Tulsa Public Schools-”Parents As Teachers” Wins Award/ABC Music & Me Recognized

Parents Are Our Best Advocates!

Among the many innovative submissions, ABC Music & Me, was recognized as award-worthy curricula and one of the reasons Tulsa PAT’s received this award.                                                                                       

Here is a brief blurb:

“Tulsa Public Schools Parents as Teachers won the award based on its submission describing its reputation for providing innovative and quality programs within the community. The program was the first in Oklahoma to initiate a music program designed by KinderMusik International especially for Parents as Teachers groups, school pre-K programs and child care centers. Called ABC Music & Me, these weekly classes are free to families due to a collaboration with local businesses called “Partners in Education.”

Read the full press release below:

Tulsa PAT press award release

Awesome Video-ABC Music and Me

Exactly what I was sharing with my workshop attendees today

Literacy and Music – A “Note”able Connection

Promoting Literacy Through Music
Laura Woodall and Brenda Ziembroski

The successful acquisition of reading and writing in early childhood depends on a solid background in oral language skills. What better way to gain knowledge and confidence in oral language than through music? Oral language is an interactive and social process, and music is a natural way for children to experience rich language in a pleasurable way.

Young children seem to be naturally “wired” for sound and rhythm. Besides providing enjoyment, music can play an important role in language and literacy development. Strong social bonds are encouraged through music and songs beginning in preschool. Toddlers can begin to experiment with grammatical rules and various rhyming patterns in songs and other written text.

Establishing a sense of rhythm can be used to increase a student’s awareness of rhyming patterns and alliteration in other areas of reading and writing. Through music, memory skills can be improved, and aural discrimination increased (Chong & Gan 1997). Music can focus the mind on the sounds being perceived and promote learning through an interactive process. It is important in teaching early childhood students to be conscious of auditory and discrimination skills. Music and songs help increase these listening skills in a fun, relaxed manner. Listening skills are key in singing, language and expressive movement, and later reading and writing (Wolf, 1992).

Music has always been a way for children to remember stories and learn about the world around them. Using music as a stimulus can effect one’s emotions and make information easier to remember. Music also creates an environment that is conducive to learning. It can reduce stress, increase interest, and set the stage for listening and learning. The similarities between literacy acquisition and musical development are many. Therefore, teaching that combines music with language arts instruction can be the most effective (Davies, 2000). Furthermore, it is important for emergent readers to experience many connections between literacy in language, music, and in print.

Language in music and language in print have many similarities, such as the use of abstract symbols. Both oral language and written language can be obtained in the same manner. That is, by using them in a variety of holistic literacy experiences, and building on what the students already know about oral and written language (Clay, 1993).

For example, emergent readers will attempt to “read” along in a shared reading of a familiar text, just as they will join in a sing along to a familiar song. (Sometimes making up the words as they go!) Just as emergent reading and writing are acquired to drawing and pretending to write, musical learning is connected to song and movement. Children instinctively listen to music and try to identify familiar melodies and rhythms, just as early readers will look for words that sound alike, have patterns, or rhyme (Jalongo & Ribblett, 1997). Song picture books such as The Ants Go Marching or The More We Get Together, support early readers in this manner. They also illustrate how the use of familiar text, predictability, and repetition can encourage children to read. Using songs put to print can expand vocabulary and knowledge of story structure, as well as build on concepts about print. The use of music for reading instruction allows children to easily recall new vocabulary, facts, numbers, and conventions of print. For example,try to remember how you learned your ABC’s or other memory skills — many people learn them musically. Meet Me at the Garden Gate* can be used to teach children to skip count by two’s; it is a song that is readily learned while at the same time assimilates the mathematical concept.

Repetition in songs supports and enhances emergent literacy by offering children an opportunity to read higher-leveled text and to read with the music over and over again in a meaningful context. Print put to music also allows children to build on past experiences, which in turn invites them to participate in reading and singing at the same time. Using Over the River and Through the Woods (Child,1996) for instruction affords first grade students the familiarity necessary to read a higher leveled text based on past experiences. Furthermore, teachers using repetitive text can easily model and exaggerate the repetition, rhyme, and rhythm of story, thereby encouraging the children to join in.

