Uncategorized Archives - Page 26 of 69 - Minds On Music

How Kindermusik Graduates are Prepared to Succeed

This is the time of year when many Kindermusik educators are bidding a fond farewell to their Kindermusik graduates – a bittersweet time for sure! But they are sent way with so much pride, not just because of their accomplishments, but because of how Kindermusik has prepared them to succeed.

How Kindermusik Graduates are Prepared to Succeed

Musically – With hands-on experience with musical instruments and musical concepts under their belts, Kindermusik graduates are ready to take the next step into formal music instruction. The rich foundation that was laid in the early years with Kindermusik uniquely prepares a child not just to do well, but to excel in music lessons.
Cognitively – Experiencing music with Kindermusik affects nearly every kind of intelligence and stimulates development in every area of the brain. Kindermusik kids are problem solvers, creative thinkers, and eager learners. They have strong, independent reasoning skills.
Creatively – Kindermusik kids have been given the freedom to be self-expressive, to explore the possibilities, and to think outside of the box. Their imaginations have been encouraged and their minds stretched to think in terms of possibilities and “what if’s.”
Emotionally – Being in the safe, nurturing environment that Kindermusik provides has helped develop the key social skills and resilience that are essential for school-readiness and success. Kindermusik kids are well-adjusted and socially adept.
Socially – Self-confidence and the ability to cooperate and work together in a group are just some of the social skills that set Kindermusik kids apart. The friendships that blossom in Kindermusik and the sense of belonging that results imbue a sense of confidence and emotional well-being and connectedness that last long after graduation from Kindermusik.
Physically – Kindermusik graduates know how to move! They’ve developed a sense of self, learned to move creatively, and experienced the joy of movement. Kindermusik has provided these graduates with opportunities for noncompetitive, success-oriented, creative experiences. Gross and fine motor skills have been refined.
Aesthetically – A child in Kindermusik develops an appreciation of the arts and is more aware of the beauty around him. His soul has been touched by the power of music during the early years when these kinds of musical and aesthetic experiences have the greatest impact.

Poised for success in music, in school, and in life.

Kindermusik kids are ready… perfectly poised to succeed in music, in school, and in life. And the path to readiness has been filled with exuberant delight, happy memories, and joyful learning – all of it accomplished through the power of music and an experience that is uniquely Kindermusik.
Congratulations, Kindermusik graduates! We couldn’t be prouder.

Interested in learning more about how Kindermusik will benefit your child? Learn more at www.Kindermusik.com and also visit a free class!

Music and Movement Benefits: What's Your Tempo?

What is TEMPO you ask? Simply put, tempo is the speed of the music. Fast, slow, and everything in-between!

But why is TEMPO so important?

There is a tempo in every sport your child will play, in every speech, every talk, every meeting your child will hold, and of course, in music. Here’s where being in a Kindermusik class is so valuable – your child’s Kindermusik classroom experiences with tempo will later translate into critical skills that cross into every aspect of your child’s life – music, sports, academics, dance, gymnastics, art, drama, and more!

Tempo at Home

And that’s not all! Even at home, you can use tempo to keep your child engaged in an activity, supporting both increased attention span and cognitive repetition. For example, you can repeat a song or rhyme many more times with your child if you vary the tempo, and each time we repeat the activity we strengthen the new neural connections in your child’s brain, helping to create retained learning.

How do kids learn about TEMPO?

First, little ones must FEEL it (baby music classes), then they can later PRODUCE it (toddler music classes). Next, they can UTILIZE their sense of timing (preschooler music classes) so that by the time they are in our big kids classes they will be able to sense tempo as a group in ENSEMBLE play, and further develop their organizational skills for home, school, and beyond!

Want to see how Kindermusik can benefit your child? Try a free class today and see how your child will learn and grow with music.

Increase parent involvement in early childhood education with a Breakfast Club

Looking for an easy and fun way to increase parent involvement in early childhood education? Start a Breakfast Club. In a recent issue of the NAEYC publication, Teaching Young Children, Lynn A. Manfredi shares her success at inviting parents to join the class during breakfast time. In the morning, parents eat with their children, connect with other parents and the teachers, and children start the day surrounded by people who love and care for them.
“In my family child care program, we start the day with a healthy breakfast. When I asked parents if they would like to join us while we eat, Breakfast Club was born,” Manfredi explains in the article, Building a Community through Breakfast. “My relationships with families and their relationships with each other have blossomed. It is family engagement at its best!”

