Radio
The transmission and
reception of electromagnetic waves of radio frequency, esp. those carrying
sound messages.
There has been this great interest in
the radio and dancing within my centre not only in my toddler room. The
children just love to have the radio on and dance around, whether it is grown
up music or children’s music, they just love to dance. The children are very
interested in music and movement and they love being able to use the radio as
they wish and just having the freedom to play with the radio when they want to
dance. I believe that this is good as it offer’s the children the chance to take
control of their learning, this relates to my philosophy of children being able
to control their own learning.
Each day we set the radio up outside and
put the Cd's next to the radio and allow the children to pick the songs and what
they want to listen to and dance to the music. The girls have such a good
rhythm and already have very good dance skills. The boys also love the boy
songs and love to break dance. I believe the radio is a good piece of
technology as it can be used for a lot of different things such as playing
music that can change the children’s mood; it also can be used to help put the
children to sleep or to signal the next change in the routine. The children
also love to use the radio to work out to, we have a CD that is called hearty
fun and is all about getting the children to do active movement, and this is a
good time to have great engagement with the children as we are able to work out
along with them. The children have also become very aware of what each button
does on the radio and love to make the music go loud and quite, this teaches
the children about volume.
I believe putting importance on music
and movement is good as children need to have this to support their
development. It helps to develop children’s gross motor skills and also enhances
their balance as they learn their boundaries to what moves they are able to do
and what they can’t do so well. Te Whāriki says that “the programme provides
many opportunities to participate in regular events, such as a walk or music
time”. (MOE, 1991, p61.). This is an important quote to me as I feel that we
need to not only plan the programme around the children’s interest but also we
plan to have and give the children as many opportunities throughout the day to experience
music and movement.
Enjoy and experience music as an
expression of mood, situation, and culture; (Te whāriki). I really enjoy using
the radio and music to help change the mood of the children for example if the
children are full of energy and bouncing off the walls, music can be a good
tool to help calm them down and focus them on an activity. At the same time I feel
that it is a good chance to let the children pick what song they would like,
this is a good chance to talk to them about what music can do and how it can
affect or moods.
Reference:
http://www.cobyusa.com/files/hi_res/CXCD248_HR.jpg
http://shelveit.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/children-dancing.jpg
http://www.tinytoes.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/music.jpg
Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki: He whāriki mātauranga mō ngā mokopuna o Aotearoa : Early childhood curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.
Ministry of Education. (2004). Kei tua o te pae assessment for learning: Early childhood exemplars. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.
A. Ap, & Talay-Ongan. (2005). Child development and teaching young children. Australia:
Cengage Learning.
Kia Ora Staci, I liked how you related to your philosophy of ‘children being able to control their own learning’. I can tell that you’re putting this philosophy into practice by setting out the resources and allowing children to pick the songs and music that interests them and what they want to listen to. This is a great way of encouraging the use of technology and helping children find and develop their own knowledge of technology. Maybe you could encourage them to bring music from home (with parents consent of course) to share their interest with home and bringing back connections of home into the centre. You could also use these experiences to bring in the children’s and teacher’s culture by providing music from their or different cultures, or again ask them to bring cultural music from home or even find them online.
ReplyDeleteHere is a clip of the All Blacks doing the Haka, the children at my centre love watching and also practicing the haka alongside the music from the radio.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjVqZkDZrgg
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ReplyDeleteThe radio is such a great resource to use with children. I really like how the children feel comfortable in your centre in using the radio and that they have the freedom to use the radio when they want and can dance around the centre. I find that in most centres I’ve been in the teachers will choose the music themselves rather than encouraging the children to choose the music. It’s nice to see that your children are involved in the processes.
ReplyDeleteMy philosophy also believes strongly in children being able to direct their own learning as it is so beneficial to their confidence and development. It was nice to see that you feel the same way. I enjoyed reading how the children have the freedom to choose their own music themselves. I think it would be a great idea to incorporate the different cultures within your centre by maybe asking the children’s families/whanau and parents to bring in some new and different music to inspire the children. It’s awesome to see how the children have preference to certain music, sounds and dance moves. I like how the children are learning to use their bodies to express themselves in new and different ways.
I would like to share a link with you to a video on you tube.
This is a Maori song called Poi E it has the actions and lyrics that your children might enjoy learning http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q27BymeaTwA
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ReplyDeleteHi Staci,
ReplyDeleteI loved your blog about the radio, and how it is being used within your centre. One thing that stood out to me was how you set up the radio, and leave the C.Ds next to it, allowing the children to choose what songs they want to listen to. I think this is great, as the children are then able to learn how to operate the radio and follow their interest, and direct their learning and play.
Movement and Dance is unique and personal to each individual and can help children to gain and strengthen their body movements, while increasing their co-ordination, and body awareness. At my centre the children love to listen to music throughout the day, and we often put out a box of colourful scarf's and ribbons, so that the children are able to use them while dancing. I think this helps the children with their movement, as they are able to jump and swing around to move their scarves and ribbons around.
ka pai.
Hi Staci,
ReplyDeleteI think this is one of my favourite blogs so far. I really felt as though I could make comparisons to my experience's through what you have observed and practiced. I had personally never taken into account the importance of balance through dance and now I reflect it is very obvious. I admire how you give the children the opportunity to use the radio themselves and tak control of what they would like to listen to. I feel that music is a major part of 'centre life' and can support the different moods, transitions or activities. I know that within my centre we really let our hair down ( especially the teachers) when it comes to dancing and we have had many comments about how confident there children have become when singing or dancing while at home. We sometimes bring all our block outside and make a big stage with magnetic balls and sticks to use as the microphones. This is quite a bit of fun as we have a bit of kareoke going on. I really enjoyed this blog and I feel like I have broadened my awareness of music. Check out this clip. I'm sure you'll enjoy ithttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kz4M3hMaKqw
Ka Pai.