Head, Shoulders, Knees, and all that

ESL Teacher Talk

I talked with the great guys over at ESL Teacher Talk for their latest podcast.  We discussed the Super Simple Songs CDs, using music in the classroom, and the challenges involved with teaching young children.  We're also giving away 2 free copies of Super Simple Songs and Super Simple Songs 2, so listen in to find out how to win!

ESL Teacher Talk is produced by two very experienced teachers, Mark and Eric, and offers a ton of great ideas for teaching and classroom management.  Mark and Eric  also run a couple of the  best teachers' resource sites on the web...Mark with MES-English.com and Eric heading up ESLhq.com.  Check 'em out!

Simple ABC song

Mama Lisa shares an easy-to-sing version of the ABC song for young ones.  Young children particularly struggle with the L-M-N-O-P part.  Even when they can sing it, they usually don't recognize that they are singing the individual letters. It's just "ell-em-en-oh-pee" to them.  And if you are teaching letter recognition by pointing to the letters while singing the song, it's impossible for the kids to keep up with the song during that part.  Try slowing things down while learning your letters, and once the kids show a clear understanding the L-M-N-O-P is five letters and not one nonsense word, go ahead and speed it up!

Walking Walking

I love my job.  I was teaching a group of 4-5 year-olds on Thursday and at the end of class, all the students were getting stickers for good behavior.  One of the kids looked at the stickers and chose one that said, "You Rock!", and then started singing "We will, we will rock you!"  I joined in.  The other kids looked at us and laughed, but then we got everyone to pat their legs and clap their hands and soon we had a class of preschoolers rocking out, singing, "We will, we will ROCK YOU!"  Gotta love it.

Here's the latest video from Super Simple Songs, this one for the kid's classic "Walking walking."

Kids Music Videos

Two very cool videos worth checking out and sharing with your kids:

The Lovely Mrs. Davis and Stefan from Zooglobble introduced me to  I Hog (The Ground) from Steve Burns (the original host of Blue's Clues) with Steven Drozd (of Flaming Lips fame). 

And Eric from Cool Tunes for Kids shares Pieces of 8ight from Captain Bogg and Salty, probably the most well-produced kids video I've ever seen...great performances from the kids. 

Captain Bogg and Salty is an interesting group.  From what I understand, they play adult shows at rock clubs and kids shows at schools and libraries.  Not unusual.  Ralph Covert plays kids shows with Ralph's World, and adult shows with the Bad Examples.  A lot of kids artists also play in "adult" bands.  What makes Captain Bogg and Salty interesting is that whether they are playing a show for kids or adults, they play pretty much the same songs...dressed as pirates.

Great videos...check 'em out.

And the winner is...

We have a winner in the drawing for 4 tickets to see Ralph's World Live.

32 entrants correctly filled in this missing lyric from Just Like The Monkeys.

We’d eat bananas and mangos and orange papayas
And sometimes on Sundays we’d eat  PIZZA.

Anita K. from  Alpharetta, GA will be going to see Ralph's World at the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta, GA with her husband, 4 year-old son, and one lucky guest.

Thanks to Ralph's people for making this contest possible and thanks everybody for participating.  If you entered but did not win...don't despair.  There are a couple more Ralph's World contests going on (check out Zooglobble and Cool Tunes for Kids), and you can always make sure you get tickets by ordering through the link below:

Here's a just a bit of Ralph's World to get you excited:

 

Podcasting news

Milestone day for Knock Knock English's podcast.  After being pushed out of the top 5 on the iTunes Japan Kids and Family podcast chart by Cartoon Network and a couple of Disney podcasts, we clawed our way back to the #1 position yesterday with a record (for us) 1,783 feed views and 610 subscribers.  Funny how it works...we actually haven't had time to put up a new podcast since the new year, but people are finding us.  Ayako-san has been working hard to get the word out.  If you're interested in learning a few simple Japanese expressions for kids, or if you are Japanese and looking to learn some simple English expressions for kids, check it out!

Update:  Just cracked the iTunes Japan overall top 100 podcasts coming in at.........#100!

One more song for MLK

Tanja passes this one along...perhaps the most famous song celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday, and one with a chorus kids really love to sing.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day Songs and Activities

On the third Monday in January, Americans celebrate the birth, life, and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  The Civil Rights movement and Dr. King's struggle are obviously pretty heavy topics, but there are lots of ways to share Dr. King's message with young kids.  It's a great day to talk about peace, friendship, working together, having a dream, setting goals, and perseverance.