Breakfast Club ideas to use as part of an early childhood program

In our early childhood curriculum, we include materials for families to use together at home that connect the classroom learning with the home environment. Here are a few Kindermusik@Home ideas to try at your Breakfast Club and share with parents!

For Newborn to 1 year

Cuddle & Bounce: First Foods from Around the World
Opinions about what solids babies should eat, in what order, and at what intervals…well, they’re endless and ongoing!
Check out some recipes for “baby’s first foods” from around the world!
Tip for Parent Involvement in early childhood education: Share this activity with parents as they eat breakfast or use the link in an email to invite parents to attend.

For 1 to 2 years

Sing & Play: Let’s Make Toast
As simple as it seems, a piece of toast offers all kinds of opportunities to help young children develop fine-motor skills. Provide toast for families to eat during Breakfast Club as well as child-safe plastic knives.
Tip for Parent Involvement in early childhood education: With the help of a parent, let children use a plastic knife to spread some butter, margarine, or cream cheese on a piece of toast. Use a spoon to scoop some jelly! Child will develop his or her grasp and practice wrist rotation. If children are not quite ready for the spreading action, line up a row of raisins or pieces of cereal and lead children to place them on the toast, one at a time. This gets the thumb and forefinger working together (a.k.a., pincer grasp) and develops hand-eye coordination (a.k.a., visual-motor integration).

For 2 to 3 years

Wiggle & Grow: Fruit, Fruit Where Are You?
Memory is an excellent game that can encourage the development of numerous early childhood skills that go beyond simple visual processing.
Tip for Parent Involvement in early childhood education: At breakfast, extend the benefits of this game by using the images on the cards as oral language enhancers and fun conversation starters about color and preferences (e.g., “Which is your favorite food to eat?”, “What food did we see that was red?”).

For 4 to 5 years

Move & Groove: Let’s Make Fruit Rainbows
Healthy fruits come in a variety of shapes and colors, which makes them perfect (and fun!) for practicing patterns. Identifying, creating, and extending patterns is a critical early math skill that is also a prerequisite to more advanced math.
Tip for Parent Involvement in early childhood education: Provide fruit for parents and children to make patterns. Parents can start a pattern and encourage children to finish it and vice versa.

Looking for more ideas on increasing parent involvement?

Learn how using music in the early childhood classroom connects with parents and supports the cognitive development in children, including early math, science, literacy, and language skills.

A whole new rhythm to English Language Learning

We rock out in our early childhood music classes—literally and figuratively. From our classes for babies, toddlers, big kids or families to our early literacy and language program in preschools, Head Start programs, and daycares to our ELL curriculum, we use the benefits of music to engage children of all abilities in learning. And, we have a lot of fun in the process!
In the first several years of life, the cognitive development of children fires up. Connections in the brain are formed as children engage in new experiences—and repeated multi-sensory activities strengthen those connections. It’s one of the reasons research indicates that it is the critical period for teaching a child another language. Before age 8, children who learn another language are more likely to speak like a native speaker. In fact, young children who learn to speak another language, such as English as a second language, actually reshape the brain, and also strengthen their first language abilities (contrary to a previously debunked myth).

Take a peek inside the brain of bi-lingual children:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhpVd30AJaY[/youtube]

3 reasons to use music and movement in a bilingual curriculum

Musical activities engage all of the senses and stimulate development in every area of the brain. Regardless of a child’s first language, every child speaks music and research shows it positively impacts English language learning, including these three ways:

Music stimulates language learning, builds phonological awareness, and enhances language skills.
Children who learn through movement show a marked improvement in memory.
It’s fun! (Never underestimate the power of fun—and music—when it comes to engaging children!)

