of music. It’s even more amazing to see how quickly they learn musical dynamics because of the playful way Noriko encourages them all to be part of the “Little Musicians Club.”
Elizabeth Lyng, Creative Movement Specialist
Elizabeth was introduced to MWS when she enrolled her son in preschool after moving from the metro-Atlanta area to Lexington. A year later, she joined our staff as a teaching assistant and continued in that position for two years before becoming our Creative Movement instructor. Her love of children is obvious and began many years ago. She earned a Bachelor of Music at University of Georgia and was an elementary school music teacher for nine years before becoming a full time mother. Elizabeth is an Orff Certified teacher and embodies the famous quote in her teaching, “Tell me, I will forget. Show me, I will remember. Involve me, I will understand.”
Classroom Notes from our Specialists
coming soon!