based on the book Big Hugs, Little Hugs by Felicia Bond
adapted by N. Lawton

Everyone hugs all over the world. 
Giraffes hug.
Hippos hug.
Elephants hug.
Monkeys hug.
Everyone hugs all over the world.

​These are the songs that we danced with egg shakers.  If you are interested in checking out these songs, the album cover images are linked to Amazon so you can listen to a sample and/or purchase these great songs!

If you would like to see the songs and action rhymes we used this month - click here: 
Tales for 2's and 3's: Love, Family and Todd Parr I

We used a Padlet to talk about two questions: What is it like when you are the first to do something?  and Why is it important to have a support system?

I found the coolest downloadable resource called "Space STEM Challenges" from Kim Carroll on Teachers Pay Teachers.  It had lots of great activities that I just had to print off.  It was a huge time saver and I am so glad that I will be able to use some of the activities again in our Makerspace.  

​I also bought some badges from Amazon and made NASA badges for the kids to wear.

I created the badges on PicMonkey with graphics from Pixabay and Clipart Library.

The Voice: A Built-In Instrument

​The first musical instrument a child knows is their own voice.   Starting from infancy, human beings begin playing with sound.  The babbling sounds that are often emitted from babies is their way of exploring their native language.  In her book, Aesthetic Foundations for Thinking Rethought Part I: Experience, Mary Helen Richards says, “we imitate what we hear most often.”  Children will explore and play with the sounds that they are supplied with from caregivers, children’s program characters, and popular music.

Children are basically born with an innate desire for music making.  As caregivers, educators, and librarians it is vital that we provide children with joyful and meaningful music making experiences.

The Amazing Auditory System

​Singing is vital to the study of language. According to Mary Helen Richards, Inner hearing is defined as the “making of hearing images”.  When a child repeatedly sings a song they begin to internalize the song.  They can “play” the song in their head without singing the song out loud.  

Singing and moving to music is the best way to boost inner-hearing.  A child that has strong inner-hearing can think of (and hear) all of  the words that rhyme with “bat.”  When you attach movement to the song, the child is able to recognize that “what I say is what I do”.

So, it’s important to start putting that auditory system to work when children are very young.  Storytime provides opportunities for young children to sing, move, say nursery rhymes, interact with their caregivers and peers, and practice the sounds of language!  

Who knew that one 20 or 30-minute storytime could do so much for the inner hearing of a child?

​Beware the Low Register

Head Voice
This is where finding the “Head Voice” comes in handy.  To find your head voice, say “A -Ha!” The spot where your voice lands on “a!” is the note that you will begin to sing/speak in.   

For the young ears of a child, it is easier for them to hear and process sounds that are produced in a higher register.  Since children imitate the sounds they hear, we also want to model good vocal habits for them too.  We want them to have healthy vocal chords that have command over their voices for the times when they have to read aloud, recite a poem, give a speech, or lead a business meeting.

Everyone Can Sing

​Mary Helen Richards said it beautifully “Everyone can sing - everyone can move to music.”  When I hear caregivers tell me “I’m not a good singer” because they were told at some point by an adult that their singing voice wasn’t “good enough” - it breaks my heart. 

We want to establish an environment in our storytimes that encourages and celebrates singing.  There is no judgment, only joy.   

Singing in Storytime

Mary Helen said, “Song belongs to every person in the same way that his mother tongue belongs to him”.

Song in storytime has several benefits:

• Encourages the eploration of sound and language
• Organizes language
• Simplifies language so that child can make it their own
• Focuses attention
• Boosts motivation because it is intriguing (and fun!)
• Creates a joyful atmosphere that delights in music-making

Song holds the power of language.  Singing with children is the key to unlocking that power.  Song makes language accessible to children.  When we think about ECRR, children cannot write, talk, or read if they do not have a strong foundation in their native language.  Song is the vehicle that we can use to help children develop their auditory and speech-processing systems so that they will be great readers, writers, and communicators.

As Mary Helen Richards said, “Song is a catalyst for communication.” 

Song in Practice: Lapsit

Name Song - Oh, I Know

from Education Through Music
To the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell"

I began every lapsit storytime with this song.  I would sing the names of the babies and caregivers.

A Bouncing We Will Go

from Let’s Do It Again by Mary Helen Richards (adapted for Lapsit by N. Lawton)
To the Tune of "The Farmer in the Dell"

Bounce Old Squirrel

from Let’s Do It Again by Mary Helen Richards (adapted for Lapsit by N. Lawton)
To the tune of "Hop Old Squirrel"

These are the songs that we danced to with the scarves.  If you are interested in checking out these songs, the album cover images are linked to Amazon so you can listen to a sample and/or purchase these great songs!

If you would like to see the action rhymes and songs that we have been using for the month of Feburary, you can find them here:  Tales for 2's & 3's Love, Family & Todd Parr I

​A large reason why I had become disenfranchised with the education system was due to the fact that we (as a society) are constantly putting developmentally inappropriate demands on children.