Try this activity for young ELL students

ELL students will love hearing the rhythmic language of “This Little Car”—over and over again. And doing so will help them learn to speak, and later read, in English, because this video is full of opportunities for them to increase their English language phonological awareness. Phonological awareness is the ability to hear and manipulate words, syllables, and sounds in oral language. Research has shown that phonological awareness is one of the strongest predictors of later reading success—in English as well as in many other languages.

Learn more about our bilingual curriculum…

that meets the EYFS framework in the UK, CEFR developed by the Council of Europe, and TESOL English Language Proficiency Standards for Pre-K.

10 ways to celebrate Earth Day with little kids

Happy Earth Day! Today (and every day, truth be told) we celebrate the beautiful world around us. After all, working (and playing, singing, and dancing!) with children brings out the best in us. They teach us to pause and notice the beauty in the tiniest of details. Through the eyes of a child, a puddle becomes a splashing adventure; a caterpillar provides a reason to giggle as it creeps up an arm; and a stick morphs into just about anything.
At Kindermusik, protecting the earth is a process. It doesn’t happen overnight—kind of like raising a child. It takes deliberate, consistent steps. (Y ou can see how we actively seek ways to reduce our carbon footprint as a company.) Today, however, we celebrate Earth Day the best way we know how—by involving the youngest members of our world in the process! So, we hope you enjoy 10 of our favorite ways to celebrate Earth Day—and teach kids about sustainability—with these kid-friendly activities from Pinterest!

10 activities for kids to celebrate Earth Day!

Fine Motor Play with Recyclable Materials. Use paper towel or toilet paper rolls, egg containers, and duct tape to create a fun “fine motor skills center” for toddlers and preschoolers. Young children will enjoy the playtime and you will model for them how to re-use and recycle materials!
Recycled Outdoor Music Station. Make this with children and play with it all year! Young children will enjoy designing and decorating their own little musical symphony.

(Source: http://mynearestanddearest.com/)
Earth Day Hunt. Go on a nature treasure hunt with little ones. Provide them with a list of things to look for on your walk, such as “collect three rocks” or “make a leaf rubbing.” Consider taking a small bag to pick up trash along the way, too!
20 Family-Friendly Books about the Environment. Looking for a good book about the environment to read with young children? This list will get you started! Plus, it will teach kids about sustainability and support early literacy skills.
Go on a Virtual Field Trip to learn about and listen to the Landfill Harmonic.
Make a Recycling Bin with Children. Use a trashcan and some paint to decorate a recycling can for the entire family. Then talk about (and show) the different types of things you can recycle. Children love to contribute to the family or class, so give a child “the job” of recycling certain items, such as plastic water bottles or juice containers.
Go bird watching (and listening!). Bird watching celebrates key Kindermusik skills of listening and engaging and helps children notice the world right outside their window. After your bird walk, sing along with Kindermusik bird songs and use instruments to mimic birdcalls.
Create a “plant pal” by planting grass seeds. Children learn best by engaging all of their senses. Planting seeds and watching them grow gives them the opportunity to learn more about a plant’s life cycle. Toddlers and preschoolers will especially love this fun twist! When the grass grows long enough, give the “plant pal” a trim!
Host a Recycled Dance Party. This party has it all—music, movement, and a fun way to learn more about recycling for kids.
Follow our “Living Green with Kids” board on Pinterest! Need even more ideas? Be sure to follow Kindermusik on Pinterest!

Contributed by Lisa Camino Rowell with a little help from her 8-year-old daughter and former Kindermusik student, Emerson. After all, living green with kids takes input from every family member!

Music & Movement Benefits: Why We Rock, Bounce, Jump & Dance

Kindermusik is as much about movement as it is about music. Ask any educator or parent – there’s no need to go to the gym on Kindermusik day! That’s because we know that children learn best by doing – it’s called experiential learning. And now a new study highlighted in Science Daily demonstrates just how powerful the doing-learning-remembering connection really is. There really is such a thing as “motor memory!”
Multiple research studies prove what Kindermusik has capitalized on for a long time – movement is KEY to learning. In fact, the movement we do in our Kindermusik classes is essential for the children in many ways.

The powerful, but happy, combination of movement and music develops:

The Vestibular System.

A well-developed vestibular system provides emotional security, good muscle tone, develops auditory language processing, and visual-spatial processing. All this while you’re having fun dancing!

