Do the Clock Rock!

by | Listen & Learn Music, Uncategorized

My students and I have been rocking out all month to this song (which can be found on the pages of my Listen & Learn Songbook, by the way!) and this blog post is definitely past due. Telling time is another one of those skills that every child must learn, and I have come across (and put into use) a fair share of songs meant to teach just that.

The song I wrote is about as simple as it gets. It’s a stepping stone to the more complicated aspects of reading the clock, which I’ll get to in my next tick-tock tune :) For now, we focus on the numbers and use simple choreography (arm motions mimicking the hands of the clock) to show how they are situated. By now, the classroom staff at The Hope Institute are experts at it!

Doo-doot, doo, do the clock rock,
Rockin’ all day and night,
Doo-doot, doo, do the clock rock.
Round and round, with all our might.

Start at the top, that’s twelve AM.
One, two, three, four, five,
Six at the bottom,
Seven, eight, nine, ten,
Eleven and then,
We’ve made it back to twelve again!

CHORUS

Start at the top, that’s twelve PM.
One, two, three, four, five,
Six at the bottom,
Seven, eight, nine, ten,
Eleven and then,
We’ve made it back to twelve again!

CHORUS

Many of the classrooms at my school have those plastic or cardboard clocks with movable arms, which come in very handy when we sing this song.  The rest of the time, I draw my own clocks, or just use hand motions – my students LOVE doing the “Clock Rock” dance – to emphasize the information presented in this song.  The more fun you make it, the more effective a teaching tool it will be!

Green Money

by | Listen & Learn Music, Uncategorized

With the holidays just around the corner, buying gifts for friends and family is on just about everyone’s to-do list. Many of you probably include your children in this activity, and they may even use some of their own money to purchase presents. Although the concept of exchanging money can be foreign to little ones, there’s no harm in teaching it early.

You may remember the Four Little Coins song I shared several months back. In today’s song, we address paper bills – the green stuff. Although I’m thinking that I should probably write a new money song about plastic, since credit and debit cards are becoming then norm these days. But we’ll keep it old-school for the time being; take a listen.

Green money, green money,
Paper bills are green.
Starting with one to one hundred dollars,
And those that come between.

One dollar,
Two dollars,
Ten and twenty,
Bills in each amount.
Also fifty and one hundred
Dollar bills to count.

Green money, green money,
Paper bills are green.
Starting with one to one hundred dollars,
And those that come between.

Use this tune as an opportunity to explain that paper bills come in different amounts, and use a real (or real-looking) bill to show your child or student how to tell the difference between each. Emphasize that even though a dollar bill and one hundred dollar bill may look very similar, the latter is worth MUCH more than the former. You can also discuss making change, if you’re feeling extra ambitious!

Up and Down

by | Listen & Learn Music, Uncategorized


You’ve probably noticed that something has been missing from this blog lately: songs! Yes, the very reason many of you visit Listen & Learn in the first place…so thanks for sticking around despite the lack of new tunes over the last couple of weeks. But that is all about to change, since I’ve been saving a few up in the vault.

“Up and Down” is a song I wrote this summer and just happens to be included in the Listen & Learn Songbook. There are so many ways to describe this concept, that I actually had to cut a few verses from the original! But feel free to add as many of your own as you’d like :)

Balls can bounce
Up and down.
Towards the sky,
Then to the ground.
Balls can bounce
High and low,
Up above and down they go.

Frogs can leap
Up and down.
Into the air
Then to the ground.
Frogs can leap
High and low,
Up above and down they go.

Elevators move
Up and down.
To the top floor
And underground.
Elevators move
High and low,
Up above and down they go.

Birds can fly
Up and down.
Way beyond the trees
And to the ground.
Birds can fly
High and low,
Up above and down they go.

We can jump
Up and down.
Towards the sky,
Then to the ground.
We can jump
High and low,
Up above and down we go.

Speaking of up and down, I have certainly traveled my fair share in both directions over the last week! And it’s not over yet; tomorrow I’m heading south to watch my sister-in-law defend her doctoral thesis, which just happens to be on the topic of neuroscience. I’m already preparing to be blown away!

Shapes are Everywhere

by | Listen & Learn Music, Uncategorized

Shape identification is a skill I’ve addressed through music with countless students, and I think I’ve also lost count of the songs and activities I’ve used for this particular goal area. There are plenty of songs out there about shapes, but I decided to write my own so that I could choose which shapes I wanted to include, as well as specific examples of each.

Rectangle, circle, triangle, square,
Find them here and there.
In your house, and outside too,
Shapes are everywhere.

Books and doors and picture frames
Are rectangles, usually.
Two sides are short, two sides are long,
Which rectangles can you see?

CHORUS

Wheels and buttons and lollipops
Are circles, usually.
Circles are round and have no sides,
Which circles can you see?

CHORUS

Slices of pizza, cake, and pie
Are triangles, usually.
Three sides that can be short or long,
Which triangles can you see?

CHORUS

Blocks and cheese and checkerboards
Are squares, usually.
Four sides that are all the same,
Which squares can you see?

CHORUS

See what other objects your students can identify in these four different shapes…I actually had a hard time coming up with a few of them! This song just begs for pictures to accompany it, which would be a great art project. What songs or activities have you used to teach shapes? I’d love to hear your ideas!

Four Little Coins

by | Listen & Learn Music, Uncategorized

Recognizing, counting, and using money are functional skills that every child is taught at some point in his or her education. I’ve been impressed so many times over the years by the creative methods that teachers use to teach the concept of money, and I can’t tell you how many different songs I’ve heard about the penny, nickel, dime, and quarter.

So I thought to myself, why not add one more to that heaping collection? The song I’m sharing today focuses on recognizing the four main coins, and also their monetary value. I have yet to use this song in a music therapy session as it is fairly new, but hopefully it is effective. “Four Little Coins” goes like this:

There are four little coins in my pocket,
Each one has its own name.
These four little coins are all money,
but their values are not the same.

A penny is copper in color.
Small, thin and round, you see.
Abraham Lincoln is the face on this coin,
One cent for you and me.

CHORUS

A nickel is silver in color.
Small, fat and round, you see.
Thomas Jefferson is the face on this coin,
Five cents for you and me.

CHORUS

A dime is silver in color.
Small, thin and round, you see.
Franklin D. Roosevelt is the face on this coin,
Ten cents for you and me.

CHORUS

A quarter is silver in color.
Big, thin and round, you see.
George Washington is the face on this coin,
Twenty-five cents for you and me.

There are four little coins in my pocket,
Now you know each one’s name.
What it looks like and how much each one is worth,
Because their values are not the same.

I’ve always found that it works best to use actual coins when teaching money concepts, rather than pictures or fake money. One thing I’ve done in the past is put velcro on the back of each coin, and asked students to match the coin with its correct value, name, or description. I made a book for this purpose during my internship, and still pull it out from time to time. What kinds of activities or songs do you use to teach children about money?