Time to play cards!

Card game time!

Yay!

But wait: which one? And how to play with very young learners (preschool-aged and younger)?

Let’s start with Concentration, also known as Memory. It’s that game where a whole bunch of cards are face down, and players turn over cards 2 at a time to try to find matches. It’s a great game for building vocabulary, focus, logic skills, and pattern recognition (very important for developing reading skills).

There are variations of this card game in most cultures, so most older children will be familiar with the game and be able to dive right in. However, many new teachers of children 5 and under will attempt to play this game and run into lots of problems. Younger children may not understand the game and may not react well to competitive elements of the game. So, here are some ideas for how to play Concentration with learners 5 and under.

Step 1. Teach how to match things in general. One great way to do this is to use several pairs of matching cards (we’ve got a whole bunch of downloadable flash cards at our website.) Before your lesson starts, place one card from each pair at various places around the room. Sit down with your young learners with the other cards. Show them one of the cards (for example, a picture of an apple.) Say, “Look, an apple!” Give the apple card to one of the children and say, “Can you find another apple?” Look around the room to show the child you are looking for another apple. The child goes and gets the other apple card. (You can lead the child by hand for the first one if s/he needs help.)

After the child brings the card back, place the two apple cards next to each other and say, “Look, they’re the same! They match!”

Give another card to another child and have them find the matching card. Do this until all of the cards have been matched.

Step 2. Introduce the memory element of the game. Take 3 pairs of matching cards. Show each card to the students, name it, and place it face down. Talk about each card as you show it. For example, you can say, “Ooh look! A nice red apple! Do you like apples? Apples are yummy!” (Place the card face down.) “Let’s look at the next card. Mmm! A banana! I love bananas. How about you?” (Place the card face down.)

After you have placed the six cards face down, turn over one of the cards, and ask the children to help you find the matching card. For example, turn over an apple card and then ask, “I wonder where the other apple is. Which one is the apple card?” The children will help you find the apple card by pointing to it. Turn over the card. If it is the apple card, say, “Yes! We found the apple! Good job!” If it not the apple card, say, “That’s not an apple. Let’s try again!” Continue until you have matched each of the cards. Add a couple more pairs of cards and try again, finding the cards together.

Step 3. Introduce turn taking. After introducing the concepts of matching and remembering where the cards are, kids are ready to start taking turns finding the cards on their own. Spread out several pairs of matching cards face up, so all of the children can see them, and then turn them all face down. You’ve just added an extra element of challenge. There are more cards now and the children don’t have as much time to remember where they are.

Say, “Let me see if I can find a match.” Turn over one card, and then turn over another card. It’s a good idea to intentionally turn over two cards that don’t match. You want to show the children that it’s no big deal. It’s okay if you don’t find a match. It’s still fun. You can say happily, “Ooops! No match. These cards are different.”

Turn to the child next to you and say, “Can you find a match?” If the child needs help, show her/him how to turn over one card. Look at the first card and name it. “Hey, a peach! Can you find another peach?”  The child turns over another card. If it is a match, say, “Great job! You found a match. You have two peaches!” Put the two cards in front of that child. If it is not a match, say “Ooops! No match! Good try!” Either way, turn to the next child and say, “Can you find a match?”

Continue around the circle. Make sure that whether the children find a match or not, the tone is always upbeat and positive. Involve yourself in the game, taking your turn and intentionally NOT finding matches, so that each time the children can see it’s okay if they don’t find a match. This is really important for playing card games with young learners. It’s very common for children this age to become upset if they feel like they are “losing” a game. By showing them that even the teacher can’t find matches sometimes, and laughing about it, it lets them know it’s okay.

Step 4. Collect the cards. When using playing cards or flashcards with young learners, always remember to make cleaning up a part of the activity. Have the children count their cards. When they give them to you, have them name each of the cards. Or, you can ask for cards by name and have the children bring them to you. Don’t make a big deal out of which children have the most cards. There are no winners or losers, it’s just an activity. Have fun with it!

