I am SO glad I am not alone in this. I've been trying to find robust research basis on this; it's out there, but not exactly causal (yet). My first experience with this was with nonverbal autistic children. Music seems to open that door to language AND literacy. Now as 1st grade teacher I have a "Read n Sing for Fluency" rotation as part of my Daily 5. I use all different kinds of music. Many times I end up making flip books by typing lyrics and adding pictures (jpgs) and putting these in page protectors and binders. There is wealth of music available on the web for content (if not looking for pop, jazz, etc...though use that too.) Not sure if I can put the websites on a Scholastic post, but would be happy to share them with anyone who wants them. I actually have a music therapist I contact when I come up with a crazy idea for a song and I want to include specific academic vocabulary or phonemic targets. I also include these same lyrics in student "poetry" binders....what are lyrics if not poetry set to music!?!
I am SO glad I am not alone in this. I've been trying to find robust research basis on this; it's out there, but not exactly causal (yet). My first experience with this was with nonverbal autistic children. Music seems to open that door to language AND literacy. Now as 1st grade teacher I have a "Read n Sing for Fluency" rotation as part of my Daily 5. I use all different kinds of music. Many times I end up making flip books by typing lyrics and adding pictures (jpgs) and putting these in page protectors and binders. There is wealth of music available on the web for content (if not looking for pop, jazz, etc...though use that too.) Not sure if I can put the websites on a Scholastic post, but would be happy to share them with anyone who wants them. I actually have a music therapist I contact when I come up with a crazy idea for a song and I want to include specific academic vocabulary or phonemic targets. I also include these same lyrics in student "poetry" binders....what are lyrics if not poetry set to music!?!