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This video from WKID Radio ("Where kids run Hip Hop and R & B") may be a little scary for very young children (skip the first 1:10 - the intro to the song- if you are concerned), but has an infectious hook, definitely doesn't talk down to kids, and is a lot of fun. Plus, if you ever wondered what Elmo would have sounded like if he grew up in the 'hood, here's your answer.
My last post talked about some fun Halloween songs for kids. One of the songs I mentioned was Monty Harper's Trick or Treat, Smell my Feet. Well, Monty's latest podcast features that song (the original) and 4 others off of his 1992 cassette (remember those?) Halloween Madness. Definitely a treat.
UPDATE: Here's another great Halloween song for kids, this one for free!
We had our first Halloween party today with our students here in Tokyo. Today was the older kids party...cake decorating, carnival games, costumes, silly pictures, and music of course. We've got 3 more this weekend. 60 kids tomorrow and then around 100 on Sunday for two parties. It's a very tiring time, but SO much fun. Here are a few pictures from last year's party.
Music is a big part of the events. My favorite CD for Halloween Kids Music is Sue Schnitzer's Boo, Cackle, Trick or Treat. We really love Sue's CDs, especially for younger kids, and this CD emphasizes the fun of Halloween, not the scariness. I also like Monty Harper's Trick or Treat, Smell my Feet off of the Great Green Squishy Mean Concert CD (that one has been bouncing around in my head all night after hearing it several times tonight at the party.)
We're also partial to Go Away! off of our own CD Super Simple Songs, especially for younger learners. It is, of course, super simple and great for small or large groups. Jeremy-sensei had some fun with the song and his Mac the other day. Check out his latest video:
In case you are having some Halloween parties and need some good Halloween music for kids in a hurry, all of the above songs and CDs are available at iTunes or most of your favorite download sites.
What are some of your favorite Halloween songs? Please share! We're always looking for great songs.
Stefan from Zooglobble, Amy from The Lovely Mrs. Davis Tells You What To Think, and Bill from Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child are heading up the 2006 Fids and Kamily Poll (no, that's not a spelling error), "the first compilation of year-end kids and family music 'best of' lists from critics, writers, radio programmers, and others involved in the music industry." They have arranged a tremendous panel of judges to share their thoughts on the best kids and family music released in 2006. These folks KNOW kids music, so I'm really looking forward to learning about some new artists.
If you'd like to share a few suggestions with them, or have a look at the impressive list of judges, drop by the Fids and Kamily Poll website. Results will be announced in November...I'll be sure to post them here.
What's your favorite kids music album of the year?
Molly McGinn is the Senior Writer for Kindermusik International, a leader in music and movement classes around the world. (Check out Molly's youTube channel for more on Kindermusik).
Here's a great song from Molly to enjoy with the family. (I'm a sucker for any song with whistling in it!)
The Washington Post started a series last week on The Rise of the Testing Culture in America.
Along with painting and gluing and coloring and playing, Kisha Lee engages the youngsters in her day-care program in another activity: testing.
Three- and 4-year-olds take spelling tests of such words as "I," "me" and "the," as well as math tests, from which they learn how to fill in a bubble to mark the right answer.
There is a lot of pressure on all sides to prepare children for the tests they will take throughout their academic careers. As the director of a school which has language classes for children as young as 2 years old, I've felt that pressure, both internally (amongst the educators at school, myself included) and externally (from parents and from media). We ALL want to see the children excel. There is a danger to thinking that adding tests will push everyone (teachers, students, parents) to perform better, but there are ways to assess progress and keep standards high without resorting to high-pressure standardized testing for young children.
Here are a few tips for educators and parents to keep in mind.
1. Involve the parents both at school and at home. Our classes for 2-4 year olds include the parents in class so that parents will learn ideas and strategies for learning at home and will be able to watch the progress their children make. For the elementary school aged children, we have regular "challenges" students do with the teacher in class...things ranging from identifying the letters, days, months, etc. to performing simple dialogues. Before the students can do these challenges, they need to get a stamp from the parents showing they've practiced this together. This not only ensures that the parents are involved in their English education, but it also allows the parents to regularly gauge the progress their children are making.
2. Understand that assessment does not necessarily equal testing. Testing is one form of assessment. You can assess progress with portfolios of student work, through observation, with video and audio projects, with school performances, etc. Tests aren't necessarily bad and many students love the challenge of a test. But tests need not and should not be viewed as the only meaningful form of assessment. Tests can be particularly misleading when used with very young children who may fully understand the material on the tests but perform poorly due to lack of understanding of the testing procedure, lack of concentration that particular day, or any number of factors. Assessment of young children needs to be broad...you can't rely on the snapshot views that occasional tests provide.
3. You can introduce the test-taking skills that children will need in the future without actually making them take the kind of tests they will be taking in the future. In other words, the best way to prepare children for multiple choice, fill in the bubble-type standardized tests is not necessarily to give them those kinds of tests. There are a lot of multiple-choice type games you can play. For example, set up four areas in the classroom (place signs with the letters A, B, C, and D in each corner of the room) and have an active quiz! The teacher (or students) can read questions and the students have to choose a letter and go to it. Speed the game up as you go along to introduce a pressure element, but in a fun way.
4. Communicate what the tests mean to the parents. One of the problems with testing young children is that their parents often view the testing process from an adult perspective. As an adult, we think that if we perform poorly on a test it means we're not working hard enough. We can solve that problem by working harder. When a 4 year-old does poorly on a fill-in-the-bubbles math test, it's not reflective of her work ethic...it's not as if you can say, "well, she just needs to study harder." Yet, that's exactly how many parents may react. It's hard for some parents to understand that their child's math abilities will likely be improved MUCH more by playing with legos than by memorizing simple addition problems.
So teachers need to communicate with parents what the tests, or any kind of assessment, mean. They need to be clear that test results aren't indicative of whether or not your four-year-old is studying hard enough. It's a way to help teachers and parents choose activities and tools (age appropriate activities and tools) which will best help the child.
Mama Lisa helps get us ready for Halloween with a recording of her daughter reciting 5 little pumpkins. Or you can listen to Lisa herself (great for classrooms).
We danced a lot in elementary school. Square dances, Mexican hat dances, ballroom dancing, even a bit of the Hustle. It was fun, we got to get closer to the girls, and it wasn't math, so it was all okay with me. I'm not suprised to see the kids at these schools are enthusiastic about dance...but I guess I am suprised to see that dance in elementary school is newsworthy these days. I hope it's not that rare.
Listen here. For more on Elizabeth, check out the archives at Zooglobble.
Google, in conjunction with UNESCO, has introduced The Literacy Project, an attempt to use Google's various online tools (video, maps, articles, books, blogging, etc.) to help teachers and parents share ideas and resources for promoting reading skills. (Lots of news stories on this available here.) I wandered over to check it out and stumbled upon some great children's stories from a company called BookBox.
You can also watch it in Spanish, German, and French, and BookBox has stories in what seems like over 40 languages, including Japanese, available at their website. I just downloaded a free story for my iPod video.
It's an exciting time for learning...so many possibilities!
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