Sing into Reading: the Blog

Zipper songs are fantastic tools for teaching literacy. A zipper song is a "fill-in-the-blank song." I ask the children to fill in the blank, and zip their ideas right into the song. For example, my song, "Holidays are For Family" is a zipper song, since I can ask the students their favorite holidays and then sing about them.

In this blog, I talk about how to use zipper songs to teach literacy. Zipper songs can be used for modeled reading, shared reading, modeled writing, interactive writing, independent reading, and independent writing. The suggestions students make for zipper songs can easily be a springboard into word study and phonics work.

What is your favorite zipper song?

Keep singing,

Risa

Shared Reading is an important component of any balanced literacy curriculum. Shared Reading happens in the classroom when a teacher uses a bigbook or a chart with large print to read not to the class, but with the class. All members of the class "share" the reading. Shared reading mimics the laptime experience a child gets at home with a parent. Songs make terrific shared reading texts. In a classroom, songs can be printed in large print on chart paper. At home, songs can be written or printed on regular sized paper.

Over the course of a week, reading the same shared reading text daily, you may go through progressive lessons. The first day, you might do modeled reading. The next day you might leave out the last (rhyming or predictable) word of a line, allowing the child to read that word. This technique is called oral cloze. The next day, you might act out the song, or move to it. Then you might do choral reading, with everyone reading together like a chorus. For a...

What is Balanced Literacy? Balanced Literacy is a reading curriculum that includes Read Aloud, Modeled Writing, Independent Writing, Independent Reading, Shared Reading, Interactive Writing, Guided Reading, Phonics and Word Study.

I learned about Balanced Literacy at The Reading and Writing Project (TRWP) at Teachers College, Columbia University. What I do differently at Sing into Reading is that I use songs as our texts. 

Keep singing,

Risa

At Bank Street College,  I learned the developmental-interaction approach, or "The Bank Street Approach." This progressive approach to education is a whole-child approach that places as much value on a child's social and emotional development as on a child's academic development. At Sing into Reading, we value SEL (social emotional learning). 

One of the hallmarks of the developmental-interaction approach is the child-centered social studies curriculum. We start our social studies curriculum with the center: the self. A child moves through the curriculum in ever-widening arcs of experience, progressing through a family study, a community study, national studies, international studies, and then astronomy. Just as Maria Montessori talks about "sensitive periods" - periods of time when a child is easily able to learn certain concepts, the developmental-interaction approach recognizes that a child is self-centered, and that their interest in the outside world expands over...

I am a progressive educator - to the core.

I received my M.S.Ed. in Early Childhood/Elementary Education from Bank Street College, where I learned the developmental-interaction approach. This is a constructivist approach. Teachers using a constructivist approach facilitate a learning environment where a child is encouraged to construct their own knowledge. Constructivist theory says that students do not simply soak up knowledge "like a sponge." They see children constructing knowledge as a more active task. The developmental-interactive approach distinguishes itself from other constructivist approaches by the emphasis placed on the child's emotional life. In the developmental-interactive approach, a child's emotional life and SEL (social emotional learning) skills are seen as equally important and intrinsically connected to academic skills.

I also studied at The Reading and Writing Project (TRWP) at Teachers College, Columbia University. There, I learned balanced literacy,...

Today I presented "Montessori Songs" at the Early Childhood Global Mastermind Group, a group of early childhood educators from around the world. They has asked me to present "Montessori Songs." 

I wanted to share the presentation with you!

Learn songs that help a child develop a sense of self, and their place in the world. These songs are perfect for a Montessori classroom, or any preschool setting. 

Members of Sing into Reading receive excellent instruction for children teaching literacy through music and love. For a limited time, members will also receive instruction for parents: "Teach Your Child to Read With Music and Love." Check out this sample class, "Creating a Literacy-Rich Environment." 

Gratitude is a two-way street. The more you give, the more you get. 

I am receiving gratitude from people who are thankful for the Thanks and Giving Celebration. Here’s the thing: I am so grateful to you for supporting this dream of mine to teach literacy through music and movement.

Choose gratitude. Every minute of every day you have a choice. You can choose to complain about what you do not have, or be thankful for what you do. Choose appreciation. Choose gratitude. You can find things to be thankful for, even when things are not going well. That's when it is especially important to practice gratitude.

Gratitude, like love, creates what I call "rosy moments." Cherish them. Savor them. Make them last. Writing down what you are grateful for will help you remember the rosy moments and make them last longer.

 There are many benefits of using a gratitude journal, including closer relationships, improved physical health, reduced aggression, better sleep,...

How to make a "Someday Soon jar:"

• Take a jar and write "Someday Soon" on it. 
• Whenever you think of something you want to do someday soon that you can't do right now, write it on a piece of paper and put it in the jar. 
• Someday soon, when you are able to do all these things, enjoy taking out your papers, reading your ideas, and doing all those fun things!
• I want to thank Jewish Federation of Toledo for my "Someday Soon jar."

Keep singing,

Risa

Write every day. 

Happy World Literacy Day!

Keep singing,

Risa