I didn’t have any Fourth of July stories so I’m going with George Washington – hey, he’s patriotic, right? On Presidents’ Day I like to ask my older students (the fours and fives) if they know who George Washington was. The answers are always entertaining. Me: Does anyone know who […]
Tag Archives: preschool music
This article of mine appears in the July issue of Teachers Net Gazette. What are your summer resolutions? A Teacher’s Summer Resolutions By Abigail Flesch Connors I know! Summer isn’t resolution time! Summer is for chilling out and kicking back, not for getting all serious and resolution-y! But I have to confess, I’m a natural-born resolution-maker, […]
Let us take our children seriously! Everything else follows from this… only the best is good enough for a child. – Zoltan Kodaly Zoltan Kodaly, the Hungarian composer and music […]
“Baila Baila” by Isa available on iTunes I love the Venezuelan singer Isa. Her style is fresh and fun. This is, of course, a song for dancing – “baila” means dance in Spanish. Most of the words are too difficult for children to sing along with, but every verse has a slow part that features parts of the body, such as “rodillas” […]
The Baby Beebee Bird by Diane Redfield Massey This is one of my students’ all-time favorites! The little beebee bird, new to the zoo, wakes everyone up with his silly song – “Bee-bee, bobby-bobby.” I make up my own tune for this, but any tune would work, as long as it’s high-pitched and annoying! Children will be singing the bird’s […]
Once I read a story about a leopard. To introduce the book, I told the children about leopards and emphasized their lovely spots. I must have said the words “leopards” and “spots” twenty times. When I started the first page, which showed the leopard, and said “Once there was a leopard,” a little boy called […]
This article of mine appears in the current issue of “Teaching Young Children”: ABBY CONNORS I’m clapping to the beat as we begin music time. Soon Nyra, Mason, and Aditya are clapping, too. Sophia pats the floor to the beat. While Sophia responds to the music differently from the other children, she too is […]
How amazing are preschoolers? They may not have the knowledge that we do, butmaybe their flexible thinking processes could teach us a thing or two… (from ScienceDaily.com) Preschoolers can outsmart college students at figuring out gizmos Date: March 6, 2014 Preschoolers can be smarter than college students at figurin g out how unusual toys and […]
Gogo from “Too-da-la” CD by Kindermusik Available from Kindermusik.com/ en/albums/219-too-da-la When your class needs a little silliness to work off some steam, “Gogo” is perfect. This is an African movement/dance song. The motions are fun and there’s even a part where children can make a funny face! I usually make extra-silly faces myself to amuse and […]
Peepsqueak Wants a Friend by Leslie Ann Clark I just discovered this story recently and my students love it! All of the other chicks in the farmyard are in 2’s (they each have a friend) but Peepsqueak is only 1. He goes off to look for a friend, telling each pair of friends (I sing this to the […]
Music (and Science) For Young Children 