As children get older, you can add extra elements to the game. You can make it more competitive. You can adjust the rules so that if a player finds a match, s/he gets to continue her/his turn. But with very young learners, you don’t need these competitive elements to make games fun. Just make sure to slowly add a little more challenge when necessary (more cards, new vocabulary, help the children a little less, etc.) to keep the interest high.

Using Songs With Small Groups

Many of us have learned the advantages in using songs to teach large classes. Large classes can be amazingly fun, right? In a large class, students benefit from the crowd effect, and the energetic ones pull the whole class into the excitement. Nearly everyone sings. Quieter students either temporarily join in or hide behind the others while soaking in the song.

But in a small class, everyone can hear and see what everyone else is doing! It’s harder to hide behind someone, and there is little or no crowd energy to pull everyone along. And when there’s only two of you? What do you do?

Can you still use music and songs in your lessons? Answer: Yes!

To sing? Or not to sing?

Some students and teachers are shy about singing in a small class, especially because it’s easier to notice that everyone is looking at them. You can’t force anyone to sing, and you shouldn’t insist on everyone singing at the same time.

Some students just need time to get used to the situation, and they go through a silent phase: they are listening and absorbing the songs and music but not yet actively singing along. With encouragement from you and when they’re ready, they will start to participate.

Keep in mind that your students will likely sing if you do, so feel free to belt it out!

But what if they still won’t sing?

Don’t abandon your plan to use music! Instead, find other ways to incorporate music into the lesson.

Have music playing when your students come in. This music sets the welcoming mood: upbeat music “wakes” everyone up, while quieter music calms people down.

As a simple warm up activity, pass a ball around to the beat of a lively song. You’re not forcing anyone to sing, but in a gentle way, you are using music to include everyone in the activity. You may find everyone starts to sing along naturally, and even if they don’t, they are still hearing and absorbing the song.

You can also play music quietly in the background while students are doing other activities such as coloring, making crafts, or reading to themselves. If you have a specific song you plan to introduce later, play it as unobtrusive background music first.

Transitions, the time between activities, are excellent times to use music. For example, when you want the students to come to you for story time, you can play a story time song. When it is time to clean up, have a clean up song ready to go. When it is time to go, have a good-bye song ready.

Establish a routine: be consistent in your songs until students are familiar with the patterns of your lessons. Then, slip in a new song. Students will notice this change!

It’s just you and me.

When you have only one student, this can be the toughest teaching situation in which to sing songs. There is no group energy, and there is no one to hide behind. Singing face to face can feel awkward for both the teacher and the learner.

You can make singing less awkward by singing while you are working on an activity sheet, or coloring, or playing catch with a toy…doing something where it’s not two people singing to each other, but two people singing side by side while doing something else. Or try singing with puppets! It’s amazing how introducing puppets can help young learners feel free to communicate (and sing) without feeling embarrassed.

You can also omit singing altogether if your student is shy or unwilling to do so. But as with the small groups, have music playing anyway, both as background music and as a transition tool. Remember that songs have tremendous value for improving listening, vocabulary, grammar, intonation, and more, whether you are singing or not. And remember that whether your student(s) sing or not, they will go home with the song in their heads and will likely sing it on their own.

So give it a try and then do share: what is your best advice for using music in small groups and one-to-one classes?

On his blog Nine Kinds of Pie, Phil Nel recently posted a manifesto for children’s literature in which he writes beautifully about why adults should take children’s book seriously. Nel writes,

There are experiences adults have that grant us interpretations unavailable to less experienced readers — just as children may arrive at interpretations unavailable to adults who have forgotten their own childhoods. In children’s books, there is art, wisdom, beauty, melancholy, hope, and insight for readers of all ages.

