Math Songs for Kindergarten, Preschool and Toddlers

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Using songs on the computer are great for children as they are both auditory and visual. It allows for children to see and hear at the same time and it helps build concept skills as they are given the opportunity to put two and two together. For example, if they only hear the song with numbers, they will learn them as rote and won't know what it means. With visuals, and with time and practise, they will learn one-to-one correspondence. Here are some math songs I use in my classroom daily as they are fun and very educational. You will find shapes, Numbers, Colors, and Patterns, all part of Math!

Also, check out my Phonics Song For Kindergarten post here.

Shapes Song

Shapes Song 2

Number Song (1-10)

Number Song 2 (1-10)

Big Number Song (1-100; Bigger Numbers)

5 Little Ducks

10 in the Bed

Butterfly Colors Song

Butterfly Colors Song 2

Train Colors Song

AAB Pattern Song

Phonics Songs for Kindergarten, Preschool and Toddlers

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Listening to songs has always been a hit in a Kindergarten classroom. But listening AND watching them is an even bigger hit!!! 

Here are some links I always use in my classroom to help children with phonics. If you have younger ones, this is a fantastic way to get them started. It's fun and the children pick up quickly the sounds and words that begin with the sounds. In just a week, my students had started to come up with their own words that began with each letter even though the video gives only a few examples.
Most of the links that are teacher friendly, child friendly and parent friendly are by KidsTV123 (username on YouTube). ENJOY! Please also note KidsTV123 uses ZED and ZEE versions in different videos. If you search the specific sounds for the letter Z, they will show up!

Also, check out my post for Math Songs for Kindergarten here.

Sound Therapy

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Anytime I talk to people about sound therapy, I'm amazed at the amount of people who haven't heard about it! So, of course I would like to share!

What is sound therapy?

It is basically using music as therapy. Research has shown that using music (at certain wavelengths and types of music) helps the body, mind and soul to relax and feel calm.

Many people use sound therapy if you're going for a massage, doing yoga or doing meditation.

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I used it in my Kindergarten classroom all year long and called it meditation. It allowed the students to calm down and relax for a few minutes (mind you, they couldn't sit still for more than 5 minutes meditating as per to their normal development). 

When I was doing my undergrad, I remember reading about sound therapy. Sound therapy isn't just great for younger children but it is absolutely amazing for children and adults with special needs. Research also has shown that sound therapy helps with people who have:

• Mood disorders
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Amnesia
• Schizophrenia
• Alzheimer
• Dementia

As I use YouTube a lot, I stumbled upon many videos for Sound Therapy. There was also one for a condition called Tinnitus. This is where there is a continuous noise in the ears such constant ringing, buzzing, etc. To overcome this condition, the following video was posted. It is a 6 hour video of the water from a shower hitting the wall. It is quite soothing for a person like me who doesn't have tinnitus so I hope it works wonders for people with tinnitus as well.

The sounds used in the above video are called natural sounds. The following are links to the natural sounds I have used at different times in the classroom. On a rainy day, I always used rain and thunderstorm videos as background noise. It helped the students relax and also helped scared students find love for the rain (as I have. I absolutely LOVE the rain). On super sunny days I have used ocean waves. These can work great with themes as well. For spring, you may use rain; summer, you may use ocean waves or water falls, etc. 

Thunderstorm and Rain

Ocean Waves

Waterfall

Hot Springs

Nature and Forest (imagine putting up a tent in the classroom with this as background music!!! Fantastic!)

Birds

Dolphins and Whales

Underwater

Fire (one of my most favourite! Use this while students are reading or you are reading a story)

Wind

Here are some videos with soothing music. One of the them (1st one) is a video I showed my students a lot and they have fallen in love with it. The music plays a huge part of it! (Some started to refer to the video as the video with the meditation song!):

You can always search for specific videos on YouTube as of course these are not limited to the vast space for sound therapy.

The next links are sounds that have been created to help people with certain conditions (please note that these videos are not a cure and that they may not work for every single person out there):

Anxiety and Depression

Please be aware that some people are able to see sound and taste/hear colour. That is called synesthesia. One of my good friends has synesthesia and when she told me about it, I was amazed! Though she has said that there are times when the sound is too much and she sees colours everywhere. So, please make sure you are aware of students of other people who may react differently to sounds! 

Meet Raja

I don't know why I haven't posted anything about my pet bird, Raja. Raja means Prince in Urdu. He is an Australian Budgie and he has been with us for a little over 5 years. 

He is super friendly. He loves to sing and tweet. And he is just really, really cute!!! Oh, and he is a bit of a show off which is why he is super friendly!

