TIPS FOR TEACHING MUSIC TO CHILDREN

THE EFFECT OF LEARNING MUSIC ON CHILDREN

Musical education can play an important role in several areas of childhood learning and development. Starting at a young age and extending into high school, music can enhance children's math and science abilities, reading skills, and self-esteem.

Spatial Intelligence
According to the American Psychological Association (APA), music education at an early age can enhance a child's spatial intelligence. Spatial reasoning refers to the ability to perceive the visual world accurately, to form mental images of physical objects and to recognize variations of objects.
 

Study on Spatial Reasoning
In an APA study published in 2001, preschoolers who participated in 8 months of music lessons performed much higher on spatial reasoning skills such as puzzles than preschoolers who did not receive music lessons. Researchers claim that spatial reasoning is crucial to higher mental functions such as complex math and science.
 

Literacy Skills
Musical education can also enhance children's reading skills. According to a study published in the journal "Psychology of Music," children exposed to a 3-year program of increasingly-difficult keyboard lessons demonstrated superior performance in reading skills such as vocabulary and verbal sequencing compared with their non-musically trained peers.
 

Self-Esteem
In her book, "Music And The Self-Esteem Of Young Children," Jolanta Kalandyk claims that learning a musical instrument can do a great deal to enhance a child's self-concept and self-esteem. This occurs because as children experience success in music, their self-image and confidence are improved.
 

Other Benefits
Playing music also enhances children's creativity and ability to set goals. Additionally, learning music can help children form relationships with other kids who have similar interests.

SHAPES WORKSHEETS

COLORS WORKSHEETS

SEASONS WORKSHEET

WORKSHEETS AN INDISPENSABLE TEACHING TOOL

Worksheets for kids have been an important and familiar part of the classroom for all levels of public school for decades. They are excellent teaching tools for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that they can impart important information to a child in a quick, easy to digest format and then offer the opportunity to immediately put that information into practice so that the lesson sticks. No K through 12 classroom would be complete without good worksheets. 

The most common types of worksheets teach things like spelling, handwriting, and math. The worksheets let students practice these lessons directly on the sheet, and since each lesson is only one sheet long, it makes for easier grading by the teacher (that’s you!). Students write directly on the worksheets, and a master worksheet is kept filed away for making new copies for the next school year. You can get good mileage out of a solid worksheet for years to come, as the basic concepts children need to learn don’t change (or at least don’t change very often). 

Sometimes, teachers can purchase pre-made worksheets for kids, or the school district may provide them if the district has a lesson plan for your classroom already in place. If you are a teacher in either of these situations, then your work is much simpler. You can just choose the worksheets you want (or accept the ones given to you), and go. However, sometimes you’re left on your own with no district money available to purchase worksheets or no worksheets made available to you. In these cases, you should not let your students go without the benefits that worksheets provide for learning. You can actually make your own. 

When you create your own worksheets, you really have an opportunity to let your own creativity shine, and it can be a very rewarding experience. Many teachers enjoy making their own worksheets for this very reason. Another good reason to make your own worksheets is that you can tailor the sheets to your students. Once you see how your students are performing on other tasks in class, you can adjust your worksheets to reflect your students’ level of ability so as to ensure their best chance at success. You can also make worksheets of varying levels of difficulty in the same subject area, and then hand out these sheets to students according to their individual abilities. This makes for a more tailored learning experience, so no student will feel frustrated or bored because they’ve been given something too difficult or too easy for them. 

Making worksheets for kids doesn’t have to be time consuming, especially for seasoned teachers who are very familiar with their students’ learning objectives. Plus, with hand-tailored worksheets, your students can be assured of getting the very best education you have to offer them. What better way to make the school year a productive one for each child in your class?

INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE STAGES OF EARLY CHILDHOOD

The term "early childhood" refers to the years from birth to approximately age eight. During this period, rapid growth occurs in physical, emotional and intellectual development. Although each child develops at his own rate, there is a sequence of developmental milestones that progress from infancy to adulthood. Any given child may progress faster or slower than another, but children enter clearly defined stages at predictable times, as set forth by Piaget's theory of child development.

1. Infancy to 3 Months Old

   • Infants arrive into the world with little more than reflexes and an instinct to grasp and suck, but quickly learn that crying is a way to communicate their needs. Within the first four weeks, babies learn to produce different cries to communicate different needs such as hunger or discomfort. Infants may stop crying at the sound of their mother's voice and smile in response. Between months one and three, infants begin to smile at other family members, vocalize joy with squeals and coos, laugh out loud in reaction to other people and begin to babble.

   3 to 12 Months Old

   • From 3 to 9 months old, babies begin to smile at their reflection in the mirror, respond to voices and begin to vocalize consonant sounds. They also begin to respond to their name and understand the word "no." Between nine and 12 months, babies begin to say "Mama" and "Dada" and understand simple commands like "Get the toy," or "Come here."

     
     

   12 to 18 Months

   • By 12 months of age, children develop a three-to-five-word vocabulary and use hand or body gestures to communicate. They may develop specific sounds or motions to represent concepts. By 18 months of age, most children develop a vocabulary of 10 words or more, identify common pictures of animals or household objects and understand the meaning of the word "mine." They may resist changes in routine and become defiant.

     
     

   18 to 24 Months Old

   • Vocabulary increases and young toddlers may put two or three words together to communicate, point to body parts and name common pictures and objects. Toddlers request food or drink when thirsty or hungry. Children 2 years old can identify and avoid hazards such as stoves and stairs. Although they understand the concept of "me" and "I' they often refer to themselves by name and speak in three- to four-word sentences.

     
     

   3 to 5 Years Old

   • By age 3, children have attained a vocabulary of 1,000 words, understand the concepts of big and little, can count to three, know their first and last names and can answer simple questions. By 4 years of age, children typically have developed a vocabulary of 1,500 words or more and have mastered over 2,000 by their fifth birthday. They understand comparative terms like "tall," "taller," "tallest," can identify relative amounts, have a rudimentary sense of time such as with the words "yesterday" or "tomorrow" and have a sense of the time of day (morning, afternoon, night). Most identify colors and can count to 10. Children at this age enjoy nursery rhymes, nonsense rhymes and playing with words. Four- and 5-year-olds ask many questions, usually involving why or how something happens.

     
     

   6 to 8 Years Old

   • During this period of growth, children develop the ability to understand perspectives or wishes of others and are able to think in logical and rational ways. They understand that others may hold opinions and have feelings that differ from their own. Academically children around the age of 6 are ready to begin more complex tasks like reading, writing and performing mathematics. As they progress from 6 to 8 years old, they are able to take on more demanding tasks in school.