When I heard that libraries were investing their time and energies in Every Child Ready to Read, I was thrilled.  Caregivers are a child’s first teacher and a child’s biggest advocate.  ECRR empowers caregivers and also gives the word “play” it’s due.  Play should receive the amount of weight and respect that is given to the words “reading” and “math.” The play of children has academic value and I love that ECRR is acknowledging this.

My A-Ha! Moment that pieced together the components of ETM and ECRR happened last July when I was attending ETM’s week-long study in California.  After spending several hours a day thinking about ETM and literacy and speaking with several bright individuals, I realized that ETM addresses the big picture, the whole child if you will.  ECRR helps address the pre-literacy skills and caregiver instruction/empowerment.  Together, the two approaches go together like s’mores and campfires.

When we examine a majority of early childhood (Preschool-Kindergarten) standards and curriculums, the starting point for literacy instruction often begins with:

• Letter idenfication - the naming of the letters and the sounds they make
• Phonological awareness - can the child play with the sounds of language?  Can they break down and identify the sounds in a three letter word?
• Vocabulary - the words that the child has acquired from being spoken and read to since birth 

Somewhere there is a disconnect between literacy skill acquisition and instruction.  ETM bridges the gap beautifully. 

ETM is able to build a strong foundation in these areas:

• Aesthetic
• Attention
• Motivation
• Motor development - fine motor and gross motor
• Auditory processing 
• Speech processing

Why are these areas important to making sure that children start off on the right foot in school?  They are the foundation that every child needs.  ETM provides the necessary experience and context that will help make it possible for a child to learn and thrive in school.  

The overarching goals of ETM and ECRR are to foster a love of learning and reading in children.  If ETM is used regularly in storytime programming in conjunction with ECRR, I believe that it will lead to a strong foundation in reading skills. 

​Next week I will begin to dig into my favorite component of ECRR - Singing.  I plan to discuss how singing the songs of ETM can help cultivate an enjoyment for music while simultaneously building the auditory and speech processing systems in young children.

These are the songs that we used with the egg shakers.  If you are interested in checking out these songs, the album cover images are linked to Amazon so you can listen to a sample and/or purchase these great songs!

I like to repeat the same action rhymes and songs all month long.  I also like to use the same hello and goodbye song for the entire session. 

Take a look at the post for week 1 to see the words to the action rhymes and songs for this month:
Tales for 2's & 3's: Love, Family & Todd Parr I

 When we think about early literacy and Every Child Ready to Read (ECRR), we need to think about and emphasize the importance of experience.

​Let’s think of experience in terms of Pre-GPS and Smart Device times, which we will call “The Before Times” - A friend invites you to their house for the first time.  You are not familiar with the area - so what do you do in order to prepare for your drive to your friend’s house for the first time?  You look at a map and familiarize yourself with the streets and necessary turns.  You get in the car and begin to drive to your friend’s house.  You pay close attention to the street names, landmarks, and turns.  You may even pay attention to the mileage.  After you have been to your friend’s house a few times you find that you do not need to pay close attention to every little street name and landmark.  Why?  Because you have experienced driving to your friend’s house.  You have stored away all of the important streets, landmarks, and (if you are like me and get lost easily) you know which turns not to take.

Even as adults it takes us a while to learn something new despite the fact that we have acquired several years of background knowledge.  We know how to read a map and drive a car, but that is only a small piece of the equation when it comes to driving someplace new.  We still need to have the experience of driving to our friend’s house for the first time in order to learn how to get there. 

So, if adults need experience to learn something new - why do we expect a child that is only five/six years old to read and understand the words on the page of a book?  

Those Littles have only been alive and in this world for five - six years.  That’s a drop in the bucket compared to an adult! 

As adults, we need to remember two very important things:

1. Children are in their bodies before they are in their heads 
2. Children learn best by doing.  In other words, experience is key.

In ETM, a child’s “experience” bucket is filled up through playing the Song Experience Games (SEG).  In an ETM SEG there is movement, thinking, social interaction, music, and language. 

You may be wondering - What does that look like?  How does it work?

Let's take a look at one of the songs that I use as my weekly hello song in my Tales for 2's and 3's storytime - “Come Along and Walk with Me” 

Come along and wave with me
Come along and wave with me
We’ll wave and wave
and wave and wave
So come along and wave with me

Come along and hug with me
Come along and hug with me
We’ll hug and hug
And hug and hug
So come along and hug with me

Come along and twist with me
Come along and twist with me
We’ll twist and twist
And twist and twist
So come along and twist with me

Come along and stretch with me
Come along and stretch with me
We’ll stretch and stretch
And stretch and stretch
So come along and stretch with me

Come along and wiggle with me
Come along and wiggle with me
We’ll wiggle and wiggle
And wiggle and wiggle
So come along and wiggle with me

If we were to dissect "Come Along" into the “five pillars” of an ETM SEG we would see:

Movement
Wave, hug, stretch, wiggle

Thinking
Children need to think about when/how they will move
​Children are thinking about the words that are being sung and they are interpreting them 

Social Interaction
They are waving to me, their caregiver, to their friends, to other children 

Music
singing

Language
“Come along” = follow me!
Wave, hug, stretch, wiggle 

​The ideal situation would be to fill up each and every child with playful, meaningful, and language-rich experiences when they are very young so that they have a GINORMOUS bucket full of experiences.  

