Primary Music Magazine
Issue 2.0 Summer 2018
Sing into Literacy Bringing singing and music into the home can be good for children’s early language, reading and writing development.
by Rebecca Peasley Research has confirmed that involving parents in children’s learning is one of the most effective ways of improving outcomes. This is why new support to help parents improve their children’s early language and literacy skills was announced this April by Education Secretary Damian Hinds. Using singing and music to help build the confidence of parents to support their children’s early literacy development can be a great way to help build home-‐school partnerships. Many parents do not realise the benefits of using music and nursery rhymes to encourage early learning. So what are these benefits? Language development
Music and rhyme are the foundations of early learning. Nursery rhymes can effectively support the acquisition of language due to the connections created between both sides of the brain. Adding movement and music to language can assist memory and recall. Singing nursery rhymes also gives children plenty of practice in sentence structure, often leading to these becoming some of children’s first sentences. Action songs and rhymes can help to build a child’s vocabulary and numerical skills, whilst also supporting listening development -‐ an important part of language and learning. Regular recitation of nursery rhymes can also help to teach children simple concepts such as ‘over’ and ‘under’ as well as reinforce and consolidate children’s learning.
2
Reading development Singing songs and rhymes is a really effective way to support children’s phonological awareness -‐ a really important auditory skill needed for learning to read and write. Singing nursery rhymes and taking part in musical activities offer regular practice and pleasurable repetition of the skills needed for phonological awareness to develop. Musical activities support children to become skilled at detecting variations in sound. Musical activities such as those that involve matching corresponding musical sounds can be used as a prerequisite for matching letters with their shapes; whilst musical activities that encourage cross-‐lateral movements will support children’s ability to scan from one side of the page to the other when learning to read.
