​Last year the Omro Area Community Center and the Omro School District teamed up to pilot “Learning & Literacy through Music” with certified music therapist Kathy Schumacher. On Wednesday mornings, teachers walked with their students from H. B. Patch Elementary School to the Omro Area Community Center and returned the way they’d come at the end of the session.
Schumacher wrote or adapted the songs she uses in her clinical work; such as segmenting, blending, and rhyming, so while practicing literacy concepts it didn't feel like schoolwork.
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​A successful experiment, the program has returned under the slightly different title of “Literacy & Learning through Music” which emphasizes Schumacher’s focus on teaching literacy principles. ​Schumacher’s method, using songs she wrote or adapted, is further molded to compliment what teachers teach in their classrooms. As the popularity of this program grew, a term was coined for the seniors who came to read with the students: “grand friends.”
 
This program has continued and the Omro Area Community Center is pleased to report that we received a grant from the Marianne and Tom Ivey Charitable Fund at the Oshkosh Area Community Foundation to now offer a spring session of this program as well as a fall session. Watch for more information in our monthly newsletters about this program.
 
For more information please visit www.tunefulteaching.com