A child’s initial introduction to patterned text often first occurs in songs, chants, and rhymes that are repeated over and over again throughout childhood. Once children become familiar with this patterning, they are excited and able to participate in shared reading, writing and other oral language experiences. Concepts about print become more meaningful, and conventions of print are learned in context. Additionally, substitutions in songs, chants or poems can provide for real language experience opportunities. When emergent readers see printed words in the text again and again, they come to identify those words and phrases by their similarities and configurations. Emergent readers who learn Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed (Christelow. 1989), for instance, can quickly spot the quotations marks and capital letters in the doctor’s statement, “No more monkeys jumping on the bed!” (Jalongo & Ribblett, 1997).

The effects of music on the emotions are commonly known. However the effects of music on the brain and thinking are demonstrable. Research has shown that during an electroencephalogram (EEG), music can change brain waves and make the brain more receptive to learning. Music connects the functions of the right and left hemispheres of the brain so that they work together and make learning quick and easy. Brain function is increased when listening to music and studies have shown that music promotes more complex thinking. It can make connections between emotions, thinking and learning (Davies, 2000).

Howard Gardner’s research on Multiple Intelligences supports this idea. He describes how people demonstrate different skills and talents while trying to learn. Therefore, classrooms must provide different approaches to meet an individual student’s areas of strength in order to be the most successful. For example, Gardner’s Musical-Rhythmic learners are sensitive to nonverbal sounds and are very much aware of tone, pitch and timbre. Using rhythm, chanting, and songs with these students can increase their attention and interest while motivating them to learn (Gardner, 1985.)

Advertisers and filmmakers realize and utilize the power of music to evoke emotions and get our attention. Educators need to learn from this multi-million dollar industry and use music to our advantage to help children to learn (Davies, 2000).
Good first teaching is based on using what children already know, and the influence of music on learning is clear. Therefore it seems that teachers should be motivated to incorporate music, rhymes, chants, rhythm, and songs in the classroom.
If music can set the stage for learning, increase a child’s interest, and activate a student’s thinking, what are we waiting for?

Music gives a soul to the universe,
Wings to the mind,
Flight to the imagination…
And life to everything.
–Plato

References

Becker, J. (1973). Seven Little Rabbits. New York: Scholastic.
Bonne, R. (1961). I Know An Old Lady. New York: Scholastic.
Buchoff, R. (1994). Joyful Voices: Facilitating Language Growth Through the Rhythmic
Response to Chants. Young Children, 26-29.
Buchoff, R. (1995). Jump Rope Rhymes…. in the Classroom? Childhood Education,149-151.
Canover, C. (1976). Six Little Ducks. New York: Scholastic.
Carle, E. (.1991). Today is Monday. New York: Scholastic.
Child, L. (1996). Over the River and Through the Wood. New York: Scholastic.
Chong, S. & Gan, L. (1997). The Sound of Music. Early Child Development and Care, 323.
Christelow, E. (1989). Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed. New York: Trumpet.
Clay, M. (1993). An Observation Survey of Early Literacy Achievement. NH: Heinemann.
Cunningham, P.M. & Allington, R.L. (1994). Classrooms That Work : They Can All Read
and Write. New York: Harper Collins.
Davies, NL (2000). Learning … The Beat Goes On. Childhood Education, 148-153.
Dunn, S. (I 990). Crackers and Crumbs: Chants for Whole Language. NH: Heinemann.
Freschet, B. (1973). The Ants Go Marching. New York: Scribners.
Gardner, H. (1985). Frames of Mind : The Theory of Multiple Intelligences.
New York: Basic Books.
Glazer, T. (1990). The More We Get Together. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace, Jovanovich.
Hennings, D. (1989). Communication in Action: Teaching the Language Arts.
New Jersey: Houghton Mifflin.
Hill, S. (1993). Jump for Joy–More Raps and Rhymes. Australia: Eleanor Curtain Publishing.
Hoberman, M. (1998). Miss Mary Mack. New York: Scholastic.
Jalongo, M. & Ribblett, D. (1997). Using Song Picture Books to Support Emergent Literacy.
Childhood Education 15-22.
Seeger, P. (1989). Abiyoyo. New York: Scholastic,.
Wolf, J. (I 992). Using Song Picture Books to Support Emergent Literacy. Young Children, 56-61.
Wright Group. (1992). Animal Fair. Hong Kong: Colorcraft.
Wright Group. (1992). Old MacDonald Had a Farm. Hong Kong: Colorcraft

What One Woman Can Do

In honor of my grandmother’s 99th birthday, who met Anne Frank before she went into hiding.

