What have you learnt after studying all units?

What i learnt is that music has different elements, concepts and activities. I knew little about arts integration but i didn't know to intergrate it into other subject. At first, i thought music was done only in musical schools but later i realised that music influebce children at an early age. I learnt about theories and how they have positive impact on foundation phase learners.

What did you find challenging? 

Integrating arts with other concepts was very challenging for me. I am struggling to differentiating music concept and music elements i confuse them.

Did you find the individual reflections valuable?

Yes. It will assist me to improve where i am lacking and making mistakes.

What will you change if you had the opportunity in future?

I'll change how i look at music because I've always thought music is only for fun, i was boe even aware of music concepts and elements and how they influence children at the younger age.

What did you find interesting and meaningful? 

While we were doing group assignment it was very interesting because we were all able to express our emotions and knowledge and share it with others.

Music elements.

Music elements are building blocks of music. 

Basic elements of music includes:

Pitch (of tone)= Pitch means how high or low. The element which are made of low and high tones which arranged in a linear succession is called a Melody.

Intensity of tone= Refers to how loud or soft a tone is.

Duration (of tone) includes music concepts of tempo, beat, meter, rhythm.​​​​​​​ 

Refers to the length in time of a sound. Sound can either be long/ sustained or short/ quick.

• Tempo: Speed of the music and how fast the beat moves (fast/ slow)
• Meter: When beatsare grouped in a group of 2,3 or 4.
• Rhythm: Combination of different lengths of tones, you can create a rhythm. Normally, song lyrics depicts as the rhythm.
• Beat: The heartbeat of music. We listen to our foot taps of the song  beat. Accents assists us to determine the number of beats in a bar.

Texture= How thick or thin the sound is.

Quality of tone (timbre)= The uniqueness sound of every instrument.

Different types of music activities.

Musical games, body percussion, singing, improvisation.

Music and dramatization, composition and instrument playing.

1. In your opinion, reflecting 9n and synthesizing all that you learnt in LSKM 221. Whst are the most important aspects to keep in mind when planning a FP lesson.

Before and after the lesson there should always be music with specific goals. Have variety of activities in place to work with. Always have teaching and learning strategies to assist you to orgainise your classroom and assist you with how learners behave. Plan your lesson in time. Urge all learners  to engage with others. Have extra activities in place for those learners that are struggling. 

At the end of the lesson always assess your learner's perfomance and motivate them always to do good.

2. What is your opinion about the value of utilising art integration in FP lesson?

• Learners engage in critical thinking and construct personal meaning through their learning in arts integrated lessons. 
• They develop problem-solving skills and innovate new solutions to problems.
• Builds collaboration learning between both teachers and learners.
• Learners discover and recognise new skills about themselves and others.

3. Has your perception and priorities with regards to lesson planning and the inclusion of music (and arts) throughout your teaching and learning in the FP changed. Motivate your answer.

Yes. I learned the importance of arts integration and music in foundation phase. Music and allows learnes to have fun while learning in appropriate way. Learners become more actively involved when they collaborate with others and that develops their social and creative thinking skills.

Arts integration is a strategy whereby learners construct and demonstrate what they understand through art form in teaching. Arts integration enhance strategies which addresses the  outcomes in differnt subjects simultaneously while urging learners to demonstrate their understanding of concepts and skills through arts. 

It promotes active learning, authentic  learning activities, collaboration in class and problem solving skills. Learners participate in creative process which connects art form and subjects. Arts integration assists learners to drawa pictures or write stories  about what makes them feel about arts and music.

The values of arts integration.

• Arts integration supply teachers with the chance to enhance the developmental needs of the learners giving them the opportunities to participate in activities and promotes learners creativity, imaginative abilitiesand curiosity.
• Leads to transformative experience or both the teacher and learner while fostering creative and imaginative capacities.
• Provide learners with multiple modes for demonstrating non-arts outcomes while accomodating different learning styles and needs.
• Problem-solving skills and critically thinking skills through engagement in authentic learning activities will developed.
• Offer opportunities for creating effective learning environment for diverse background and to feel welcomed and respected.
• Develop holistically experience, personal and social wellbeing by drawing on their innate love of milusic, movement, curiosity and arts.

Strategies for integrating music with other subjects.

• Urge learners to write their own rhythmic patterns (composition) using syllables based on the theme given.
• Play a song and ask learnrts to choreograph dance which shows the meaning of the sound.
• Explain and demonstrate vibration and sound waves concept by looking at methods in which instruments make sound.
• Play a song and ask learners to imagine the story song.
• Learners can demostrate revolution and rotation concepts through movement.

