Creative Music Center in the Preschool Classroom - Research Proposal Example

MUSIC IN THE PRESCHOOL ROOM ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT By: Diana Calandriello William Paterson May This is an action research project focusing on a preschool music center in Garfield Early Childhood Learning Center in Garfield, New Jersey. The purpose of this study is to increase the frequency of the center’s utilization and use music to improve the children’s literacy. In order to attain these objectives, the center was transferred to a more spacious and open area. The broken instruments were also replaced and new ones were added for the children to play and use. Learning activities such as reading rhyming books, making improvised musical instruments, playing different genres of music inside the classroom, among others, were also initiated. The study lasted for one month. Throughout the duration of the study, frequency of visits and behavioral improvements of the students towards music were noted and recorded. Results revealed that there was a significant increase in the percentage of students who use the new music center in a period of one week. The activities held within the classroom also had positive impact on the literacy skills of the students. Overall, the results were promising. At present, the center is visited everyday and it definitely promoted and improved the children’s literacy skills. Introduction “Infancy and early childhood are prime times to capitalize on children’s innate musical spontaneity and to encourage their natural inclinations to sing, move, and play with sound (Kemple, p. 30)”. However, the music center in Garfield Early Childhood Learning Center was only rarely visited by the students. Probably, this is because of its less appropriate location and the lack of instruments to catch the attention and interest of the children. My initial plan for this study was to encourage the children to visit the music center and motivate them to return and make use of the music center frequently, if possible, on a daily basis. Moving the center and making it more inviting proved that it promotes musical creativity. According to Copple (2009), most young children are outgoing, excited players and enjoy music and movement activities, both which develop children’s learning in multiple ways. Another goal I had was to make sure musical experiences improved the children’s literacy skills. Gardner (1993) believes that musical intelligence is among the very first neurologic aptitude to surface in young children. In fact, children create and hear sounds from the minute they are born. They cry when they are hungry, cold, or need a diaper change. They love to listen to soothing sounds as their mother’s hum a lullaby to settle them. Preschool children come into class having some form of knowledge about music already. Music is a great way to improve listening and oral language skills, promote attention, memory, and possibly abstract thinking. It can be easily integrated throughout the classroom. For this study, I wanted to be certain that teaching music will increase their literacy skills. Song selection and its integration into the children’s daily activities was the next goal that I worked on in order to promote literacy skills such as phonemic awareness, rhythm, patterns, language, and vocabulary. This music study was integrated in all centers to promote music appreciation and increase literacy skills. Literature Review In order to improve and upgrade my music center, I read and went through several articles and books to make sure that I was making the appropriate changes. With regards to the issue of location, I basically adapted Isenberg’s recommendations- the area must be spacious, open, and uncluttered. Once I moved the center and made all necessary changes I provided a lesson on how to respect and care for our music instruments. All materials were placed in an organized fashion with appropriate labels. To be effective at teaching music, teachers must also model appreciation and respect for music, movement and dance. “Many studies, of both exceptionally talented musicians and adults in general, suggest that early experiences that were relaxed, informal, and enjoyed in the company of supportive adults contributed to the child’s early attachment to music (Isenberg, p.160)”. Everyone can enjoy music regardless of abilities. Even though music teachers recognize the value of making music fun, music education pedagogy for young children is often directed by the teacher and geared towards specific behavioral outcomes (Niland, 2009). Teachers need to acquire the children’s interest to play music on their own by providing appropriate materials and activities. In class we begin our day by singing our morning song. A few children in the group are offered two types of instruments. We do not want to allow too many different types of instruments because it sounds completely cluttered. The children take turns using these instruments and pass them around so that everyone has an opportunity to play. This drives their interest immediately. Play is central to young children’s engagement especially through songs and musical experiences. An assortment of music was placed in the music center and I uploaded ITunes and Pandora for children to listen and explore various types of music. As the music plays, many of the children come over to sing and dance to the music. As the same set of music is played over several days, the children began to memorize the refrain of the songs, proving that the children are deeply engaged. In fact, according to Niland (2009), studies of children’s free musical play have shown that children will be more deeply engaged over long periods of time and show greater persistence than is often evident in teacher-led group music making. Children express themselves physically in many ways such as movement, dance, drama, and play instruments. They also engage vocally by singing, making up sounds, imitating and taking turns with their