TOOLS OF GOOD READERS AND WHO? WHAT? WHERE? WHEN? WHY?

This song will help children realize that they have the TOOLS they need to decode words.

The Tools of Good Readers
(Children repeat each line as they do in the “Rules of the Classroom.”)
Chorus:
The tools, the tools, the tools of good readers. (Children repeat.)
(Snap fingers and sway from left to right.)

Look, look, look at the picture. (Children repeat.)
(Point fingers to eyes.)
The tools, the tools, the tools of good readers. (Children repeat.)

Sound, sound, sound out the letters…(Point to ears.)
Chorus

Go back, go back, and read it again….(Twirl hands around.)
Chorus

Do you see a smaller chunk that you can read?...(Hold up thumb and index finger.)
Chorus

*Make a chart with the “tools of good readers” for your classroom. Remind children to use one of 

the tools when they come to a word they don’t know.

Activities: Let children make a “Reader’s Toolbox.” Fold a piece of construction paper in half. Attach pipe cleaners for handles. Have children cut out the strategies good readers use and save them in their toolboxes.



*When children decode a word encourage them to “think out loud” by describing the strategy they used.


Who? What? Where? When? Why?
Who? What? Where? When? Why?
Who? What? Where? When? Why?
Who? What? Where? When? Why?
Ask questions when you read.

Hint!  Sing this song to the tune of “Ten Little Indians” before reading a story so children will be looking for the information:

Comprehension Sticks
What? jumbo craft sticks, markers, sock
Why? story elements, comprehension
When? Large group or small group

How? Write “Who?” “What?” “Where?” “When?” “Why?” on sticks and insert them in a sock. Throw the sock over your shoulder before reading a book to prompt the children to be active listeners. After reading the story, let children choose a stick and tell that part.

*You could also write “author, illustrator, title, beginning, middle, end” or “characters, setting, problem, resolution.”



WH Brothers
Do you know those snoopy guys? They always ask questions.
WHO wants to know the person or thing.
WHERE wants to know the place.
WHEN wants to know the time.
WHAT wants to know what’s happening.
WHY wants to know the reason.

COLOR TRAIN AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY LETTERS

Children can learn to recognize, read, and spell color words with this song.

Color Train

R – e – d - red

R – e – d - red.

Red bird, red head,Red heart, red bed

R – e- d - red.

B-l-u-e - Blue berries, blue eyesBlue bird, blue sky

Y-e-l-l-o-w - Yellow flowers, yellow sun,Lemon pie, bananas – yum!

G-r-e-e-n - Green grass, green grapes,Cucumbers, lizards, snakes

P-u-r-p-l-e - Purple balls, purple plumsPurple shirts, purple gum

O-r-a-n-g-e - Orange pumpkins, orange leavesOrange juice, orange trees

B –l-a-c-k - Black night, black catBlack panther, black hat

B-r-o-w-n - Brown cow, chocolate cake Brown leaves, brown rake

W-h-i-t-e - White cloud, white snowWhite rabbit, white bow

P-i-n-k - Pink ribbon, pink nose,Pink flamingo, pink rose.

T-a-n - Tan pants, tan shoesTan deer, and pancakes, too.

G-r-a-y - Gray clouds, gray house,Gray hair, gray mouse

*Make a book illustrating the different colors in the song.

*Have children hold up crayons or touch something of the appropriate color as you sing.of the *Teach children ASL signs for the colors.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXu8QVZbsKE

Word Puzzles
Materials: sentence strips, envelopes, markers

Directions: Write sight words on sentence strips. Cut between the letters to make a puzzle. Place the puzzle pieces in an envelope. Make a balloon the appropriate color on the front of the envelope. Children remove the letters and try to put them together to make the word.
Hint! Write the word on the back of the envelope so children can self-check.

Pull and Read
Materials: sentence strips, envelopes, markers

Directions: Write sight words on 10” sections of sentence strips with a black marker. Draw a small balloon the appropriate color at the right end of each word. Seal a letter size envelope and then trim off the left end. Insert the sight words in the envelope. Children pull out one letter at a time and try to blend the sounds and identify the color word. They can self-check with the balloon at the end.

Happy Birthday Letters

Yo, A, (Hands like a rapper and dance to the beat.)
It’s your birthday.
Let’s all read
Like your birthday.
/a/ /a/ /a/ /a/ /a/ /a/ (Circle hands around as you make the sound.)
/a/ /a/ /a/ /a/ /a/ /a/
Yo, B…etc.

*Have children stand in a circle. When the letter that their name starts with comes up in the song they get in the middle of the circle and break dance.

*Make sign language letters as you sing.

*Cut out this birthday cake and add magnetic tape to the back. Place on a magnetic board and spread magnetic letters around the cake. Children take turns choosing a letter, putting it in the cake, and leading their friends in the song.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1SnEagA4jljNTdjZWVlZzR5Zmc/view?usp=sharing

WINNING WITH ESGI

Every time a NEW teacher uses the promo code below when they purchase, they will receive a discount of $175 (regular pricing $225) for the initial year.

www.esgisoftware.com/?promo=DRJEAN#intro_video.aspx

TOTALLY READING

Standards will be a lot more fun with the songs on this recording.  From phonics to phonological awareness to fluency to comprehension and vocabulary - let's get started!

