Musical and Literacy Plans on Learning - Case Study Example

Musical/Literacy: (3 - 5yrs) Description: A Music based class that teaches children the basic literacy skills. Thus, providing them an easy to learn method, as well as having fun. Pre-literacy tools , such as rhyming, storytelling, sequencing & rhythm to be the aiding tools. Activities: These would include certain body movements to the beat of songs either singing along or audio and video enabling the children to learn words fast as well as with their healthy development. Educational Games: The children will be introduced to different sort of games that would enable them to learn and respond. Books: The books would be activity based and would help children learn the basic letters , words . There would be a few storytelling books that would help them formulate questions and think and to improve their listening abilities. Art and Craft Activity: This would be another mode of learning all about shapes, colors and use of paint. Outdoor Activities: The children were made to participate in different outdoor activities that included swings, slides, playing with sand, Singing: The students were introduced to the different vowel pronunciations while singing along and were introduced to sound of different pitches of their own voices that they could articulate with. Instruments: The children were given different instruments and were demonstrated the use of each. Bilingual Learning: Simple words were introduced of different languages . Class Décor: Colorful musical notes and pictures of musical instruments decorated the walls. The floor was painted with the keys of the piano . Strength of class: 20 students. CRITICAL EVALUATION AND ANALYSIS: Strategies: The strategy applied was musical in harmony with the syllabus providing them an atmosphere where they could learn and respond in a friendly and relaxed environment. Observation: While the children learnt they seemed excited, happy and were very much involved. They responded well to the musical notes and came out more verbal in giving answers and following the teacher with actions and singing. They seemed to pick up alphabets with ease in beat to the music .Singing everything out loud helped them be more confident as some seemed to get ahead and be heard more than others by being louder. The strategy definitely helped in areas of vowels, alphabets, letter recognition . They picked up nursery rhymes with ease , they found it fun to experiment with their vocals and .The children quickly grasped meanings of different words by body language The children in general showed avid interest in learning in the atmosphere provided, they found it easy to relate to the music and move their bodies. Activities: The preschool activities helped the children in the following developmental way: Body Movements and Perception: I hear the mill wheel Dexterity, Listening, impulse control I know a chicken Verbal control, Direction, Impulse control Jump for joy Jumping, kinesthetic Orientation and awareness Macaroni Coordination Hokey/Pokey Right left body awareness Buzz Buzz Call and Respond The Goldfish song Make believe, pretend, storytelling, creativity, Who are you Colors, patterns, Social skills Bubbles Hand eye coordination I’m a Rollin Cross lateral movement Healthy Bodies: As children grow rapidly this was a very good activity in which they learnt to observe themselves and register changes and even compare the results amongst each other. The pictures of children were taken and posted on the bulletin board. These pictures were again taken at the midterm and then at the final term. All three pictures of each child were put together. They could now look for differences in their pictures .Also a dorr was designated as a measuring post. The children especially liked the activity of themselves measured this too was done thrice for each child and they could compare results by identifying their colors on the door. The children were made to participate in questions regarding their outlook , as to how they felt they had changed and how, they were then given cards to draw their own faces and paints and paper to make prints of their fingers. They learnt to comprehend how each individual is different from one another even in the prints being unique. This taught them the basics of experimentation and attainment of results .They understood science and its meaning in a fun filled manner. Educational Games: The following educational games were provided: Jigsaw puzzles, Building blocks, Match the shape, Play dough These games helped the children identify the shapes and match them appropriately. They were able to identify the names of some animals and played with the jigsaw puzzle building the surroundings identifying the babies of the animals . Children learnt quickly with the help of building blocks by identifying the colors and matching them with similar colored blocks and also placing them in the correct numerical forms by identifying the letters written on them. They used the play dough to cut shapes of different sizes often encouraged in making out alphabets using the alphabet cutters. These games provided them to identify with shapes and colors and the learning of letters. They interacted wee and even engaged in healthy competition in making it first to finish the task set before them first. They actively engaged in different project building with the help of different materials provided, like the building of balls with play dough and formation of different shapes of things as they saw around them. These games increased