SINGING THE CCSS!

Take a look at my March, 2013, website post and you’ll get tons of ideas for tying music into Common Core State Standards.  You’ll even find a free download for a song called “In the Woods There Was a Tree.”  It’s a silly narrative song, but one my students always enjoyed.

Narrative songs are songs that tell a story.  The lyrics provide the opportunity for children to recall details and sequence, and they also make great class books!

1^st – Sing the song several times so the children are familiar with it.

2^nd – Who are the characters in the song?  What is the setting?  What happened first?  Next?  Then?  Last?

3^rd -  Ask the children to close their eyes as you sing and make pictures in their brains.

4^th  – Give them paper, crayons, markers, or paint to illustrate a picture from the song.

5^th – Enlarge the words to the song, cut them apart, and glue them to pages where they seem most appropriate.

6^th – Add a page for “Illustrators” where the children can sign their names.  Encourage them to “dedicate” the book and add the publisher (school, class, city, state) and copyright date.  Put their pictures together, add a front and back cover, and bind. 

*Use the book for choral singing.

*Place the book in the listening center.

*Let a different child take the book home each evening to share with their families.

*Put the book in the school library so other classes can check it out.

Standards: 

RL 1, 2, 3

RL 6

RF 4

W 3

SL 1, 2, 5

I was in Little Rock and Memphis this past week, and I’ve got some super duper ideas to share with you.  However, I need to get on the road to a conference in Lake City, Florida, so you’ll have to wait until I get home in a few days.

LET'S GO FLY A KITE!

Five Little Kites

(Download the book at drjean.org/March, 2007)

One, two, three, four, five little kites          (Hold up fingers as you count.)

Flying up in the sky                                     (Fly fingers in the air.)

Said “hi” to the clouds as they passed by,     (Pretend to wave to clouds.)

Said  “hi” to the birds, said “hi” to the sun,  (Wave.)

Said “hi” to the airplanes, oh what fun.        (Wave.)

Then “swish” went the wind,        (Move hand down in a  

And they all took a dive:              swooping motion.)

One, two, three, four, five.         (Hold up fingers

                                                 one at a time and count.)

Paper Plate Kite - Cut the inner section out of a paper plate.  Decorate the rim with markers.  Glue tissue paper streamers to one side.  Punch a hole and tie a piece of string on the other side.  Go outside and run to make your kite fly.

Kite Experiments – Let children make kites out of lunch sacks, plastic bags, and other materials.  Have them predict which one will fly best.  Experiment to see which one is best.  Why did some work better than others?

Kite Tales – Ask each child to write a story about what it would be like to be a kite.  What could you see?  What could you hear?  How would you feel?  What would you do?

Lion or Lamb?  Explain the quote, “March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.”  Every day ask children what kind of day it is, and then let them color a “lion” or a “lamb” on the calendar.  Graph "lion" and "lamb" days and compare at the end of the month.

HELP ME! HELP ME!

For years I resisted making a video for children.  The whole point of my songs is for the teacher to interact with the children, look them in the eyes, and enjoy a special time together.  That is still critical to me.  However, I have received so much positive feedback about my “Better Bodies and Brains” DVD that it might be time to make another one.  When I first watched that video I was embarrassed.   I did not like looking at myself, and I thought it was corny.  The bottom line is the kids LIKE it.  So there!  (They think I’m flying like an angel because of the blue background.  Some of them wonder why I wear black all the time.  I get some really cute comments.)  But, let me tell you the real reason this DVD works.  There are times in the day when you would like to put your class on “pause.”  You’ve got to put away reading materials and get ready for math.  You need to send something to the office.  You receive an emergency phone call.  That’s when I’ll help you out.  Put me on your interactive white board and I will sing, dance, entertain your class – and perhaps help them learn something!

So, I need your help!  I’m going to record a new DVD in a few months and I'd like your suggestions for songs that I should include.  Of course, I’ll do the “Tooty Ta” and “The Cool Bear Hunt” on this recording.  But what else would you like?  Let me know your suggestions in the next two weeks and I’ll aim to please.  You might even use this as an opportunity for your students to write an “opinion” about their favorite song.  You can email your suggestions to drjean@drjean.org.  Thanks for your help!

BRING AND BRAG OR SHOW AND SHARE???

One of the enduring rituals in early childhood has been sharing time.  Most children love to be the center of attention and talk in front of their friends.  However, you can reinforce important speaking and listening standards with some of these ideas.

Show and Share  - Instead of “bring and brag,” focus show and tell on a specific theme you are studying, such as a letter, science concept, shape, etc.

*Provide a child-size podium (old music stand) for children to stand behind when they speak.

*Have children close their eyes as friends take turns sharing.  Can everyone remember one thing at the end of sharing time?

*Ask children to come up with three clues about what they have brought from home.  (Parents could write these for young students.)  After giving the clues, friends try and guess what it is.

*Let the class ask 20 questions about show and tell items.  Tally their answers on the board.

*The person sharing can make three statements about what they have brought.  The class then gets to ask them three questions about it.

