"Getting to Know You" - PART I

 "Getting to know you. Getting to know all about you!"  These familiar lyrics from "The King & I" are a great way to introduce  our newest WeJoySing Instructors.  Part I of "Getting to Know You" will feature Kristi Frazier. Her Granville and Childhood League children and families have already begun to bond and share together the delight of learning and growing through musical play.  Enjoy Part I as Kristi shares her life, family, love for education and music!  She writes:

I grew up in rural Knox County, outside of Gambier, Ohio on a small farm adjacent to my grandparents. I attended Mount Vernon City Schools for my education and obtained my first teaching job there in 2000 after attending OSU-Newark for my Masters in Education. My dream to work as a teacher started with a position as an itinerant preschool teacher where I traveled to pre-school facilities and homes to transition children from Help Me Grow to our District Special Education program. I then served as the teacher and director for our district special needs pre-school which was an incredible journey! I spent one year as a Kindergarten teacher, four years as a First-Grade teacher and four years as a Second-Grade teacher. Each grade level I taught brought about new discoveries about children at that age level and I loved it!

During my childhood, my mother made a point to get me in piano lessons, which I dreaded at the time, but am most grateful for now. I went on to play in the band; clarinet for concert season and trumpet for marching band season. My choral experiences started in the church setting, singing in children’s choirs, soloing and eventually leading the children’s choirs. Choir, praise band, local theater, and belting out songs in the car kept my musical skills fresh. When I taught in the public schools, music was a constant in my classroom, whether it was a transition song to get the kids to line up or the classical music I played for its calming effect; music was ever-present within my classrooms.

I lived in and taught in Mount Vernon for 11 years before meeting my husband-to-be. He owns a business in Pickerington, so Granville happened to be a great middle ground for both of us. Living just outside Granville makes access to the eastern outskirts of Columbus a breeze, while still providing us with the small-town feel. We currently live on 3 acres with about 2 of it under pasture. We are only pasturing sheep right now, but have had chickens, goats, ducks, cows, rabbits and pigs on our mini farm. Once our daughter Lila, who is just 22 months now, gets older, we intend to bring more chickens onto our mini farm so she can help collect their eggs and tend to them. My favorite animals we have cared for thus far are the goats because they are rambunctious and playful; but chickens come in at a close second.

            Joining the WeJoySing community with my daughter when she was just 6 months old was an incredible experience. Not only did it provide me with several new songs, bounces and finger plays to do with Lila; it also provided a sense of community with the other moms. We all looked forward to our weekly “La-La” class as the children came to call it! Now when my family visits, my daughter Lila has started passing out instruments to everyone in the room for sing time…perhaps another teacher in the making?!

La La's for ALL!!
Mrs. Kristi