Music and Learning

Whew!....What a whirlwind of a week. Last week, I had the opportunity to spend my Spring Break in Swaziland, Africa.  For ten solid days, I was a on non-stop adventure. I was fortunate enough to learn so much about a country I had only known through my sister and her family. I had only read about "third-world" countries but never really understood what it meant until I lived it. I have spent the last ten days holding, loving on, caring for, and praying for children who crave any attention that they can get.  Being the kindergarten teacher that I am, I found that even though we couldn't understand each others languages....one thing that we could share was singing songs. It didn't matter whether I was singing in English, or the children singing in siSwati...we could learn from each other through songs.

As I left the country of Swaziland last weekend, I began to think about just how effective songs are with children and learning. I use songs daily in my classroom to teach different concepts and skills. I began to search out more resources for teaching specific skills that correlate with the kindergarten curriculum. I found some wonderful resources that I am eager to implement into my class routine. This is a website that I have found that is wonderful. 
 
Songs For Teaching
This site is filled with songs that address all aspects of the curriculum. Reading, math , science, social studies, and character education are some of the content. Although some of  the selections must be purchased, many of them  are free.

Another resource that I currently use in my classroom daily is found through www.schooltube.com.
I have found some really great teaching songs on this site. My favorite link is The Alphabet Song.

There is a song for every letter of the alphabet. I always show the video on my Smart Board so that it is large and easy to see. The students love this site. They beg to do "just one more" song everytime we visit the site!
As I continued to research for this blog post, I ran across this video on YouTube, Music and Learning. It offers a look into the benefits of implementing music into the classroom curriculum.

Using music and songs to teach skills is beneficial to all students. Students with special needs, ELL, and those typical kindergarten students can learn through the repetition, memorization, and rhythm. There are so many resources we can find on the internet today to reinforce, introduce and remediate our students through songs and music. As I learned from my recent travels...it doesn't matter who you are...where you live...or what language you speak....Music is universal and everyone can learn from songs!

Implementing a New Tool in Class!

This week has been over the top busy for me as I prepare to leave the country and head to Swaziland, South Africa. What a Spring Break adventure it will be? Getting to see my sister and her family for the first time in a year and half is almost more exciting than I can handle. Sure, we get to talk on Facebook, through emails, and Skype...but to "see" them in person is something I have been waiting for a long time!

As I ended my last Skype conversation tonight with my sister, before I actually get there...I was thinking about this blog and what would be my topic of discussion for the week. SKYPE....that's it!  I have learned so much about this fascinating way to connect with people this year. I use Skype weekly at home for  personal use, but have never had the opportunity to use it at school until about a month ago. The technology department at my school purchased a web cam for me to use in my classroom. Referencing the Twitter list I created, as well as browsing the list of others in my graduate school class...I found wonderful resources to help me get started on ways to integrate Skype into the kindergarten curriculum. I wanted to brainstorm ideas about ways Skype could enhance the instruction for my kindergarteners.  Here is  a  great list of ideas that I found for uses of Skype in the classroom.

50 Ways to Use Skype in the Classroom


There are some really great ideas found on this list and ones that I will definitely want to try.
One idea that  I really want to implement is to find "Skype" pals to communicate with throughout the year. I would like to find other classrooms from across the country and around the world to share and learn with. I can imagine us sharing about our favorite books, projects we are working on, and things about ourselves and our community.

Here is a You Tube video created by Skype that helps to explain the wonderful uses of this 21st century learning tool.
Skype in the Classroom


 Since I am new to using Skype for classroom use....I found this awesome site that is specifically designed for teachers searching out other teachers for Skype purposes. It is simply a Want Ad for Skype classrooms!

Skype in Schools-Want Ads

I plan to list my classroom on this site or a similar site to this to get connected with other kindergarten classrooms. My students are so excited. They even made a list of the places that they would like to have Skype pals from....China, Africa, California, New York and Florida!  Looks like we have our list ready...now to connect with our friends!

Twitter...who me?

I’ve always heard that one should try learning something new every day. I have to admit that since embarking on this technology track through graduate school, there have been very few days that I could say I did not learn or experience something new!  My latest adventure has been exploring the world of Twitter. I have to admit, I was very skeptical of the entire Twitter concept. I see it mentioned on television, hear about it on the radio, and see the funny little bird icon on most websites, blogs and other pages that I visit on the internet.  My doubts about it being something I could use to help me in my professional career… were to say the least, great.  However, to complete the assignment for class, I signed up for my Twitter account, and began to search through numerous other Tweeters! I wanted to find resources that would help me in developing posts to benefit my blog topic. My topic for this blog is to find new and different ways to teach kindergarten concepts. I first began my search on Twitter for fellow Early Childhood educators. I then found  that by refining or narrowing my Twitter search, the accounts that I found were more precise to what I wanted and fit my specific needs.  I quickly realized that this whole Twitter world was fascinating! I had no idea that so many ideas, resources, links, and materials could be found through a Twitter account.  The first night I searched, I honestly spent hours reading tweets, seeing who others were following, and adding people to my resource list. 

Some of my favorite Twitter accounts that I found were kindergarten teachers that were bloggers as well. For example, Jeannie Partin (@kinderlifestyle), is a classroom kindergarten teacher that blogs about reading instruction and development. Her tweets are filled with new and innovative ways to teach kindergarten literacy concepts. I found myself self wanting to read more of her tweets. There were so many resources that she provided.  Another account that I was intrigued by was Christine Carrion (@carrion_creates).  As a blogger and kindergarten teacher, Carrion’s tweets are primarily about ways to incorporate SMART technology in the kindergarten curriculum. This was exactly what I was searching for to get ideas for my blog. I found great resources that could be implemented right into my kindergarten classroom and ideas to share with others through my blog.

                I have to admit, searching Twitter for my resources was not a hit every time. I did run across many accounts that I had great expectations for, but was disappointed when I read that most of the tweets were about personal business or day to day life.  I just had to think about the criteria for finding my resources---valid, useful, professional accounts that benefit my common blog topic.  I guess you can officially call me a tweeter now! I have started creating a professional list to share with colleagues in hopes of providing a type of collaboration through my kindergarten blog.I would like to think that other professionals could find beneficial resources from the Twitter list that I have started creating.

 Where once I was a skeptic, I am now a believer in how effective this mode of search can truly benefit me as a professional.  Check out my resource list below and follow me on Twitter (@ColburnMichelle)…you might become a believer in it too!

Here is the link to my resource list
 https://twitter.com/#!/ColburnMichelle/ed-529/members