I'm Singing Baby Beluga While Talking on My Bananaphone...

A 140 character tweet was not enough to express my excitement about finding Raffi on Twitter (@Raffi_RC)! When I taught kindergarten and pre-kindergarten, Raffi, Ella Jenkins, and Hap Palmer were my lifesavers!! It seemed that not a day went by without one of these musical geniuses playing in my classroom. As an adult, I didn't even know what a beluga whale was before Raffi told me. My kindergarten class wanted to know more about belugas, so we did an entire unit on the "little white whale on the go" just because of Raffi. We learned vowels by eating Apples and Bananas. When the kids got antsy, we would  "shake our sillies out". Raffi was the second teacher in my classroom, and he didn't even know it!

What warms my heart even more, is finding out that Raffi is more than a educator and musician. He's an advocate for children, an advocate for childhood, and an advocate for humanity. As a teacher, I appreciated Raffi for what he was able to teach me and my students. Now, as a manager of an early childhood program, I am able to connect with Raffi on another level. I am tearing up as I'm writing this...I'm happy to know that the children of the world have advocates like Raffi.

Dear Raffi,
Thank you.
One light, one sun...


Raffi Facts from Raffi News:

• "Because of his belief that children should not be exposed to too much television viewing and that they should not be directly marketed to, during his thirty-year career as a superstar of kid’s music Raffi refused all offers for commercial television shows and commercial endorsements."
• "After years of networking and reflecting on what it might take to create a world fit for children, in 2010, Raffi founded the Centre for Child Honouring on Salt Spring Island."
• "An estimated 10 million kids who grew up with Baby Beluga now sing it to their own kids."  

Some of my favorite Raffi albums:

 


Reading Raffi:

Sesame Street Writer, Joey Mazzarino, Inspired By Daughter to Write "I Love My Hair"

Last week I was so happy to discover this wonderful video, I Love My Hair, and today, it was featured on my local morning news (WMAR - ABC 2 News). There's a bit of background about the writer and singer so I thought I'd share it here. I read that this little girl puppet has no name. What do you think her name should be?

First Disney has an African American Princess and now, this video. I wish these images were available when I was growing up, but I'm glad that they are around for my niece! Again I say, THANK YOU SESAME STREET!

See Also: I Love My Hair

I Love My Hair

Thanks Sesame Street!

Also see: The Skin You Live In for a great book and related activities.



A few more related picture books:

See Also: Sesame Street Writer, Joey Mazzarino, Inspired By Daughter to Write "I Love My Hair"

Teacher Tip Tuesday: Poem of the Week Notebook

Every teacher knows that extending learning at home is an essential part of a quality educational experiences. At the beginning of the year, ask each parent to buy a small vinyl notebook like this. Each week, feature a different poem, nursery rhyme, song, or fingerplay. Make a copy and put it in each child's notebook on Monday and send it home that evening. Each night, the parent and child should read their poem or song together. The families should send the notebook back to school on Friday (so that you can add a new poem on Monday).

The parents and children in my classroom loved this idea because they could go back and re-read their favorite poem and at the end of the year, each child had a nice collection of poems from the entire year.

Whatever poem I would send home would also be featured in our classroom on chart paper. I would laminate the charts so that we could use dry-erase markers to write on them - sometimes we would circle our letter of the week, other times we might find a word that we recognize. Throughout the week the children would share this learning with their families each night.

If you are a teacher of infants/toddlers/twos you can adapt this concept by still asking parents to provide the notebook and sending home poems or songs bi-weekly or monthly. Parents will appreciate being able to sing or recite some of the songs they may hear their toddlers trying to repeat.

Other adaptations:

• If you have parents that speak other languages, ask them to either teach you a song/poem in their language or to translate a familiar song/poem. It's a great way to incorporate various languages into your program.
• For some poems, you may want to type and print them. But for others, I suggest writing them. These days children see a great deal of typed text (computers, books, etc) so seeing handwriting is good for them!
• Allow children to illustrate the poems on Monday before putting them in their notebooks. They will be additionally excited to show their family their illustration in addition to reading the poem.

Some songs/poems I used in the fall include:

• Way Up High in the Apple Tree
• Gray Squirrel
• Autumn Leaves
• Five Little Pumpkins

There are a ton of poems/songs/fingerplays to choose from. What are your favorites?

Happy Reading,

Musical Books: Guest Post by Marcia Maynard

Young children who like music and books, will enjoy these sing-along-books with cds.

The Journey Home From Grandpa's, by Jemima Lumley, Sophie Fatus and sung by Fred Penner.
A family drives down a bouncy, bumpy road as they travel home from Grandpa's house. They pass a variety of vehicles such as train, a tractor and even a barge along their fun journey.

Whole World, by Christopher Corr and Fred Penner, is a book with vibrant illustrations and a cd of cheerful music. Facts about different creatures and environments are in the back of the book, as well as the musical notes to this well known song.

Animal Boogie is and award winning book by Debbie Harter. Come stomp with an elephant and flap with a bird, as jungle animals boogie, woogie, oogie. Children, teachers and parents will have fun dancing and singing along with the story. Animal Boogie has catchy song and is easy to learn.


All the books come in paperback with cd and can be seen at Barefoot Books.


Marcia Maynard is a former kindergarten teacher and reading specialist. She currently blogs about preschool activities at www.readandrise.com.

If you would like to write a guest post, please contact me!

Music Makes the World Go 'Round

Music Mondays

Every Monday I will list some of my favorite songs or CDs for Early Childhood. Feel free to add your own favorites!

• Song of the Week for October 19, 2009: In the spirt of the upcoming Halloween Holiday, how about a song to the tune of the Adams Family?

Days of the Week

Days of the week, (snap snap)

Days of the week, (snap snap)

Days of the week, Days of the week, Days of the week. (snap snap)

There's Sunday and there's Monday,

There's Tuesday and there's Wednesday,

There's Thursday and there's Friday,

And then there's Saturday.

Days of the week, (snap snap)

Days of the week, (snap snap)

Days of the week,Days of the week,Days of the week. (snap snap)

• October 12: Autumn Leaves are Falling Down Music and Lyrics at KIDiddles.com
• October 5, 2009: The Mozart Effect- Music for Children, Volume 2, Relax Daydream and Draw (CD)
• September 29, 2009 Greg and Steve: The Number Rock (on the We All Live Together CD)
• September 21: Baby Beluga by Raffi: Book and CD

• September 21: Baby Beluga by Raffi: Book and CD
• September 14: Check out Music for Little People's 49 cent Downloads
• September 7: Smilin' Island of Song: CD
• August 31: Bibbidi Bobbidi Bach: CD
• August 24: Where Is Thumbkin? Book and CD
• August 17: I Like Me by Dr. Thomas Moore MP3
• August 10: The World is a Rainbow by Greg and Steve MP3 and Lyrics
• August 3: Big Beautiful Planet by Raffi MP3 and Lyrics