Next time you read a book to your kids, take some time to really appreciate the message, the artwork, the cleverness. Look for things you haven’t noticed before. Even if the book is very basic, note how the author and illustrator communicate clearly and simply and think about how you can apply that to your communication. A lot of thought goes into even the simplest books.

Pssst…bonus points if you can name the book Nel’s blog title comes from.

Here are a few more kids’ lit links worth checking out this weekend:

• Looking for some great new books to share with your kids? Check out Esme Raji Coddell’s list of top books of 2012. Coddell tends to review the newer books out there, and her recommendations are always thorough, discussing in details both the plot and the illustrations.

• Each year, the American Library Association selects the best books. Their list of Youth Media Awards 2013 can be found here. How many of those books did you read? What books would you have recommended?

• Aregentian illustrator and writer, Isol, has won the world’s largest prize for children’s literature, the Astrid Lindgren memorial award. Check out some of her beautiful books (English and Spanish versions) here.

• Finally, just for a bit of fun, how well do you know your English children’s books? Can you identify them just by their covers? Take the Sporcle quiz! Let us know how you did ^_^.

Happy (weekend) reading!

We just had a post on 5 Simple Reading Tips, and we received some great comments on that post. We weren’t finished! Here are 5 more tips for you to try.

1) Have a familiar story time routine. A routine is useful for helping students settle down for story time. When students are used to a routine, it is easier for them to focus on and participate in the story. To create a routine, try the following:

a) Play story time music. This works well in classrooms, especially if you play the same music every time. The music is a transition cue to the students, who will quickly learn that the next activity is story time.

b) Have a story time area. Yes, it’s wonderful to be able to plop down almost anywhere and any time to read. But when you have a specific area for story time, you minimize distractions from other parts of the room, and you help students focus better.

2) Have a child help you turn the pages. Children love to help you, and they have likely already noticed that page turning is a big responsibility. Choose a child to come up to you and say, “Mizuki, can you turn the page for me, please?” That child can either remain with you to turn the rest of the pages (choose a different child each storytime), or she can sit down and let another child help with the next page.

3) Make silly mistakes to check comprehension. When you are reading a book to young learners, particularly young learners who are still developing language skills, you may not always know if they are following along with the story. A fun and simple way to make sure students are listening and understanding is to make an occasional playful mistake. For example, if reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, instead of reading, “On Thursday, he ate through four strawberries,” point to the strawberries and say, “On Thursday, he ate through four bananas.” If the children are following closely, they will laugh and say, “Nooooo!”, and then point out your mistake to you.  Your exchange might go like this:

Teacher: “On Thursday, he ate through four bananas.”
Children: “Noooooo!”
Teacher: “No? What did he eat?”
Children: “Strawberries!”
Teacher: “Ah, yes. Thank you. You’re right! He ate through ten strawberries.”
Children: “Noooo! Not ten. Four!”
Teacher: “Four? Can you count them with me? One, two, three, four! You’re right! He ate through four strawberries. You’re very good readers! Thank you. What do you think he ate next?”

The occasional silly mistake is a great way to get kids involved.

4) Make sound effects to give the story some life. Animal sounds? Make them! Children will be more than willing to help you with animal sounds.

Repeated words or phrases? Invite the children to shout them out at each moment in the story.

Does someone sit down with a thud? Go ahead, say thud or ka-boom when that happens. Does someone start to eat? Add the appropriate slurp slurp slurp for soup, gobble gobble gobble for other foods, and glug glug glug sounds for drinking. The wind goes whooosh and rain goes pitter-patter. The possibilities are endless!

5) Don’t tell, react. Peek at the next page and let your facial expressions give hints about what happens next in the story. But don’t let the children see the next page yet! Wait a moment before continuing. Your facial expressions generate curiosity, and the children will really want to find out what happens next.

For example, when you’re reading Five Little Monkeys, the doctor is increasingly angry from all of those falling monkeys, yes? You can puff your cheeks out and look a little bit angry (not too much…you don’t want to scare the children!). In Goodnight, Gorilla, the zookeeper’s wife turns out the light and then is surprised by the animals who say, “Good night” to her. You can look wide-eyed and surprised.

