Third Grade plays and writes musicBetween second and third grades, the child commonly develops more complex skills - listening, processing visual information, and coordinating movement in the brain and into the minds. Phonics, music notation, and math link auditory centers to the left and right brains. At this phase classrooms will use music as the vehicle of daily shared reading and writing, and weekly recorder/composition classes. From ages nine to eleven, auditory pathways undergo a further spurt, enhancing speech and listening. Learning to sing simple folk songs in Japanese, Swahili, German or even regional accents such as Spanish, enable the brain to encode new sounds and therby understand the world more fully. During this stage, the bridge between the left and right sides of the brain completes its development, allowing both hemispheres to respond to an event simultaneously.