Sarah Morris, from Primrose preschools, shares a post with us today about how to cultivate a great love of literacy with children. ~EMP

Young children love to imitate what the adults in their lives are doing. They will happily “clean” the house while Mom performs her chores or “mow” the lawn in imitation of Dad. If they see their grown-ups writing letters, cards and lists, they will enjoy creating their own missives. First comes ‘scribble writing,’ those squiggles on paper that kids produce and wise parents cherish. From these efforts will grow the idea that writing is fun.

Reading to children often and encouraging them to associate words with the story and pictures will help them learn that writing can convey a message. The daily book a child enjoys with a parent can lead to greater success with reading and other academic work. Writing also plays into this. Having a child draw some pictures from the story and then “write” about what he drew will bring out creative expression and enjoyment.

Parents who want to encourage their children to write need to simply accept the first efforts at letter formation. Those little hands have not yet developed the fine coordination needed to produce recognizable letters. Instead, allow the child to play with writing so the process becomes familiar and doesn’t seem difficult.

Children can make cards for friends and family members. It doesn’t matter what the picture represents or how the ‘letters’ look. At this age, the experience is far more important than the product. Exploring with paper and markers, crayons or pencil will stimulate the child’s desire to tell her own stories. It is best not to ask what the picture or writing is about. Instead, talk about how much the child likes to draw. Discuss the colors and shapes. Let her tell the story if she wants.

After plenty of practice with ‘scribble writing’ a child is prepared to move on to actual letter formation. Parents should again take this slowly and follow the child’s lead. The first letter is usually the beginning of the child’s name. If he says that is the letter he wrote, accept this as fact and compliment his efforts. Research shows that praising a child’s efforts on the way to a goal will provide much greater encouragement than praising an achievement.

Look for opportunities. Provide writing materials whenever parent and child are in a waiting room or at a restaurant table. This will help to curb boredom and keep the child engaged, happily practicing those all-important writing skills.

Provide materials for the child to use, and she will jump in with all the enthusiasm of the young and innocent. Paper of all types and various writing implements will encourage creative exploration of the world of writing. By supporting the child’s natural inclination to imitate what adults do, parents can soon realize that their child is well on his way to producing that first novel or term paper.

Sarah Morris on behalf of Primrose preschools- where your child gets the best foundation in education.

Related posts:

1. Reinforce the Writing Process through Musical Creation
2. Visualization in Music and Writing

This month my focus has been on the parallels between music and literacy.  However, music is not the only art that can be integrated with literacy.  Drama, movement and visual art can as well.

Think about the elements of a story.  Each of these art forms tells a story.  In theatre, a story comes alive, complete with props, scenes, costumes and actors.  Movement and dance can also tell a story.  The story can be as simple as an individual moving through the growth of a plant from seed to flower or as complex as a dance that tells the story of a girl’s search for love.  (I love watching the various stories that come from the dancers on Dancing with the Stars!)  Visual art is no different.  Many paintings, drawings and sculptures tell a story.  You just have to search for the details that make the story come to life.

All the arts assist students in their learning and practice of visualization, questioning, predicting, cause and effect, and drawing conclusions.  In my ebook Integration the Works of Norman Rockwell into Reading Instruction, I explore many ways to use the fabulous works of American painter Norman Rockwell to help students achieve a better understanding of these and other literacy skills.

There are so many parallels and applications that the arts have for us in our teaching.  In what ways do you use the arts to help you teach literacy?

~EMP

image from http://www.amitypublications.com/

Celebrate Music and Literacy!  This is the LAST DAY to take advantage of Elizabeth’s book Inspired by Listening, a teacher resource book for integrating musical listening experiences into the classroom.  The book is on sale this month only (March 2011) at 20% off!

Related posts:

1. Music and Literacy
2. The Music-Literacy Connection
3. Active Listening Time – A Vehicle for the Music-Literacy Connection

“Music is the universal language of mankind.”
— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Ask any musician or music lover and they will agree that music, is in and of itself, a language.  You can be literate in music.   And once this happens whether you become literate in reading, writing, creating or listening to music, a whole new world emerges for you.

This month we’ve been looking at how music and literacy are interconnected and how one can help the other.  Today, think about how music is a language all its own.  People learn it through sound first.  It is embedded deep within us when we are babies, some say this is true before we are even born.  We learn rhythm, intonation, and melody through our mother’s sonorous voice.  We experiment with music at an early age, cooing and gurgling, banging on pots and pans, touching a piano, moving our bodies to the music around us and copying the songs we hear as we sing along to familiar tunes that play.

