Minds On Music – The Kindermusik Blog - Page 62 of 106 - For three generations, Kindermusik has helped millions of children around the world build a strong foundation for a lifetime of learning.

New research proves ABC Music & Me boosts early literacy skills!

ABC Music & Me early literacy curriculum

New research proves ABC Music & Me boosts early literacy skills for preschoolers:

During the 2012-2013 school year, SEG Measurement, an independent research firm, conducted a multi-state study to investigate the effectiveness of the use of the ABC Music & Me program with preschool students in the United States. The findings of the study show that the students who used ABC Music & Me as part of their preschool education showed significantly greater gains on the PALS (Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening) Pre-K Assessment than a comparable group of preschool students who did not use ABC Music & Me, indicating that the ABC Music & Me program shows proven success in boosting early literacy and other important school-readiness skills.

The study’s design allowed for comparison of ABC Music & Me students vs. a control group:

This study incorporated a pre-post treatment-control group design in which all participating students took the same pre and post test (PALS-PreK assessment) at the beginning and end of

the school year. Students in the treatment group received ABC Music & Me instruction and activities as part of their preschool instruction during the school year. Students in the control group did not receive any ABC Music & Me instruction or activities. Students in the control and treatment groups attended the same or comparable schools and statistical analyses were conducted to ensure that the groups were comparable. Analysis of Covariance was used to compare the performance on the post-test between the treatment and control groups while controlling for any initial differences in ability.

About the PALS-PreK test:

PALS-PreK is a scientifically-based phonological awareness and literacy screening that measures preschoolers’ developing knowledge of important literacy fundamentals and offers guidance to teachers for tailoring instruction to children’s specific needs. The assessment reflects skills that are predictive of future reading success and measures name writing ability, upper-case and lower-case alphabet recognition, letter sound and beginning sound production, print and word awareness, rhyme awareness and nursery rhyme awareness.

Stay tuned for more information about the full research report!

Try ABC Music & Me in your classroom for early reading success!

Too Small to Fail, indeed

Every day in our music classes for toddlers, babies, big kids, and families, we see (or hear about!) how early childhood education positively impacts a child’s future. We know our early childhood curriculum makes a difference.

However, we also know that too many children start school without an early learning foundation that leads to school and life success.
A new early childhood initiative, Too Small to Fail, focuses on improving the lives of young children. This joint initiative of the Clinton Foundation and Next Generation caught our attention because of their commitment to improving the lives of young children in ways that aligns with our philosophy (and the latest early childhood research!) including:

Parents are a child’s first and best teacher.
During the first five years of a child’s life, early childhood education can make a significant difference in the development of the brain.
Early childhood curriculum that teaches a young child to love learning continues to positively impact the way a child perceives school, including math and science.

See for yourself:

We look forward to watching this new early childhood initiative develop and discovering how we might be a part. You can join in the Too Small to Fail conversation on Facebook – or comment below – to share your ideas or stories of your own experiences with the power and importance of early childhood education.

How to Help Your Child Become a Better Reader

We all know that reading to our children is an important part of their intellectual and emotional development. But why is this so? Susan B. Neuman, professor of childhood studies at the University of Michigan, gives some insight.
Dr. Neuman points out that reading is fun, stimulates the imagination, provides knowledge of the world and life, including problems and the solving of problems. Language development is also strengthened by hearing words being read aloud. Children who are read a variety of books on a daily basis also develop a sense of community, an understanding of “what it means to be human,” and to learn empathy as they are introduced to cultures and people that are different than their own.
Most parents are already convinced of the importance of reading, but with so many children’s books on the market, it can be hard to know which books are best. Here are some simple tips for choosing – and reading! – books according to your child’s age.
birth – 1 year
Look for small, brightly colored books with photos of babies and familiar objects like balls and bottles. Draw attention to the objects by saying things like, “Look at the ball,” or point to pictures and ask, “What’s that?”
1 – 2 years
Look for sturdier books that can be handled and carried; few words on teh pages or simple rhyming themes. Talk about the pictures — you don’t necessarily have to read the book to tell the story.
2 – 3 years
Look for silly or funny books with subjects like food, animals, or making friends. SImple word books are good choices. Keep stories short and read them with few interruptions. Then, re-read them.
3 – 4 years
Look for books that tell simple stories with a beginning, a middle, and end; stories that relate to life, like overcoming fear; information books about children’s interests. As you read ask your child questions about the story: “What do you think will happen next? Why?” Keep them engaged.
5 – 6 years
Look for stories and information books that evoke children’s lively imagination and interests; books about space, machines, time, and other cultures. Ask your child to tell you what interests her most about the story. Use open-ended questions to encourage her to relate her ideas. Allow her to ask questions as you read.
Compiled by Theresa Case, whose Kindermusik program at Piano Central Studios in Greenville, SC, is proudly among the top 1% of Kindermusik programs worldwide.

