If you can read this....

… thank a music teacher!

“Music is a balm, use it liberally to calm your selves, to connect with your babies, to feel safe and grounded.”

Music and Early Literacy

We agree with Lloyd Moss: “It’s music that we all adore.” At Kindermusik International, we love music for music’s sake and for its ability to touch the hearts, souls, and minds of young children and families. Music can supportearly language development, increase phonemic awareness, and even profoundly impact children with special needs.

So make a resolution to gather your children together—whether at home or in the classroom—for musical story times that will support early literacy development and their love of music! Below you will find some of our favorite musical stories, including a Caldecott Winner, Reading Rainbow selections, audio story, and even a book written by a Kindermusik educator.

12 musical books to support early literacy and language development

• Squeak, Rumble, Whomp! Whomp! Whomp! By Wynton Marsalis
• Listen to My Trumpet by Mo Willems
• The Animal Boogie by Debbie Harter
• In the Fiddle Is a Song by Durga Bernhard
• Tuba Lessons by T.C. Bartlett and Monique Felix
• Hand, Hand Fingers Thumb by Al Perkins
• Bearful Bear and His New Moves by Anna Lee Everhart
• Freddy Flamingo and the Kindertown Five by Kindermusik (Story download)
• Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin by Lloyd Moss (The Reading Rainbow video with Gregory Hines includes a good introduction to the orchestra with children explaining musical terms.)
• I Know a Shy Fellow Who Swallowed a Cello by Barbara Garriel
• Max Found Two Sticks by Brian Pinkney
• Violet’s Music by Angela Johnson

Enroll Now!

Classes begin on Monday :)

Math & Music

Preschoolers count their way to math success

Photo Credit: Futurity.org via iStockphoto

Preparing children to be successful in math during elementary school begins long before that first day of Kindergarten. New research shows that both reciting and counting (assigning numerical values to objects) should be emphasized in a preschool or daycare curriculum to lay the groundwork for understanding more challenging math concepts in elementary school. In fact, the study implies that being able to count objects up to 20 in chronological order predicts success in first grade.

Preschoolers’ counting abilities and first-grade math abilities

Louis Manfra, PhD reviewed the reciting and counting abilities of 3,000 at-risk students in preschool and then later in first grade. Manfra found that the students with the highest math scores in first grade could also recite and count to 20 while in preschool. Unfortunately, less than 10 percent of the at-risk students could count and recite to 20.

“Counting gives children stronger foundations when they start school,” Manfra said in a press release. “The skills children have when they start kindergarten affect their trajectories through early elementary school; therefore, it’s important that children start with as many skills as possible.”

He goes on to stress the importance of integrating counting practice into daily routines and rituals.

“You can learn anything anywhere, and this is very true for counting,” Manfra said. “When adults read books with children, they can count the ducks on the page. They might count the leaves that fall to the ground outside or the number of carrots at lunchtime.”