Miep Gies, Anne Frank protector, dies at 100

// <![CDATA[// -1) {document.write('January 12, 2010 -- Updated 0357 GMT (1157 HKT)');} else {document.write('January 11, 2010 10:57 p.m. EST');}
// ]]>January 11, 2010 10:57 p.m. EST

// <![CDATA[//

Anne Frank was among eight people hidden by Miep Gies and others during WWII.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Gies helped hide Anne Frank, seven others from Nazis in Amsterdam
• After hiding place was raided, Gies found Anne’s diary and kept it until after the war
• Gies worked as a secretary for Anne’s father, Otto, and later gave diary to him

// <![CDATA[//

RELATED TOPICS

• // <![CDATA[// Anne Frank
• // <![CDATA[// The Holocaust
• // <![CDATA[// Amsterdam

(CNN) — Miep Gies, who ensured the diary of Anne Frank did not fall into the hands of Nazis after the teen’s arrest, has died. She was 100.

Gies was among a team of Dutch citizens who hid the Frank family of four and four others in a secret annex in Amsterdam, Netherlands, during World War II, according to her official Web site, which announced her death Monday. She worked as a secretary for Anne Frank’s father, Otto, in the front side of the same Prinsengracht building.

The family stayed in the secret room from July 1942 until August 4, 1944, when they were arrested by Gestapo and Dutch police after being betrayed by an informant. Two of Gies’ team were arrested that day, but she and her friend, Bep Voskuijl, were left behind — and found 14-year-old Anne’s papers.

“And there Bep and I saw Anne’s diary papers lying on the floor. I said, ‘Pick them up!’ Bep stood there staring, frozen. I said, ‘Pick them up! Pick them up!’ We were afraid, but we did out best to collect all the papers,” Gies said in a 1998 interview with The Anne Frank House in Amsterdam.

“Then we went downstairs. And there we stood, Bep and I. I asked, ‘What now, Bep?’ She answered, ‘You’re the oldest. You hold on to them. So I did.”

The girl had chronicled two years of the emotions and fears that gripped her during hiding, as well as candid thoughts on her family, her feelings for friend-in-hiding Peter van Pels, and dreams of being a professional writer. Mixed into the entries were the names of the Dutch helpers, who risked their lives to keep the family’s secret.

“I didn’t read Anne’s diary papers. … It’s a good thing I didn’t because if I had read them I would have had to burn them,” she said in the 1998 interview. “Some of the information in them was dangerous.”

The diary was sheltered in Gies’ desk drawer and later turned over to Otto Frank when he returned after the war as the only surviving resident of the annex. Anne died at northern Germany’s Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945.

Her father published her diary, titled “The Secret Annex,” in 1947.

Despite the legendary hardship she endured during the German occupation, Gies never embraced the label of a hero.

“More than 20,000 Dutch people helped to hide Jews and others in need of hiding during those years. I willingly did what I could to help. My husband did as well. It was not enough,” she says in the prologue of her memoirs, “Anne Frank Remembered: The Story of the Woman Who Helped to Hide the Frank Family.”

“There is nothing special about me. I have never wanted special attention. I was only willing to do what was asked of me and what seemed necessary at the time.”

Gies’ husband, Jan, whom she married in 1941, died in 1993. The couple had a son together.

Scientific Research : Music and Communication

Music Therapy Can Assist Toddlers’ Communication

Rehabilitation Process

ScienceDaily (Jan. 7, 2010) — Music therapy can assist in the speech acquisition process in toddlers who have undergone cochlear implantation, as revealed in a new study by Dr. Dikla Kerem of the University of Haifa.