As time moves on we learn how music can be written down in notation: a whole note, a quarter, positioning the notes on a staff to make melody.  We learn to read it and produce the sounds just as the composer intended. Our level of engagement can increase as we listen to new music, learn to read and write music, and create it.  Some advance to become avid musicians, people who express their views on the world through sound.

Does this sound familiar?  It is the same process we go through to become literate in a spoken language.  First we hear it and take it all in, then we experiment with the different sounds and eventually create words with our mouths.  As time progresses, those sounds are connected to a notation: letters, punctuation, grammar.  We learn to read and write it.  Some people advance become writers or poets, expressing themselves through words.

Is music literacy? Yes! That is one reason why it creates such wonderful parallels to spoken language literacy.  (And one reason why it should be taught in school as it’s own core content area.)

In what ways are you literate in music?  You don’t have to be a musician to be so.  We are all literate on our own level, in our own right.  Weather you read and write music, create music (perform, compose, improvise) or listen to music, your are at some level of music literacy.  Now relish the idea that you know and are continuously learning the possibilities of this beautiful language – a language for all mankind!

~EMP

Celebrate Music and Literacy by taking advantage of Elizabeth’s book Inspired by Listening, a teacher resource book for integrating musical listening experiences into the classroom.  The book is on sale this month only (March 2011) at 20% off!

Related posts:

1. Music in Foreign Language Instruction: Classroom Activities
2. The Connections Between Music and Reading
3. Visualization in Reading and Music

Over the last weeks, I have received many emails, a few comments and some personal inquiries into active listening time. In nearly each post in this series I’ve highlighted how this time allows me to make connections between music and literacy every day with my students. Whether it be visualization and reading, listening for the BME Rule, or inspiration for a story or poem, actively listening to music is a powerful way to engage students in their understanding of both music and literacy!

So what is Active Listening?  It is the art of listening with your intellect and emotion; where you can block out distractions and just focus on the music, listening to the intricacies of the sounds coming from the speakers.  I tell my students it is when your brain is active.

How can you make time for active listening?  I listen to music each day with my students during our snack time and focus on one piece of music for an entire week.  These repetitive listenings allow us keep the time short and to focus on the music at hand as we become familiar with it.  If you don’t have your students every day, you may listen together for the first 5-10 minutes of class or use an entire class period to listen and respond as you would a story.  Another option is to collaborate with another teacher.  You may work with the music teacher in your school to do most of the active listening part and you can integrate those experiences into other content areas.

Active listening is a wonderful time for students to build community while they discuss their ideas and respond to music.  In addition, you can mold the time to fit your needs as a literacy teacher.  For more information  about Active Listening and how it can be used in your teaching, check out these resources:

• A few posts back I compared listening to music with how we read a book in The Connections Between Music and Reading as there are things you do before, during and after you read or listen.
• Whether you’re collaborating with the music teacher or creating the time for Active Listening experiences in your own classroom, this post Music Listening Experiences will provide you with guiding questions and ideas for interpretive reflection after you listen.
• This is the ultimate resource for integrating Active Listening experiences into your curriculum: Inspired by Listening is my teacher resource book that talks about it all.  It contains everything from introductory lessons about how to listen, questions to ask, activities to try, full lesson plans with reproducibles, complete project ideas and an entire section on background knowledge which includes composer biographies, information on musical genres and a listing of pieces you can introduce to your students.

And regarless of whether you use these experiences for integration with other content areas or not, allowing for active listening time with your students is an enjoyable activity that builds community in your classroom!

~EMP

Celebrate Music and Literacy by taking advantage of Elizabeth’s book Inspired by Listening, a teacher resource book for integrating musical listening experiences into the classroom.  The book is on sale this month only (March 2011) at 20% off!

Related posts:

1. The Music-Literacy Connection
2. Collaboration in Action – Music Listening Experiences
3. Celebrate Music and Literacy – book sale!

If there is one thing my students learn before they leave me to move onto the next teacher, it’s the BME Rule.  I have a sign in my classroom that states: “The BME Rule – All Good Writing is Following It!”

It has to do with the fact that all good pieces of writing have a beginning, a middle and an end.  But in my class, students get this concept drilled into their heads as we listen to music each day during our Active Listening time.  When I talk about the BME Rule, I always mention music.  Like this:

“All good pieces of writing (and music!) follow the BME Rule!”

And it’s true!  Music is a composition that needs to be pleasing to the human ear, just as a story, an article or a poem needs to be as well.  Our brains love organization and even the most abstract piece of music will still have some B, M and E!

If you listen to any piece of music, you can find its beginning, middle and end.  Sometime the beginning may be short and the ending can be abrupt, but they are there just the same.  Paralleling the BME in music to the stories, reports and poems we write can be yet another effective way to show students an important aspect of good writing.

