Let’s create some fun alliterative sentences! As in, sentences that emphasize the same starting consonant sound, and also sound a little silly. And perhaps feature lots of cool animals, such as “cool cats in my cereal and cougars who can cook.”That’s what I did in my song “Chimmy Cha-Cha,” from…
Storytelling is a compelling art form that engages children in a story in a different way than a picture book. Storytelling has many valuable benefits, not the least of which is that the listener must mentally envision the story. My work as a music specialist has been greatly enhanced by…
It’s early November and the season is definitely changing, at least it is where I live in northern Vermont. It’s a good time to sing with children about how animals get ready for winter, using songs such as my “Nuts for the Winter,” which features my little stuffed squirrel, Chipper….
The New York Times asked people to describe the year 2020 in one word. Momentous, challenging, scary, tragic, frustrating, disturbing, perhaps illuminating. For me, it boils down to one word. Whoa. WHOA. Things started out so routinely. I went about my business as an early childhood music specialist, teaching my…
The following post is based on my recently-delivered workshop on Music and Early Literacy for the Children’s Music Network. Arts education and arts integration (defined below) are both critically important! Musicians and other artists need to be strong advocates for arts in education. We can make our case by offering…
Here’s a song to sing as the weather gets cooler and the ghouls start haunting the landscape. My “Monster Bonster” song was adapted from the song “I’m Playing with a Monster,” by Fran Avni and Nancy Schimmel. In the song, children are invited to name the monster’s body parts, which…
I’ve just posted the “Sleeping Beauty” – Revisited video to my YouTube channel. Here’s more about the background of the song and the video. Early in my music-teaching career, I learned the “Thorna Rosa” circle game that reenacts the fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty. I probably learned the game at…
I got inspired to write a song about the Three Billy Goats Gruff by a classroom of preschoolers, especially the boys in the class. The classroom copy of the book featured the language that’s in my song, spoken by the third Billy Goat to the troll: “Well, come along, I’ve…
If you’re a parent reading this, I hope these months of the pandemic have given you some opportunities to share extra special experiences with your children. I know it can be pretty tough at times, especially if you are trying to do that other job (the one where you might…
This post recaps earlier posts from this blog about the “Two Little Robins” song and offers some stick-puppet materials! I never tire of singing my version of “Two Little Blackbirds,” which I’ve changed to “Two Little Robins.” You can find a video of my presentation of this song here. My…