their observation of things and they quickly grasped to identify different shapes and pin point shapes of objects. Books: Nursery Rhymes for beginners, ABC for beginners, Paint Books for beginners, Fun with numbers, Easy toddler’s French book, Workbooks covering the topics Science, Math’s, General knowledge, Language, Music for toddlers The syllabus picked was appropriate according to the class of the toddler the children learnt well working with their workbooks and read with the teacher their other books.The focus of the books was early learning and had beautiful illustrations inside for the child to take avid interest in them .The workbooks range of questions and situations to help them understand different comparisons, meanings, understanding of the opposites.There was ample sample writing space provided for the child to practice his her writing of the alphabets and numbers. This increased their confidence day by day . Art and Craft: Life Cycle of A Butterfly, Hand printing, Clown face, Cutting shapes The children learnt a lot in this activity. They were taught not only colors but also how to be careful with handling of the scissors and they could comprehend that not all things were safe to just play with and that they had to be careful using some .They were able to identify with the shapes in their surroundings in a better manner. They learnt the four stages of a butterfly. In this they were asked questions along with the activity like: If they knew about butterflies, their color, if they had seen or touched one, what did it look like, if anyone knew what it was before becoming a butterfly, what did caterpillars look like ,what did they think about caterpillars, were they slimy or funny etc. It helped them learn well and quickly identify with the different stages of the butterfly. They were introduced to science in a very interactive manner in which they participated wholly and fully , the children put up many questions and gave many ready answers. They found it fascinating that a simple butterfly had so many stages to go before it became a butterfly and related to its cycle in manners of how they grew up and would be like their parents. This very much increased their general knowledge. Outdoor Activities: Slides, swings, Sand, hanging, merry go rounds. The children enjoyed all the outdoor activities provided and learnt basics of leadership and formation of groups. A few children would take charge and the rest would follow their example .The outdoor activities provided were safe and encouraging for the children .They sufficiently exercised their limbs . The sand activity taught them to use their imagination in trying to create different objects they liked , for this they were provided with pails, digging tools and shapes of crabs, and fish. They were asked questions like where could they find fish and how many colors of fish there were, and if they had played with sand before. They made prints by wetting the sand and gained information on how fossils were made. Singing: It helped the children articulate different sounds, and sing to the music recognizing the high and the low pitch sounds and this also helped hem immensely with their vocal cords. They tried to relate to the different notes of the music and were asked if they knew how many types of music there were, some came up with very intelligent answers like there was different music in all the different countries. It exercised their vocal cords and lungs in a healthy manner and proved both informative and educational. Instruments: The children were given drums, guitars, pianos, flutes, amongst which they picked in the end to what they had the most liking and with the help of the teacher learnt with ample interest the use of their instrument and its application. They squealed on hearing the notes of their well known nursery rhymes played on the instruments and showed more excitement in learning them. Many of the children started relating to the different sounds the instruments made to the different sounds they themselves could articulate. Bilingual Learning: The other language taught in the class was French, this was because the parents have opted for it. Some of the students already had the language background as at least one of their parents was French. The other students picked up words from them easily and happily . The book also helped them in pronouncing the greetings and timings of the day in a better way. They showed more signs of being inquisitive and eager to learn something different. They enjoyed the experience of learning something that was spoken in another part of the world. Class Décor:The class décor matched with the criteria selected for the toddlers to help with their learning and provided the children with healthy and comfortable environment in which they explored their imagination and related to the graphic patterns of the instruments on the walls. Analysis: Alphabet Knowledge: There were plenty of drawing materials and books for the children to quickly grasp the alphabets. They were further encouraged to recognize the alphabets by providing them with magnetic boards on which they attached alphabets against pictures. This the children picked with great interest and it resulted in them learning alphabet recognition more easily and quickly. Writing Abilities: There was much vocal interaction to encourage the children with their writing abilities. They developed extensive fine motor skills by using their instruments. This helped them produce more refined lines and progress speedily in this area. I nitially