Music Storytime with Numbers, Seasons & Reasons

Here are a few more books I have used for storytime so far this year:

The Question Song  

Kaethe Zemach (Author)

We loved this! The book poses a number of problems a child might experience in an ordinary day (spilling juice, can't reach a toy, etc...) and there is a little chorus "What are we going to do?" which we sang. The kids offered suggestions to solve the problem. Then we sang "That's what we will do". 

One Wolf Howls

Scotti Cohn (Author), Susan Detwiler (Illustrator)

This gorgeously illustrated book starts with a single wolf in January and travels through the seasons month-by-month, adding to the wolf pack as the snow melts, flowers bloom & fade, leaves turn and then finally twelve wolves play in deep snow in December. These are pretty abstract ideas for the very young children, so I discovered a couple tricks to keep their attention. First, they love to count the wolves on each set of pages. Very big deal. Second, we howl each time I turn a page, just for fun. 

Ten in the Bed: Of course there are many charming illustrated versions of this out there, and mine is out of print. Oh well! It's a great way to teach or just enjoy this winning song.

Mary Had a Little Lamb

Mary Hoberman (Author)

Every year the kids LOVE this imaginative variation of this song they know so well. It never fails to capture their interest, and they seem to empathize with the lamb. Genius. 

The Wheels On the Bus

Maryann Kovalski (Author)

Here's another one that the kids love singing along with, and there's a cute additional storyline with a comical twist, although I have to tell them what a taxi is. Out here we see plenty of tractors -- taxis not so much!

Scarf Dancing

I have a collection of sheer vintage scarves from the 50's and 60's. These are the cobweb-light kind (probably silk): giant squares of fabric that ladies used to fold into a triangle & tie over their coiffed hair. You can purchase new scarves just for preschool music, but I have been using these for dancing since I was a little girl!
For music recommendations, skip to the bottom of this post.

I encourage the children to start playing with the scarves as soon as they have selected one.

Then I put on a Warm-up Song.
I have found the kids respond better to a simple piano music piece with my verbal instructions, but for good ideas, I like Johnette Downing's scarf dancing CD: The Second Line: Scarf Activity Songs. For a warm up, consider her "Scarves Up and Down and Around" Although I love this one, and has worked beautifully with the older children, it is too difficult for some, and they get frustrated.

So instead, I put on a little piano waltz and we practice moving our scarves:

• up & down, 
• side to side, 
• around in great circles.
• Half-way through, I instruct the kids to hold the scarf in the air, and CHANGE HANDS. 
• Then we go through all the same movements.

Then we move without pause into the Puppy Dance.
(I wish I could find the book I got this wonderful activity from!)
We all hold our scarves away from our bodies - to the inside of the circle, and walk around the circle as we "walk our puppies".
The music is just a cute & bouncy piano piece - just under a minute long.
This activity can vary with your imaginations. Here are a few things we do:

• Stop & teach puppy some tricks, and make the scarf move in the suggested manner: JUMP! Roll over! Sit!
• Instead of just walking around the circle, puppy can trot or run.
• Puppy can get a bit naughty and make you spin in circles. Stop puppy! I'm getting dizzy!

Then I use a faster piece to suggest Leaves Blowing in the Wind.
The children use the whole room for this one, and can use the scarf any way they want (safely) to show they are being blown by the wind.

The last one I am using this month is the "Skating" song, discussed in an earlier post. 
I like this sweet waltz because the lyrics include gorgeous movement suggestions: swishing, twirling, whirling, floating, leaping.

Except for "Skating", the music I use comes from this recording of piano literature for students, level 6.
The pieces I use for scarves are:

Valse Sentimentale, Op. 50, No. 13 - Schubert (warm up) 1:09

Polka, From Album for the Young, Op 39 - Tchaikovsky (Puppy Dance) :52

Etude II - Czerny (Leaves in the Wind) :30

I have several CDs from this collection, and even though I stopped teaching piano years ago, I still play these recordings at home just to listen because Diane Hidy is so wonderful. She plays these pieces with character & expression, but (importantly!) she doesn't overdo it - so the tempos are steady and easy to move with. Sadly, this is not available as individual track downloads, but the CD can be purchased here. 

More Horse Songs for Preschool & Horse Math!

I use these nearly every year, even when we don't have a cowboy theme.

Easy & fun hand motion song:

cup hands & clap in rhythm

Horsey, Horsey Don't You Stop, just let your feet go clippety-clop
slide palms together for a swishing sound
Your tail goes swish 
 roll hands
and the wheels go round,
 cup hands & clap in rhythm
Giddy-up we're homeward bound!

Here's a link to a cute youtube version. (much longer)

Horse Math!
Then I use the same melody to do "Ten Fine Horses", but we start instead with Two Horses.
I have a picture of two horses and the number 2. One horse is grey, one is brown.
I have the kids hold up one finger on each hand, and say with me: "one plus one makes two"
Then we sing:

our two "horses" (fingers) wave in the air
Two fine horses came to town
wiggle one finger, and then the next
One was grey and one was brown
raise & lower hands, wiggling fingers
They galloped up and they galloped down
both hands go behind back
Then they galloped out of town.

Of course on the next page I have four horses & the number 4, and we mirror that with two fingers on each hand, etc..., all the way up to the number 10.

Pony Boy & Great Big Candy Roundup

This month we are all about cowboys!


Riders in the Sky have done some wonderful albums for kids,
and one of my favorite songs is  

"There's a Great Big Candy Roundup" 

 

Pony Boy

Bruce Springsteen: Human Touch

 Another great song for our theme is the folksong: "Pony Boy". There are a zillion versions of this song. No one was more surprised than I, to discover a beautiful & tender rendition of this piece by Bruce Springsteen!

We are singing this song without accompaniment, and are only using two verses, but if you want to hear this great arrangement, I'd encourage you to purchase this through Amazon or Itunes.