Neural Pathways.

Moving in a variety of ways gives your child a chance to ‘see the world’ from many perspectives, thus strengthening neural pathways, which carry messages from your child’s mind, guiding her senses and motor skills.

Fine Motor Skills.

During the first part of life, we’re learning to walk, so gross motor activities dominate the child’s movement. Now she can focus on activities that encourage the development of fine muscles, so she can increase skills that require finger and hand movements such as putting together a simple puzzle, painting with a paintbrush, turning a page of a book or stringing beads.

Physical Confidence.

Body awareness is important in the development of the child’s physical confidence. This developmental goal may be met by engaging in movement activities which focus on body part movement, whole body movement in one place, and whole body movement while traveling in space.

Creativity and Imagination.

Listening and responding to music and movement activities helps develop pretend play skills while also helping your child assimilate music and movement concepts such as fast, slow, loud, quiet, bumpy, smooth, straight and curvy.

Thinking Skills.

While in motion, the brain acts like a flight simulator, constantly inventing, moving mental models to project onto a changing world. This is an extraordinary mentally complex operation which builds thinking skills.

Movement is truly the key to the kind of learning that sticks and to the kind of joyful interaction that leads to a lifelong love of music and a lifetime of benefiting from the rich foundation of an early childhood music and movement program like Kindermusik.

Come move, sing, dance, play, and learn with us! Try a FREE Kindermusik class today and see how music will move you… and your child.

Where are the future scientists? In a music class for kids!

At first glance, music classes for kids might not seem like the best place to look for future scientists, technology experts, engineers, or mathematicians. Well, look again! New research indicates that an early childhood music class is exactly where we should look.
Researchers from Michigan State University recently published a study that found that 93 percent of STEM graduates (college students who majored in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics) reported musical training as a child compared to only 34 percent of the average adult. STEM graduates also showed an increased involvement in the visual arts, acting, dance, and creative writing.

Benefits of music for children continue through adulthood

“The most interesting finding was the importance of sustained participation in those activities,” said Rex LaMore, director of MSU’s Center for Community and Economic Development, in a press release. “If you started as a young child and continued in your adult years, you’re more likely to be an inventor as measured by the number of patents generated, businesses formed or articles published. And that was something we were surprised to discover.”
According to the research team, participation in the arts, such as music classes for kids, encourages “out-of-the-box thinking.” The STEM graduates reported using those skills they learned in music or art classes—such as analogies, playing, and imagination—to solve complex scientific problems.

Music and learning in early childhood education

In Kindermusik, we know children also use exploration and problem solving to learn what an object does and how it works. We call that process epistemic play. In our early childhood curriculum, we provide many opportunities for children to explore objects in order to better understand how they work. While trying out all the ways to tap, shake, or roll an instrument or stomp, tap, tiptoe our feet, children gain a foundational understanding of how things work. Plus, all this epistemic play supports a child’s overall cognitive development.

Learn more about using music in the early childhood classroom to support the cognitive development in children, including early math, science, literacy, and language skills.

To experience the benefits of music with your child, find a local Kindermusik educator in your area.

It’s Math Awareness Month!

More reasons to celebrate the benefits of music

Last month, we celebrated Music in Our Schools Month. Truth be told, though, we celebrate the benefits of music every month (every day actually). After all musical activities stimulate development in every area of the brain! April brings us Math Awareness Month and—you guessed it—one more reason to celebrate the benefits of music!
The known connections between music and math go way back. The 17^th century German mathematician, Gottfried Leibniz, explained it this way: “Music is the sensation of counting without being aware you were counting.” Centuries later we understand more about the benefits of music on learning, including on the cognitive development in children.

