Look, Ma, I'm reading! (and singing)

Sing With Our Kids Day 4: Exploring the Free Resources

Picture books base on song are my obsession! There are so many reasons to love them (but that's for another post). But there are few picture books based on songs where the text follows the traditional lyrics. Why would you care? Because for emergent readers, non-English-speaking children, and family literacy programs,  these are a powerful doorway into our culture and language. I have collected them on SingWithOurKids.com, and most are widely available at local libraries and book stores. And here's the really neat thing; next to each book title is the mp3 which follows the exact traditional text in the book! So if you don't know the song, or you don't speak English, or you don't know how to read, you can hold a real book and hear the melody and words together. Cool, huh?

Here's a link to the page with these books and songs, all together. https://singwithourkids.com/family-lit-published.htm

What the Heck is a QR Code? (and why should you care)

Day 3 Exploring Free Resources on SingWithOurKids.com

These weird little black squiggly boxes are the key to hearing and learning the songs your child sings at school or at library story time, so you can sing them at home! Every song in the SWOK song library has a poster with its own QR code that will take you to the song on your smartphone, no typing, just point and connect.

If you are a teacher or children’s librarian, print and post the sign for each song you sing (trust me, there are many you are already singing, and many adults don’t know or can’t remember them).

If you are a parent, grandparent, or care provider, just open the QR code reader on your smartphone (they all have one), and the songs will magically appear. Ta da! Didn't I say it was magic?

It’s all there. Nothing to buy. All you have to do is use it! 

Anyone can create and use this nifty tool.  Learn more about it here, and share this with your child's teacher or care provider.  https://singwithourkids.com/qr-codes.htm

It begins with the Songs!

SingWithOurKids.com  Day 2: Exploring the Free Resources

On SingWithOurKids.com you will find over 100 free songs to download. Every song includes the mp3, sheet music with chords, and a song poster (more about the song poster in the next post!). These songs are recorded simply and slowly, so you can understand the words and young children and non-English speakers and learn them. You'll even song collections and printable booklets with lyrics like the campfire sing-along lyrics we used in the photo. Check it out! https://singwithourkids.com/song-library.htm Sometimes the only thing you need to do to get people singing is to provide the forgotten lyrics!

 

Campfire sing-alongs indoors, or out- they are all magical!

It Was Supposed to be a One-Year Project...

Eight years ago today, after months of planning, research, and an obsessive amount of work, I launched Sing With Our Kids. It was supposed to be a one-year community project and free resource website to promote early learning through community singing. Eight years later I can say it's been amazing journey, with exciting plans for the coming year! To celebrate, beginning today and throughout September, I’ll be highlighting the many free songs, activities, and resources available at  www.SingWithOurKids.com. While you're waiting for the next post... (tomorrow), have a look at the website. www.SingWithOurKids.com That should keep you busy until then!

I Love My Library: Magic at Skyway Library

This week I did my first Sing With Our Kids event at the brand new Skyway Library (part of the King County Library System). With my new partnership agreement in place and a plan to hold family sing-alongs every second Friday at four o’clock for the next few months, we were off and running. My plan is to listen, and watch, and learn from this very diverse community, as I build on what I have learned during the last four years of the Mercer Island Project. Boy was I in for a surprise!

When I arrived to set up for our first sing-along (advertised for families with young children), there was a group of teens hanging out in the meeting room and on their mobile devices. We told them there would be a children’s program starting soon, expecting they would leave. But they stayed. Only a couple of families arrived for my event, so we just settled in on the opposite side of the room and began singing. I could see a couple of the teens starting to mimic me, so I invited them to join us (again, thinking they would just leave). To my surprise, most took me up on the offer!  I pulled out some all-age camp songs, and read a couple of books I had brought, Don’t Squish the Sasquatch, and Tanka, Tanka, Skunk. Both are great read-alouds that are smart and clever and amusing, and appeal to all ages.

Then I decided to really go for it. I asked the teens if they wanted to “help” with the parachute. One asked, “Do we get to sing Ring Around the Rosy?” and another asked if they could run under it. We played and sang for an hour, and the little kids watched the teens and everyone just had fun.

When everyone had left, Mary the librarian and I looked at each other and just said, “Wow!” That was not what we had expected! These teens were hungry to play, and all it took was an invitation.

I love the library because it is safe and welcoming, and anything can happen. You just never know. And now as I look forward to building a relationship with Skyway through Sing With Our Kids, I find  myself dreaming not only of nurturing early literacy and parenting, but of holding events that include all ages. After all, music is the great connector, and anything can and does happen at the public library. You just never know. 

I Love My Library! Blog Series: Sno-Isle Libraries Rock!

Every fall Sno-Isle Libraries host their "Read and Rock"concerts series for children under five and their caregivers. This is a great example of what libraries provide that you won't find anyplace else- free concerts for young children, mixed with important information delivered in a fun way, and tons of books to take home afterwards- also free! The library is such a welcoming and comfortable setting for young children, and a great place for them to practice socializing and building social skills- not to mention LIVE music perfect for dancing and wiggling! Does it get any better? But don't worry if you don't live in the area, the Sno-Isle Library website is also one of the best resources for learning how to help your children get ready to read. With beautifully produced short videos that explain all about early literacy, to short colorful book lists and ideas for activities to do with your child. Great job, Sno-Isle! And the best part is, you only need an Internet connection to use and enjoy these resources. So click on the link NOW, http://sno-isle.org/kids/ready-readers
 and go see for yourself! Then, if you live in the Seattle area, come see me at one of my concerts during the next few weeks.  

   Arlington Library: 
  10:30 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 7

   Mill Creek Library: 
   9:30 a.m. Friday, Oct. 9

   Mountlake Terrace Library: 
   10:30 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 21

   Hand-in-Hand Head Start: 
  1 p.m. Friday, Oct. 23 

I Love My Library! Blog Series: Books.. no really, BOOKS!

 

The incredible journey of the humble library book

 

The book pictured above is a title I checked out from my library every year, starting in 1984 or so, when I first began singing with children. It's the most amazing book, and I found myself coming back to it again and again for its practical wisdom, the science behind singing to babies, and great song collection. Remember- this was around 1984 ( I know, some of you weren't even born yet- but stay with me). The last time I checked it out I noticed it hadn't been checked out in quite a while. I knew this because it had a library pocket inside with the most recent checkout dates. I briefly thought about "losing" the book, and just paying the replacement cost. But yes, I have a conscience, so I dutifully returned it to the Kirkland Library. 

Meanwhile....

The Internet was born! And suddenly we could buy out- of-print and long-forgotten books. I wondered... I did a search and voila! My book was available for purchase! When it arrived a few days later I was stunned to see it was the very same book I had been checking out for years! It had been weeded from the stacks, and sold online by the library. Since then, most of the wonderful out of print books I've been able to locate for my Sing With Our Kids Project started out as library books. 

You may not know that the average shelf life of a book in a retail store is six months. That's brutal but necessary due to the countless new books competing for shelf space every day. But your public library has lots and lots of out of print books, and they are free to borrow! Just let that sink in... amazing

And when your favorite book disappears from even the library, here's my great tip. Go to Bookfinder.com . It is the only website you will ever need to purchase books online. It aggregates books from all over the United States and the United Kingdom, both new and used, and states the condition, let's you compare prices, and purchase. I'm telling you it's the best thing since... well, the library! And who knows, when you go there and find a favorite book from your childhood, you might also find it's the very same one you checked out for free from you local library!