In 14 kindergarten classrooms this fall, students are chanting the phrase as they clap and snap their fingers to a beat. "There is a high correlation between keeping a steady beat and being able to read," whispered Mary Beth Stickley, the district's director of early childhood education, while watching a Cesar A. Batallla school classroom. In a nearby 1st grade --- one of two 1st grades this year using the "Total Learning" approach - an echo is heard, driving home the "th"sound to 1st graders. "Beth, Beth, Beth, Beth. Thin, thin, thin, thin," the class shouts as they rhythmically pat their knees and tap the floor, a pattern suggested by the 6-year olds who suggested the "th" words they w