Folk music for primary school children

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop resource materials to assist non-music specialist primary teachers with the integration of Newfoundland folk songs into other primary curriculum areas. The materials were developed and entitled Hello Newfoundland. They consist of an audio-tape recording of eleven traditional Newfoundland folk songs for young children and a companion teacher's guidebook, focusing on the integration of these songs with other areas of the primary curriculum. -- The guidebook, Hello Newfoundland, was then presented to sixteen primary teachers representing Kindergarten through Grade Three. The teachers were invited, by completing a questionnaire, to assess the potential these resource materials would have for use by generalist primary teachers. Their reactions were sought specifically regarding the Newfoundland content of the materials, the suggested activities in the guidebook, the overall quality of the materials and the potential of the materials for use in primary classrooms by non-music specialist teachers. -- The findings of this study indicate that with regard to each of these categories, the general response of teachers was, extremely positive and encouraging.