LSKM 221 has taught me alot about Art and how to effectively teach learners using Art. I have also learnt that arts Integration in the foundation phase is that it embraces each learner's unique skills and capabilities. It makes it easy for the learners to engage and it offers many ways to construct and show understanding. Art integration in the foundation phase also help children to develop motor skills ,decision making skills, social skills,language skills, inventiveness and risk taking skills. Arts integration can lead to transformative experiences for both teachers and learners while fostering creative and imaginative capacities of the teachers and the learners alike.

I now understand that music elements are the building blocks in music. Through combining the different elements, we can create music. Tone refers to a specific music element that gives music its characteristic sound and through which we differentiate between music and noise.

The only thing I think Iam going to struggle with is to practically teach about Art because I have not done any teaching in class.

1.One of the first things to keep in mind when planning a music lesson is that you should include as many opportunities as possible for learners to engage with and actively listen to, move to and create/perform music throughout the lesson. The CAPS for Creative Arts, performing arts in the foundation phase defines the following topics.

• Creative games and skills
• Improvisation and interpretation
• The CAPS document further clearly indicates that the chosen performing arts topic (as defined within Creative Arts), must correlate with and support the Life Skills topic of the term and week. With this in mind, and by studying the performing arts topics, it becomes clear that foundation phase teachers are encouraged to include elements of play, to encourage creativity, discovery and collaboration and to apply arts integration strategies as often as possible in their teaching. 

2.The importance of Arts Integration in the foundation phase is that it embraces each learner's unique skills and capabilities. It makes it easy for the learners to engage and it offers many ways to construct and show understanding. Art integration in the foundation phase also help children to develop motor skills ,decision making skills, social skills,language skills, inventiveness and risk taking skills. Arts integration can lead to transformative experiences for both teachers and learners while fostering creative and imaginative capacities of the teachers and the learners alike.

3. Yes, I have learnt a lot because now I can draft a detailed lesson plan without struggling.

The importance of Arts Integration in the foundation phase is that it embraces each learner's unique skills and capabilities. It makes it easy for the learners to engage and it offers many ways to construct and show understanding. Art integration in the foundation phase also help children to develop motor skills ,decision making skills, social skills,language skills, inventiveness and risk taking skills. Arts integration can lead to transformative experiences for both teachers and learners while fostering creative and imaginative capacities of the teachers and the learners alike.

WHAT DID I FIND INTERESTING?

The values of Arts integration because they prove to contribute towards higher motivation levels among learners and supports academic achievement and socialisation among learners. Arts integration provides teachers with the opportunity to promote and support the developmental needs of learners while offering learners the opportunity to engage in teaching and learning activities which are fun, fosters collaboration and connection and promotes learners’ innate curiosity, creativity and imaginative abilities. When foundation phase teachers utilise the arts throughout their teaching, they provide learners with multiple modes for demonstrating their understanding of non-arts outcomes while accommodating various learning styles and needs.

WHAT DID I FIND CHALLENGING?

The challenging part about Art Integration is that it needs a well-trained teacher, because some learners will find it difficult to master some concepts so as a teacher you have to be patient. You have to bear in mind that learners are not the same and try to accommodate all of them.

What possibly made some learners uncomfortable during these activities?

▪︎Because the teacher chose a Zulu song so other learners failed to relate to the song due to the language barrier, they are from different socio-cultural backgrounds and some of them did not understand the meaning of the song or failed to pronounce the lyrics of the song correctly. 

Why were some learners uncomfortable?

▪︎As a teacher you must know that you are going to have to deal with different learners ( different personalities), some learners are shy or do not like the same things, therefore others were uncomfortable to dance in front of others because they are shy and others were not familiar with the music genre (Amapiano).

Can you think of ways to address these issues in future? What will you change?

I will choose an English song so that they can all be able to participate and a dance that they can all be comfortable with. Eg Waltz dance ( A box step).

How can we accommodate diverse learner profiles in our classrooms? What must we beware of?

We must take into account that we have learners from different socio-cultural beliefs and economic backgrounds so we should consider accommodating each and every learner for effective learning and teaching to take place.

MATHEMATICS 

Music is one of the few activities that involves using the whole brain therefore memorizing songs can help learners with pattern recognition, which is the basis for any reading and mathematics work they do on their daily life. Improved memory, focused attention, effective learning and enhanced communication are the common known skills that relates to music concepts and can help with mathematics. 

LIFE SKILLS 

Learning to regulate one's emotions and to be fine with delayed gratification is something that parents want their children to learn, this skill can be used for any area of life and any developmental stage. Impulse control and delayed gratification are very difficult concepts for learners therefore through waiting for their turns when signing they are consolidating their skills through extra repetitions of the rhythm.

LANGUAGE EDUCATION 

Music correlates with better language skills, children who grew up listening to music develop strong music related connections that in turn strengthen their language skills. Learners with a musical background are better at pronouncing the sounds of other languages and at perceiving the relevant contrasts between sounds in those new languages. Skills are: better pronunciation of words, perception of linguistic sounds,  easy to learn other languages, retaining words and expressions much more effectively. 

I am so stressed while writing this blog because my week has been so hectic, I have a lot of school work to do, I feel like Iam loosing my mind because I can barely cope. I think I need to learn how to plan my things so that I can be able to complete my school work on time, Anyway enough with the rambling. Vygotsky believes that learning is predominantly social process in which parents , culture and society plays a vital role in the development of higher psychological  roles. I have learnt some very interesting stuff  on this study unit,  I now fully understand the value of music and I know that it plays a vital role in the foundation phase. I have also learnt the learning theories and how they are different from each other. The most important aspects of the learning theories is that  teachers should have a good relationship with their learners and he/she must make sure that the learners feel safe, valued, supported and cared for and according to Piaget Foundation phase learners fall between both the Pre- operational stage and the concrete operational stage.