ROCKTOTZ toddler music group sessions
Welcome to our Rocktotz music toddler group page. My name is Stuart Ellerton, I am the Director of The Northern School of Contemporary Music based in Darlington at The Tiffany School of Dance. My background is in music tuition as a professionally qualified educator and in performance as a professional musician of 30 years performing in bands and ensembles worldwide. I have been teaching students aged between 4 through to 21 within the state and private education system and universities, and beyond on a private basis within my own school. We currently have in the region of 1000 students in key stage 2 schools in the region that we deliver a wide range of activities to including drums, guitar, vocals, rock choir, rock band, graded examination syllabus and much more. Our latest venture seems to be taking the region by storm. It’s a parent and toddler/nursery/preschool music group, but with a difference! We have called the group "ROCKTOTZ" due to the nature of the funky and fun styles of music we use for the children to sing along to and engage in several exciting activities. We have mentioned it to literally one or two nurseries and educational establishments in the vicinity and they are extremely keen to have us deliver for them on a regular basis. We currently have a team of highly qualified and professional tutors ready to deliver the classes in nurseries and community centres near you. I am aware that there are several toddler groups in the region that provide a fun time for both parent and child but Rocktotz provides unique learning objectives with fun, funky and interactive resources for children aged between 1 and 4 years. Here are just a few of the activities and songs that we offer during each session...
Our classes are aimed at 1-2 year olds and 3-5 year olds. They incorporate sign language, where week by week our instructors will learn to converse with parents/tutors and children using sign. Even from the age of 1 we greet children, parents/teachers into the class with basic sign for "hello, my name is Stuart, how are you? What is your name" etc, progressing through to more elaborate conversations as the terms go by. We have an "Alphabet song" where the children learn to phonetically pronounce each letter of the alphabet weekly accompanied to the sign for each letter and an activity based around any given letter of the alphabet to an upbeat, funky and fun lyrical song. This progresses right through to basic spelling and pronunciation of words using the appropriate sign language, this has been proven to work in our pilot sessions with children as young as one! We also have our numeracy section of the class where even the youngest children learn to count forwards and backwards using fun resources and again accompanied by cutting edge “X FACTOR” style music. This song progresses all the way through to basic times tables giving young children a firm grounding in numeracy even before reaching reception class age. Having spoken to many primary school teachers and heads of key stage 1 and 2 in the area their response in unified..."WOW, this is EXACTLY what the education system needs for children at this age". We have a “road safety song” where children will learn to identify lollypop people and be made aware of the dangers and sounds within the environment of crossing the road, and the importance of crossing with parents or teachers at this age at all times. We have multiple resource songs where the children have hands on tasks for numeracy, literacy, quick fire recognition of colours, sounds, letters, numbers, animals, the use of percussion instruments for team work and rhythmical ability, “its cool to eat fruit and vegetables” song, story time, “brush your teeth” song, chill with mummy and daddy time, and much more! We have a "friendship song" which is sung at the beginning of the class which promotes equality, peace and harmony in the group and underpins the values of making friendships that last throughout the Rocktotz class duration and beyond into key stage
1-2. My team and I are confident that nothing of this nature exists regionally and that the product is ready for the open market. Rocktotz classes commence in 2014 at Danesmoor House Nursery on Carmel Road in Darlington on January the 10th and will be on going every Friday morning with two classes, one at 9.15am and one at 10.00am. Please book your child’s place early to avoid disappointment! Don’t hesitate to contact me if you would like to know more about this venture and I will be happy to chat at any time. We look forward to seeing you at our Rocktotz classes as they grow throughout the coming terms. Stuart Ellerton Cert Ed
Rocktotz Team Leader
NSCM Director