5 ways eBooks support early literacy and the environment for kids

At Kindermusik, we like to say that we are doing our life’s best work by creating and teaching early childhood curricula that instills a lifelong love of music and learning in children. Our life’s best work, however, also includes being mindful of our impact on the environment for kids. We strive to balance educationally sound curricula with business practices that support sustainability. Providing eBooks to families as part of enrollment in Kindermusik is one of the latest ways we can do both. eBooks support early literacy and the environment for kids. Here’s how:

5 ways eBooks support the environment and early literacy

eBooks encourage even reluctant readers to read more. Some children naturally gravitate towards reading and books, where other children need a little more encouragement. Research shows that eBooks can turn even reluctant readers into more eager readers.
eBooks are better for the environment for kids. Printed books result in the emission of almost four times the amount of greenhouse gases than e-readers.
With eBooks, reading together can happen wherever you and your child are—waiting at the doctor’s office, sitting on the beach, or snuggling on the couch. We know most parents—even librarians!—rarely carry a bag full of children’s books ready to pull out at a moment’s notice. However, most parents never leave home without their phone. Parents can access eBooks for kids at the touch of a button.
Printed books emit larger quantities of ozone-depleting substances and chemicals associated through their life cycles.
eBooks with rich visualizations, sounds and music appear to help early language and literacy skills, especially for young at-risk students.

Parents are a child’s first and most important teacher. Kindermusik gives parents the tools (and eBooks) needed to support that role. Our music classes for toddlers, babies, big kids, and families now include access to Kindermusik@Home. With Kindermusik@Home, parents can access favorite Kindermusik songs and activities, learning games for kids—and eBooks!—and more in a green-friendly digital format any time from any smart phone, iPad, tablet, laptop, or computer.

To learn more about enrolling in Kindermusik classes and receiving access to Kindermusik@Home, contact a local Kindermusik educator via our Class Locator.

Schools, preschools, and childcare centers can also benefit from Kindermusik@Home. To learn more about bringing our digital early learning curriculum into your classroom, email us at info@abcmusicandme.com.

Music & Reading: 2 of our favorite things

Yes, it’s true. As creators of music education programs and early literacy curriculum, we love both music and reading. Study after study continues to show how music can support a young child’s early literacy and language development. As Julie Andrews would sing, music and reading are like “raindrops and roses.” It’s no wonder that music and reading are two of our favorite things. After all, research shows music supports a child’s early literacy development in many ways, including music’s impact on phonological awareness, vocabulary learning, listening skills, and verbal memory.

Musical training supports early literacy development

One of the newest studies, “The effects of musical training on the decoding skills of German-speaking primary school children”, published in The Journal of Research in Reading, strengthens the understanding of how music supports early literacy development. Led by Iris Rautenberg, the team investigated the connections between musical skills (perception and differentiation of the rhythmical and tonal/melodic patterns) and decoding skills, and the effects of musical training on word-level reading abilities.
The researchers recruited 159 German first graders. One-third of the children received musical training for nine months. One-third of the children received visual arts training and the remaining group did not participate in any special training. The music training specifically focused on rhythmic skills, tonal/melodic skills, and auditory discrimination of timbre and sound intensity. Rautenberg’s study found two ways that musical training supports early literacy development.

2 ways musical training boosts early literacy development

Rhythmical abilities showed a strong positive correlation with decoding skills, both in reading accuracy and reading prosody.
Children participating in the music classes performed significantly better on reading accuracy in word reading when compared with the other two groups.

Early literacy curriculum uses music as vehicle for learning

ABC Music & Me uses music and movement to teach young children early literacy and early language development. During class, children receive music instruction including active music making and kinesthetic movements to emphasize steady beat, rhythm and pitch, as well as the association of sounds with developmentally appropriate symbols.

For more information about using ABC Music & Me to teach early language and early literacy, email us at info@abcmusicandme.com.

One of the Best Ways to Get Your Baby to Sleep

To re-phrase an old saying, “When baby ain’t sleepin’, ain’t nobody sleepin’!” Desperate parents will go to any and all lengths to get their baby to sleep. We’d like to suggest that one of the best ways to get your baby to sleep is to sing – a lullaby, that is. And no, your voice doesn’t have to be stage-perfect, because to your baby, your voice is the most beautiful sound there is. Besides that, who else is going to hear you singing softly at 2 a.m.?!

