Course participants are early childhood/day care center personnel. This course prepares participants to lead early childhood music experiences in day care centers, Head Start programs or other early childhood educational settings. Through course readings, discussions, and active participation in group music making experiences, students gain an understanding of the musical development of children from infancy through age six, while developing their own innate musicality. Over the course of the semester, students increase their knowledge, skills, and abilities to implement and assess developmentally appropriate, engaging, and meaningful music experiences in their early childhood program. Topics include: engaging in music experiences: singing, moving, playing small percussion instruments to accompany songs and improvise; playing beginner selections on the recorder; child development and the musical development of children-infants through age six; developing criteria for selecting folk music repertoire and finger plays; music in the integrated curriculum; musical experiences for the special needs child; instruments and appropriate props for the early childhood music experiences; curriculum planning: creating developmentally appropriate, engaging, and meaningful music lesson plans; developing long range program goals; preparing classroom space to facilitate effective early childhood music experiences; teacher as facilitator: learning to lead developmentally appropriate, engaging, and meaningful early childhood music experiences; assessment: assessing student responses to early childhood classroom music experiences; music literacy: developing the ability to read standard notation and invent graphic/symbolic representations; exploring emerging literacy and the invented musical notations of young children; staff development, mission statements;and building community through music. Course participants meet several times during the semester in individual or small group mentoring sessions with the instructor, during which the readings are discussed and course goals are reviewed. Each course participant develops a portfolio which holds all assignments and a reflection on each assignment. Course participants are observed in the classroom by the Director of their agency to assess the integration of music within the classroom, improve their teaching effectiveness, and provide opportunities for agency participation. Course participants observe three Diller-Quaile early childhood classes and write reflections based on the theory and practice contained in the course literature. They also conduct a workshop on staff development for their day care colleagues, demonstrating the use of music/movement in the early childhood classroom. At the conclusion of this assignment, they write a short paper synthesizing the experience with the course literature. A thematic unit which integrates and incorporates diverse music/movement experiences, art, and children's literature is developed over the semester. The unit may include long range curriculum plans, daily lesson plans, journaling, documentation of children's work, including photos, recordings, art, homemade instruments, etc. The thematic unit concludes with a short reflective paper summarizing the experience and integrating the course literature. Using the sample assessment form presented in class, course participants assess the developing musicality of one child over a period of time. A final self-evaluation reflects on the course participant's professional growth during the semester.