A quick experiment about the benefits of music

Try this experiment: One, two buckle my shoe. Three, four shut the door. Five, six pick up sticks. Seven, eight lay them straight. Nine, ten begin again. You did it, didn’t you? Before you finished reading that nursery rhyme, you found yourself singing it, instead. It’s okay. You probably do that with the ABCs, too. It’s how many of us learned those building blocks of reading and math—through nursery rhymes, songs, and maybe a few dance moves!
The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) recently published a report: The Patterns of Music: Young Children Learning Mathematics through Beat, Rhythm, and Melody. This report highlights some of the links between music and math and concludes by saying:

“With new understanding about the nature of everyday learning experiences, the key role of patterns in the development of literacy and mathematics, and the need for a stimulating environment in the very early years, the importance of music in the home and in the classroom is becoming clear. Music is children’s first patterning experience and helps engage them in mathematics even when they don’t recognize the activities as mathematics. Music is a highly social, natural, and developmentally appropriate way to engage even the youngest child in math learning.”

3 benefits of music on early math skills

1. Music helps young children learn to count by rote. Young children learn to count by rote—a memorizing process using routine and repetition. Learning to count by rote helps children develop number vocabulary, memory, patterning, and sequence—all foundational skills for math. Music gives children many opportunities to practice counting. For example, in our early childhood education curriculum, ABC Music & Me, when we “roll, roll, roll…1, 2, 3” an instrument, count to three and jump up during the circle dance, recite the numbers playing with balls, or count the beats in a nursery rhyme, children practice counting in a fun, engaging way, which reinforces the beginning stages of learning numbers.
Try this music and movement activity: 1, 2, 3, Count with Me! Tap into young children’s love of games by playing a game of “1, 2, 3, Count with Me!” Count together how many crayons to put away, how many steps it takes to get from the rug to a chair, or even how many people need a coat for outside.
2. Music and movement activities teach children about spatial awareness.
Music supports young children’s spatial awareness development through movement, songs, poems, and props. So, for example, in our early childhood music education classes, when we explore the directions up and down during a fingerplay, dance forwards and backwards based on the cues heard in a song, or go on a swervy-curvy blanket ride, young children gain a greater understanding of spatial awareness. Exploring spatial awareness through whole body movement eventually helps children to safely navigate around a room, tell the difference between letters and group them together on a page to recognize words, and understand geometry!
Try this music and movement activity: Do the Hokey-Pokey! Yes, that Hokey-Pokey from our own childhoods. Using the directional words throughout the day, makes personal connections and helps children gain a better understanding of the concept and boosts overall spatial awareness.
3. Music leads children to experience patterns through movement, listening, and playing instruments. Rhythm patterns are combinations of long and short sounds and silences. For example, in a Kindermusik preschool or toddler curriculum, educators may lead the class to “step, step, step, stop” or “ta, ta, ta, rest” with rhythm sticks. This helps children learn rhythm patterns (quarter note, quarter note, quarter note, rest), a basic musical concept. Plus, whole body involvement with patterning lays an early foundation for math.
Try this music and movement activity: Hold it steady. Repeating the steady beat heard in a musical piece helps children identify and repeat a simple pattern. While listening to music together, tap or clap a steady beat to the music.

The benefits of music set a child up for early math success and more

The New York Post published an article, “The essay that got 1 student into all 8 Ivies,” about High School student, Kwasi Enin. Enin was accepted into all 8 Ivy League colleges, earned a 2250 on his SATs, and hopes to become a medical doctor. In the article, Enin said: “I directly developed my capacity to think creatively around problems due to the infinite possibilities of music.” His love of music sparked his “intellectual curiousity” and “helped him play a role in his community and learn leadership values.”
We know that those skills he learned playing the viola for nine years probably also contributed to his high SAT score and will continue to help him as he strives towards his goal of becoming a physician.
And the reasons to celebrate music continue…

Learn more about using music in the e arly childhood classroom to support the cognitive development in children, including early math, literacy, and language skills.

To experience the benefits of music with your child, find a local Kindermusik educator in your area.

Why we celebrate Music in Our Schools and National Reading Month throughout the year

Today officially marks the last day to celebrate both Music in Our Schools month and National Reading Month. However, in Kindermusik classrooms (and homes!) around the world, we celebrate the benefits of music on early literacy skills every single day. After all, children actively involved in music classes experience the benefits of music throughout the year. It’s one of the many reasons we know that music belongs in our schools.