---

The study was carried out in Israel as a doctoral thesis for Aalborg University in Denmark (supervised by Prof. Tony Wigram) and presented at a “Brain, Therapy and Crafts” conference at the University of Haifa.

Some infants who are born with impaired hearing and who cannot benefit from hearing aids are likely to gain 90% normal hearing ability by undergoing a cochlear implantation procedure. Following the operation, however, the child — who never heard before — undergoes a long rehabilitation process before he or she can begin to speak.

In the present study, Dr. Kerem examined the particular effects that music therapy has on the potential development of toddlers (aged 2-3 years) who have undergone cochlear implantation, specifically in terms of improving spontaneous communication.

“Music comprises various elements that are also components of language and therefore as a non-verbal form of communication is suitable for communication with these children, when they are still unable to use language. Communicative interactions, especially those initiated by the toddlers, are critical in the development of normal communication, as they are prerequisites for developing and acquiring language,” explains Dr. Kerem. She adds that the toddlers undergoing rehabilitation are under much pressure from their surroundings — especially the parents — to begin talking, and sometimes this pressure makes them become introverted. As such, music therapy lends itself to strengthening these children’s nonverbal communication and thereby lessens the pressure on them for verbal exchange and response.

The study provided sixteen sessions for children after cochlear implantation. Eight of the sessions included music-related activities (such as games with percussion instruments, vocal games and listening to simple songs) and the rest involved playing with toys/games without musical sounds. Each of the sessions was videotaped and then analyzed. The results showed that during those sessions when music therapy was implemented, spontaneous communication was markedly more frequent and prolonged in the children. Derived from the results is the fact that the exposure to music needs to be gradual, through the use of music experiences that involve basic musical parameters (such as intensity and rhythm).

“Music can constitute the bridge between the quiet world that the child knew and the new world of sounds that has been unfolded following the operation. It is also important that the parents and staff learn the best way to expose these children to music, the use of music for communication and the importance of the therapist’s undirected approach (which enhanced the children’s communication in music therapy and in play to a greater degree than in the directed one). Music therapy is gradually penetrating the field of rehabilitation, but there is still a lot of work to be done in improving awareness of this important area,” Dr. Kerem explains.

Vaccine Schedule: Week of Jan 4,2010

Dear All:

Came across this today

Spoke with the Dr

He is opening the invitation for the week

Call his office to schedule an appointment

We are administering seasonal (injections) and H1N1 vaccines (Flumist or
injection) in our Englewood office for all adults and for children 4 and
older tomorrow afternoon, Sunday January 3rd from 12 pm to 2pm.

177 North Dean Street

Suite 203

Englewood, NJ 07631

You do not have to be a prior patient of ours to come in.

The cost of each vaccine is $25 and we will not be filing insurance claims.

You do not need a formal appointment but please RSVP by emailing:
staff@accessmedicalassociates.org

We have available:

1) H1N1—both Flumist and injectable

2) Seasnonal-injectable only

The Flumist vaccine is a live virus and is NOT appropriate for the following
patients:

-pregnant women

-patients over 50 years of age

-patients with asthma

-patients with chronic heart disease

-patients with diabetes

-patients who are immunocompromised

Jeff Paley MD

Doron Katz MD

177 North Dean Street

Suite 203

Englewood, NJ 07631

201-503-0833

In Support of Programs Like ABC Music & Me

Found this article and support of using music to teach the ASD child.  Please note: segment in this article which refers to chants (bolded below) is one of the many activities included in our ABC Music & Me curricula.

For more information about how ABC Music & Me can be brought into your facility/center/school, or for a free demonstration, please contact me at

kindermusikwithmsk@gmail.com

visit our website for more information:

http://www.budurl.com/abcmusic

Music Therapy and Language for the Autistic Child

Written by Myra J. Staum, Ph.D., RMT-BC
Director and Professor of Music Therapy
Willamette University, Salem, Oregon

Music Therapy is the unique application of music to enhance personal lives by creating positive changes in human behavior. It is an allied health profession utilizing music as a tool to encourage development in social/ emotional, cognitive/learning, and perceptual-motor areas. Music Therapy has a wide variety of functions with the exceptional child, adolescent and adult in medical, institutional and educational settings. Music is effective because it is a nonverbal form of communication, it is a natural reinforcer, it is immediate in time and provides motivation for practicing nonmusical skills. Most importantly, it is a successful medium because almost everyone responds positively to at least some kind of music.

