Twenty-two pages of holiday gems for you and your kids, featuring traditions, giving the natural way, singing under the mistletoe, paper crafts, choral reading, an international bazaar, poetry and puzzles, a seasonal bibliography, projects with plastic, a couple of stories, gifts from the teacher, and gifts for your colleagues. (Editor)

Discusses children's tastes in music and reviews children's books that have music as a theme. Presents a creative activities sampler for younger and older children as well as a list of resources, including books and films. (LRW)

The "Everyday Learning" series has been developed to focus attention on the everyday ways in which children can be supported in their growth and development. It is for all those who are involved in children's development and learning, including people caring for young children in their own or others' homes, such as parents, grandparents…

Creativity is largely an outgrowth of attitude rather than an activity, a set of predispositions rather than a production line. Author traces the concept of creative development and the role music plays in illustrating the creative process. (Author/RK)

This article presents practitioner research dealing with improvisation in solfege as a creative alternative for the development of music perception. Solfege practice, conceived as a personal construction of a melody, requires an attitude that embraces aural sensitivity to the spatial and temporal dimensions of a melodic line, identification of…

This essay examines how jazz educators construct methods for teaching the art of improvisation in institutionalized jazz studies programs. Unlike previous studies of the processes and philosophies of jazz instruction, I examine such processes from a cultural standpoint, to identify why certain methods might be favored over others. Specifically,…

This article looks at an inner city playwriting project that brought professional writers and artists into inner city classrooms to help students explore the cultural history of their community and begin to find their own voices as writers. This project was set up by Larry Hunter, an African American playwright who worked as a writer-in-residence…

This paper explores the phenomenon of mathematical understanding, and offers a response to the question raised by Martin (2001) at PME-NA about the possibility for and nature of collective mathematical understanding. In referring to collective mathematical understanding we point to the kinds of learning and understanding we may see occurring when…

This study investigated teachers' perceptions and practices concerning musical improvisation in the English primary classroom. A questionnaire survey was carried out with participants drawn from primary teachers--both generalists and specialists--working in various regions of England. The findings demonstrate a positive view of teachers'…

Including the arts in the curriculum is a tough sell these days. In many districts, budgets have been cut, enrollment has increased, and there are tests to pass--forget about teaching Johnny to paint. But the discipline that many refer to as "the fourth R" may never have been more relevant to students' futures than today. That is because an…

This book presents sequentially ordered activities designed to foster young children's native creativity. The book is organized in three parts. Part 1: "Unleashing Your Creative Potential," introduces the types of activities found in the body of the book and provides teaching suggestions. Part 2: "Activities, Activities, Activities," gives a…

Since 1970, the Connecticut Commission on the Arts has sponsored educational programs in which artists participate actively in the classroom with students and teachers. This book contains eight case studies showing the effects of visiting artists in eight Connecticut schools. Topics of these studies are song writing, dance movement in suburbia,…

This book shows that children innately learn a great deal about the arts. The book argues that involvement and immersion are the ways in which children feel welcome to write, move, create, draw, and otherwise express ideas about art and music. It offers teaching suggestions to classroom teachers and non-specialists so classroom reading activities…

Eight authors focus on creativity and creative college age youth, topics include the creative student in liberal arts and sciences, the artistically talented and the educational establishment, and the creative student and academic standards. Directions toward solution are reviewed; considerations in the assessment of creativity are appended. A…

The purpose of this study was to assess fourth- and fifth-grade students' (9- and 10-year-olds') affective response and ability to discriminate between melody and improvisation after receiving instruction in singing and/or playing a piece in the blues style. Subjects (N= 102) were assigned to one of three equal-sized groups. Group 1 learned to…