We let Raja fly around in the house at times. He likes to take about  4-5 rounds around the kitchen and the living room and then he sits back in his cage.

In the cage, I have some bells for him, a swing and a couple of mirrors. He loves anything shiny so he is crazy about the mirror.

Raja loves walking on shoulders and arms. And he loves sitting on my finger. Every time I put my thumb up to his beak, he kisses it...so cute!!

I have taken him many times into different classrooms for the students to see. They love to observe him and listen to him when he is tweeting. It is a great way to spark an interest in pets, animals and science all at the same time.

For an art activity, I bought feathers from the dollar store and put it with paint on the art table. The children loved painting with feathers. Super fun activity.

On the science table, I took some feathers and put them with magnifying glasses. The students had a great time observing the feathers and feeling the feathers. I also put out white paper and crayons if they wanted to draw some feathers. 

For the play dough table, I was lucky enough to have cutters in shapes of birds. The children loved recreating Raja with play dough (I also used green play dough so it seems more realistic). 

My students drew pictures, painted pictures, built bird houses and wrote stories about Raja. They love it when he comes for a visit. Has anyone else taken their house pets for a school visit?

Bulletin Board - Kindergarten Pizzazz

In my classroom about a month or so ago, my children LOVED talking about pizzas. I decided to make a Pizza Parlour in the Dramatic Centre. And in the art centre, we made our own pizzas with different toppings.

I used Large paper plates. (I took pictures I have to find them!)

Day 1: They painted the paper plates yellow for the dough

Day 2: They used red strips of construction paper for the tomato sauce

Day 3: They put cheese on (I used yellow tissue paper, put it in the shredder and used it as cheese). 

Day 4: They added different toppings (used tissue paper and they cut them out themselves to make different toppings. Mostly it was cheese or pepperoni. Some added mushrooms!)

Here is what my bulletin board looked like!!

Mortimer - Storytelling With Instruments

I love Robert Munsch as many other teachers do too. But the children love it even more with how I do the story 'Mortimer' in my classroom.

Very simple and very fun!

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All you need is the book: Mortimer by Robert Munsch and...

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                                          Instruments!

Every time Mortimer sings "Clang, clang. Rattle, bing bang. Gonna make my noise all day", the children make noise with the instruments! I have done the story with the kids making loud noises with the instruments, medium-level noises, soft noises and even as-quiet-as-a-mouse noises. It's a ton of fun!! (Though, I do recommend you close the door during this circle time story!) 

Classroom Centres - Sand Box/Table/Bin

I know. I know. I have been MIA since the beginning of October. But it is unbelievable how busy I have become. Battling my Masters part-time with a full-time Kindergarten position, I don't know how I found the time to even sleep some days.

But I am back. Hopefully not taking huge breaks this time. I love, love, love the sand box. In my classroom, I have done quite a few different things with building sensory skills but unfortunately did not get the time to photograph all of them. Here are some of the things I have used and some I did not get a chance to yet!!

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I started off the school year with putting in letters and numbers in the sand box. It is the easiest thing to put in, it's fun and it is also academic. The students love it. Yes, it gets messy. But that is the point in Kindergarten. To get messy. Also, under the sand table, I put a little basket with brushes and pans from the dollar store. The children tidy it up themselves at tidy up time. It's great for self-regulation!

Sand is excellent for adding in other things:

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Shovels and Pails. Scoops and Cups. (teaches them to fill and empty and learn about mass, capacity and quantity).

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Dinosaurs!!! (Always a hit! Add magnifying glasses)

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Construction Toys!

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Sea Shells! (with pails and shovels. Goal can be to find as many sea shells and then count them. Also, can look for patterns. Add some magnifying glasses!!)

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Rocks! (with brushes. Great for archeologist-in-the-making students to find fossils!)

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Sea creatures (could be the plastic ones or actual rubber toys)

with shovels/brushes

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Jewels/Gems!! (Buy these from the dollar store/Michaels. Look for hidden gems! Add brushes/pails/scoops).

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Water! (Making the sand wet makes for an excellent way to build castles!)

There are so many other ways teachers use the sand box in their room. Another way to build fine motor skills (small muscles) for better hand control is to put in the alphabet on the wall or beside the sand table/box and have the kids use their fingers to write letters/numbers/words. It works really well for children who have not yet grasped the strength (or learning ability) to hold a pencil well. And most of all, it is FUN! They don't think this is work that they need to finish.

How do you use your sand table? (Please share how you have used sand in the classroom since I will be doing another post about the sensory bin.....which is different from the sand bin! Thanks!)