Tanka Tanka Skunk

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HarperCollins has just reissued four of his best-known and most playful texts in handsome new editions, but Seuss wrote more than 60 titles in total, many of which are still in print. His ability to manipulate a limited vocabulary and turn it into riotously joyful text led to success in the ‘beginner reader’ market, but Seuss wasn’t just interested in teaching children to read, he wanted to teach them to think.

This book is great for teaching children music, rhyme and rhythm. It makes rhyming fun for all ages and encourages children to read aloud. The book also teaches children how to read at different paces and the rhythm of syllables. Clapping the syllables is a great activity that can be used in KS1 as a literacy starter or plenary. rich source of fun and learning. It provides a motivating way to develop children’s auditory discrimination, a key early literacy experience, by drawing attention to the beats (chunks, syllables) in words. It also offers clear links with the music curriculum. The wonderfully rhythmic text offers a wealth of opportunity to teach, consolidate and apply a range of concepts that support children’s early phonological and reading development. An old favourite, Little Bunny Foo Foo tells a funny story in song. Kids take part by singing and adding hand movements. 4. Scarf or Ribbon Dancing Moving to music encourages brain development, vocabulary growth, social skills, and stress regulation in children.Music and movement activities often involve group participation. Because of this, a sense of belonging is often an outcome of taking part. Each child begins with a craft feather. Play music, fast or slow, while kids attempt to keep the feathers in the air by blowing on them. 10. Alphabet Sounds and Actions The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools. Turn on the music and tell children they must “dance” only with the body parts you specify. They might wiggle their fingers, swing their right legs, or twirl their left arms. 9. Feather Dancing

Talk about ideas and where they come from. Like Dr Seuss and the Cat, put your hats on and dream up some new ideas (questions you’d like answered, ideas for stories or pictures, inventions that solve a problem, new ways of doing things). Rhyme is a major feature of Dr Seuss’s work. Play rhyming games by taking turns to think of a word that rhymes with an object in the room, or giving clues such as, “What’s a word that rhymes with red? It’s where you go to sleep at night”. Read other rhyming stories and poems, and compare. In each episode, kids will hear original music, especially curated by the musical guest. Featured musicians might play anything from familiar classical riffs to witty musical improvisations and funny sound effects – moving the story along at a lively pace. Each episode also includes an educational segment that features fun facts about the highlighted instrument. The adult says, “Goodbye name of letter,” and then urges each child to name the letter (and possibly the letter sound) that is under their own feet. What kid could pass up the chance to stomp around the room? We are the Dinosaurs is a fun activity that combines singing, marching to rhythm, and various hand motions. 3. Little Bunny Foo FooMusic and movement offer opportunities to enhance those strengths through activities such as playing musical instruments and taking part in finger plays. Large Motor Skills

Each child has a partner, and they take turns. To happy music, the first one moves, and the other child tries to copy that movement. Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” Find out about ways to help the environment. Perhaps you could plant some Truffula trees of your own?

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Make a collection of hats and put each one inside a cardboard box. Label the boxes ‘HAT belonging to the CAT’. A fun goal could be to finish cleaning up in less than 5 minutes so kids can gather and count down together at the end. There are a wide variety of benefits of teaching music to preschoolers, that are then combined with movements. You can expect to see positive gains in the following areas: Social Skills Timed at 5 minutes, this cute Clean Up Song reminds kids about what they should be doing during clean-up time. Preschool music and movement are also used to practise a wide variety of cognitive, social and motor skills, in addition to routines involving weather, calendar, letters and numbers. [source] What is the Importance of Music and Movement in Early Childhood?

Tanka Tanka Skunk by Steve Webb is one of my personal favourites. Tanka is the elephant and his friend Skunka a skunk. The book doesn’t follow a story or plot of some sort, but is more about words, musicality and rhythm. Songs can be used to learn new words and to practise letter sounds, word parts and alliteration. Traditions, Self-Concept, and Social Studies Skills This can also be used in a parade format, with the kids marching and playing according to the beat. This kids’ favourite combines singing and performing movements with both hands. In addition, Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes also enhances body awareness in youngsters. 26. Clean Up Song

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Kids learn by doing. Music and movement activities give them more opportunities to combine motor skills with the senses of sight, hearing and touch. Small Motor Skills Read The Cat in the Hat and talk about the games the Cat dreams up. He doesn’t write stories or paint pictures, but he’s still being creative. Give each child a box and explore what’s inside. Where could the Cat have found this hat – and what could it help him invent?