the three yr olds had difficulty joining the segmented lines but they quickly mastered it as with their instruments where music became more refined as they became aware of restricting their hand movements. The 4 and 5 yr olds started joining the letters and 5 yr olds could write their names in straight lines compared to 4 yr olds who usually went a little spiral in writing their stringed words. Print Awareness and concepts: The musical notes painted on the walls conveyed to them that such symbols and letters meant something and they gradually started to comprehend that print meant something in the book and it had meaning and conveyed message. They also learnt to relate that what letters they formed conveyed some meaning as well thereby promoting their concepts. Phonological Awareness: The children could identify individual sounds and separate syllabus of spoken language. They became acutely conscious of rhyming words because of the music based theme of their course.4 and 5 yr olds could comment on words that rhymed. They could identify the words that began with the same sound. They were promptly made aware of words that rhymed or sounded similar and were made to sing and hear vowels being sung enough for them to comprehend the differences. Computer Aided/Literacy (3-5 yrs) Description: A computer based class that taught the children the basic literary skills. Providing them with learning abilities, using technology. Pre-literacy tools like such as rhyming, sequencing, storytelling & rhythm to be used. They were provided with hand held miniature gadgets to assist them with their learning abilities. Activities: These included integration with specific software on the computer in accordance to learning of alphabets, letters, and shapes. Educational games: They were provided with constructive and interactive computer games. Books: The books would be activity based and would help children learn the basic letters , words . There would be a few storytelling books that would help them formulate questions and think and to improve their listening abilities. Art and Craft Activity: Use of color, differentiation of patterns, color recognition and encouraging of the use of mind would be the objective of these activities. Outdoor Activities: Children were given the opportunity to spend time outside the classes engaged in different sport. Singing: This included learning of vowels and nursery rhymes and encouraging them to use their vocals and experimentation with pitches. Bilingual Learning: Introduction, of different languages. Technical Gadgets: Mini alphabet, math, and sing along computers available for every child. Apart from that real computers available for every , 2 children. Class Décor: The class was decorated in technical theme where models of gadgets were painted across walls. Strength of class: 20 students CRITICAL EVALUATION AND ANALYSIS: Strategies: The strategy applied was to provide the students with technical experience in gaining of their knowledge; this was done with most of the syllabus being incorporated with the use of computers. Observation: The children showed excitement and were very eager to learn in the environment provided. They behaved responsibly around the technology as felt grown up to be made to use the big computers. Learning with the help of the computers made them feel important and responsible, and they showed quicker results in attaining both the know how of the technology as well as their subject matter. They were eager to explore what all it could teach them and experiment with the software provided to create more unique creations than they could without the use of them. The children learnt group learning and leadership as they were given one computer for every two students. They took turns in completing the tasks provided to them. The objective of the technological oriented class was to provide them the opportunity to have hands on experience with the gadgets so as they could comprehend the new fast paced environment they were born into. Encouraging them to be confident around these gadgets and have a knowhow of their usage and to what purpose they came into use in their day to day lives. The object was to prepare the toddlers for more challenging environments and to make them feel more responsible and confident. Also by utilizing technology making them feel at ease with all they previously considered alien and out of reach to them .Thereby promoting experimentation and inquisitiveness. Activities: For their activities they were provided with Computer aided software like:. Dress me up :In this software they learnt what different clothes boys and girls wore and what parts of the bodies corresponded to which piece of clothes. It provided them with a quick and fun filled learning experience as the graphical presentation of the software was colorful and also they had a wide variety of putting together the correct attire for the different professions shown in it. For any mistakes there would be a loud whoop generated which would check them in a fun filled manner and not discourage them from trying again. The children learnt to identify different body parts and their names and the names of the clothes and it improved their recognition of different professions. Thus with the help of this software they were able to learn a lot . Gadgets: The children were given mini models of gadgets like a telescope, mobile phone, cameras, and clocks, mini laptops. They were asked to explore them and tell all they knew about the gadgets, the questions thrown to them increased their