Why not take this day to talk with your children about setting goals?  Set a goal of learning to hop or skip, learning to ride a bike or tie your shoes, reading 3 books a week, etc.  Layout a plan, and start working towards the goal.  Let your children know that if you work together, you can accomplish it.

Dr. Jean has some fantastic activity and song ideas over at the Preschool Express, including this simple song:

Peace For Everyone
Tune:  “BINGO”

Was a man, who had a dream
Of peace for everyone.
P-E-A-C-E,   P-E-A-C-E, P-E-A-C-E
Peace for everyone!
                     
Jean Warren         

Preschool Education has some more children's song ideas, including this very simple little tune:

Brotherhood
Tune: "Mary had a Little Lamb"

Brotherhood for you and me,
You and me, you and me.
Brotherhood for you and me,
Taught Martin Luther King.

We should live in harmony,
Harmony, harmony
We should live in harmony,
Taught Martin Luther King.

Kinderteacher.com has some nice activity ideas and book recommendations.

And even very young children can be inspired by Dr. King's I Have a Dream speech.

This youTube video is from 1986, the first year Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was observed as a national holiday. 

I hesitated to post it because I don't want to make light of the holiday by posting some cheesy 80s video...but silly 8os fashion aside, I genuinely like this song and wish it got played on the radio around MLK Day.  I remember watching it at the time and being thrilled to see The Fat Boys, Run DMC, and New Edition in the same song.  Also appearing...Whitney Houston, Kurtis Blow, Lisa Lisa, Full Force, Grandmaster Melle Mel, Kurtis Blow, J.T. Taylor, Stephanie Mills, and Menudo with a young Ricky Martin.   

 

Ralph's World LIVE

I hope everyone had a great winter vacation.  I'm back to work, (finally) back to blogging, and very excited about 2007.  Hope you all are as well.

My New Year's Resolution?  Be more giving.  So let's start 2007 off by giving away 4 free tickets to see Ralph's World LIVE on the U.S. tour!

There actually are quite a few blogs now that touch on children's music.  I think it's great because we all come at it from different points of view.  Some as the parents of young children, some as the parents of older kids,  some as teachers, some looking at music outside of the "mainstream", etc.  I've focused on kids music mostly as it relates to early childhood education, and I've tended to discuss music which is accessible even to very young children. 

The really cool thing about Ralph Covert's music is that it can be appreciated by all of us.  It's music the whole family can enjoy, kids music that won't make parents tear their hair out...but at the same time he has many, many tracks that early childhood educators can use in their classrooms.  His songs can be very clever and involved lyrically, but he's got a lot very simple songs as well (Clean Up, Dance Around, etc.)

On top of it all, he's a great performer.  And  now he's teaming up with the House of Blues for the first national kid's tour in the chain's history. 

February 3| Anaheim CA | House of Blues
February 4 | San Francisco CA | The Fillmore
February 10| San Diego CA | House of Blues
February 11| Portland OR | Aladdin Theater
February 17 | West Hollywood CA | House of Blues
February 18 | Seattle WA | The Moore Theater
February 24 | Las Vegas NV | House of Blues
February 25  Boulder CO | The Boulder Theater
March 3 | Chicago IL | House of Blues
March4 | Somerville MA | Somerville Theater
March 10 | Cleveland OH | House of Blues
March 11 | Philadelphia PA | Theatre of the Living Arts
March 17 | Lake Buena Vista FL | House of Blues
March 18 | Atlanta GA | Variety Playhouse
March 24 | New Orleans LA | House of Blues
March 25 | St Louis MO | The Pageant

If you'd like to enter to win four free tickets to the show of your choice, simply fill in the missing word to these lyrics from Just Like The Monkeys off of the Ralph's World album, "The Amazing Adventures of Kid Astro":

We’d eat bananas and mangos and orange papayas
And sometimes on Sundays we’d eat ___________.

(Here's a hint...you can find the lyrics to Just Like The Monkeys and almost all of Ralph's extensive collection of songs  here.)

E-mail me your answer (subject: Ralph's World tickets) and I'll put everyone's name in a hat and pull out a winner.  I respect your privacy and will never give your e-mail address to anyone.  One entry per person please, but feel free to tell your friends and your friends' friends about the drawing. 

The entry deadline is midnight  January 20, 2007 (EST).  I will announce the winner on this blog (in addition to e-mailing the winner directly), but I will not print your last name. 

Good luck!

Pssssstt!!!   A little birdy told me you might have more chances to win tickets on a few other kids' music blogs.  Try checking out some of the blogs in the sidebar over the next couple of weeks (under Check, check, check it out!)