The training of a music therapist involves a full curriculum of music classes, along with selected courses in psychology, special education, and anatomy with specific core courses and field experiences in music therapy. Following coursework, students complete a six-month full time clinical internship and a written board certification exam. Registered, board certified professionals must then maintain continuing education credits or retake the exam to remain current in their practice.

Music Therapy is particularly useful with autistic children owing in part to the nonverbal, non threatening nature of the medium. Parallel music activities are designed to support the objectives of the child as observed by the therapist or as indicated by a parent, teacher or other professional. A music therapist might observe, for instance, the child’s need to socially interact with others. Musical games like passing a ball back and forth to music or playing sticks and cymbals with another person might be used to foster this interaction. Eye contact might be encouraged with imitative clapping games near the eyes or with activities which focus attention on an instrument played near the face. Preferred music may be used contingently for a wide variety of cooperative social behaviors like sitting in a chair or staying with a group of other children in a circle.

Music Therapy is particularly effective in the development and remediation of speech. The severe deficit in communication observed among autistic children includes expressive speech which may be nonexistent or impersonal. Speech can range from complete mutism to grunts, cries, explosive shrieks, guttural sounds, and humming. There may be musically intoned vocalizations with some consonant-vowel combinations, a sophisticated babbling interspersed with vaguely recognizable word-like sounds, or a seemingly foreign sounding jargon. Higher level autistic speech may involve echolalia, delayed echolalia or pronominal reversal, while some children may progress to appropriate phrases, sentences, and longer sentences with non expressive or monotonic speech. Since autistic children are often mainstreamed into music classes in the public schools, a music teacher may experience the rewards of having an autistic child involved in music activities while assisting with language.

It has been noted time and again that autistic children evidence unusual sensitivities to music. Some have perfect pitch, while many have been noted to play instruments with exceptional musicality. Music therapists traditionally work with autistic children because of this unusual responsiveness which is adaptable to non-music goals Some children have unusual sensitivities only to certain sounds. One boy, after playing a xylophone bar, would spontaneously sing up the harmonic series from the fundamental pitch. Through careful structuring, syllable sounds were paired with his singing of the harmonics and the boy began incorporating consonant-vowel sounds into his vocal play. Soon simple 2-3 note tunes were played on the xylophone by the therapist who modeled more complex verbalizations, and the child gradually began imitating them.

Since autistic children sometimes sing when they may not speak, music therapists and music educators can work systematically on speech through vocal music activities. In the music classroom, songs with simple words, repetitive phrases, and even repetitive nonsense syllables can assist the autistic child’s language. Meaningful word phrases and songs presented with visual and tactile cues can facilitate this process even further. One six-year old echolalic child was taught speech by having the therapist/teacher sing simple question/answer phrases set to a familiar melody with full rhythmic and harmonic accompaniment The child held the objects while singing:

Do you eat an apple? Yes, yes.
Do you eat an apple? Yes, yes.
Do you eat an apple? Yes, yes.
Yes, yes, yes.

and

Do you eat a pencil? No, no.
Do you eat a pencil? No, no.
Do you eat a pencil? No, no.
No, no, no.

Another autistic child learned noun and action verb phrases . A large doll was manipulated by the therapist/teacher and a song presented:

This is a doll.
This is a doll.
The doll is jumping.
The doll is jumping.
This is a doll.
This is a doll.

Later, words were substituted for walking, sitting, sleeping, etc. In these songs, the bold words were faded out gradually by the therapist/teacher. Since each phrase was repeated, the child could use his echolalic imitation to respond accurately. When the music was eliminated completely, the child was able to verbalize the entire sentence in response to the questions, “What is this?” and “What is the doll doing?”

Other autistic children have learned entire meaningful responses when both questions and answers were incorporated into a song. The following phrases were sung with one child to the approximate tune of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and words were faded out gradually in backward progression. While attention to environmental sounds was the primary focus for this child, the song structure assisted her in responding in a full, grammatically correct sentence:

Listen, listen, what do you hear? (sound played on tape)
I hear an ambulance.

