Practice ladder challenge

During the four weeks leading up to the school winter break, we challenge our students to keep track of the number of days they practice, AND the number of days that they listen to their reference recording. For every day that they do both, practicing AND listening, they earn a rung on our studio practice ladder.

In 2017, for every 50 rungs on the ladder, we made a donation through the Plan Canada Gifts of Hope  program. Up to 200 rungs on the ladder, we donated baby chicks;  up to 400 rungs, we donated beehives; up to 600, sheep; up to 800, goats, and if they got past 800, we would go for the whole barnyard. 🙂 The students built a practice ladder of just over 400 rungs, earning 4 baby chicks and four beehives.  

In 2018,  it was planting trees around schools. The challenge was that we would donate 1 tree for every 50 rungs. Our students tracked their listening and practice for about 3 weeks.  In those few weeks they listened and practiced for a combined total of 406 days and we donated 8 trees.
Thanks you also to the Dong family who added to our studio donation by giving an additional donation through Plan Canada of Medicine for Moms and Babies.

In 2019, we went back to animals, as that seemed to appeal more to our younger students. The challenge was 100 rungs for baby chicks, 250 for a sheep, 400 for a goat, 550 for chicks + goat, 700 for chicks + sheep, 850 for two goats, and 1000 for the whole barnyard. Our students created a ladder of 604 rungs (200 more than  last year!), earning a gift of a goat and chicks through Plan Canada. The Suzuki Early Childhood class also participated in the challenge this year, since they also have a reference recording to listen to and songs to practice with their parents.

Looking forward to what happens with our challenge in 2020!