There has been a lot of excitement in my professional life lately, and it's time for a blog post update. To celebrate, I am also offering 20% off your entire shopping cart! This "back-to-school" discount is good from September 1 through September 15.
Keep reading for the coupon code! You can use it in my store and also for my newly released online course which is being hosted by www.musicforkiddos.com. More on that below.
As a music therapist, a big part of my job is using music to help children learn. For the last 20+ years, I have also been researching how to improve literacy skills with music based learning. I have discovered that building a foundation for literacy has a direct impact on a child's ability to communicate. This is the topic of my ebook titled Alphabet Stew and Chocolate Too: Songs for Developing Phonological Awareness, Literacy and Communication Skills.
All of my years presenting on this topic at conferences have led me to the opportunity to teach a virtual class titled "Literacy for Littles: Using Music to Develop Reading and Communication Skills." This is a view on-demand course that can be taken on your own time table with a live Q&A Office Hour on September 23, 2021. The course includes the Alphabet Stew and Chocolate Too ebook as well as unlimited email support.
Teaching a pre-recorded course was a new experience and I learned a lot. It seems to work really well for learners to have a self-paced course that they can review as needed. From my perspective, I can reach a lot more people and they, in turn, can help a lot more children be successful learners.
The course includes an overview of phonological awareness—how it develops and why it's important. Information is shared to make a clear distinction between phonological awareness, phonemic awareness and phonics. We work through the phonological awareness developmental continuum and participants learn at least one activity to teach every part of the continuum.
There is also a valuable section on speech-to-print, in other words handwriting—a nemesis to many. Using several Brain Gym strategies, I give you some concrete ways to help kids learn letter formation and handwriting skills.
After completing this course, learners will have 72 ready-to-use songs and resources. Several assessment tools are shared as well. The component of the course receiving the most positive feedback are the video examples of the songs being used in a clinical setting with children.
As part of shifting to virtual sessions during the pandemic, I also learned a lot of green screen tricks and I include a training video on the best of the best in the course.
Personally, things have been a whirlwind with my firstborn heading off to college. Lots of excitement there and not too many tears were shed. It's a different world than when I headed off to UW-Eau Claire for my music therapy degree. Back then, we had to pay long distance for every phone call. The only version of "face time" available involved a 3 1/2 hour ride in the car!
I hope you find the literacy information valuable. I'm excited to offer my first annual back-to-school sale. I recently added the See You Later Alligator rhyming book and have plans to add Word Wheels and Compound Word Visuals soon. As always, I'd love to hear any feedback you have.
And now for the drum roll. The coupon code is READ2021. This is good for 20% off your entire shopping cart in my store. It will also get you 20% off the Literacy for Littles course available here.