thinking abilities and observation of the gadgets in hand. Some related to them in there everyday life quite intelligently .They provided answers readily and learnt the working of them easily and this further helped them learn how to operate and the use of each in day to day life. They learnt their alphabets and counting and pronunciations, letter recognition by use of the mini laptops. The use of gadgets helped the children with impulse control, improved their socializing skills and transitioning. It dramatically increased their will to experiment and therefore increased their levels of creativity. They had more medium and more possibilities to explore which proved quite healthy. They developed hand- eye coordination. It markedly increased dexterity in the students. They became more alert in performing their tasks, and overall as well. Educational games: Fishy Count: A fun and colorful game which featured swimming fish. The child is asked to count the fish swimming across the screen. It encouraged their impulse control and ability to follow directions. Abc Cd Special addition: used beautifully designed illustrations and animations together with speech and music to help infants learn the sounds and shapes of the alphabet. The children quickly picked up the different alphabets and learnt their pronunciations through this program; it developed their listening ability to that of letter recognition. Fun Match: This was a memory game. Children were asked to match pairs. The level could be set according to the age. This program developed observation and memory .the children found it very interesting and their muscles worked energetically in making pairs. Mini Matchers: Things that go together and the opposites encouraged students to develop early literacy skills. This helped them with recognition and pairing of objects. Young Mac Donald’s Farm: A twist to the traditional Mac Donald series that made the children very excited and they loved interacting with the different farm animals. As the game provided ample opportunity for the students to interact with the game they learnt different noises the animals made and the environment suited to each and some of the habits and what the animal’s offspring were called. This program proved very educational and fun at the same time for the students. The computer games were interactive; the children responded more as the games required inputs and prompted them again and again, thus encouraging them to interact more. As more of the games were computer based hence they had a fun way of learning in which they felt like they were communicating. The games were educational in every aspect it helped them learn counting and the appreciation of colors, some even offered printouts for coloring patterns. The story telling games were very educational as they could see the favorite farm animals running across the Old Mac Donald’s farm. The children could visualize and explore their nursery rhymes as well as playing along them. Books: Nursery Rhymes for beginners, ABC for beginners, Paint Books for beginners, Fun with numbers, Introduction to different languages, Workbooks covering the topics, Oxford Reading Tree talking Stories, Science, Math’s, General knowledge, Language, Computer for toddlers The syllabus books covered the learning capacities fully and wholly, the children provided quicker results as they were gaining hands on understanding through computer as well. They picked up the course at a more speedy level and were able to work on their worksheets with more ease and confidence. It provided the toddlers early literacy skills required to become good readers. The books were of good quality paper and the vivid illustrations fascinated the toddlers. Art and Craft Activity: Pumpkin Patch, Clown Face, Shapes. Pumpkin Patch: This involved technology, art and motor skills. The project made the students aware of how to be responsible while working with others and with scissors. The students used fine motor skills to create the pumpkin. The students could do this project as they were given ample demonstration and knowledge on computer prior to it. The software used for it was the drawing one on the computer which the children managed sufficiently well. They were able to paint their pumpkin to their own choosing, explored pictures of different pumpkins already loaded in the computer, saw the various uses of the pumpkins, using the drawing tools of the software they drew their own pumpkins which were later printed out, and this caused quite an excitement for the students had a sense of achievement because they had the finished product in hand . The students were provided with enough paints and colors and chart papers to work with along with gum pastes and other necessary stuff. Shapes: The students promptly learnt neatness in handling of paints by use of aprons and putting newspapers under their works. They were careful using the scissors; they were very creative in the making of different art projects. Working with scissors made them more responsible and helped develop fine motor skills. Outdoor Activities: Rocks. swings, slides, merry go rounds, hanging This was a very healthy activity in which children readily participated. They were encouraged to use all the different types of activities provided. Rocks: The children were given different types of rocks of different textures, which they handled with a lot of curiosity. They were to classify the rocks in terms of shape , size , color etc and given magnifying glasses to see the different textures of sand. There