Early Literacy

Most of us would have grown up listening to nursery rhymes like “Jack and Jill”, “Humpty Dumpty”, and ” Mary had a little lamb”.   Did you know that nursery rhymes are fantastic literacy tools for children?

Nursery rhymes have a natural rhythm and meter that lends it to being read aloud. Before a child can learn to read, listening comprehension has to take place. The repetitive nature of rhymes helps a child learn basic structure and patterns in the English language.
Traditional methods of handing down stories through talk and play-acting allowed children to be imaginative and creative. Sadly, a lot of that has been lost due to the influence of media. Instead of using their imagination, television and videos have taken over and created those images for them, making our children passive audience instead of active participants.

Music can help with early literacy in a similar manner. Young children seem especially “wired” for music. Establishing a sense of rhythm can be used to raise awareness of rhyming patterns. How many of us learned our ABCs through songs? Even simple counting can be taught through songs like ” The Ants Go Marching” or ” 1, 2 Buckle My Shoe”.

The beauty of music is its ability to evoke emotions and get our attention. By making use of this strength, we can help our children learn to read in an enjoyable and fun way.

Chiat Goh is the Founding Director and Educator Mentor of Kindermusik Asia

Upcoming Parent’s Workshop

We will be holding our second Parent’s workshop on the 17th of September, 7.30pm -9pm. Here is the outline for the workshop:

• The Kindermusik brand
• The Kindermusik Philosophy and Beliefs
• The Kindermusik experience – what goes on in the classroom
• Learning Outcomes
• Parents’ Role – inside classroom and at home
• Assessment tools for parents to gauge child’s interest / progress
• Q & A

Kindly RSVP by calling 6467 1789 or email sumon@kindermusik.com.sg. Refreshments will be provided. You can check out photos from our first Parent’s Workshop on our Kindermusik Asia Facebook Page. We look forward to seeing you there!

Communicating With Your Child

From that very first cry, your baby has started to communicate.  They start to learn about their new environment through their senses. But what if your baby has a problem with one of their senses?

My daughter was born with several medical issues, one of which affected her hearing. We were not sure how much she could hear, or how little for that matter. The medical professionals laid out the hard facts but we were determined to find a way of communicating with her. She started speech therapy at six months old.

In her early days, we did infant massage with her daily. I would hum my favourite songs as I massaged her body. She would make those sweet baby noises in return, it was music to my ears. A friend of mine suggested that I start signing to her. We were told that she might be delayed in her speech so signing seemed to be the perfect tool to enable her to communicate with us.

I bought a baby signing book and started to teach her basic signs like “milk”, “water” and “sleep”.  She made her first “milk” sign at 8 months and slowly expanded her signing vocabulary from there. We hardly had to guess what she wanted or needed, all thanks to signing. It eliminated a lot of frustration on both our parts and for that I’m eternally grateful.

Despite being told her hearing was less than perfect, my daughter seemed to gain comfort from music. During the long nights of colic, the only thing that could calm her down was singing. She would lean her head on my chest and just listen as I sang to her.

At age 1, she could barely say a handful of words while her peers were already making three word sentences. We weren’t overly worried, she could sign her needs to us and seemed to understand everything we told her. Music continued to be a big part of her life, she was very rhythmical and loved to dance.

Just before she turned 2, she said the longest sentence we’ve ever heard. It was ” E-I-E-I-Oh!” from Old Macdonald had a farm. From then on she would mimic parts of rhymes and songs that we had sung to her since birth.

Her speech really accelerated after she turned 2 and now a year on, she is an intelligent, articulate and curious toddler.

Jillian Kellady is a mother of 2, who taught therapeutic  horse riding to children with special needs before becoming a full-time mom.

You Make Me Feel Like Dancing

Look into any Village class and chances are you’ll see parents carrying their babies in their arms and dancing around the room. In addition to giving mom and dad a good workout, these rocking and swaying movements helps stimulate the vestibular system of your baby. The vestibular system controls the sense of movement and balance.

Here are some simple ways to help develop your baby’s vestibular system:

Carry baby in your arms and take a short walk. It helps to develop baby’s sense of balance as they experience varied movements in your arms.

Feeling a bit more adventurous? Walk in a zig-zag pattern, sideways or even backwards.

Baby will delight in being taken on a gallop, a trot or a skip while his vestibular system is furiously registering these experiences for his own motor development.

Bouncing baby on your knee helps baby increase his muscle tone as he adjusts his body to stay upright while being bounced.

Rocking your baby not only provides comfort, it promotes muscular strength, control , balance and helps in overall body development.

Follow your child’s cues, some children prefer more gentle movements while others find joy in being swung round and round.  Just remember that it should be enjoyable for both mother and child.

Chiat Goh is the Founding Director and Educator Mentor of Kindermusik Asia

Learning to Relax

In our fast paced lives, we often forget to take a moment to just be quiet and allow our minds to wander.  We forget that children experience stress and frustrations in the course of growing up. Teaching them to learn to relax will serve them well as they encounter the stresses of the world.

Recently, a mother shared with me how even a few minutes of quiet time makes a big difference in her family.

” I have two extremely active toddlers who are always on the go. Sometimes they start winding each other up and I know chaos is inevitable within minutes. Instead of nagging at them to settle down, I simply have to play a particular song and both children instantly know that it’s quiet time. For the duration of the song, they know they have to be still, just listen and relax. All it takes is two minutes and all of us are always calmer after that. “

Chiat Goh is the Founding Director and Educator Mentor of Kindermusik Asia