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Click on the
"month"
to
see that month's
activities:
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Welcome
to Dr. Maggie Allen’s Learning Express
Month-by-Month Classroom Connections for
Pre-K through Grade 2
Now Includes Grade 3
How to best-use these songs
and activities:
Designed
for busy teachers who want fun, motivating ways to build student's
language skills, these simple activities may be used in a variety of
ways. They can be included as warm‑ups to shared reading
experiences, as mini‑skill lessons, or as pocket‑chart and center
activities. They can also be integrated into other curriculum areas.
For
pre‑kindergarten children, introduce the rhymes and songs orally.
After students are confident, display the poem/song in chart format
or as an overhead transparency. (You can write the lyrics on chart
paper or enlarge the reproducible page and glue it on poster board.)
For
kindergarten and first‑grade children, enlarge the print and cut the
rhyme and song charts into sentence strips and/or word cards.
Children can use these in pocket charts so they can revisit
the text. Remember that young children enjoy repetition and find it
stimulating, not boring. They gain confidence as they meet familiar
verses again and again. Repetition helps them internalize the
vocabulary and syntax.
For
second grade children, use the songs and poems as literacy spring
boards to activate their own creative writing.
Build
literacy by calling student's attention to rhyming words, word
families, and spelling patterns. This will help reinforce phonemic
awareness, reading, writing, and spelling skills. Extend listening
and speaking skills to singing, drawing, and dramatizing to reach
all learning modalities and intelligences.
After
students learn the poem or song at school, reproduce it and send it
home to share with their families. Using these activities is
an easy way to build the school‑home connection so important to
children's learning.
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