Top 5 Pandora Stations for Pre-K

I LOVE music. It can either emphasize my current mood or inspire a new mood altogether. Depending on what my family is doing, we choose one of the following Pandora stations:

1. Toddler Radio: This one is mostly upbeat, with many recognizable children's songs included. I like to use this one when I'm prepping dinner and my son is playing independently. We sing and dance together as the mood strikes us. 

2. The Mozart Effect (Children's Radio): I like to use this station when my son is doing something creative that requires his attention, such as art or Play-Doh.  It's also great for the early morning or late evening, when we need to keep things low-key. 

3. Baby Einstein (Children's) Radio: Okay.  I know it says "baby" in the title, but this one is similar to the Toddler station with a little more classical music. I like to switch between the two to give me a little variety in the songs.

4.  Rockabye Baby! (Children's) Radio:  Once again, ignore the "baby" in the title.  It's nice to be able to listen to the instrumental/slow tempo version of songs by bands like Muse and Aerosmith.  As the title suggests, it's all lullaby instruments in place of the usual guitars and drums.  It's pretty amazing, actually.  It's great for bath/bedtime routines when we are winding down for the day. I find my son humming along with me to some of my favorite songs as we go through our evening.


What are your favorite Pandora stations for your time at home?  I'd love to get some new station ideas from you!

Teaching Figurative Language Through Poetry

One of my favorite writing units comes at the beginning of the year for me.  How lucky am I?  Actually, I make it that way so I'm kind of creating my own luck ;)

I love poetry, music, and figurative language.  When you put all those together, what do you get?  MUSIC!

I created an activity that involves looking at song lyrics to find figurative language.  It focuses on hyperbole, similes, metaphors, and personifications.  You can check it out by clicking here.

Do you explicitly teach figurative language using poetry or music?  I'd love to know how.

Music for Learning and Bonding Link-Up

I know I already posted about this, but Amanda at Teaching Madness is having a music Link-Up.

I have always been a big fan of using music to set the mood in the classroom. This past year, I really started exploring using it as more than just "background music."  Here's some of the songs I love and the ways I use them.

To signal that it's time to transition or clean up.  Usually, these are upbeat songs with heavy rhythms.  They dance their way to their seat or the next station until the music stops.  These are just some of my/their favorites.

• Peanut Butter and Jelly Time by Kidz Bop
• Blue (Da Ba Dee) by Pokerface Hits
• I Like to Move It by Madagascar Team Players
• Born This Way (Lady Gaga Karaoke Tribute Instrumental Version)
• Celebration by Kool & the Gang
• Rockin' Robin by Bobby Day
• Mambo No. 5 by (Karaoke Instrumental Track) in the style of Lou Bega
• Whip It (Karaoke Instrumental Track) in the style of Devo

To reinforce math concepts. 

• Lemonade Stand (Liquid Measurement) by Teacher and the Rockbots
• You Can Multiply by Twelve by Teacher and teh Rockbots
• Long Division by Karl Roemer
• Nonagon by They Might Be Giants

 To reinforce science concepts.

• Things in Space (8 Planets) by Teacher and the Rockbots

To reinforce language arts concepts.

• Prepositional Phrases by Mr. Duey
• Synonym Antonym Homonym by Rockin' the Standards
• Writer's Song by Rockin' the Standards