peers. Song selection is also an important aspect. The types of songs should relate to children’s interest and cultural backgrounds especially English language learners. This teaches music appreciation and respect for each other’s culture. Discussions with families are of extreme importance in order to learn about the children’s background. We want to make music part of their daily lives at home and school. On a daily basis, I would play different genres of music. During clean up time I would play Ah! Vous dirais-je maman- French for twinkle, twinkle little star. I used to clap my hands and shout “clean up, clean up” many times. The children were scattered everywhere running trying to clean up. Now that I play this French song, I don’t have to shout anymore. The children seem to understand that it is time to clean up their mess and automatically placing their toys away quietly and in an orderly fashion. It’s amazing how music stimulates the mind and body. The one thing that children did have in common was popular music hits. Many of the songs were inappropriate for their age. Thankfully a group called Kidz Bop replays these particular songs in a kid friendly version. A few times a week at the end of the day, I would play these kid friendly songs so they can sing and dance. It was amazing to observe how they knew the lyrics to the song, played instruments, and danced to the music. I discovered many of my children had unbelievable rhythm. My next objective was to show that music promoted children’s literacy skills. During the study, I read the children rhyming books on a daily basis. These rhyming books were song based literature such as Miss Mary Mack, Eensy Weensy Spider, There Was a Tree, among others. Paquette (2008) claims that when songs, chants, and rhymes are used on a daily basis, the perception of print becomes more meaningful and the rules of print are learned in context. Many of the song books support emergent literacy such as vocabulary words, promoting critical thinking, and phonemic awareness. It has been stated that music can enhance children’s writing skills. Hence, after reading the song based literature we would create a class book. Each student would draw a picture and write something about the song. Although my children are mostly three years old and are unable to write words, they are learning the concept of emergent writing. Some children made the connection to write from left to write even though the writing was illegible. They would also draw a picture about what they wrote and scribble their name for entitlement. Another method that I practiced in class was having the children draw or paint a pictorial representation of the song they listened to. We placed all their pictures on a board and I wrote a title “This song looks like?” During the monthly study, I assisted the children in making their own instruments. The children created tambourines out of paper plate bowls and bells, maracas from plastic eggs and spoons, drums out of coffee cans, and microphones from toilet paper rolls. With these instruments, the children were able to explore and compare different sounds. “Because music can be created, performed, and shared with raw materials, instruments can be accessible to all children, thereby fostering creative and aesthetic growth opportunities to all young learners” (Paquette, 2008; Rivkin 2006). Methodology This action research was conducted at the Garfield Early Childhood Learning Center in Garfield, New Jersey, formerly and Abbott school. The classroom holds fifteen children, all age three years. One assistant covered the morning shift and another assistant for the afternoon. Both assistants stayed together during lunch time. The study was launched last February 25, 2013 and ended in March 29, 2013. The week before the project began, I observed how often the children utilized the center. I found that not even one student visited the center. Then, I interviewed the children asking them questions about what did they like most about our music center. Most of them said they like playing with the sticks. That time, I really did not have much to offer. Many instruments were broken including the radio/CD player. I realized that the center had no outlet to even plug in the player. At that point, I cleaned out the center, threw out the broken instruments, and moved it to a more suitable location. I replaced the busted radio/CD player with a new one provided by the school, added a new microphone, rhythm sticks, and bells. After which, I labeled everything. I also added a guitar and an old keyboard which I had back home. I then uploaded “iTunes” and “Pandora” to our “Smart Board” which was right next to the music center. Additionally, I had the children create shakers/maracas, tambourines, and drums. We made the instruments a one at a time and the children also learned to take care of their instruments. I wanted the children to take ownership and learn to be responsible for their instruments. As the study progressed, I added multi-cultural instruments to our center. In addition to adding instruments, I placed pencils, crayons, markers, and paper for the children to write and scribble with. I then spent the entire month observing the children and gathering data on a daily basis and documented and photographed any information that was necessary for this research. Children played at the music centered freely on a daily basis and direct instruction of music took place daily, but only for a short period to teach rhythm, patterns, beats, sound, and singing. This was completed to stimulate positive interest in music. Results After the physical changes and improvements have instituted in the music center, it was observed that children are attending the center on a daily basis. Table 1 shows the percentage of children who visited the newly improved music center. Results showed that in one week, 96% of the class went to visit the new music center. Table 1. Percentage of students who visited the old music center versus the new music center. Prior