The Fremont Public School Foundation awarded two Creative Teaching grants to Alison Zuch, an elementary music teacher, that made it possible to have a keyboard for every student in her classroom at Washington Elementary.
When she first received the keyboards, she used them to start a keyboard club that was held before school hours. Alison would have 10-15 students come into the music room to play the keyboards and to learn beginning piano skills. She also started a piano lab and the third and fourth graders have spent some of their music classes learning beginning piano songs. Using the keyboards has strengthened their music reading abilities. This has been a very useful way to show the students why they have been learning the foundations of reading music during their music classes. Alison hopes to continue to increase the amount of time and maybe add another grade level in the future.
The keyboards have truly broadened the students’ music experience and they love playing them.