Head, Shoulders, Knees, and all that

Pancake Mountain

Pancake Mountain is a name I've heard bandied about here and there, but never really knew much about. 

Well, I know a little bit more now.  My friend and D.C. girl Tanja sent along this WaPo article that gave me the background on this Washington D.C. based DIY show which features (among other things) indie bands playing in front of an audience of young children and their parents.

Here's a clip from the show of Craig Wedren performing "Stuck"   

There are few more Pancake Mountain clips at youtube including great clips of the Subways and Bright Eyes.  Or head over to the Pancake Mountain website where you can watch clips of perfomances and skits, as well as buy Pancake Mountain DVDs.   Always great to see kids dancing and enjoying music.

Kindie Rock

Stefan links to a nice article on the state of children's music over at Salon, touching on the big hitters (Dan Zanes, Laurie Berkner, Milkshake, Justin Roberts, TMBG, etc.).   Check it out!

Here's a little Justin Roberts from youtube.  Enjoy.

(Artists and managers, if I ever post something from youtube or another source that you'd like taken off the site, please let me know and I'll take it down immediately.)

Brown Bear, Brown Bear

This week and next, I'm reading the Bill Martin/Eric Carle classic Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do Dou See? in some of my classes.  It's amazing how quickly even some very young non-native English speakers respond to and "learn" this book.  Eric Carle's art is simple yet vivid, and the repetition in the words is so comforting and confidence-building.  The simplicity of the book makes it one of those classics that children can read by themselves before they can actually read words. 

We like to listen to Greg and Steve's song version of the book off of their CD Playing Favorites, which also has a nice version of Woody Guthrie's Put Your Finger in the Air (with an Obla-di, Obla-da riff) along with other classics.  Click here to hear a short sample of Greg and Steve's Brown Bear, Brown Bear.

Or listen these kids give it a shot.

Being a staple of kindergartens and primary schools around the world, there are a ton of great lesson plans, activities, and crafts available on the web to support the book.  Start with DLTK and check out Eric Carle's site.  The Virtual Vine is another good resource.

 

Learn by teaching

Some food for thought...Beth at Beth's Blog (amazing coincidence that!) posts a really helpful chart on learning retention rates that is a nice reminder to teachers of all ages. People retain knowledge and skills the most when they teach others...it's something that most of us consciously are aware of but often somehow lose sight of when planning classes. Keep it in mind!

(Happy Birthday to Sara!)

Eleven Twelve

From the 70s American children's program The Electric Company...here is how I learned to count to twelve.

What are some of your favorite counting songs?

Update: Correction...this song was featured on Sesame Street, not The Electric Company. And I neglected to mention that the song is performed by none other than the Pointer Sisters (something that my friend Tanja told me long ago but I forgot). Go here for a re-mix version of the song complete with footage from the Beatles' Yellow Submarine movie. And go here for the story on the song's creation from its composer and producer.

Songs for Dad

Stefan has a few suggestions over at Zooglobble.

I'm Gonna Catch You

I wrote last month about how I feel good kids songs, especially good songs for the under 6 crowd, often have the part where.  The part where we walk like elephants, or the part where the music gets faster and faster, or the part where we sing really quietly and then really loud! 

I mentioned I felt Laurie Berkner excelled at that.  Here is a clip that demonstrates what I was trying to talk about.  Simple, repetitive lyrics with variations thrown in and fun little actions to do for each day of the week.  And the tempo change at the end tops it all off.  Some songs really fit well in the classroom, some better in the car or at home.  This one works everywhere.

Here are the lyrics if you'd like to sing this song with your kids/students.

Thank You Daddy

The first official observance of Father's Day in the U.S. was in 1910 in Spokane, Washington.  Sonora Louise Smart Dodd came up with the idea while listening to a Mother's Day sermon at church in 1909.  She rounded up community support and the following year on June 19, the birthday of her revered father who raised six children on his own after his wife died during childbirth, Father's Day was observed. (Thanks to Kids Domain for the info.) 

With Father's Day a few days away, check out Nancy Stewart's very sweet song of the month, Thank You Daddy, a definite ear-worm with a chorus that even emerging speakers will enjoy singing.  You can also find some more ideas for Father's Day  Songs at Preschool Education.com.

Nancy also links to a site I use a lot when choosing gestures to use with songs we sing in class, the ASL Browser.

For more on children and signing, have a quick listen to NPR's story from a couple of weeks ago, Toddlers Find Their Voice in Sign Language.  And for some Father's Day activity ideas, start here.

English for young children podcast

We've made a new podcast at Knock Knock English for Japanese parents/teachers interested in using some simple English expressions with their young children/students.  The podcast features some basic expressions, in English and Japanese, adults can use with children naturally throughout the day.  For English speakers, you can use the podcast to pick up some simple Japanese expressions you can use with your children!

We'd love to get as many subscribers as possible the first week, so please take 10 seconds right now to subscribe with iTunes  by clicking here, and pass it on! 
If you don't have iTunes, you can access the podcast at podomatic.

日本のiTunesをつかう方、ぜひぜひsubscribeして、友達に教えてください！日本のiTunesのtop 100に入りたい！

The podcast features some clips from our CD, こどもと英語で話そう! (Let's speak English with the kids!...or something to that effect.)  The CD features all of the expressions in English-Japanese and Japanese-English so you can practice in an audio flashcard style, and it comes with a laminated poster including all of the expressions, great for putting on the refrigerator or using as a placemat at the dinner table.   Although designed for parents, it was recorded in a gentle tone that kids enjoy as well.  Unfortunately, the CD isn't well designed for English speakers looking to learn Japanese, but again, you can pick up some simple expressions with the podcast.

Thank you!  よろしくおねがいします！

Update:  If you are having trouble reading the Japanese characters in this post, try setting your browser encoding to "default".

Who stole the cookie?

When we were making Super Simple Songs 2, we wanted to include a song version of the popular kids chant/game "Who Took/Stole the Cookie From the Cookie Jar?"  We spent a ton of time on various versions...including one ill-fated attempt at a big bawdy number with me singing in my best (or worst depending how you look at it) Vegas-era Elvis voice.  Finally, Troy put down a very simple but fun and funky beat and we settled on a little chant  that took very little time to actually record.  Naturally, the most basic, least complicated song on a CD full of simple songs was one of  the most popular among our young students.  We should have known.  You can hear a clip at cdBaby.

Here is an adorable video of some kindergarten students in Korea performing their hard-boiled detective story version of "Who Stole the Cookie".  Priceless.  Just a heads up...the queen in the story says "Kiss my hand."

You can read more about the teacher's (director) experiences teaching in Korea here.

For some lesson ideas revolving around "Who took the cookie", try here.