Mrs. Romer, my third-grade teacher, gave a brief description of the parts of speech: noun, verb, adjective; then asked us to list as many examples as we could for each category which she wrote in brightly colored markers, a different color for each part of speech, on large chart paper. I do remember the colors which pleased my eye.
What makes me remember this entire lesson, however, was when she had the class stand up from our seats to perform the actions of the words we had listed on the “Verbs” poster: jump, skip, walk, stand, dance… Together we
moved. The children of the class jumped. We skipped. We walked in a circle around the classroom. We stopped and stood. We danced!
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Por /By Diane M Nickerson, MS Ed.
Castle Island Bilingual Montessori
info@castleislandmontessori.org
MUSIC AND LEARNING DEVELOPMENT
It is now known that music listening, performing, and composing engage regions throughout the brain, bilaterally and in the cortex, neocortex, paleo, and neocerebellum (Peretz &Zatorre 2003; Platel et al. 1997; Sergeant 1993; Tramo 2001)
The study of perception and brain activity in reaction to music is one of the oldest topics in psychology and neuroscience. For a long time, studies have shown that music creates a particular activity in several parts of the brain, in other words, listening to music engages regions all over the brain.
So, how can music be a very good strategy to improve the learning process in children?
Music is a significant part of every human culture. All over the world people can identify with themselves through music, due to the fact that music is a direct translation of
the daily life of a specific society and a period of time. It is the only art expression able
to put together the spoken language, the rhythms and emotions of a particular person.
Taking the last into account, music is a great tool in early childhood development since it does not require specific proficiency to be understood. The psychologist Howard Gardner already argued in 1983 that music intelligence is as important as logical and emotional intelligence. Then, by creating those connections between the body and the brain usually kids who are exposed to music from a very early age speak clearly and have a large vocabulary.
Por/By Jessica Gamboa