1. The basic elements of play.

Play involves  a state of mind and disposition-learners are urged to be imagenary, self-growth, imagination and creativity are essential in enjoyment play. Play is voluntary and unifying forming parts of the socialising process meaning you play wheb you want to no one is forcing you.

Play creates informal space for socio-historical comment. Play contains elements of surprise  and challenge- When someone unexpected is chosen to be a leader, the leader and players are suprised. Curiosity and creativity allows children to try something new and see what happens. Play involves aethentic quality judgement by participants and play reinforces societal roles.

2. The value of play for holistic development and learning in foundation phase when childre engage in teaching.

Play is a fundamental way of knowing new things.  To teach children certain behaviours, morals values which are regarded as healthy and resourceful to the community. Play involves songs, structured movements, musical instruments  and involves theoretical elements and it also enhance cognitive growth.

3. The importance of including elements of play in as many teaching and learning activities as possible.

The significance of including elements of play in teaching and learning activities includes assisting learners to develop cognitively development by solving problems skills. Learners think creatively and critically, and they are able to develop holistically through engagement in authentic meaningful activities.

4. Suggestions on how to include play in the foundation phase.

As a teacher, make learning an adventure meaning you have to let learners use their imagination to visualize. You can even act out the play out.

1. Vygotsky's developmental theory  shows how interaction of interpersonal( social) cultural-historical a nd individual  factors do not only explain how we learn in the company of others, but is at the heart of child development. It influence cognitive development and emphasise the significance of social interaction and language development. He belived that knowledge is co-constructed between 2 or more people, so it cannot be dissociated from it's context and believed that thinking is mastered and transferred through symbols and tools such as language, counting and writing . ZOP draws attention  to potential that a learner has to master a new skill and solve problems successfully through peer and teacher scaffolding.  Vygotsky emphasise the importance of reciprocal teaching which draws  attention to the significance of social interaction and scaffolding  with the aim of developing self-directed learners. Cooperative and discovery learning is important as it motivates learners to discover, solve problems independently and together engage actively with the new content, skill and working with peers in social context. 

2.Erickson- Erokson's developmental  theory for the stages of psychosocial  development draws focus to the influence of social interaction and relationship learning. Meaningful relations are vital to make our learners feel safe, loved, supported and valued  in the classroom. Children relies on feedback from parebts, teachers and peers to make them feel confident about their achievements (extrinsic motivation). The more you praise them the more they do good, the less you praise them the more they lack confidence and doubt themselves.

Piaget. Emphasise the notion that children learn by interacting with the world and that they build new knowledge based on the existing knowledge (prior knowledge). He believed that children  think differently than adults and create their own knowledge through what they experience socially through interacting with their physical environment. The knowledge that children create tlhe called them 'schemas'. He have 4 stages of development.

a) The sensorimotor stage- From birth to 2 year. The child is egocentric.

b) The preoperational stage- From 2-7 years. The child learns through pretend play, symbolic play, drelawings and mental imagenary.

c) Concrete operational stage- 7-12 years. Children develop their ability to think logically about concrete events. Solve problems related to conservation and reversibility.

d) Formal operational stage- 12-15 years (adolescence) children learn through abstract reasoning.

Vygotsky- Draws attention  to the social cultural factors that influence cognitive development and therefore emphasise the importance of social interaction. Motivates the importance of utilising collaboration learning  and peer scaffolding in the classroom. One of the concept he use is  Zone of proximal development. 

3. Holistic wducation aims to assist learners to reach full potential and lead a productive life. It may bw dilefined as education that goes beyond the classroom to develop the intellectual emotional, social, physical, creative or intuitive aesthetic and spiritual potential (Hare. 2010:3).

Physical- develop both gross and fine motor skills as well as hand-eye coordination. Dancing develop balance, bodily awareness, gross and motor skills. 

Cognitive music education enhance attentiveness, multitasking and promotes numeracy and literacy skills Expand vocabulary and promotes higher-order thinking skill, abstract and logical reasoning.

Social- develop learners communication skills from new relations and promotes social interaction with peers. 

Personal development- participating with peers making own instruments, gaining confidence and believing in themselves.

Emotional- learn to identify different emotions. They will be able to express themselves and how they feel appropriately.

4. Music development 

Develop the ability to selectively listen, have higher-level learning skill and it allowas learners to focus on specific music aspects. Assists and cultivates a sense of wholeness on learners. It enhance cognitive skills and also foster holistic development.

5. Perfoming, reading, creating, describing and listening to music are all activities. Singing songs, musical games, body percussion, dance and movement and playing rhythmic patterns on non-melodic instruments.