(I hear a baby cry.)
(I hear my mother calling, etc.)

Autistic children have also made enormous strides in eliminating their monotonic speech by singing songs composed to match the rhythm, stress, flow and inflection of the sentence followed by a gradual fading of the musical cues. Parents and teachers alike can assist the child in remembering these prosodic features of speech by prompting the child with the song.

While composing specialized songs is time consuming for the teacher with a classroom full of other children, it should be remembered that the repertoire of elementary songs are generally repetitive in nature. Even in higher level elementary vocal method books, repetition of simple phrases is common. While the words in such books may not seem critical for the autistic child’s survival at the moment, simply increasing the capacity to put words together is a vitally important beginning for these children.

For those teachers whose time is limited to large groups, almost all singing experiences are invaluable to the autistic child when songs are presented slowly, clearly, and with careful focusing of the child’s attention to the ongoing activity. To hear an autistic child leave a class quietly singing a song with all the words is a pleasant occurrence. To hear the same child attempt to use these words in conversation outside of the music class is to have made a very special contribution to the language potential of this child.

For more information about music therapy, contact the National Association for Music Therapy, 8455 Colesville Road, Suite 930, Silver Spring, MD 20910, U.S.A.

Healthy Holidays

Flu Season: How to Stay Healthy During the Holidays

It’s important that everyone stay healthy during this time of the year — so that you can enjoy celebrations and holiday traditions with family and friends!  To avoid sharing more than yummy cakes, pies, cookies, fruitcake, and candies  — be sure to remember the tried and true tips found here — it’s all about “How to Stay Healthy During the Holidays.”  Click on the link below to learn more…

http://www.foxnews.com/slideshow/health/2009/11/24/avoid-catching-hn-holiday-season?slide=1

H1N1-Today Schedule In Bergen County

http://web.doh. state.nj. us/apps2/ events/displayev ents.aspx? item=2598

H1N1 (swine flu) free vaccine clinic, inject able and mist, for the CDC risk population (covers a LOT of people) today at St. John the Evangelist School12P.M. to 8 P.M.on Broad Ave. between Harrison & Kingsley in Leonia. Parking & entrance on Kingsley.

See the above link at the Department of Health Website for details and info about other days it might be available. The site updates frequently as the local health departments get their stock, with often no more than a day or two of notice and only word of mouth to get the info out there. Thanks to tshuls, yesterday’s clinic got a wave of over 100 parents and children within a couple of hours of the posting!
I have no affiliation – just trying to spread the word, not the virus. Please consult your own health care professional for advice on whether or not to vaccinate.

PS – as of yesterday’s clinic, the vaccine for babies was in pre-filled, one dose syringes, “preservative- free”

