It’s apple-picking season! New England’s many apple orchards are a favorite field trip for school and preschool groups, combined with units on healthy eating and making recipes for applesauce, apple pie and more. You can only pick and eat so many apples, so take some time to sing about them! … Continue reading
Why are finger plays great learning tools for young children? Finger plays make a body-mind connection. Most utilize music and rhythm, which helps build literacy. Most utilize rhymes, which help with phonological awareness. Many tell a story, and help children learn to organize their thoughts to tell a simple story/narrative … Continue reading
In my last blog piece, I talked about getting the creative process going with children through brainstorming – essentially making lists of ideas. Brainstorming is the time for broad-brushing and “all over the map” thinking. But how do all those the brainstorm ideas become a song? The short answer is … Continue reading
This article first appeared on The Children’s Music Network blog as part of an ongoing series about songwriting with students. There’s a blank white board in front of you. Name your idea – any idea is great. Let’s see how many we can assemble! What a tantalizing invitation, a welcome … Continue reading
On our family’s lake house vacations when I was growing up, I’d direct musical plays starring my younger sister and three cousins. I made up the script and even wrote songs for a silly Sherlock Holmes drama one year. Years later, I get to revisit our lakeside theater experience by … Continue reading
During my ten-week songwriting residency with first graders, I start by introducing students to songs to engage them with different musical styles and subject matter. In the first week this year, we sang songs celebrating nature, including my song “If I Were a Butterfly.” The next week, I told the … Continue reading
Parts of this piece were originally published on The Children’s Music Network Blog. One of my early inspirations for songwriting with kids was hearing about a residency that Steve Roslonek (SteveSongs) did at an elementary school years ago. After spending a week gathering ideas and brainstorming with the students, he … Continue reading
If you’re helping kids learn letter sounds, there are no better teaching tools than simple songs and rhymes. I’ve already written in this blog about how nursery rhymes help children learn about rhyming words and vowel sounds; they can help teach about consonant sounds, too. Many nursery rhymes and songs … Continue reading
This is another article in my series on songs for helping children learn about rhymes and vowel sounds. For even more songs on this topic, please check out my album of Songs for Rhyming and Reading and the Songs for Teaching web page. Parts of this article were previously printed … Continue reading
This article is the second in my series about teaching rhyming and vowel sounds through music. Here, the focus is on working with children who are starting to understand what rhyming is all about. When a child gets the concept of a rhyme, that’s huge! Their ears are hearing … Continue reading
