Parents can support the development of their child’s learning with the materials of the "Myrtel and Bo" program. They find their children to be highly motivated. The parents themselves, of children in grades 3 and 4, especially enjoy reading the interesting texts given to their children. This informative material not only contributes to competence in German but also helps build a sound general knowledge for the students.
Who ist Myrtel?
Myrtel is an attractive, colourful, always friendly catarpillar. Together with many friends she lives in the Magic Forest and learns how to read and write from an especially clever owl. Of course my husband and I have also gotten to know Myrtel. She accompanied us through the world of the alphabet and developed towards the end of the first school year into a beautiful butterfly. At a class outing we celebrated this birthday at the "Butterfly Garden" in Friedrichsruh (Schmetterlingsgarten).
After the first school year our daughter had, thanks to this learning program already mastered all the letters of the alphabet, as well as printing and also cursive writing. We were astonished to see how much the children tackled the stories and the individual animals. They were highly motivated in the process of learning how to read and write. Because of the structure of the program, the children were able to learn the letters of the alphabet very quickly, which I comparitively noticed again and again when speaking to parents from other schools.
I wish that Myrtel and Bo would also find their way into other classes and children’s rooms, thus helping many more children to deal with learning and learning materials in a more passionate way. It is a very versatile learning program, which thanks to its different topics / themes could also be applied in other school subjects, for example art of general knowledge. This way a networking could take place, making it possible for the children to learn creatively in the cognitive and motoric areas. Through "realization" children obtain their own experiences, which offer the possibility for them to secure their knowledge sustainably.
November 2007
Upon hearing our son's 2nd grade teacher's suggestion, during a parents evening, that she would like to introduce flute playing to her whole class (which mostly consisted of boys) we were quite skeptical. And to be quite honest, we felt sorry for the teacher and her hearing, for everyone who, as a child, was allowed to have their first musical experience with a flute knows how difficult the first tones are.
How surprised I was, when my son brought home the little flute booklet (designed so lovingly) with accompanying CD and eagerly began to practice on my old flute. The initially squeaky, unmelodious tones were mercifully moderated by the pleasant background music. Not only did my son look forward to the weekly flute lessons with the entire class, but he even liked to listen to the catchy, happy little melodies of the background music (often without playing along) and this, when normally the sound of soccer ball hits resounded from his room!
With thanks, also, to the accompanying CD, the first tones sounded really good after a little practice, thereby motivating the student and, by the way, the constantly praising listener, also.
I really became enthusiastic, however, when I witnessed the first joint appearance of the entire class before an audience, because when 22 children play the flute together, this is a special musical experience. Also remarkable was the extensive repertoire the children had - from Minuet and Tango to Boogie - with only 5 (!) notes.
After another year, various appearances, and the apparent fun the children had for making music together, I can only warmly thank the teacher and the Myrtel team, and highly recommend the flute school.
January 2008
