Family Literacy Day

Every year on this day, January 27, Canada celebrates Family Literacy Day within the family and your community by helping to organize events within our schools, libraries, literary organizations and most importantly, your home.
Literacy is something that can and should be encouraged and practiced right from infant on. In each of our Kindermusik classes, we have a strong focus on literacy and understand how important it is to the development of a child in so many more ways than one. It has been proven to improve their ability to actively listen, build on their vocabulary, develop an appreciation of our language syntax, and create print awareness where they understand that letters come together to form words and ideas.
The ABC Life Literacy Canada site has wonderful ideas to celebrate books and literacy. I encourage you to check it out and find your own fun activity to do together with your children today to promote their own literacy.

Kindermusik Parenting Through Music: Part 3

Spotlight on Learning: Village

Lifting. Squatting. Twirling. Bending. Whew! Sometimes Kindermusik class feels more like a workout than, well, a workout. Okay, maybe not P90x, but still! While you are building muscles each week, your child is building early language skills.

When you lift her high "up, up in the sky" or "twirl around like a leaf" while singing the songs in class, you help your little one learn the word and understand the concept. Pre-readers rely almost exclusively on what they hear in order to acquire language. Your child's brain makes a connection based on what she experiences (being lifted high or twirling around) and hears ("up" or "twirl"). Later, she will discover those words correspond to marks on a page which eventually leads to letter recognition and reading. Just think how toned your arms will be then!

Everyday connection: Play that fun-key music. Listen and move to music that combines key vocabulary with a movement or activity. "Up, Up In The Sky" and "Like a Leaf or a Feather" are familiar choices. Visit play.kindermusik.com for more favorites, like "I Roll the Ball to You." Try mixing in your tunes, too. "Dancing Queen" anyone?