Ask the children, “What do you think happens next?” Allow them a few seconds to shout out possible answers, then turn the page to see if they were right. It is important here to accept all answers.

What is your favorite Simple Reading Tip?

Happy reading!

Many factors go into making a children’s book a hit in your home or classroom. The story, the pictures, and the characters are all important.

Your role in reading the book is an important factor as well.

Here are 5 Simple Reading Tips you can try when reading picture books to children.

1) Create interest in the story by discussing the cover. Before you open the book, read the title of the book. If your children are beginning to read, have them help you read the title of the book. Point out the characters. Count objects. Look for colors. Ask the children what they think the title means. Look at the illustration on the cover of the book. What is happening in the picture? Do you think the picture tells you something about the story? It might!

2) You don’t have to read every word on the page. You can adapt the story so that your children can understand what is happening. You might have a great book with beautiful pictures and a wonderful story, but the text in the book is too difficult for your kids. It’s okay to change some words, skip some text, and adapt the story to suit the level of the children you are reading to. Use the illustrations to help you tell the story at a level that makes sense for your situation.

3) Comment on the story while you are reading. Ask questions about and comment on what has happened so far. For example, if you are reading Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed, you can ask, How many monkeys are there now? What are they doing? Where is Mama?

You can ask the children to guess what might happen next, before you turn the page. Do you think the monkeys will jump on the bed again? What will Mama say? Which monkey will fall next?

Ask your emerging speakers simple yes/no questions or questions that can be answered with short answers to check for comprehension. Are the monkeys sleepy? Is Mama angry? Do you think that hurts?

Illustrations are very helpful here, because you can ask children to come to the book and point to something. Where is the doctor?  Can you point to the bed?  I see a telephone…can you find it?

4) Change your voice for each character. When you read a book aloud, try becoming all of those characters. Change your voice for the characters. You can speak in a whisper for a shy mouse. You can speak angrily. You can speak in a loud silly voice. You can speak in a quiet voice. Even when you have only one character, have fun changing your voice. This will make the story more entertaining and help the children understand which characters are talking.

As a bonus, you help children learn new words, such as shyly, angrily, happily, and sadly, because children will match your tone of voice to the words in the book and to the pictures on the pages.

5) Make sure everyone can see every page. When you read aloud to only one or two children, you can hold the book in your lap. It’s the same way you hold a book when you read to yourself.

When you read to a larger group, hold the book so that the pictures face out towards the group.

You might prefer to hold the book on your lap, because your lap is a stable place and your arms are less likely to get tired. If you do this, you will need to read upside-down. If you are unfamiliar with the book, it’s a good idea to read the story to yourself a couple of times before reading it to a group of children.
Other teachers prefer to hold to the book to one side. Reading sideways is usually easier than reading upside-down. However, larger picture books can be harder to hold this way, and you might not be able to read the words on the page that are farther away from you.

When you read to a larger group, sit on a chair or stand so that you and the book are above the group. This will make it easier for everyone to see.

Make sure that you show the pictures to all of the children in the group. Move the book slowly from one side of the group to the other so that everyone has a chance to see.

Do you have any Simple Reading Tips to share?

Coming up: more Simple Reading Tips!

What’s your favorite animal book?

Update: A big thanks to everyone who shared their favorite animal-themed books! We assigned a number to each comment and used random.org to generate two random numbers. The numbers were 7 and 27. This means the winning commenters were “Gracenawati” and “Magdalena_B”! Please contact us through our website to let us know where we should send your CD! Congrats!

Since we’re having so much fun with our animals topic this month, we wanted to share with you a top ten list of our favorite animal-themed picture books. We’d also love to know what your favorite animal books for young learners are! Just leave a comment below with your favorite animal-themed book or books, and we’ll enter you in a drawing to win a copy of our Super Simple Songs – Animals enhanced CD. We’ll select two winners at random from the comments section.