were some with fossil and they were asked as to if they could guess what kind of animal could have left the print on it .This helped the children appreciate science n their surroundings all too naturally an in a fun filled relaxed atmosphere. They were asked to think up of ways of making their own fossil imprints, this further got their imaginations at work and they came up with really good results. The outdoor activities were both safe and encouraging for the toddlers where they found enough activity to exercise their limbs and exhaust their energies. They learnt sharing and socializing and helping each other .It increased their kinesthetic awareness and kinesthetic orientation. Singing: They learnt well with the sing along software on the computers. They could interact at the same time while they sang and this provided them with much speedy learning as the computer would sing a certain line if not understood repeatedly and could be set to sing slow or fast. This was a very good way of the vocabulary development. Bilingual Learning: The children showed much response and were eager to greet one another in multiple languages, often impersonating as being some foreigner and then trying to talk in some other native tongue. It developed their imagination and inter socializing skills. Technical Gadgets: Mini alphabet, math, and sing along computers available for every child. Apart from that, real computers available for every 2 children engaged them with healthy competition. This developed in them the will to explore be more creative, increasing their imagination and experimentation. Class Decor: The class décor encouraged the students to feel excited and responsible to be handling and operating technology like adults. They could relate to the graphics on the walls and the gadgets provided, and picked them up speedily. ANALYSIS Asking questions: The kindergartners asked frequent questions about what they did not understand. This was very healthy as this phase is called “active listening” where toddlers ask to clarify their questions. Understanding Of Complicated Questions: Most of the kindergartners could understand the grammatical constructions of their native language. They understood past, present and future. These concepts further helped them understand the stories. They identified the use of if and why and came up with solutions to problems and scenarios by themselves thus developing their thinking abilities and problem solving. Listening to lengthy stories: By the fifth yr the kindergartners were better able to focus on tasks of 15-20 minutes. The stories were read aloud which developed their vocabulary and knowledge about the world, this helped them with their reading as well. Use of complex sentences made them pick up grammar and understand stories better. Listening to stories helped them with building of vocabulary and developed in them the make believe concepts for often the children re- enacted their favorite characters from the stories. Conclusion: Both the literacy plans covered the children’s learning, social and developmental aspects promptly. Developing Memory The children were put to multiple tasks in which they were required to name the things they just saw or like in using the computer aided game “Fun Match”. This also improves the overall listening of a story for the child can not only comprehend but can remember the events of a story and retell it better afterwards. Book Knowledge and Appreciation: Extensive knowledge of books was provided .There was enough graphical presentation of text and syllabus both on the computer and through hand held text books. They showed more interest where the graphical presentation was more and showed more comprehension of the subject matter. They learnt faster where they could relate there and then. Many wanted stories repeated and often questions asked were what happened and why? Use of Bilingual language: Children heard the stories with more interest in their own native language however whenever a few words of other languages were introduced they did not shy away but wanted more explanation and learnt them in amused fashion. Rephrasing sentences: The 4 yr olds could do this in instance where they had heard a story read to them many times and so they simply rephrased few of the sentences as they heard them the five yr old did this even better. Prediction: The 4 and 5 yr olds could predict well in stories they had listened previously .Some even did this looking at the illustrations even three yr olds predicted the story by looking at the graphics. Book recognition and Interest: They easily could recognize the books after a few weeks . The books provided to the children had good quality paper , were glazed and shiny , the children loved the colors in them and were much drawn to the illustrations inside , the computer generated illustrations never bored them. Conceptual Awareness The children quickly developed concepts and knew that print meant the reader to understand what the book was about and when they themselves used print it expressed something. Writing: The 3 yr olds mostly started with scribbles and gradually with the help of dotted lines could give form to the words. The worksheets provided them good opportunity to learn the writing of alphabets and letters. Some of the 4 and all of the 5 yr olds could write their own names. They were gradually encouraged to develop fine motor skills so that the writing could improve .Gradually they became aware of the use of writing in multiple fashion and relate them in day to day life. Read More