		Kindermusik Kids
December, 2009	Kindermusik with Ms K
See what everyone is talking about! Find out how you can get a sneak peak at the new semester! “…so much more than music!” Take the next step in your child’s early learning.  Our award winning literacy/math curriculum fuses with music to enhance skills. Party the Kindermusik way! Let Ms. “K” weave her magic with a theme of your choosing! $20.00 off a party package with this e-mail		Dear Families: The Holidays!! My favorite time of the year.  The anticipation of snow and warm fires and family.  May this year be one rich in health and happiness and love. Things have been bustling along in our Kindermusik classes.  Hard to believe the semester is coming to an end and Winter session is just around the corner.  We have added new classes, times and days.  Please visit our website to view the latest and enroll online. Parents are powerful promoters!  Bring a friend in on the fun and get a free gift ($30 value) while supplies last.  It’s our way of saying” thank you” for sharing your stories and experiences with everyone. Our goal, with your help, is to give the gift of Kindermusik to every child, everywhere! Speaking of gifts make sure to let family and friends know about holiday gift certificates.  Good towards any class, session, instrument, or prop, a contribution from a loved one is a special way to share the gift of music.  Call Ms K for gift certificates in varying amounts-good for one year from time of purchase. This is the latest picture of Charlie’s Striding Adventures.  Another quality idea in gift –giving, the Strider builds strength, confidence, control and balance through the use of a pedal free mini bike.  Occupational therapists and doctors are purchasing them for their patients as it improves muscle tone. Bikes take 5-10 business days to order so please visit our website now to have in time for the holidays! Remember, FREE assembly when picking up in NJ. Schedule a demonstration with your toddler! In the spirit of giving, Charlie and I would like to donate a bike to our local hospital.  Every bike that is purchased between now and January 1, 2010, $10 will go towards our Strider Spirit Fund.  Our hope is to grow this charity and eventually have bikes in every childrens hospital. Atlantic City, 2009 Noteworthy News: I have been fortunate enough to have been blessed with a job that I love and one that I am passionate about.  As you all know, I not only teach Kindermusik, but have made it my mission to pioneer our preschool curricula in our schools. It is a difficult task but one that I relish as I have seen incredible strides in children of all skills and abilities.  Our two sets of curricula are now expanded to include children as young as 17 months.  I welcome you to come join a preview class of this amazing program. As an educator, I am excited at the possibility to bring music to the forefront of our early learning.  I have had the honor of presenting two workshops at this the  2009, Region II Head Start Conference, which included participants from NY, NJ the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.  My colleague from upstate New York assisted with our booth and we are both excited about the potential schools/programs we have reached.  I will also be presenting a workshop to Union City NJ educators in the coming weeks and a workshop for special needs and Autism NY is in the works for the future. Please feel free to call me with any suggestions/contacts you may have that can further this initiative. Below is a link to our preschool newsletter http://kindermusikkids.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/abc-fall-newsletter-final1.pdf In light of today’s economic hardship, I am always searching for ways to enable my families to continue to experience the benefits of Kindermusik, while not breaking the bank. Along with some of the options I have already presented (small group instruction, payment plans, In service for your home/facility etc)  I am pleased to share a new possibility- ABC Music and Me.  I have expanded the age range to include our toddlers.  This 4 week session is a shorter time commitment, more affordable cost and is an introduction to preschool, moving away from “Mommy and Me” The 2 set curricula will enable toddlers-age 3 to participate either with/without mom.  Our older curricula is perfect for the school-age after school activity. Please visit our site to enroll now! Article of the Month Parents are a childs most important educator.  Read this article that I presented as a component of my workshop on the importance of family involvement Parental Involvement Research Summary Where Children Spend Their Time School age children spend 70% of their waking hours (including weekends and holidays) outside of school Clark, R.M. (1990). Why Disadvantaged Children Succeed. Public Welfare (Spring): 17-23 When Parents Should Get Involved The earlier in a child’s educational process parent involvement begins, the more powerful the effects. Cotton,K, Wikelund, K., Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, School Improvement Research Series. In Parent Involvement in Education. The most effective forms of parent involvement are those, which engage parents in working directly with their children on learning activities at home. Cotton, K, Wikelund, K., Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, School Improvement Research Series. In Parent Involvement in Education. Impact Lack of parental involvement is the biggest problem facing public schools. Rose, Gallup, & Elam, 1997 Decades of research show that when parents are involved students have: • Higher grades, test scores, and graduation rates • Better school attendance • Increased motivation, better self-esteem • Lower rates of suspension • Decreased us of drugs and alcohol • Fewer instances of violent behavior Source: Parent Teacher Association Family participation in education was twice as predictive of students’ academic success as family socioeconomic status. Some of the more intensive programs had effects that were 10 times greater than other factors. Walberg (1984) in his review of 29 studies of school-parent programs School and District Leadership The strongest and most consistent predictors of parent involvement at school and at home are the specific school programs and teacher practices that encourage parent involvement at school and guide parents in how to help their children at home. Dauber and Epstein (11:61) School initiated activities to help parents change the home environment can have a strong influence on children’s school performance Lefer, H. (1983) Parent Education and Involvement in Relation to the Schools and to Parents of School-aged Children. Parents need specific information on how to help and what to do. Morton-Williams, R. “The Survey of Parental Attitude and Circumstances, 1964.” Federal and State Requirements Parent involvement components are required in the federal elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), and various federal and state education programs.