It’s November! Time to sing about turkey and more. Today, I feature a few songs that I’ve learned from my colleagues. The first is an all-time fave by my Chicago-based pal, “Miss Carole” Stephens. It’s a turkey dance that kids and teachers love. Some love it so much they ask…
The traditional song “Today is Monday” has become very popular, thanks in part to Eric Carle’s engaging book by the same name, which has a new food for each day of the week. You can help children learn initial consonant sounds by changing the song to name a food that…
I’m currently having fun singing songs that require children to guess a rhyming word at the end of a line, such as my version of “Hey, Dr. Knickerbocker” and Icky Sticky & Ooey Gooey. For Halloween, I suggest making as many scary-creature rhymes as possible in order to keep from…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
When I was growing up, it seemed most kids knew Mother Goose rhymes. These days, that assumption no longer holds. In my summer camp for children aged six to eight, we play a trivia quiz game in which I sometimes ask the children to finish a nursery rhyme after hearing…
By Liz Buchanan Singing and chanting are one of the best ways to help young children learn certain early literacy skills, such as distinguishing letter sounds. Singing is fun and engaging for both children and adults. Check out the research (below) that shows the important connections between music and…
