While I do not claim to be an expert on literacy, I am surrounded by conversations about literacy on a daily basis. I am inspired by educators that are implementing exceptional literacy programming every day and, therefore, I have been actively trying to understand different approaches to teaching literacy for diverse learners. 

I have engaged in many conversations where people have expressed that they learned to read or write through the power of song. This method - teaching through song - has been shown to be immensely effective in teaching grammar, vocabulary, syllable recognition, etc. 

The Library of Congress has an entire collection dedicated to song sheets, which are described as: "...before the advent of phonograph and radio technologies, Americans learned the latest songs from printed song sheets. Not to be confused with sheet music, song sheets are single printed sheets, usually six by eight inches, with lyrics but no music."

Many of these song sheets provide a glimpse into the events happening in the nineteenth century. From war, to freedom songs, to love, and patriotism, many subjects are covered in this song sheet collection.

Can you use these song sheets in your classroom to engage students in reading and writing skills? Comment below!

  song    learning    literacy    reading    writing