READING: AGES 0-3

Singing Your Way to Literacy

 

            Today's Snack: The closest we can come to "singing food" is a bowl of Rice Krispies. What a great treat, with milk and just a smidgeon of sugar on top. Snap! Crackle! Pop! This cereal makes you smile at any age.

 

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Supplies:

You might consider buying the book,

Raising Musical Kids by Robert Cutietta

 

 

You've probably heard of the "Mozart Effect." That refers to a 1993 study that showed listening to the music of the classical composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, increases intelligence in babies and young children.

 

This revelation touched off a wave of classical music purchases and spin-off products. It also made people wonder: we already know that music is a crucial component of a good childhood, because it's fun and heartwarming and creates wonderful family memories.

 

But does music, including the classics as well as everyday moms and dads singing favorite old lullabies and pop songs off-key to their kids, similarly boost linguistic intelligence or language development?

 

According to Robert A. Cutietta, dean and professor of music education at the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music, that's true. You don't have to be a Mozart to influence your child's brain construction processes simply by singing to your child.

 

"Several studies have shown convincingly that singing and language skills are interconnected," he said. The patterns of words, rhymes, rhythms and tonal qualities in songs are incorporated easily and naturally by children as they learn to speak and, eventually, to read.

 

Listening to someone sing, and watching his or her lips move, jump-starts a child's thinking processes on how to form meaningful communication, how to sequence sounds that stand for ideas, and other pre-literacy milestones.

 

You can benefit from this by singing songs you know by heart as good, old-fashioned lullabyes, or by purchasing CD-book combinations that feature familiar cartoon characters singing. You and your child can sing along and look at the lyrics in text, to further solidify the connection between sounds and written symbols for your child's pre-reading benefit.

 

Several famous children's authors and musicians, including Raffi, Dan Zanes, Maurice Sendak and singer Carole King ("Really Rosie"), have produced CD's for kids that blend the pleasures of music with the benefits of new vocabulary words, united by the pounding rhymes that children love so much.

 

Specifically, what you are building in your child by singing to him or her is "phonological awareness," the understanding that words are made from sounds. The child needs to (1) hear the sounds that make up words as the foundation for later spelling tasks, (2) sing songs to learn how to match your speaking voice with the right emotions and "pitch", and (3) develop vocabulary, the key to thinking, reading and writing.

 

Here are some fun ideas for making music part of your child's everyday life:

 

§         Make up silly songs about brushing teeth, getting dressed, or cleaning up. Your child will love creating a special song to announce mealtimes. Use a familiar melody or invent your own.

 

• Explore your family's roots and traditions when looking for songs to sing. Ethnic folk songs are always interesting for kids to learn.

 

• Every American child should know the words to at least a couple of American folk song classics. There are at least 100 famous songs of Americana that your child would enjoy learning. You can get a songbook at the public library and memorize at least one verse and the chorus together.

 

• Go to the library to find books based on songs (for example, There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly, Baby Beluga, Old McDonald), and check out music CD's that are based on books.

 

• Have elders in your family make a recording of a favorite song or book to send to your child. Preschoolers are fascinated by the sound of their voices, and this provides a memorable connection around music.

 

• Any exposure to music is better than none, the experts say. Early music "immersion" is like growing up in a bilingual household - an advantage for your child in many ways.