Teachers Find the Right Moves With Help of Music Course

More than 60 educators from around the Southland gathered at Whittier College for two days last weekend to participate in a music and creative movement workshop led by Phyllis S. Weikart of the University of Michigan.

Weikart recommends activities such as playing with soft poly-filled balls and exploring space with hoops to help develop basic coordination and increase visual and academic skills among children.

Singing and rhythm and movement games improve visual, auditory, language and motor skills that are building blocks for future success in school, Weikart said.

Since today’s child spends more time watching television and videos and playing with computers, and less time in active play, even more intervention at the preschool and elementary level is needed to prepare the child for the three R’s, according to Weikart, an associate professor of physical education at Ann Arbor.

Consequently, she had teachers and music specialists playing and singing and generally having a great time, all in the interest of education.

In the inset photo, Emma Smith, a resident of Carson who teaches music in the Compton Unified School District, practices finger play motions that go with a song called “Thumbkin.” The workshop was called “Key Experiences in Movement and Folk Dance for Children.”