Music in the Preschool Classroom

Music is a tremendously important tool for all human beings, but especially in the primary classroom, as musical aptitude is most heavily influenced before a child's fifth birthday. Don Campbell and Dr. Gordon Shaw have observed the effects of classical music on spatial-temporal reasoning in pre-schoolers (in the “Mozart Effect” studies and following trials), and you can observe similar benefits by the way your child responds to pitch and rhythm.

Sonya Harway is trained in music performance and pedagogy; she holds a B.A. in Music from The George Washington University and will receive an M.A. in Musicology from The Catholic University of America in 2007. She uses Phyllis Weikart's Learning on the Move methods and other music and movement activities to teach pitch, rhythm, fine and gross motor skills and coordination, as well as a love and appreciation for music of all cultures. Our music classes also incorporate dancing and playing musical instruments.

1. Music relaxes the mind and lowers stress levels that inhibit learning. When used effectively, it increases alpha levels in the brain, boosting memory and recall and allowing the brain to access reserve capacities.
2. Music acts directly on the body, specifically on metabolism and heartbeat. Listening to certain types of music can trigger the release of endorphins, producing a tranquil state that leads to faster learning.
3. Music stimulates and awakens, reviving bored or sleepy learners and increasing blood and oxygen flow to the brain.
4. Music is mathematical. Certain musical structures stimulate specialized brain circuits, allowing learners to decode complex ideas more easily.
5. Music inspires emotion, creating a clear passage to long-term memory.
6. Music is a stage-changer and can be used effectively to get students into an effective learning state.
7. Music is a universal language, uniquely capable of crossing cultural barriers and training in ethnic traditions and values. It can set a dramatic stage for lessons in history, foreign language, sociology, political studies and geography.
8. Music is a powerful anchor that moors learning in memory.

Northeast Stars is Offering Just 4 Kids Y oga!

The goal of Just 4 Kids yoga is to provide children a safe and fun environment in which to express themselves and explore yoga asanas and principles. Through song, imagination, creative play, storytelling and creative props, yoga classes will help children gain body awareness, strength and flexibility. Whether moving our bodies in the form of an animal, growing into trees from seeds or exploring how one’s breath feels as it goes in and out of the body children will improve breathing, balance, coordination, focus, self confidence and have a better understanding of their relationship to the world around them.

Once a week, our yoga instructor Rebecca Gitter will join us to help us explore the physical, mental, and emotional benefits of yoga for children.

Questions?

To learn more about Rebecca or other classes she teaches check out her new website (under construction!): www.just4kidsyoga.com

Spanish Bilingual Program

Children have an outstanding capacity for languages other than their native one, especially between the ages of 2-6. This should not come as a surprise; when a child is born, s/he does not know how to speak at all, but in just a couple of years s/he has learned not only a language, but its structure, its accent, and its rhythm. Research in the past decade has shown that people raised in a bilingual environment also tend to have a capacity to learn other languages quickly. A child can learn as many as five languages, simply by being around people who speak different languages to him/her on regular basis.

Spanish lessons are taught in the same manner as English, using the following three-step method:

INTRODUCTION OF THE OBJECT NAME
The child hears a word and repeats it, even if it doesn't have any meaning for him.

Example: This is a FLOWER.

REPETITION
The child is asked to tell us where the word object is, as we change the object's position or place. Through repetition, the child realizes the link between the word and the object he sees.

Example: Give me the flower; put the flower in my hand; etc.

ARTICULATION
The child says the word. We can test if he grasps the concept and meaning by asking him simple questions.

Example: What is this? What is it called?

For more information please refer to the following materials:

Raising Bilingual Children: Parent's Guide series by Carey Myles |
Growing Up with Two Languages by Cunningham-Ande
http://www.multilingualchildren.org

American Sign Language

Northeast Stars has added American Sign Language to its programming this year. Jill Rodriguez, an educator from Gallaudet University and a proud Northeast Stars parent, will teach the class.

Why teach ASL?

The benefits of using sign language with babies and toddlers have been widely publicized, but how can sign language help your preschooler? Research confirms the association between movement and language leads to increased vocabulary development and concept understanding. The more senses a child uses in a learning experience the better chance that the information will be retained. Sign language facilitates the “movement” of language. Many signs actually look like the concept they represent, creating a picture in the air. Because the neuropathways through which language develops in the brain are the same pathways that the brain uses for movement, the use of signs with young children augments cognitive language development. Research done by the Pennsylvania Stare University indicates that pre-kindergarten children who received sign instruction tested significantly higher on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test than students in pre-kindergarten classes that did not receive sign instruction. The conclusion drawn from this study is that when words are introduced using visual, kinesthetic and verbal stimuli simultaneously, a child’s vocabulary development is significantly enhanced.

How can parents be involved?

Each week a handout will be sent home showing the signs that have been worked on in class. Please ask your child to show you how to sign the words and try to use them throughout the week. It’s fun!

Want more information?

The following websites and book will give you more information of the benefits of ASL:

• Dancing with Words: Signing for Hearing Children’s Literacy (Marilyn Daniels)
• Signs for Me (Ben Bahan & Joe Dannis)
• Sign Language for Kids (Lora Heller)
• American Sign Language Concise Dictionary (Martin L.A. Sternberg)

www.psu.edu
www.gallaudet.edu