And you can take it further too.  Ask students what makes a good beginning, middle and end in a piece of music:

B – Does it grab the listener’s attention?  Does it introduce anything? (instruments/character, themes, forshadowing)

M – Does it have details?  (layers of sound) Does it tell a story? (with various themes or lyrics)

E -  Is it exciting/subdued/abrupt?  Why and what does that do for the listener?  Does the ending wrap things up?  How? Does it bring back a familiar theme (ABA form) or introduce something somewhat new (coda)?

Here are some songs you can use to illustrated musical BME in your teaching:

~EMP

Celebrate Music and Literacy by taking advantage of Elizabeth’s book Inspired by Listening, a teacher resource book for integrating musical listening experiences into the classroom.  The book is on sale this month only (March 2011) at 20% off!

Related posts:

1. The Connections Between Music and Reading
2. Visualization in Music and Writing
3. Visualization in Reading and Music

I am excited to bring you another guest blogger today!  Maria Rainier is a classically trained pianist, piano teacher, blogger for First in Education and is fluent in Spanish.  I’m sure you will find her ideas inspiring not for foreign language study, but for literacy in general!  ~EMP

I’ve been through years of Spanish instruction – six, to be exact – and the one lesson that stands out in my mind and makes me glad I took all those classes is the one that involved music. It was in high school, and I can’t help but wonder how much more I might have absorbed if my early Spanish teacher had used music in the classroom. The reason I think back to that Spanish class and the music the teacher played for us is that, to me, the song I heard was Spain itself. Music has a way of capturing everything about language, culture, people, and life. When I heard a song written and performed by native Spanish speakers, it was like being transported to that country and having the opportunity to experience Spain the way those performers saw it. My perspective changed and the language came alive to me. Ever since, I’ve loved Spain and have spent as much time there as possible, hoping to return.

Of course, you can’t guarantee that every foreign language student will have that kind of experience when introduced to authentic music performed by native speakers. I’ve always loved both music and language, so I’m biased, but I do know that music and foreign language enhance one another in a tangible way. Music is fun, stimulating, repetitive, and easy to internalize – all perfect qualities to complement foreign language instruction. Students enjoy it and benefit from both the intellectual and the emotional responses they have to music. Fortunately, it’s easy to use music in the foreign language classroom, and the following are some effective activities that can complement almost any teaching style.

Fill In the Blank

This first activity is the simplest one, so it’s a good place to start. Some students may benefit from gradual introduction to music-related activities since, sadly, they are often an unfamiliar experience. To begin with a straightforward strategy, choose a song that represents the language well and doesn’t have too much confusing vernacular or incorrect grammar. It should also be free of potentially offensive material. Once you’ve chosen a good song, type up the lyrics and replace some of the key words with blanks. You can include a word bank if you’d like to, but it’s just as effective to let students try to sound out new words and spell them correctly. Have your students listen to the song and try to fill in the missing words to the best of their ability, then go around the room and have each student volunteer a word to fill a blank. You can allow students to challenge one another if they think someone else’s answer is incorrect or you can simply correct any mistakes. By the end of the activity, your students should have learned some new words and you can assign definitions for the next class period.

What Does It Say?

Choose an evocative piece of music that uses authentic and traditional instruments, techniques, and harmonies. Have your students listen to the song and write down any familiar words they hear. Now, divide your students into small groups and have them try to figure out what the song is about and make up a short skit that communicates the meaning of the song. This can be very funny if you choose the right song. After the skits have been performed, hand out the printed lyrics and explain them to the class. Finally, have the class vote for the group whose skit was closest to the true meaning of the song.

Music Vocabulary Lesson

With more advanced students, you can use music to teach music-related vocabulary like instruments, music styles, techniques, and more. You can also introduce descriptive words that students can use to convey how the music makes them feel. For a short and simple activity at the end of a class, play a song and have students write down five or ten related words in English that they would like to learn in the foreign language. Collect their papers and redistribute them so that they’re looking up each other’s words and bringing the definitions to the next class. This makes for rich discussion time, plus you can add these words to quizzes and tests.

You Be the Artist

Choose a song and play it during class for several days, letting your students get used to it. You can even use it in one of the previous activities to make sure students are very familiar with it. Once they’ve heard it a few times and have started humming along, have them write their own lyrics to the song. You can make this into a big project or simply have your students write a new chorus, but either way, they’ll get to be creative and use language in the process. Helping students recognize that they can “make” something in a foreign language is a big step toward mastering that language.

Photo: Public Domain
URL: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3246/2536993725_7c1b55107b.jpg
Read more by Maria at the Online Degrees site.

Related posts:

1. Visualization in Reading and Music
2. The Connections Between Music and Reading
3. Music and Literacy