The fine print: One entry per person please and to be eligible, your comment must be posted here on the blog, not on Facebook. If you live somewhere we’re not able to ship to, we’ll send a download version instead. Contest ends April 22, 2013 at 12pm PST.

Here are our favorites!

10. Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing
While most of the books on this list are appropriate for preschoolers and younger, we like this one for preschool and up. Great for introducing and reviewing animals and clothing.

9. Whose Baby Am I?
This book has beautiful, warm illustrations of baby animals. Turn the page to see the baby together with its parent.

8. Maisy’s Morning on the Farm
Maisy has a lot of animal friends, so any Maisy book is great for talking about animals. This one introduces farm animals and farm chores. Young learners always love Maisy!

7. Dear Zoo
This classic lift-the-flap book introduces zoo animals and descriptive adjectives (heavy, big, tall, etc.).

6. Moo Baa La La La
Sandra Boynton’s books are written and illustrated with a sense of humor that kids of all ages enjoy. This is a great book for introducing farm animals and the sounds they make. 

5. Peek-a-Moo!
This lift-the-flap book is another great one for introducing farm animals and the sounds they make. Toddlers and younger in particular will appreciate the large bright images and flaps.

4. From Head to Toe
Eric Carle has a lot of great animal books. We love this one because of the variety of animals and it is great for teaching actions, parts of the body, and abilities (“I am a giraffe and I bend my neck. Can you do it?”).

3. Goodnight, Gorilla
Perfect for bedtime, this book introduces zoo animals in an adorable story.

2. Where’s Spot?
This lift-the-flap book isn’t specifically about animals, but Spot has a lot of animal friends you can talk about while looking for Spot. 

1. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
Another great one from Eric Carle (with Bill Martin), this book teaches colors while introducing a variety of  animals. Excellent for teaching the rhythm of English.

What is/are your favorite(s)?

Let’s make a Funny Valentine!

Practice parts of the face with this Valentine’s Day worksheet.

Look over the parts of the face page together and identify the different pieces; eyes, noses and mouths. Cut all of them out and sort them by type (when children are using scissors, be sure to supervise closely). Try different combinations, like a winking eye with a pig nose, or a dog’s mouth. When you have made the combination you like, glue the parts onto your Funny Valentine heart. You can color the heart before or after you glue on the face.

For younger children, you might just have them color the heart and draw on the parts of the face themselves.

No matter how you make your Funny Valentine, the recipient is sure to love it!

Don’t forget to write your name before you give it to your Valentine!

This craft is a perfect companion to “Skidamarink,” a cute and silly song that is great to sing for Valentine’s Day.

To extend the activity, look for colors with “I See Something Blue” or “I See Something Pink” from Super Simple Songs 1. Can you find something blue, yellow, red or purple?

After, name the different shapes. You might try using “The Shape Song #1” or “The Shape Song #2” to help you review. Both songs can be found on the Super Simple Songs 2 CD. Besides finding the colors and shapes in the tree and ornaments, look around the room and find more objects made of different shapes, or identify other colored items.

“Decorate The Christmas Tree” from Super Simple Songs – Christmas is a great song to play in the background as you do this activity together!

Wishing you a very happy holiday season!

Christmas songs old and new, made Super Simple, just for kids!

We know that this can be a very busy time of year with all the preparations for the holidays and end of year. To help you out, we’ve put together a list of Christmas and wintertime blog posts. Find lots of great tips for using songs from the Super Simple Songs – Christmas CD in the classroom, at home (maybe while the kids are on break), or at holiday parties and pageants.

We wish you a wonderful holiday season!

Christmas Blog Post Roundup

Christmas Songs for Young Learners
Read all about the features of the Super Simple Songs – Christmas enhanced CD. It’s everything you need for holiday lessons, parties and just for fun!

