Celebrating our Diverse-City

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Family February

Family February is a month long celebration of everything family at KKIT. It is always our favorite month of the year and an incredible time of connection between students and their loved ones. This year we were determined not to let the tradition die! We offered families virtual private lessons and dropped off instruments at their houses. Thursdays we brought back the orchestra and held Zoom orchestra rehearsals where we worked on Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing. Much to our surprise, we had the largest family enrollment in KKIT history and many returning parents expressed that the online format actually was BETTER for them than in previous years!

Family practice session! Getting ready for the virtual concert.

We also had a month long Photo Scavenger Hunt for families to be involved without playing an instrument! At the concert we drew names and two families won a family pizza party.

Student teaching mom and little sister! Getting the whole family involved.

Families join in on a Friday evening for a carnival-style game night, lead and designed by our teaching artist.

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Weekly Capstone Recital

Kids LOVE to share their progress each week. These recitals are informal, but a great time for kids to share their musical progress. It is also an intentional time for students and staff to build truth, kindness, and identity into each other on a weekly basis.

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Guest Artist Series

It is important and exciting to bring in new voices to the conversation. These guest artist share their story, weigh in on our community time topic, and of course, share their music with our students.

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Master Class Series

Sometime students want to go beyond! How are you serving those students? These masterclasses give students a chance for a 1-time class offering on a wide range of topics from being a gracious member of a chamber ensemble to how to be thorough in your practice routine.

Community Resource Hub

Many in our community are struggling now more than ever. Our Lead Trombone instructor approached us with the desire to set up a resource hub to help our families get connected with service providers in the community. Many of our families just needed help knowing where to ask for support.

Thanksgiving Gift Baskets

Have you let your musical family know that you are thankful for them recently? We took a simple idea and ran with it. Hand written notes to each student, a few PPE products and their favorite snack, all dropped off at their front doors on Thanksgiving week. The feedback from families was powerful!

Movie Night/ Family Game Night

Do you ever plan an evening just for fun? Consider hosting an online family game night with different online games in each breakout room. How about a group stream of your favorite Netflix movie. Send a bag of popcorn and a soda to everybody's house, get the chatbox fired up, find a cozy blanket and let your staff and students fellowship together!

What type of new "add ons" have you programed this year?

Have you been creative in the ways you have invested in and celebrated your people?

The Great American Michigan Kalamazoo Kids in Tune Baking Show

The Great American Michigan Kalamazo Kids in Tune Baking Show.pdf

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Students created this baking challenge in order to highlight their different family holiday treats. Their video submissions were fun and creative!

12 days of Christmas

Tik Tok Challenge!

A few of our teaching artists decided to start a Tik Tok account and post fun videos for our students to duet with. Here is a clip from the 12 Days of Christmas Challenge. There was a different video celebrating each of the 12 days leading up to Christmas. We think it is important for the students to see their teachers being silly and creative!

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Woof Wednesday

Intagram has been a fun way to connect with our students!

Meow Monday

The kids enjoy getting sneak peaks into the home lives of their teachers as well :)

None of these individual ideas are central to our program. They are all simply extra ways in which we celebrate our students and community on a regular basis. They are touch points with students and families throughout the week, often outside of program hours. Isn't that what families do? They stay connected and check in on each other and celebrate the little wins along the way :)

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