If they have all of these experiences of being read to, talked to, played with - what will happen?  
They will have this wealth of experience to draw from when we tell them that “oats, peas, beans, and barley grow” they know that these are types of plants that grow in the ground because they pretended to be a farmer sowing seeds, when they see the word “creeping” they know what it is because they have experienced creeping around the room with that goofy Librarian lady, Ms. Nicole, or when we ask them to write an essay or book report, they will be able to do it because they have this GINORMOUS bucket full of words and experiences that they can draw from.

Storytime is a great way to fill up a child’s experience bucket. When we look at the fabulous components of ECRR in storytime we plan for and lead activities that have singing, playing, reading, and talking.  In other words, we provide the children that come to our storytimes with an environment where they can have playful, meaningful, and language-rich experiences. ​

I will leave you with this parting thought:
"I have to see it,
I have to say it,
I have to hear it,
I have to do it."

All roads lead to experience.

These are the songs that used with the parachute during today's 2's & 3's.  If you are interested in checking out these songs, the album cover images are linked to Amazon so you can listen to a sample and/or purchase these great songs!

From The Door 2 Door Librarian
​
I can hug, hug, hug,
I can hop, hop, hop,
I can kiss, kiss kiss,
I can stop, stop, stop.
I can nod my head yes,
And I can shake my head no,
And I can sit down very low.

From Education Through Music - The Richards Institute of Education & Research
To the tune of “Oats, Peas, Beans, and Barley Grow”

Come along and wave with me
Come along and wave with me
We’ll wave and wave
and wave and wave
So come along and wave with me

Come along and hug with me
Come along and hug with me
We’ll hug and hug
And hug and hug
So come along and hug with me

Come along and twist with me
Come along and twist with me
We’ll twist and twist
And twist and twist
So come along and twist with me

Come along and stretch with me
Come along and stretch with me
We’ll stretch and stretch
And stretch and stretch
So come along and stretch with me

Come along and wiggle with me
Come along and wiggle with me
We’ll wiggle and wiggle
And wiggle and wiggle
So come along and wiggle with me

In my previous post I mentioned how the work of ETM is built on Song Experience Games (SEGs). The songs for the games come from English folksongs.  There are games for oldie, but goodies such as “Looby Loo”, “The Farmer in the Dell”, “A-Hunting We Will Go”, and “Oats, Peas, Beans.”

The Song Experience Game often includes:

• Singing
• Movement
• Dance
• Drama
• Storytelling

In her book, Aesthetic Foundations for Thinking Part I Mary Helen Richards mentions that the SEGs of ETM are meant to create an aesthetic experience which build an “aesthetic foundation for living.”  I think that notion is a wonderfully brilliant and fulfilling way to live one’s life - to find joy and to soak in the beauty, awe, and wonder in the happenings that inspire and excite us.

In the fall, I continuously played a SEG called “Come Along and Walk with Me” with my Tales for 2’s and 3’s storytime. The littles stayed near their parents and happily did the actions (clapping, hopping, stomping, etc) while their grownups sang and moved with them.  One day, they all decided that it was time to leave the safety of their caregiver so that they could participate in following me around the room! We crawled, rolled, creeped, and twisted our way around the room. There were smiles, giggles, and belly laughs. There was discovery and wonder.  In moments like these, I am reminded of how powerful singing, playing, and moving can really be.

What brought us to that fabulous moment?
Children’s librarians and educators already know the power of repetition.  For the littles in my storytime, they had been soaking up and internalizing the language of the song.  Their little brains were making sense of the song. Even though they weren’t following me around the room, they were still participating.  As they participated in the safety net of their caregivers, they worked on internalizing the song. They sang the words, they saw the actions, the heard the words, and they felt the movement.

The SEGs are designed to develop a child’s ability to listen and hear.  It is an oft repeated phrase in ETM that “children are in their bodies before they are in their heads.”  Children need to be concrete before they can be abstract.  

The more we sing and play in storytime, the more opportunities a child has to develop rich experiences in becoming a farmer or a dog or knowing what prancing and creeping look like because they have internalized those motions.

Think of it this way: when we ask them to read the word “glide” they will know what the word glide means because they have experienced gliding across the storytime room.  The SEGs are better than any flashcard, app, or workbook.  

We play, sing, and move in storytime so that they can

• rhyme
• read
• write

Imagine a world full of lifelong readers because they played, sang, and moved in storytime as children.  

That’s the goal:  to reclaim playtime for children -  because that is what they are designed to do.