1.  Don’t You Just Love to Read?
2.  Color Train
3.  Deck the Room
4.  Alphabet Antics

Phonemic Awareness
5.  Nursery Rhyme Marathon
6.  Rhythm Rhyme
7.  Miss Mary Fill in the Blank
8.  Pepperoni Pizza
9.  Syllable Clap
10. Put Together Compounds
11. Word Families

Phonics
12. Happy Birthday Letters
13. Who Let the Letters Out? (Open version)
14. I Know an Old Man Who Swallowed a Letter
15. Letter Box
16. Letter Round-Up
17. Sweet Vowels
18. Slide and Blend
19. Diagraph Walk
20. The Tools of Good Readers

Fluency
21. Rapping Words
22. Lifetime Words
23. Punctuation Pays

Disc Two

Comprehension
1.  Who? What? Where? When? Why?
2.  It’s Fact and Fiction Time
3.  Where Can You Go When You Need to Know?

Vocabulary
4.  Parts of Speech Hoedown
5.  Endings
6.  We Can Do Opposites
7.  Synonym Stomp,
8.  O, Those Contractions

Writing
9.  Ready to Write
10. Pencil Talk
11. Karate Writing
12. Writing Uppercase Letters
13. Rhyme to Write Lowercase Letters
14. Hi Ho Librario – Parts of a Book
15. Parts of a Letter
16. Good-Bye, Friends!

Instrumentals
17. Letter Round-Up
18. Deck the Room
19. Word Families
20. Pepperoni Pizza
21. Good-Bye Friends!
22. Nursery Rhyme Marathon
23. Synonym Stomp
24. Happy Birthday Letters
25. Rhythm Rhyme
26. We Can Do Opposites

FIVE LITTLE HOTDOGS AND ZERO THE HERO

We can be BFF's if you put your email address

in my new widget.  (Even if you did it before,

we've got a new system so you'll need to do it again.)

  Thanks!

Take those math standards and sing and dance them!

Five Little Hotdogs
Five little hotdogs (Hold up 5 fingers.)
Frying in the pan.
The grease got hot,
And one went BAM! (Clap hands.)
Four little hotdogs… (Hold up 4 fingers.)
Three little hotdogs… (Hold up 3 fingers.)
Two little hotdogs… (Hold up 2 fingers.)
One little hotdog… (Hold up 1 finger.)
No little hotdogs (Hold up fist.)
Frying in the pan.
The pan got hot,
And it went BAM! (Clap hands and say the last word loudly.) 

 

                                           

                                        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMRfi4YNdU4

*Write numbers on plastic plates and have children make the appropriate number of hotdogs from play dough.


*Change “hotdogs” to “sausages.” Or, change the rhyme to popcorn and say:
Five little kernels sizzling in the pot.
The grease got hot and one went POP!”

Download the class book and individual books here:

http://www.drjean.org/html/monthly_act/act_2015/12_Dec_css/

Zero the Hero Number Stomp
I am Zero the Hero and I’m here to say,
I love to do numbers every 10thday.
When we make sets of ten we’ll stomp the ground.
And when we reach 100, we’ll sit back down!

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 (Stomp!).
Let’s count another ten.
11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 (Stomp!)
Two tens, let’s go some more…
Three tens, you’re catching on...
Four tens, you’re doing fine...
Five tens, you’re half way there...
Six tens, you’re on a roll...
Seven tens, what a cool game...
Eight tens, you’re doing great...
Nine tens, we’re near the end...
Ten tens is 100, now it’s time to sit down!And here's a new youtube video that my webmaster made. I love that he made "Zero the Hero" a girl.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJjHpVo6udU

Here's a book you can download on my website. www.drjean.org/html/monthly_act/act_2006/01_Jan/pg03dd.html

WE'RE GREAT AND DINOSAUR BOOGIE

This is a "great" song to develop vocabulary and positive self-concepts.

We’re Great!
We’re great, but no one knows it.
No one knows it so far.
Some day they’ll realize how wonderful we are!
They’ll look at us, and point at us,
and then they’ll shout, “Hurray!”
Let’s cheer how we’re wonderful beginning with A.

A- We’re awesome.
B- We’re brave.
C- We’re creative.
D- We’re dynamic
E- We’re enthusiastic
F- We’re fantastic.
G- We’re gifted
H- We’re honest
I- We’re imaginative
J- We’re joyful.
K- We’re kind.
L- We’re lovable
M- We’re magnificent.
N- We’re nice.
O- We’re outgoing
P- We’re polite.
Q- We’re quick.
R- We’re responsible
S- We’re special.
T- We’re terrific.
U- We’re unique.
V- We’re valuable.
W- We’re wonderful.
X- We’re excellent.
Y- We’re youthful
Z- We’re zany!

                                 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBwl_7bqfqM

Class Book
Let each child choose a letter from the song and illustrate it.  Put their pictures together to make a class book.

