Hello Again Readers!
It's hard to believe, but we're already deep into the second quarter at my school! After my first quarter in my new position, I do have to also confess that one of my favorite parts of being a Reading Specialista (and believe me, I have many favorite parts) is the Early Childhood Literacy lessons I teach at my school. Although some people may shutter at the prospect of being in charge of 20+ 3 and 4 year-olds, I look forward to the songs, the motions, the jumping, the moving, and the dancing that our Literacy Labs hold together!
Besides reading books for our little ones and practicing letters, singing quality songs is one of the most powerful tools we can hold in our literacy arsenal. By singing songs, our little ones are able to develop their phonemic awareness (their ability to understand and play with sounds: an important precursor to reading) and increase their vocabulary. In this blog post, I've included my 5 favorite songs to use for itty bitty learners, and tips for how you can go beyond the songs to enrich them and add even more umph to them for your little learners!
1. Dance Like You've Got Ants in Your Pants- Eric Herman
The Reason I love this song:
I love this song, because it seamlessly mixes rhyming and vocabulary. By dancing to this song along with the video, our itty bitties learn new words by practicing movements and seeing images on the video, and they also learn basic rhyming pairs!
Add more umph
To add on to this song, you can simply add verses for your little learner to dance and sing along with that rhyme and follow the pattern of the song, for example:
- Dance like you've got a bed on your head...
- Dance like you've got a treat on your feet...
- Dance like you've got eggs on your legs...
- Dance like you've got rubber bands on your hands...
- Dance like you've got charms on your arms...
- Dance like you've got gum on your thumb...
The longer it goes on, the more fun they (and you) have, and the more they learn!
2. If You're Happy and You Know It
I love this song, because it is typically very familiar to our itty bitties. Besides the "Itsy Bitsy Spider," it's probably the most sung song in my household, but many people don't notice its great potential for listening and vocabulary building! Every motion and every "command" in the song is immediately followed up by a motion that reinforces it which is awesome for building vocabulary!
Add More Umph
To add more umph to this song, similar to the first suggestions, simply add on to the song. Typically, the song only includes clap your hands, shout hooray, make a smile, and stomp your feet, but there are many other commands that you can do with your little one.
- Wiggle your ears
- Pat your head
- Rub your tummy
- Tickle your knees
- Wrinkle your nose
- Jump up and down
- Spin in a circle
- Stretch up your arms
- Tap your fingers
You'll want to make sure that you model the command along with your child too, to ensure that they understand what to do. Again, the longer it goes on, the more they learn, but remember to keep it fun, and not turn into a "If you're happy and you know it drill sergeant" ;-).
3. The Wheels on the Bus
The Reason I love it
Just like "If You're Happy and You Know It," this song is easily recognizable and a favorite for most children. It's also a great way to increase vocabulary and practice new words with your child. In fact, with just a few tweaks, this song can really pack a HUGE literacy punch, and you can even add sound play to your child's singing practice.
Add more Umph
For Vocabulary: To support your little one on her vocabulary journey, you can add different characters on the bus (Disney characters, book characters), animals (farm animals, zoo animals), seasonal favorites (Halloween items, Christmas decorations), etc. *Note: Your bus may get quite loud and fun during this activity!*For Sound Play: As you're adding items onto your bus, instead of referencing the motions or words they would make, reference the first sound of the word, for example:
"The driver on the bus starts with 'duh,' 'duh,' 'duh,'"...
Identifying first sounds in words is an important phonemic awareness skill that your little one can work towards with this fun practice!
4. BINGO
The Reason I love it
This song not only has an adorable tune, but also it promotes early spelling skills, and the understanding that individual letters make up words.
Add more Umph
Aaron
April
Abbie
Brian
Lilly
Sofia
Also for a religious version "There is someone who loves me so, and his name is Jesus.J-E-S-U-S...my heart remains in Jesus."
5. Old McDonald
The Reason I love it
Just like "The Wheels on the Bus," this song helps our little learners develop their vocabulary, and it can be tweaked to add sound play as well!
Add more Umph
For Vocabulary: There are many animals you can add to your farm besides just the traditional farm animals. It's fun to consider all sorts of zoo animals and all the fun noises they can make too!
For Sound Play: Just like with "The Wheels on the Bus," you can have your little one practice the first sound of the animal instead of the sounds that the animals make. For example:
...on his farm he had a cow, with a 'cuh' 'cuh' here and a 'cuh' 'cuh' there....
Again, first sound identification is a great early skill to work on with your little ones!
**Just a note, it's best to practice sounds without using vowels to immediately accompany the sound. So the letter c should be as close to the 'c' sound as possible. I just wrote the "cuh" to clarify that you should make the c sound, and not say the letter "c."**
I hope these songs help to enrich your literacy learning time with your little one! After all, (besides Church), there's never a bad place to sing one of these songs. At the grocery store, in the tub, and in the car, your little bitties will love practicing their literacy skills with you! So happy singing readers...
and until next time....
Yours in Literacy,
The Reading Specialista
