What's New in Musicplay with Denise Gagne

Susie Davies-Splitter

 Susie Davies-Splitter is a music and movement educator, Orff practitioner, jazz musician, composer and president of the Victorian Orff Schulwerk Association (VOSA) in Australia. From 2000 - 2002, Susie was the Director of Music and the Performing Arts at The King David School in Melbourne, overseeing the performing arts curriculum from 18 months to 18 years. Since 1997, Susie has been on the teaching team for Orff level courses for VOSA and the Australian Catholic University Grad Cert and Grad. Dip Courses in Orff Schulwerk. In 2004, Susie trained the Bachelor of Education primary students in music at Melbourne University .

A word wall is an interactive tool for teaching words that students need in their reading and writing. A word wall is an organized collection of words displayed in large letters on a classroom wall. Word-wall words can be organized alphabetically, by theme (weather related words, for example), or by spelling pattern. Most teachers add at least five words a week to their word walls on a regular basis; many more words are added spontaneously, as the need arises. Word walls can promote literacy by providing a print-rich environment and creating in students an excitement about words.

Pre-readers and Beginning Readers

The use of music, rhythm and rhyme have been shown in many studies to help children learn. For hundreds of years, parents have sung the ABC song to teach their children the letters of the alphabet. I would bet that 99.9% of the adults who’ve grown up in North America, could sing the alphabet song. Use songs to teach letter sounds and letter recognition. In “Alphabet Action Songs” we used familiar tunes to teach the letter sounds of the consonants. You can use this collection of songs, or make up your own songs to teach letter sounds.

How do we teach children to sing in tune? Children come to elementary school with a variety of pre-school experiences. Some may be singing very well when they come to kindergarten or grade 1. Some may still be using speaking voices or singing only in a very low “chest” voice. A child cannot produce a pitch that they do not perceive. The problem may be that they do not hear the pitch and cannot distinguish pitches. Or, the child may not know what to do to make one pitch sound like another - their vocal mechanism may not be working well.

In the Spring newsletter I’m hoping to highlight some ideas to use for St. Patrick’s Day, Easter and Mother’s Day.

As many of you are finishing preparations for your holiday concert, it seems like a good time to give you some ideas for making that holiday concert FUN instead of just STRESS!

It’s already back to school for many teachers, and soon to be for many more. In this issue of the Musicplay newsletter some back to school ideas will be shared - how to learn all those names, seating plans, and discipline ideas.