Happy Friday! I hope that everyone is enjoying their summer! Some of you go back in just a week or two. Time sure is flying by!
This week's featured freebie is a new one. Write The Room Fruits Beginning Sounds is a fun literacy center that gets your students up and moving. When I taught Kindergarten, Write The Room was my students favorite center. There are eight pictures of fruit that you can hang up anywhere in the room and children search for the fruit and write the beginning sound or the whole word (your choice) on the recording sheet. Please show your kindness by leaving positive feedback and check out the 83 FREEBIES in my store! Be sure to follow me so you don't miss out on anything else great in my store.
Thanks for hoppin' by Hopkins' Hoppin' Happenings! Keep on smiling!
One of the most popular classic children's books is "Where The Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak. This great book helps spark children's imagination.
Did you know that this classic book is a song and now has a music video for it? That's right The Learning Station just released a video for their internationally hit song "Wild Things". This is a fun brain break song with incredible graphics. Children will love doing the fun movements that the wild thing makes. Children absolutely love Freeze Dance songs and this is a freeze dance song! The song is featured on the hit CD "Literacy In Motion" by The Learning Station. The hit CD also includes songs like "Five Little Monkeys", "I Know An Old Lady", "Green Eggs and Ham", and many more!
"Where The Wild Things Are" is also now a movie! It would be great to have children read the book, watch the movie, and listen to the song and then compare and contrast them!
There are affiliate links included for the movie and book. It doesn't cost you a penny more.
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When I saw the new The Learning Station song "Haunted House", which is a fun freeze dance song I just KNEW I had to share it with my readers. Brain breaks are perfect to give your students a few minutes break from work. Us adults can only concentrate on something for about 30 minutes from what I have read. Children it is far less than that. So break up their work with a quick brain break! I thought this song would be great with Halloween approaching!
The Learning Station has two different versions of videos for the song. The first one is an animation video with the words printed on the screen. This makes it perfect for ELL/ESOL learners as well as children just learning to read! Children will love the graphics and the characters are done in a way that they are not scary looking!
The second version of the song has two children and Don Monopoli doing the actions for the brain break. The background shows them going through the haunted house with the various Halloween characters.
Which video for "Haunted House" is your favorite? Let me know in the comments. You can purchase the actual song on CD Baby or ITUNES. Thanks for hoppin' by Hopkins' Hoppin' Happenings! Keep on smiling!
I am starting tutoring again this time with a Kindergarten student. I will be helping her mostly with math. One of the skills she has had difficulty with I was told is skip counting, except by 10's. So I made some fun hands-on activities of course to help her learn to skip count (multiples) her 2's and 5's. I believe that breaking them down into smaller chunks is the best way to learn it.
A friend found an idea of making lacing plates to practice skip counting. This will also help with minor motor skills.
I also created some fun farm skip counting puzzles for 2's and 5's. Each one has 10 pieces. If they make the animal correctly, they have the right answer. It is self checking! The student should then say the numbers orally. Click the pictures if you would like the Skip Counting activities to try with your students.
I also strongly believe in chanting them daily during morning meeting or math meeting and using videos or songs with skip counting in them. Videos and songs I can't do tutoring without a computer, but are suggested for those who teach a full class.
One of my favorites is "Skip Count" by The Learning Station. This is a skip counting by 2's song to 30. There are actions for the song that make it even more fun and give children that brain break that they really need! Don has the children marching and jumping as they skip count. FUN!
Thanks for hoppin by Hopkins' Hoppin' Happenings! Keep on smiling!
Christmas or winter break will be here before you know it. Children are getting anxious and need a brain break. I have shared all of these wonderful Christmas videos from The Learning Station on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, etc., but you may have missed them so I thought I would share several of my favorites!
First up is my favorite song as a child called Up On The Housetop. The Learning Station actually has 3 different versions of the song. My favorite is the brain break version featuring Don and an adorable little one.
Another favorite of mine is 12 Days Of Christmas. The Learning Station has two versions of this classic an animation and a live version. I actually performed this with Don on stage a couple of years ago, but I'm not in this video.
Me and Santa's Elves is a clever song with animation that your children or students will enjoy singing!
Other favorites include:
"Dancing Around The Christmas Tree" is a wonderful brain break song. It is beautifully animated.
"Has Anybody Seen Santa?" has lead vocals from The Learning Station's daughter Kali. This popular song is performed in many school assemblies. The adorably animated song is loved by children and adults.
"Jingle Bells" a classic song that is a favorite among children and adults all over the world. This one is an animated video.
They have so many other great Christmas songs. You can check them all out individually on the playlist I created HERE or play all the videos in a row with an ad free version (other than right at the beginning) that would be perfect for your parties by clicking HERE.
Which of these Christmas songs is your favorite? Let me know in the comments.
Thanks for hoppin' by Hopkins' Hoppin' Happenings. Keep on smiling!
