Let's sing! (week 1)

Sing Into Reading (handout)

What Are The Six Early Reading Skills?
1. Vocabulary- Knowing the names of things
2. Print Motivation- Being interested in and enjoying books
3. Print Awareness- Noticing print, how to handle a book, how to follow words on a page
4. Letter Knowledge- Knowing letters are different from each other, knowing their names and sounds
5. Narrative Skills- Being able to describe things and events and tell stories
6. Phonological Awareness- Being able to hear and play with the smaller sounds in words

How Does Singing Help Teach Children These Skills?
Our brains are uniquely wired to respond to music, from before the time we are born. Because singing is interactive, it involves even the youngest children in language. Children learn language through repetition, and as songs are repeated the rhythm of the words is internalized.

Singing brings a natural awareness of words, as each syllable or sound in a word gets a different note. Nursery rhymes and finger plays present a wide vocabulary, and teach sentence structure, story concepts
and comprehension. The only things we remember word-for-word from our childhoods, are childhood songs and some rhymes! Children learn oral language before written language, and the more experience they have with oral language, the better prepared they will be for interpreting written words.
 
Active participation in music (singing) increases retention, builds memory, and actually helps grow the
brain in young children! Because children naturally love to sing, there is no “teaching,” just doing!