Dinosaur Boogie
Pterosaurs had wings and could fly. (Stretch out arms.)
He’d swoop in the swamp then up in the sky.
The ancestor of birds they say,
I wish it were here today.
Tyrannosaurus Rex, king of the swamp.
He growl and snarl, and then he’d go chomp. (Clap hands.)
He ate meat, he was a carnivore.
They’d all hide when he would roar.

Chorus:
Do the dinosaur boogie start - bounce around. (Bounce.)
Hands like claws, make a growling sound –Grrr! (Make hands like claws.)
Stomp, stomp, stomp the ground. (Stomp feet.)
Then wiggle and turn around. (Dance and turn around.)
Let’s do the dinosaur boogie…

Brontosaurus was the largest of all. (Point up high.)
He moved slowly so he would not fall.
He ate plants, he was an herbivore. (Pretend to pick a leaf and eat.)
He ate and ate and then ate some more.
Triceratops had three horns on his head. (Put 3 fingers up on head.)
I’d like to see one, but now they’re all dead.
Where, oh, where, did the dinosaurs go? (Hold up palms and shake head.)
I guess we’ll never know!
(Chorus)

                                            
                                  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kS1cPJhQPmM

Vocabulary
What does carnivore mean? Herbivore? Are you an omnivore?
Apatosaurus is another name for brontosaurus.

Art
Give children paper, paint, markers, and other art media to create original dinosaurs.


Research
What can you find out about dinosaurs on the internet? What happened to dinosaurs?

Writing
Students could do informative writing about dinosaurs or creative writing about what they would do if they were a dinosaur.

JUST FOR FUN!

DON'T FORGET TO PUT YOUR EMAIL 

ADDRESS IN MY NEW WIDGET SO 

YOU'LL HAVE MORE

FUN THIS SCHOOL YEAR!

I had a friend that used to say: "We didn't come for a long time; we came for a GOOD time!" That should be one of the pillars when we work with children.  We can't control many of the things in their lives, but we sure can give them a GOOD time at school!

At the end of the day, KIDS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN!!! You'll have fun singing and dancing with your children with the songs on this recording.

1. Kids Just Wanna Have Fun
2. We’re Great!
3. Alphabet Train
4. Letter Tales
5. The Vowel Family
6. Zero the Hero Number Stomp
7. Going Over the Sea
8. Dinosaur Boogie
9. Granny at the Fair
10. Miss Mary Mack
11. Yogi Bear
12. In the Woods There Was a Tree
13. A Sailor Went to Sea, Sea, Sea
14. Pizza Hut
15. Five Little Hotdogs
16. Read a Book
17. What a Wonderful World

 

Click to view the many ways you can get these songs for your students.

 

 

JINGLE BELLS AND RING IN THE NEW YEAR

Jingle Bells
Chorus:
Jingle bells, jingle bells, (Pretend to hold bells and shake.)
Jingle all the way.
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh. Hey! (Fist in the air.)
Jingle bells, jingle bells, (Pretend to jingle bells.)
Jingle all the way.
What fun it is to ride and sing
In a one horse open sleigh.

Dashing through the snow, (Pretend to hold reins and drive
In a one horse open sleigh sleigh.)
Over the fields we go,
Laughing all the way. (Hand on stomach and laugh.)
Bells on bobtail ring, (Pretend to drive sleigh.)
Making spirits bright.
What fun it is to ride and sing
A sleighing song tonight. (Chorus)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FI2yyHD1ejY

               

Here’s a book to go with the song:
www.drjean.org/html/monthly_act/act_2007/12_Dec/pg00.html


Sleigh Riding – Have children sit on the floor facing the same directions. Demonstrate how to hold the person’s waist in front of you. As you sing the song sway forwards and backwards to the beat as if riding a sleigh.


Jingle Bells – Let children thread several jingle bells on a pipe cleaner. Twist the ends together to make a bracelet children can shake as you sing.


Jingle Bell Painting - You will need an empty cheese ball container or similar cylinder shape with a lid. Cut a piece of paper so you can roll it and put it in the cylinder. Take two jingle bells. Drop one in red paint and the other in green paint. Use a spoon to transfer the bells to the can. Put on the lid, then shake up the can as you sing “Jingle Bells.” Take out the paper and you’ll have a jingle bell painting!
                                            

And if you like my "Banana Dance," then here's a holiday version just for you!!



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2-WXpB7Gm8

Ring in the New Year (Tune: “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”)
Let’s all do a little ringing, (Shake hands as if ringing bells.)
Let’s all do a little ringing,
Let’s all do a little ringing
It’s a Happy New Year!

Let’s all do a little clapping… (Clap hands.)

Let’s all do a little dancing… (Dance around.)

Let’s all do a little smiling… (Smile.)

When is your birthday?
When is your birthday?
When is your birthday?
Stand up and cheer.

(Say months of the year.)
January, February, March…
(Children stand up on their birthday month.)

Let’s all be a little kinder… (Pat friends on the back.)
For a Happy New Year!

*Download this book at drjean.org.