Earlier this month, we asked the Kindermusik Facebook community why music belongs in our schools and they responded with some of the immeasurable benefits of music:

New partnership with Reading Rainbow gives us more reasons to celebrate Music in Our Schools and National Reading Month

Of course, the benefits of music on early literacy skills offer measurable reasons why music belongs in our schools, too! So, we loved celebrating both Music in Our Schools Month and National Reading Month by officially announcing and kicking off a new partnership with Reading Rainbow. Here are some of the highlights from this month:

We announced the partnership between Reading Rainbow and Kindermusik International that will build early literacy skills in children. This partnership brings Kindermusik’s more than 35 years of experience in early childhood curriculum development with the #1 children’s reading adventure app!
We celebrated National Read Across America Day with LeVar Burton and Reading Rainbow at a live event at Thomas Edison Elementary School in Burbank, CA featuring a live reading by LeVar Burton of a beloved Kindermusik book, The Drum Circle, and Kindermusik activities led by Educator Kelsey Springsted with Jamie Sterling. (Be sure to read how music in schools impacted Kelsey Springsted in Music: A prescription for healing.)
The Kindermusik “Music Mountain” island goes live on the Reading Rainbow mobile app for kids. The Music Mountain island features Kindermusik’s music-themed content, including children’s books, music, and video field trips alongside other newly produced content from Reading Rainbow. Free to try, the educational app is available on the iPad and Kindle Fire.
Kindermusik provides a guest post, “Music Makes Kids Hungry for Learning (and Reading!), on the Reading Rainbow blog.
LeVar Burton and Reading Rainbow posted, “Reading and Music…Hitting All the Right Notes,” on the Minds on Music blog.

Did you miss these studies and presentation announcements that show even more benefits of music on early literacy skills?

In our early literacy curriculum, ABC Music & Me, we know that the benefits of music on early literacy include the development of active listening, vocabulary, print awareness, comprehension skills, auditory discrimination, and phonological awareness. We wanted to make sure that you did not miss these new research studies and presentations that we mentioned this month.

New study shows that if children memorize eight nursery rhymes by the age of 4 years old, they are usually among the best readers by the time they are 8 years old. Read more.
Talking and singing with babies promotes more that just bonding. It also supports vital brain development in young children. Read more.
The independent 2013 research study on our early literacy curriculum and its’ positive effect on early literacy development was recently presented at the SITE (Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education) 2014 Event.
Kindermusik will present at the Head Start’s 12th National Research Conference on Early Childhood – Collaboration and Coordination in July!

Keep reading our Minds on Music blog for all of the latest research and news on early childhood education. You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest!

