Learning Basic Skills Through Music (preK/K hit!!)

Although don't consider myself a preK/K specialist, lately I'm finding myself more and more immersed in that world as I teach a little co-op group. We are having such fun. Today I used a CD by Hap Palmer, Learning Basic Skills Through Music Vol. 2, that my kiddos couldn't get enough of!!

On the CD, Palmer asks kids to follow directions to learn a wide variety of basic skills. We did two songs today. The first song, "Parade of Colors," asks kids to march around, sit when the bell rings, and then stand/sit when a color is mentioned. Our mini-unit today was about "mittens" so I gave each child a paper mitten in a different color. They absolutely glowed when their color was called! They asked to do the song four times...wanted to do it a fifth, but I convinced them it was time to stop for snack. :)

The other song we tried, "Let's Dance," asked kids to move forward, backward, left and right. Since our theme was mittens, I had them all put a mitten on their right hand only...so we'd know which side was right. I planned to follow this with a reading of Tana Hoban's book, All About Where, but we ran short on time. Like most of Hoban's books, this one contains beautiful photographs and includes the words: above, on, behind, under, out, against, across, between, in, through, beside, among, below, over, around. Children can then discuss how the words apply to objects in the photos.

The CD I have contains several math-related songs to work on identifying shapes or numbers. Children move toward certain numbers or shapes or try to match one posted in the room.

Both resources are excellent in preK/K for any sort of a group, whether at home or at school. Wish I would have know about the CDs a long time ago. I'm eager to check out Volume 1 of the same set after reading the reviews on Amazon. (You can hear samples of Vol. 1 on the Amazon page...Vol. 1 is the black cover below...Vol. 2 that I own is the red cover.)

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