Christmas Teaching Tools
Need some holiday teaching ideas? Visit our Christmas pages for lots of activity ideas, and free downloads!

Parent Performances
Get ideas for parent performances, classroom observations and demonstration lessons. Maybe you’ll even want to put together a classroom play!

Music and Movement – Using Gestures
Using gestures with songs can really enhance language learning. Get tips on how to use them, along with gesture guides for “Hello, Reindeer” and “Goodbye, Snowman.”

Classic Christmas Carols Made Simple
Read about Super Simple versions of three classic holiday carols.

S-A-N-T-A
BINGO gets a holiday twist with “S-A-N-T-A.” Learn how to use this classroom favorite all year round.

We Wish You A Merry Christmas
We’ve added an action verb twist to this holiday classic, making it easier for young learners to understand.
Watch a winter wonderland video of the song from our friends in Slovakia.

Just For Fun – Shaving Foam Santa
Need a fun holiday activity that kids love? Try making Shaving Foam Santas!

How’s The Weather?
Snowflake and snowman craft ideas. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Christmas Topics – Counting and Numbers
No matter what age your students are, they can benefit from practicing numbers and counting. Worksheets and activities for “Jingle Bells” and “10 Little Elves.”

Christmas Topics – Toys
Practice discussing Christmas wants and wishes with “What Do You Want For Christmas?” and “Santa’s On His Way.” Learn how to introduce new vocabulary with a Mystery Box.

Christmas Topics – Action Verbs
Practice some fun new holiday action verbs like sawing, hammering, sewing and painting with “10 Little Elves.”

Christmas Topics – Prepositions of Place
Where is Santa? Is he under the tree? In his sleigh? On the roof? Practice prepositions of place with “Santa, Where Are You?”

Shake your hands to the left, shake your hands to the right

The Skeleton Dance

This song is based on a traditional spiritual hymn from the American South. “Dem Bones” (or “Dry Bones” as it is also called) was written to teach children about basic anatomy. Over the years, it’s been recorded by numerous artists, including the Delta Rhythm Boys, Fats Waller and Rosemary Clooney, all well known American artists.

We’ve been asked numerous times what “dem bones” means. Well, it is a colloquial, or informal, way of saying “those bones” (or them bones). It’s not really “correct” English, but because it is traditional song with a strong regional feel of the American southeast, we kept it as “dem.”

In addition to teaching on parts of the body, The Skeleton Dance helps teach left and right. It’s perfect for studying new parts of the body, and with the sing along version, you can add in your own.

Left and Right

One of the fun features of this song is working on left and right. This can be a tricky concept for young learners and one that can take a bit of time to learn. Many very young learners may not know left or right in their native language, so don’t be too concerned if they don’t understand. Just keep practicing and have fun!

The updated video mirrors the side that the kids need to shake their hands for it to be their left, we recommend that you do the same. If you are facing the class, you will be shaking to your right, but the kids will go to their left (just like in aerobics class ^_^)

If this is confusing, try turning around so that you face the same direction as the kids, that way their left is also your left.

This concept is best practiced consistently and in a variety of ways. Here are some more left/right teaching ideas:

• For students that know their alphabet, have them hold their hands out in front of them with only the index fingers and thumbs outstretched. The side that makes an “L” is the left.
• Put a stamp or sticker ONLY on the right hand. Students will have to give you the correct hand to receive it. Have students raise their right hand, right foot, right elbow, etc. After a few times on the right, switch to the left.
• Divide a white board in two halves, labeled Left and Right (or L and R). Using magnets or markers, give students verbal commands as to which side to put the magnet or write on.
• Make a maze in class out of chairs, desks or other furniture. Blindfold one student and have the other students guide her through the maze by giving her verbal directions, such as “turn left,” “turn right,” “go straight ahead for three steps,” etc. Older kids, 7 and up, love this activity.

Do you have other suggestions for learning left and right? Please share them in the comments below!

We hope you have a Happy Halloween!