Rock 2 the Core and Zoo Labs

We are extremely excited to announce that the Rock 2 the Core team, Theo and Max, have been accepted into Zoo Labs amazing music residency program!

Zoo Labs is a non profit organization based in Oakland that works with musicians to push their creativity and help them develop strategies for growing their business. They are basically a music accelerator program that gives us opportunities to work with business and music mentors in order to become more successful artists! I love this quote from their website, zoolabs.org: “Our labs are playground’s designed to break molds and expand vision.  We push our artists to take risks, go beyond the expected, and create strategies and music that are authentic to them.” How cool is that?!

Stop the Summer Slide

Hey parents! Help stop the summer slide by playing tons of Rock 2 the Core songs for your kids this summer. Review math facts with our brand new songs “Count by 7s” and “Count by 8s” because, let’s face it, those 7s and 8s can be tough! Search by grade level to review important math concepts from the previous school year and give them a head start by playing songs based on Common Core Standards for the grade level they will be going into next year.

Encourage your kids to read as much as possible this summer and then review important comprehension strategies with “ Main Idea”, “Compare and Contrast”, “Drawing Conclusions”, “Who, What”, “Making Connections”, and “Text Feature”! Whew…that’s a bunch of songs about comprehension! Read aloud to your kids, have them read aloud to you, and then ask each other questions about what you read and you will have done a lot to help them go into the school year ready to rock!

Keep an Eye Out for New Songs!

This summer we will be cranking out a bunch of new songs and videos! Max is spending most of July in Oakland with me, his big sister Theo, in order to write new music, create videos, and brainstorm ways to get `teachers and kids rockin’.

Writing new music is definitely our favorite part of Rock 2 the Core. Max and I a wonderful collaborators in many ways, but writing music takes it to a whole other level! Lately, we have been taking turns creating tracks and building on each other’s work in a super organic and fluid way. Max has ideas that I would never come up with, and he can take a rough outline of a song that I’m not thrilled with and completely turn it around to the point that it becomes one of my favorites. I’m excited to see what new work will come out of this summer!

Why Should I Use Music in My Classroom?

Check out this post on Teachability.com about music integration…I keep learning about more and more benefits of music in the classroom!

Schools today have a wide variety of interactive activities that have in many ways made music an afterthought when lesson plans are formulated. However, music is more than just a subject to itself; it’s a proven method for developing a both a passive and engaging learning environment.

Shapes Have Names

A great way to learn about shapes is to call them up and talk to them!