The way you can measure a society's soul is by the way that it treats its children.
Nelson Mandela

Issue No. 2 - 15 June 2005

Welcome to Kidz Newz especially to the new subscribers from the Early Childhood Conference of Performing Arts (ECCPA).  This will be a regular newsletter with information and teaching tips for anyone involved with young children.  Please forward this to anyone you feel it may be of interest to.

Feedback is welcome.

"The work will wait while you show the child the rainbow. 
The rainbow won't wait for you to finish the work." Anon.

Ten Steps to Successful Music Teaching in The Early Childhood Classroom 
( Steps 5 through 8 )

Young children learn by doing, by being actively involved in their learning through exploring and experimenting, through copying and acting out. And so it is with learning music, the foundations for which are best learnt while developing primary language.  As such, a successful early childhood music program must incorporate movement and should quite naturally involve learning across the curriculum.  The music program, therefore, can form the basis for the whole curriculum.

Here are the next few tips to expand your skills and enjoyment of teaching music.

5.   Relate activities to their level of understanding.  Engage their imaginations.  They    live in a fantasy world ' take advantage of it.  You personally may not feel inclined towards fantasy.  It doesn't matter.  Whatever engages them is what matters.  Whatever you are wanting them to learn can be done best by engaging their imaginations, and fantasy is the easiest.  Use drama in any way to engage their imaginations.

6.   Praise them constantly.  They respond best to positive reinforcement.  A baby is born fearless.  No matter how many times the baby falls over when attempting to walk, and despite injuries along the way, he or she will get up and try again, over and over until that skill is finally mastered.  It never occurs to the child, or anyone else, that you have to get it perfect the first time. Everyone encourages them which is an added bonus. Somehow along the way though, by the time many children are in mid primary school, they have already been given so many negatives which erode their self-esteem that they give up trying new things.

7.   Remember the K.I.S.S. principle and keep it simple.  Only do a few activities or songs at a time in your music lesson.  Repeat them often and only when mastered do you add modifications or a new activity.   Keep the whole lesson simple but fun.  Simple means uncomplicated, not complex.  Do not confuse simple with easy.  Easy means not difficult. While you don't want to make it too difficult either, you want them to be challenged.  If the class structure is simple, you can easily add in a more challenging activity.

8.   If the children are unused to music and movement sessions, do not try to be too ambitious.  Five minutes a day may be enough for the first few weeks, depending on the children.  Repeat the lesson (maybe up to three or four times) until confidence and competence improve.  They need the repetition.  You can add modifications for greater complexity and variation or change one or two activities before moving onto a new lesson.  Set them up to succeed.

Wonderful music resource - so many activities with scarves.

Maija Upenieks ECCPA (Early Childhood Conference of Performing Arts) 

A great presentation, most useful - a wealth of ideas & all able to be extended.

Bev Ross ECCPA

Loved Happy Sticks & scarves and classical music activities.

Kathryn Jordan ECCPA