Reading and Music…Hitting All the Right Notes

By LeVar Burton
In March, the Reading Rainbow APP launched its newest Island, MUSIC MOUNTAIN, in partnership with Kindermusik, the world’s largest provider of musical movement and learning classes for youngsters. Why did we choose to work together? It’s very simple. Reading and Music go hand in hand as an integral part of early childhood education and enrichment. Research shows us that when kids engage in music, they gain the phonological processing, spoken language, and comprehension skills that are the foundations of reading.
However, there are other reasons I felt it was a great addition to Reading Rainbow’s mission of developing a passion for reading in our kids. For those of us with more than one child, we immediately recognize that no two children are alike, even when they share parents and a home environment. Almost from birth they develop their own individuality. Some kids like sports, some like music, some like comics and others like science. The combinations are endless. Study after study shows us that when kids like the subject they read about, they read more. Seems like a no brainer, but it’s an important tool that parents can use with kids who struggle or are reluctant readers. When I was a kid, I loved comic books and would read them voraciously. My mother, an English teacher no less, had no problem with this. She knew that developing a passion for reading comes from reading, no matter what it is. And if I liked the subject or the format, I read. Later in life I made the transition to more complex and varied styles of literature.
Many of our younger kids are obsessed with music. They love listening to it, singing along with their favorite movie soundtracks, or dancing to whatever is on the iPod. Many take up playing instruments in elementary school. So if your child is excited about music, introduce them to books ABOUT music. It can be sing-a-long books for the younger ones, or biographies about great musicians and composers for the older ones. In the Reading Rainbow APP, there are stories like “The Music in Derrick’s Heart,” a tale about a beloved uncle teaching his young nephew how to play the harmonica while really teaching him about family togetherness and the power music has to bring people together. “The Drum Circle,” from Kindermusik, takes kids on an adventure through cultures that use different drums in varied ways that bring out their own uniqueness and cultural heritage. We even have a book called “Pythagoras and the Ratios” that uses adventure to demonstrate both math skills and music as the hero learns how to tune instruments to sound their best.
Kids who like to read become better readers. Kids who like music can use that passion to improve their reading skills and help make that transition to a “reader for life” by exposing them to literature about something they love.
But you don’t have to take my word for it.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
About LeVar Burton:
Best known for his Reading Rainbow stewardship as well as his other distinguished TV roles (most notably Kunta Kinte on Roots and Geordi La Forge on Star Trek: The Next Generation), LeVar Burton comes from a family of educators and is widely recognized for his lifelong advocacy of children’s literacy. He speaks passionately on the topics of early learning and technology and has been a keynote speaker at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, South by Southwest (SXSW) Edu and received the Eliot-Pearson Award for Excellence in Children’s Media from Tufts University as well as The 2013 Children’s Media Award from Common Sense Media.
About Reading Rainbow:
Respected by millions and one of the most watched children’s television series in PBS history, Reading Rainbow has been connecting families to the joy of reading for over 30 years. In 2011, famed actor/producer/educational advocate LeVar Burton and his business partner, Mark Wolfe, formed RRKidz. They hold the global rights to the Reading Rainbow brand through a partnership with series creator, WNED/Buffalo. RRKidz’s flagship product, the award-winning Reading Rainbow app, is a reading subscription service filled with a library of quality ebooks, kids videos, and educational games. New children’s books and reading activities are added every week encouraging children to “Go Anywhere, Be Anything.”

Free to try, the educational app is available on the iPad and Kindle Fire.

(Kindermusik thanks LeVar Burton for contributing this guest post on the Kindermusik Blog. We also thank LeVar and the Reading Rainbow Team for incorporating Kindermusik International into the Reading Rainbow mobile reading service and continuing to promote the benefits of music and literacy.)

How Kindermusik Graduates are Prepared to Succeed

Poised for success in music, in school, and in life.

Interested in learning more about how Kindermusik will benefit your child? Learn more at www.Kindermusik.com and also visit a free class!

But why is TEMPO so important?

Tempo at Home

How do kids learn about TEMPO?

Breakfast Club ideas to use as part of an early childhood program

For Newborn to 1 year

For 1 to 2 years

For 2 to 3 years

For 4 to 5 years

Looking for more ideas on increasing parent involvement?

Learn how using music in the early childhood classroom connects with parents and supports the cognitive development in children, including early math, science, literacy, and language skills.

Take a peek inside the brain of bi-lingual children:

3 reasons to use music and movement in a bilingual curriculum

10 activities for kids to celebrate Earth Day!

The powerful, but happy, combination of movement and music develops:

Movement is truly the key to the kind of learning that sticks and to the kind of joyful interaction that leads to a lifelong love of music and a lifetime of benefiting from the rich foundation of an early childhood music and movement program like Kindermusik.

Benefits of music for children continue through adulthood

Music and learning in early childhood education

Learn more about using music in the early childhood classroom to support the cognitive development in children, including early math, science, literacy, and language skills.

To experience the benefits of music with your child, find a local Kindermusik educator in your area.

More reasons to celebrate the benefits of music

A quick experiment about the benefits of music

3 benefits of music on early math skills

The benefits of music set a child up for early math success and more

Learn more about using music in the early childhood classroom to support the cognitive development in children, including early math, literacy, and language skills.

To experience the benefits of music with your child, find a local Kindermusik educator in your area.

New partnership with Reading Rainbow gives us more reasons to celebrate Music in Our Schools and National Reading Month

Did you miss these studies and presentation announcements that show even more benefits of music on early literacy skills?

Keep reading our Minds on Music blog for all of the latest research and news on early childhood education. You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest!

Free to try, the educational app is available on the iPad and Kindle Fire.

Learn more about using music in the e arly childhood classroom to support the cognitive development in children, including early math, literacy, and language skills.