 ASBURY PARK PRESS Printed January 15, 2010 Songwriter creates curriculum Family in Marlboro uses song, original plays as teaching catalysts By ALESHA WILLIAMS BOYD STAFF WRITER Since their children's early years, education for the Wertman family of Marlboro has been a family affair. Mark Wertman, 51, a stay-at-home dad and one-time professional songwriter, taught his four children to read using songs played on his guitar as a teaching tool. He had his son Daniel, now an 18-year-old at the University of Pennsylvania, reading chapter books in prekindergarten, Wertman said. Today, the Wertman's extended family is growing within the community through the same love of learning and the arts. The entire gang — Mark and Sarah Wertman, and their children Daniel, Gabriella, 21, and Rebecca Wertman, 15, and Jonathan Sebag, 18 — have for the past six years banded together to direct and produce an annual, original play with Marlboro's Solomon Schechter Day School's sixth- to eighth-grade students. The family also in 2008 designed a curriculum — and this year, produced a DVD based on those lessons — to teach children to read with song.... *For full article, visit: http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20101150365 or download the whole article as a PDF at the bottom of this page* Did you catch Rhythm to Read on NEWS12 NEW JERSEY?? Aired on "12 IN OUR SCHOOLS" (with Bryan
Jenkins) on March 13th and March 14th, 2010; Aired on the NJ 12 nightly
news on March, 2, 2010; Aired on Spotlight in New Jersey after 8 (with
Della Crews) on March 3, 2010. Article in the Long Island Herald April 22, 2010 To read full article, please see attachment below 101.5FM - RHYTHM TO READ MAKES THE GARDEN STATE GREAT! Rhythm to Read feature by 101.5FM aired on Monday, April 27th, 2009. Below is the text of the radio broadcast:
A Monmouth County couple is hard at work sharing a new pre-k reading program they’ve developed – that’s actually fun for kids. Mark Wertman says his Rhythm to Read program combines letter sounds and visual cues with music – in a game format – that children instantly respond to. “What happens is the kids learn in a kind of pattern” says Wertman, “the pattern is very pleasing to them, so they like to do the actual reading.” Mark’s wife Sarah says they’re offering Rhythm to Read to public and private schools as well as Head Start programs because “we want every child to be even –so their test scores can come up – every child, if they’re put in the right environment, can come up to their maximum potential.” She adds “our State is filled with great young minds, but if we don’t find out who they are early, we’re never going to find out later- they’re just going to go by the wayside because they won’t have the self-confidence to show you who they are …we want to give everybody a chance to really have an easier time with reading and develop the love for it.” Related Articles:
Music Education Can Help Children Improve Reading Skills - Science Daily All Rhythm to Read music, lyrics, materials, and programming ideas are copyrighted and owned exclusively by Rhythm to Read L.L.C. Alpha and Bet, the main characters in the Rhythm to Read DVD are trademarks of Rhythm to Read L.L.C.
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