*Try “show what you know” where children can demonstrate what they have learned about a theme.  They could do an art project, make up a song, do a skit, make a video, etc.

Hint!  Designate a special shelf or table in your classroom where students can place their show and tell objects for friends to look at later in the day.

Assign students different days of the week for sharing time.

YOUR GOLDEN BIRTHDAY

Have you ever heard of your “golden birthday”?  That was a new one for me.   Your “golden birthday” only occurs once in your lifetime when you are as old as the day on which you were born.  For example, if your birthday is March 6^th, the year you turn six years old is your golden birthday.  If you turn 27 on February 27^th, that’s your golden birthday.  (I guess I missed mine long ago!)

Our grandson had a birthday recently and our daughter came up with a unique solution to all the toys.  There is a site (echoage.com) that provides a balance between something for the birthday child and helping a charity of their choice.  K.J. was able to donate money to a camp for injured animals and get the video game of his “dreams.”  (What can I say?)  I’m sure the parents of the children who were invited were thrilled to donate online instead of buying a gift, wrapping it, yada yada.

I did a little exploring on the internet and it’s amazing how many alternatives there are to traditional birthday gifts.   Everything from a book exchange (every child brings a book and goes home with a book) to art supplies (which get donated to a shelter) to homemade cards…

If you’ve never seen my “birthday video” you can check it out to see how we celebrated in my classroom.

                  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O53tvyWSWKA

BAGS, BOXES, AND BEADS

Letter Bags and Boxes

Standards:   RF 1d, L 1a

Materials:    sacks from restaurants or cardboard food boxes, foam letters  

                   or magnetic letters, paper, pencils

Directions:   Place letters in sacks and boxes.  Children take out the letters 

                    and match them up with those on the bag or box.  Can they    

                    write the letters that they know?

More!           Older students could make a list of words or parts of speech 

                    they find on the bags and boxes.

Singular and Plural

Standard:    L 1c

Materials:    Unifix cubes, sticky dots, marker

Directions:   Put sticky dots on the Unifix cubes.   Write letters on the dots.

                   Make simple CVC words with the letters.  Children read the  

                   word and then add an “s” to make the plural form.  Can they say

                   or write a sentence using the singular and plural form?

Phoneme Beads

Standard:    RF 2b, L 2d

Materials:    pipe cleaner, beads, paper, pencil

Directions:   String 5 beads on a pipe cleaner, knotting the ends so the beads  

                   don’t fall off.  Cut out pictures of objects that are CVC words   

                   and number them. For example:   1. dog, 2. rat, 3. pig, 4. bus, 5. 

                   net, etc.  Children slide a bead for each phoneme they hear in

                   the word.  Next, they draw a blank line for each sound they

                   hear.  Finally, they write the letter for each sound on a line and  

                   read the word.

More!          Use more challenging pictures and words for older students.

Show Me the Money

Standards:   Counting and Classifying

Materials:    coin purse, real or pretend coins

Directions:   Have children sort the coins that are alike.  Which one has the greatest amount?  Smallest amount?

More!          Take a file folder and divide it into 8 sections.  Cut a toy

or other object out of a magazine and write a price by

each one.  (Vary the amount to the counting ability.) Children count out the appropriate number of coins for each object. 

DEALER'S CHOICE AND DICTIONARY SEARCH

Dictionary Search

Standard:    LS 4

Materials:    classroom dictionary or pictionary, list of words, pencils

Directions:   Prepare a list of words (or pictures) that children can find

                   in the dictionary.  Children look through the dictionary and   

                   write down the page number on which that word can be found.

More!          Use a dictionary or a thesaurus to have children find synonyms,

                   antonyms, and other information.

Alphabet Art

Standard:    RF 1d

Materials:    crayons, paper, marker

Directions:   Prepare for this project by drawing a large letter in the middle 

                   of each sheet of paper with a marker.   Children choose a letter

                   and turn the paper all around.  What object, animal, or person

                   does it look like?   Children use crayons to “camouflage” the

                   letter to make it look like something else.

More!          Challenge children to create an object out of the letter that begins with that sound.

Dealer’s Choice

Standard:    Counting, Compare Numbers

Materials:    deck of playing cards (remove the face cards)

Directions:   Have the children sort the cards by suit.

                  Can they put the cards in order from 1-10?

More!          Write “high,” “low,” and “equal” on a piece of paper as shown. 

Children turn over two cards at a time.  Children place the cards in the appropriate pile.  (This would be a fun game to play

with a friend.)

Book Necklace

Standard:    SL 5, L 5c

Materials:    paper, stapler, scissors, hole punch, string or yarn, pencils

Directions:   Cut a sheet of paper in half.  Fold into eighths and cut on the 

                    creased lines.  Staple to make a small book.  Hole punch in the

                    corner and tie on a piece of string.  Children walk around the 

                    classroom and write words they can read.

More!           Use this for an autograph book for friends to write their 

                    names.

                    Make a book of nouns, color words, shapes, adjectives, etc.