to the study, the children had very little knowledge about music. This program showed positive results in literacy including areas on listening, reading, writing, and speaking. Before the upgrade and renovation, most of the children went to the music center to play only with the sticks. After the study, the students were able to identify many instruments and express which among the instruments they love the most- “I like to play with the bells”, “my favorite is the triangle”, “I like to sing in the microphone”, and “I like to dance”. Table 2 shows the popularity of each instrument found inside the classroom. Results showed that he keyboard was the most well-like among the instruments (17%) closely followed by the guitar (16%). I also noticed the children are identifying rhymes and are trying to make up their own rhymes even if it does not have any meaning. Moreover, the students were given opportunities to Table 2. Popularity of each instrument found within the new music center. write song books such as “Eensy Weensy Spider”. The children also creatively thought about what their spider was doing. They drew a picture, indicated what their spider was doing and wrote their names on it. All song books were placed in the library for the children to review. Another important observation that I noticed was that the children have a better appreciation for music, they respect and care for their instruments, they can identify songs, recognize different types of sounds such as high and low and many have interest in learning to play an instrument. Their vocabulary has increased significantly also, including the English language learners. The students love to sing songs with their friends, even outside of the classroom. Children are more vocal with one another and the music has also improved children’s spirits. popular Discussion This study demonstrated that children can be taught to appreciate music and music can indeed boost their literacy skills. During the first week of this study, there was an increase of 92% of children entering the music center. Towards the end of the study it leveled off to 60%. Many children continue to enter the music center and play with the music instruments and listen to music on the player and/or Smart Board. Interesting to note was that there were at least two children who would come over to dance when someone is playing an instument. Music has proven to increase the children’s literacy skills. Many children recognized rhyming words and even created their own rhyming words. Many children recognized patterns and rhythm in sound. A few children learned to beat a drum and create a pattern without any music. By letting the children explore musical instruments, they discover a variety of sounds. Children listened to different genres of music and displayed emerging awareness of beat, tempo, and pitch. They also learned to identify and appreciate everyday sounds- a car driving by, a faucet, a dog barking, among others. Music also foster creativity and improved the children’s vocabulary by learning about different types of instruments, genres, and types of musicians. In fact, a child, who was once painting in the art area informed me she was painting a pop star. Another child indicated that he wants to be a composer for our end of year finale. The children have grown from this music experience. According to Kemple (2004),“When young children have a rich musical environment along with appropriate guidance from adults, they can learn, for example, to imitate and, with increasing precision, distinguish among rhythm and tone patterns”. Limitations on Future Study There are a few things I would like to change about the center. Prior to conduct of this, study I replaced the broken instruments. Eventually I had the children make their instruments, but I know better now to wait. We had a large group discussion about caring for our instruments and when students created their instruments they knew they had to take responsibility for their instruments. Many children fought over the microphone because everyone wanted to sing. Although my class consists of very young students, playing with basic instruments, listening to music, and dancing was a big success. My intentions are to complete the study for a longer period of time. APPENDIX Song Based Literature: I ain’t gonna paint no more, By: Beaumont If you’re happy and you know it, By: Cabrera Old MacDonald, By: Schwartz There was an old lady who swallowed a fly, By: Taback There was a tree, By: Isadora The seals on the bus, By: Hort The ants go marching, By: Scherer References Bolduc, J. (2008). The effects of music instruction on emergent literacy capacities among Preschool children: a literature review. Early Childhood Research & Practice, 10 (1) Boyd, A. E. (1989). Music in early Childhood Cardany, A. B. (2012) Exploring Music Dynamics Through Children’s Literature. National Association for Music Education, 26(1), 38-40. Copple, C. & Bredekeamp, S. (2009). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood Programs: Serving children from birth through age 8. (3rd Edition). Washington, D.C.: NAEYC. Denac, (2008). A case study of preschool children’s musical interests at home and at school. Early Childhood Education Journal, 35(5), 439-444. Isenberg, J. P., & Jalongo, M.R. (2010). Creative thinking and arts-based learning: Preschool Through fourth grade. In (5th Edition ed., pp. 150-192). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. Jones, J. (2010). The role of music in your classroom. Exhange: The Early Childhood Leaders’ Magazine since 1978, (192), 90-92. Kemple, K. Batey, J.J., & Hartle, L.C. (2004) Music Play: Creating Centers for Musical Play and Exploration. Young Children, 30-37. Kenney, S. (2004). The importance of music centers in the early childhood class. General Music Today, 18(1), 28-36. Niland, A. (2009). The power of musical play: The value of play-based, child centered curriculum in early childhood music education. General Music Today, 23(1), 17-21. Read More