Song Power

My baby is going to be one and I have been singing her lullabies every night.  One is her name song where I spell her name to the tune to It's a Small World.  (It sticks in my head!)

I have also sung the following song so that she learns the name of her family and where she lives in case of an emergency.

In ________________, _____________________ there is a girl
          (city)                          (state)

and her name is ___________________________.

Her mommy's name is ______________________.

Her daddy's name is _______________________.

Their last name is __________________________.

They love her.

They love her

(Sung to the tune of Hickory Dictory Dock)

* mommy and daddy can be replaced by grandma and grandpa or auntie or whoever the care giver is...

Every night I sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and tonight she hummed it!  I was shocked!  I love that song because it is the same tune as the Alphabet Song (which we also since daily).  I turned the Alphabet Song into the sound song too.

I believe these catchy tunes help children remember.  It certainly helps me!

In addition to my baby girl, I try to teach my first graders how to use songs to help them remember key concepts.  They even get to write their own songs about important topics (usually science).

While we were learning two digit addition and subtraction in math we sang:

When you are adding
tens and ones, tens and ones, tens and ones
When you are adding tens and ones,
Add the ones first, first, first.
Add the ones first, first, first
And then,
ADD THE TENS!


When you are subtracting
tens and ones, tens and ones, tens and ones
When you are subtracting tens and ones,
Subtract the ones first, first, first.
Subtract the ones first, first, first
And then,
SUBTRACT THE TENS!

The kids helped create movements to go with the song.