Movement and Music: Developing Activities for Young Children

Movement and Music gives teachers and child care providers the knowledge and skills they need to make informed decisions on helping children develop the intrinsic motivation to move throughout their lives. More than a listing of activities, it presents in-depth information on physical activity and music that allows early childhood educators to match motivating physical activity and music lessons to the developmental level of the child. The guiding principles throughout the book focus on meeting individual needs, reciprocating environment and curriculum, integrating movement and music, involving family and community, and getting guidance through assessment and standards. The Enhanced Pearson eText features embedded video and internet resources.

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Jere Gallagher is an associate professor and serves as Associate Dean in the School of Education at the University of Pittsburgh.  Dr. Gallagher graduated from Louisiana State University with a doctorate in motor development and motor learning with minors in developmental psychology and experimental statistics.  She has extensive experience in the physical activity of children. For over 25 years she developed and directed the Kinder Kinetics Program, a program for children with and without disabilities between the ages of 3- to 12-years of age.  The program received the 2008 United Cerebral Palsy’s 2008 Humanitarian Award.  Jere has also been the Chair of the Council on Physical Education for Children, the Motor Development Academy and the Youth Sport Coalition.  More recently she was a consultant for Head Start – Body Start. All these organization are part of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance.   Active in research, she currently studies the relationship between development of motor skills and participation in physical activity.  Her initial research, memory factors that influence motor skill learning in childhood, moved to a focus on attention and the development of balance control in children.  A second focus of her research is the relationship between children’s fitness level and cognitive function. 

Nancy Sayre is a retired professor of Early Childhood Education and Interim Dean of the College of Education and Human Services at Clarion University of Pennsylvania.  Her doctorate is from the University of Pittsburgh.  She has extensive experience in developing, directing, and teaching programs for young children such as the Earl R. Siler Early Childhood Child Development Complex at Clarion University. She has served on the board of the Jefferson-Clarion Head Start, the board of the National Coalition for Campus Child Care, and President of the Pennsylvania Association for the Education of Young Children.  Dr. Sayre and Dr. Gallagher had a book, The Young Child and the Environment, published in 2000 by Allyn & Bacon.