Lullabies for Babies

As your baby learns to fall asleep on his own, you might choose to let him fall asleep to some gentle lullaby recordings. Here are a few of our favorite suggestions:

You Are My Sunshine by Kindermusik International – available at Amazon or play.Kindermusik.com
Violin Lullabies, a new release by violinist Rachel Barton Pine
Flying Dreams, a harp and flute recording by Emily Mitchell and James Galway

Create a Playlist

If you’re a Kindermusik family, you know that your Kindermusik music always includes some gentle listening music as well as lullabies. You might choose to create a playlist of all of your favorite Kindermusik lullabies and rocking songs so that it’s ready at the touch of a button – in the car, before a nap… or when you’re too tired to remember the words in the middle of the night!
Shared by Theresa Case, whose Kindermusik program at Piano Central Studios in Greenville, SC, is proudly among the top 1% of Kindermusik programs worldwide.

The Value of Music for Babies

Music Classes For Babies - Kindermusik Cuddle & Bounce

Some people are surprised to find out that Kindermusik is for children as young as newborns. In fact, a new curriculum called “Cuddle and Bounce” created just for newborns and 1 year olds along with their parents will be available soon. But really, what can such a small child gain from starting Kindermusik before they can even crawl or walk?
The following statement, jointly issued by The National Association for Music Education (MENC), the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), and the US Department of Education, helps explain just how important music education for even the youngest musicians can be….

The Value of Music for the Very Young

The idea that very early education provides great long-term benefits has been rendered incontestable by studies in cognition and early learning. Research in developmental psychology and commonsense observation underscore both the importance and the wisdom of making music an integral and overt part of the earliest education of young children:

(1) We know that music is among the first and most important modes of communication experienced by infants.

The youngest children lack the gift of speech, but they are deeply responsive to the emotional ethos created by music. The lullabies sung by parents help children to accomplish the fundamental developmental task of learning-to trust their environment as a secure one. Songs communicate adult love and the experiences of joy and delight; they teach children that the world is a pleasurable and exciting place to be. Music is essential to the depth and strength of this early foundation for learning and for connecting to life itself.

(2) As young children grow and develop, music continues as a basic medium not only of communication, but of self-expression as well.

Through music, children expand their cognitive universe as they first experience-and later learn to produce-sounds organized to carry musical meaning within their culture. Music expands memory and assists in developing crucial language skills. Music exerts a multiplier effect on reasoning skills, especially on spatial reasoning-an effect that has been demonstrated experimentally. Music also reinforces such logical and perceptual ideas as beginning and ending, cause and effect, sequence and balance, harmony and dissonance, as well as arithmetic concepts such as number, enumeration, and timing.

In addition, as centuries of tradition and modern vehicles such as Sesame Street have taught us all, music in the lives of young children is a highly effective means of delivering vital information about the world itself, as when it is used to teach such basic content as counting, colors, relationships among ideas, social skills, and the wonders of the natural world. Music is also a powerful tool for communicating the full spectrum of human emotion in ways appropriate to children’s experience. Children who may not be able to express verbally their happiness, anger, or sadness can find in music the right outlet and mode for what they cannot yet identify or express clearly using the tools of language.

(3) As preschool children not only listen to and respond to music, but also learn to make music by singing and playing instruments together, they create important contexts for the early learning of vital life skills

such as cooperation, collaboration, and group effort.

(4) Guided music experiences also begin to teach young children to make judgments about what constitutes “good” music,

thereby developing in them the rudiments of an aesthetic sense.

(5) Music contributes strongly to “school readiness,” a foundational education aim of the American people for all our children, as expressed in our National Education Goals.

Music experiences can help children prepare to learn to become literate as it helps them become more aware of and focused on the phonemes that make up the language or languages they will need to excel in school. When children develop musical skill and understanding, they are developing basic cognitive, social, and motor skills necessary for success throughout the educational process. They are preparing skills that will apply to language, to literacy, and to life itself.

…[U]nless the positive learning engendered by music in the earliest years is nurtured by those in the best position to provide it, i.e., parents, music teachers, and professional caregivers, the educational power of music and its potential for sound development can be diminished and diluted.

See the value of music in action…Try a Free Kindermusik Class!

– Excerpted from a report from the Early Childhood Music Summit, June 2000 and shared by Theresa Case, whose Kindermusik program at Piano Central Studios in Greenville, SC, is proudly among the top 1% of Kindermusik programs worldwide.

