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The Literacy
Connection |
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WHY SING?
READING SKILLS
THE
LITERACY CONNECTION
PRINT
VERSION |
Language
Acquisition to
Early Literacy |
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The Role
of Music
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Babies develop
sense of hearing while still in the womb. |
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Babies hear and
respond to music, which is their first language |
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Babies are drawn
to oral language through rhythm, repetition, and rhyme.
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Songs have
rhythm, repetition, and rhyme built in.
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Babies and young
children retain language based on repetition. Finger plays teach
vocabulary |
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Songs have
repetition built in
Finger plays sung invite children to join in,
vocabulary is better retained. |
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Young children
begin to learn that words are made up of smaller sounds |
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Melodies divide
words into smaller parts, and present language in patterns that make
sense to the brain example: Alphabet makes no sense until
presented in a song where the letters are learned and retained in a
pattern |
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Young children
notice print, understand it links to words they hear; follow print
to learned nursery rhymes and songs to connect the two. |
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Children already
know melodies to nursery
rhymes, and can participate in “reading” For example: children are
more likely to sing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, than say the
words if simply read from a book |
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Children learn
sounds of letters and phonemes in preparation for learning to read |
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Songs naturally
divide words into syllables and sounds, so they are internalized.
The built in repetition and rhyme increase understanding and
retention. |
