One of the things we'd like to add more of into our programs is the arts. More music, more dance, more poetry, more drawing and painting, more theater. The arts inherently attract children, and the limited amount we have been able to incorporate has been effective in developing targeted literacy skills such as fluency, writing, and even cultural literacy. We see the link between literacy and music quite clearly in our weekly classes.
Our Reading & Math Buddy sessions often start with a fluency exercise, the reading of a rhyme or song book. The goal with the fluency exercise is to help the children read quickly and accurately with expression - a demonstration of their reading automaticity. In reading rhymes and songs, there's a lot of repetition, phonological awareness, and rhythm involved, as well as singing, which even our older boys enjoy! The singing and reading along is low-stress for the children. If they are unable to decode a word, they have a framework in place to help them decide how to pronounce a word.
Our students' current favorites are the nursery rhymes and folk songs from Cantata Learning. Each rhyme/ song is a book in itself, with illustrations for every few verses. The school/public library bought a set of these books this year, and they quickly became a staple in our lessons because students across the board responded so well to them. The student reads through it first independently, then the volunteer makes corrections or points out vocabulary, and then they read or sing it again. Even though the collection contains well-known rhymes and songs, they are usually new to our students. The rhymes and songs are fun to sing together, especially in small groups. Often, students will request to read another after the fluency exercise.
A few of the other picture song books we love, outside of the Cantata Learning set:
In our weekly private music lessons (keyboard) for children ages 5-12, the link between literacy and playing music is significant. Most songs are short and have accompanying lyrics. We encourage the students to use the lyrics to help them play the music, whether they are playing by ear or reading music notation.
For example, one of the first songs we teach beginners is Hot Cross Buns:
Hot cross buns,
Hot cross buns.
One a penny,
two a penny
Hot cross buns.
Sometimes children forget to play "Hot cross buns" twice at the beginning. Or they play three notes instead of four for "One a penny." We stop and count the syllables. Four syllables. Play the note four times. Being aware of the lyrics helps the children to play the correct rhythm. When we add in actual notation with quarter/ half/ eighth notes, the students see the correlation even more clearly.
We also play games in music class that reinforce alphabet and spelling skills - albeit with a limited set of letters, A-G, corresponding to keyboard key names. Thanks to Susan Paradis' Piano Teaching Resources website, we play spelling games and race up and down the keyboard alphabet.
A large corpus of research is available on the connection of music and literacy. For us, we incorporate both simply because we see that it is effective in helping our students develop their literacy and music skills - and the students love it!
Our Reading & Math Buddy sessions often start with a fluency exercise, the reading of a rhyme or song book. The goal with the fluency exercise is to help the children read quickly and accurately with expression - a demonstration of their reading automaticity. In reading rhymes and songs, there's a lot of repetition, phonological awareness, and rhythm involved, as well as singing, which even our older boys enjoy! The singing and reading along is low-stress for the children. If they are unable to decode a word, they have a framework in place to help them decide how to pronounce a word.
Our students' current favorites are the nursery rhymes and folk songs from Cantata Learning. Each rhyme/ song is a book in itself, with illustrations for every few verses. The school/public library bought a set of these books this year, and they quickly became a staple in our lessons because students across the board responded so well to them. The student reads through it first independently, then the volunteer makes corrections or points out vocabulary, and then they read or sing it again. Even though the collection contains well-known rhymes and songs, they are usually new to our students. The rhymes and songs are fun to sing together, especially in small groups. Often, students will request to read another after the fluency exercise.
A few of the other picture song books we love, outside of the Cantata Learning set:
- Miss Mary Mack by Mary Ann Hoberman
- I know an Old Lady by Nadine Bernard Westcott
- Old Black Fly by Jim Aylesworth
- The Wheels on the Bus by Jane Cabrera
In our weekly private music lessons (keyboard) for children ages 5-12, the link between literacy and playing music is significant. Most songs are short and have accompanying lyrics. We encourage the students to use the lyrics to help them play the music, whether they are playing by ear or reading music notation.
For example, one of the first songs we teach beginners is Hot Cross Buns:
Hot cross buns,
Hot cross buns.
One a penny,
two a penny
Hot cross buns.
Sometimes children forget to play "Hot cross buns" twice at the beginning. Or they play three notes instead of four for "One a penny." We stop and count the syllables. Four syllables. Play the note four times. Being aware of the lyrics helps the children to play the correct rhythm. When we add in actual notation with quarter/ half/ eighth notes, the students see the correlation even more clearly.
We also play games in music class that reinforce alphabet and spelling skills - albeit with a limited set of letters, A-G, corresponding to keyboard key names. Thanks to Susan Paradis' Piano Teaching Resources website, we play spelling games and race up and down the keyboard alphabet.
A large corpus of research is available on the connection of music and literacy. For us, we incorporate both simply because we see that it is effective in helping our students develop their literacy and music skills - and the students love it!