Kids Crafts Inspired by Kindermusik@Home

What do a cardboard castle and a paper plate sun have in common? They’re both two of the many kids craft ideas conveniently found in Kindermusik@Home.

Crafts for Preschoolers

What’s great about the cardboard castle featured in Make Believe are the kid-friendly instructions. With just a little help from an adult, they are just perfect for preschoolers who thrive on a little independence and the joy of creative self-expression. The best parts are all the imaginative pretend play once the castle is complete, and the learning that happens best through active play and hands-on interaction.

Crafts for Toddlers

A simple but fun craft idea for toddlers is found in Kindermusik@Home, Up in the Sky. Hint: You might want to make two so that you can both sing and dance with your Paper Plate Sun. (Or turn on the recording of “Mr. Sun.”) The paper plate sun is one of several “sky crafts” that promote interactive learning while also inspiring together-time ideas.
As a unique benefit of your Kindermusik enrollment, your Home Materials, conveniently available when you log in to Kindermusik@Home, offer you and your child music and then some – engaging, delightful craft ideas being among the highlights.

Together time fueled by creativity and imagination…

…all inspired by the power of Kindermusik – in class and at home all week long.
Shared by Theresa Case, whose Kindermusik program at Piano Central Studios is among the top 1% of Kindermusik programs worldwide.

My Kindermusik Day

Kindermusik educator Theresa Case in Baby Music Class

Yesterday was one of my Kindermusik days — my day to teach, to be in the classroom with 10 delightful toddlers and their special adults. Besides being an invigorating ton of fun, every one of my Kindermusik days reminds me of why I’m so lucky to do what I do!
As a program owner, I am privileged to work alongside the other wonderful Kindermusik educators on my staff. I spend time in the office, administrating and overseeing the business that enables me to reach so many more families with the power of Kindermusik. The time I spend teaching inspires and motivates me when it’s time to put on the other hats I wear as a Kindermusik program owner and director of Piano Central Studios.

Smiles, Love, Learning, Joy & Music

My own boys have long since graduated from Kindermusik into taking music lessons, but I still remember the joy of experiencing Kindermusik as a parent, now precious memories of spending time together and watching their love for music blossom. Thankfully, I still get to be in the Kindermusik classroom as a licensed Kindermusik educator, witnessing firsthand how the magic of Kindermusik brings out the smiles, the love, the learning, the joy, and the music in the parents and children in my classes.
What a precious gift my Kindermusik days are to me!
– Shared by Theresa Case, director of Piano Central Studios in Greenville, SC

Learn more about becoming a licensed Kindermusik educator or program owner like Theresa.

Music, creativity, and English Language Learners

Children naturally engage in creative activities: from storytelling to singing to dancing to turning a shoebox into a submarine, doll bed, or even another planet. An often-quoted IBM poll of 1,500 CEOs identified creativity as the number one “leadership competency” of the future. Albert Einstein also understood the importance of creativity when he said, “Creativity is intelligence having fun.” So, how do we foster creativity in young children that sustains through adulthood?

Music and teaching English to children supports creativity

Einstein often used music as a creative way to solve complex problems. He believed, “The greatest scientists are artists as well.” Playing an instrument, singing with others, and dancing to music all support a child’s creative process and encourages individual expression and exploratory behavior. Learning a second (or third!) language can also foster creativity. In fact, research indicates that bilinguals tend to be more creative thinkers and perform better in problem-solving skills than those who speak only one language.
An article published in the Early Childhood Education Journal, “Using Music to Support the Literacy Development of Young English Language Learners,” reviews current research to highlight some of the reasons why music can effectively be used when teaching English to children.

8 reasons to use music with ELL students

A child’s initial introduction to patterned text often occurs first in songs, chants, and rhymes, which can lead to greater understanding of print concepts.
Songs present opportunities for developing automaticity in the language process. The repetitive nature of many children’s songs helps ELL students learn the language as they hear words and phrases repeated.
Music can be integrated throughout the day in the classroom and at home to develop and to extend vocabulary and comprehension skills.
Music can improve listening and oral language skill development, improve attention and memory, and enhance abstract thinking.
Music enriches ELL students’ creativity and cultural awareness.
Songs can be used to practice and reinforce consonant sounds.
Songs can teach a variety of language skills, such as sentence patterns, vocabulary, pronunciation, rhythm, and parts of speech.
Music is a way for children to experience rich language in a fun way.

English Language Learners curriculum uses music

Created by Kindermusik International, ABC English & Me uses music and movement to teach English to speakers of other languages that meets the TESOL curriculum standards for Pre-K. This beginners program for English Language Learners combines our extensive experience in early childhood education with the latest research on learning a foreign language.