Sing into Reading: the Blog

Finding and Keeping the Beat:
a class for kids under seven

We've got the beat!

In this multi-age class, Risa Beth Cohen, M.S.Ed., Creative Director of Sing into Reading, teaches about the beat. Students practice beat synchronization with their torsos, hands, and feet. Modifications can be made to this class (or any of Risa's classes)  for your age group and abilities.

In this class, Risa sings two of her original songs, "Oh, Friends, We Love You," and "Hello With One Hand." These are both zipper songs that allow students to add their own ideas, giving them a sense of ownership. In "Hello with One Hand," students suggest different parts of the body. "Oh Friends, We Love You" can be sung as a name song, "Oh____, We Love You" making the song more personal and meaningful.

Songbooks and resources are provided after classes. In Risa's songbooks, the text is color-coded with red consonants and blue vowels. (If you would like to color-code your text, you can get the...

Holidays are precious times we want to remember. To help with memory consolidation, in addition to taking pictures, it is helpful to write about our experiences, and encourage our children to write as well.

Here are some of my favorite holiday writing prompts:

• Holiday Wish List
• Favorite Holiday Memory
• Favorite Holiday and Why
• Favorite Holiday Gift Given
• Favorite Holiday Gift Received
• The Best Part of (Name of Holiday) is ____
• (Name of Holiday) is All About _______
• Retelling a Favorite Holiday Story

"It's Holiday Time" is a song written by a student. He wrote about his holiday wish list, and also the best part of the holiday.

Even preschoolers can write about the holidays. Ask them one of the writing prompts above and then tell them to write about it. Hand them crayons and paper let them get to work. Then ask them to tell you about what they wrote, and transcribe their words. Encourage your children to write about the holidays and let me know how it goes.

Wishing you all happy...

Have you ever heard a preschool teacher or occupational therapist refer to "crossing the midline," and wondered what that was? 

In this blog I talk about what it is, why it is important, and how it relates to literacy. 

I also sing some original songs that will help encourage this developmental benchmark.

If you wonder if your child or one you teach is having difficulty crossing the midline, please talk to your pediatritian or occupational therapist.

Keep singing,

Risa

Whether you are a teacher or a parent/ caregiver, we all want to set our children up for a peaceful school year. Making class rules or house rules together helps everyone know what the expectaions are. And when we include our children in the making of rules, this gives them a feeling of empowerment and a greater sense of buy-in.

In Responsive Classroom trainings, I learned a great way to include children in rule-making. After collecting rule suggestions from children, encourage them to make postitive rules about what we want to see, instead of rules about what we do not want. Then rules can be sorted into three buckets: our things, each other, and ourselves. Use the language your children use to make these rules. For example, the rules in one class were, "Use lovely treatment with our things. Use lovely treatment with each other. Use lovely treatment with yourself." What was the one over-arching rule? "Use lovely treatment." 

In my original song, "Be Peaceful," the rules are,...

Name Songs are important. Not only do they help children feel welcome and included, but they teach that words and letters have meaning. 

In this blog I demonstrate how to use name songs for word study, modeled writing, interactive writing, and independent writing.

Here are the name songs in this blog:

• "Round and Around is the Name of the Game"
  • This song incorporates motions that cross the midline.
• "Hickety Pickety Bumblebee" 
  • This song helps teach syllables.
• "Do You Know This Friend of Mine"
  • The melody of this song piggy-backs on "Do You Know the Muffin Man"
• "Oh, _____, We Love You"
  • You can get your own personalized recording of this song, with a customized digital book! Get your copy here.

Keep singing,

Risa

P.S. This blog first aired in the Early Childhood Global Mastermind Group. Huge thanks to Atul, Mar., and the gang.

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. 

This blog is one you can share with the kids. 

I talk about choosing appreciation and gratitude.

Please join me November 27 at 11:30 am EDT for the Thanks and Giving Celebration, a free sing-along for kids and their grownups. Sign up here: www.singintoreading.com/thanks-and-giving

And here are some quotes on gratitude for the grownups:

Stephen Richards: “When you express gratitude for the blessings that come into your life, it not only encourages the universe to send you more, it also sees to it that those blessings remain.”

Todd Stocker: “Thankfulness creates gratitude which generates contentment that causes peace.”

Zig Ziglar: “Gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions. The more you express gratitude for what you have, the more likely you will have even more to express gratitude for.”

Henri Frederic Amiel: “Thankfulness is the beginning of gratitude. Gratitude is the completion of thankfulness. Thankfulness...

This original song is about being kind.

Let's all remember to be kind. Please join me in celebrating World Kindness Day, November 13. Check it out here: https://worldkindness.org/

I will be on the radio this Wednesday, November 11, at 8 pm EDT. The station is We Act Toledo, WAKT 106.1. It can be live streamed on toledoradio.org.

Keep singing,

Risa

This blog is just for the grown ups.

We are dealing with a lot of changes right now. We can prepare our children and ourselves with stories of triumph and overcoming obstacles.

Keep singing,

Risa