Christmas Topics – Action Verbs

Repetition provides a great opportunity to focus on different aspects of a song to teach new vocabulary. Change your flashcards, play new games or use different gestures. Kids love mixing it up. 10 Little Elves 10 Little Elves is a perfect song for this. It can be used to work on a variety of vocabulary themes. Of course, it is great for practicing or reviewing counting and numbers. How do elves make different toys?...

December 14, 2011 · 1 min · 189 words · Carolyn Lindsey

Guest Post – Super Simple “Hacks”

Since then, I have collected small ways to make the songs even more enjoyable and funny. I call these Super Simple Hacks. Especially when done in a Freeze Dance style. Play the song while doing the actions. Several times during the song, pause the music. The students and teacher, Freeze. This in itself is hilarious. Choose the right moment to freeze,when your face or body is in a strange position....

December 7, 2011 · 2 min · 296 words · Margaret Erickson

Music and Movement – Using Gestures

From our time in the classroom, we know that songs and gestures together absolutely assist learning. Songs allow students to feel the language, and gestures and movement help them make sense of it. Kids learn more quickly and retain the knowledge longer when they sing and move together. Here are a few tips on using gestures and movement together with songs to foster language development. Many traditional childrens songs are not created with movement in mind....

December 5, 2011 · 3 min · 427 words · Michael Garcia

Christmas Topics – Toys

What do you want for Christmas? is a question that many children will be asked during the upcoming holiday season. This is the perfect opportunity to bring in actual toys for the kids to talk about. Mystery Box One of our favorite ways of introducing new items is with the Mystery Box. Its easy to make a Mystery Box and it may quickly become one of your favorite teaching tools....

November 24, 2011 · 2 min · 235 words · Erica Horn

Christmas Topics – Counting and Numbers

you’re free to easily add a quick counting activity as part of any lesson. Use a song (Count & Move is the perfect active song to review numbersandget some wiggles out! ), or count objects in a storytime book. Or spend a week incorporating more focused counting activities by combining a song, worksheet and game. Here are a few ideas using songs and materials from Super Simple. Try 10 Little Elves....

November 22, 2011 · 2 min · 326 words · Sarah Murphy MD

How’s the Weather?

As the seasons change, its a great time to discuss the weather. When your students come to class, asking them Hows the weather? will help them become familiar with words for whats going on outside. Our favorite way to introduce new vocabulary is with a song. from Super Simple Songs teaches four basic types of weather: sunny, rainy, cloudy and snowy. There are many crafts and games that it’s possible for you to do with them!...

November 19, 2011 · 2 min · 318 words · Robyn Henry

Christmas Topics – Prepositions of Place

Using props and demonstrating location through gestures and manipulatives can help young learners understand this concept. But kids really grasp the idea when they are looking for something…or someone. As with any concept, repetition reinforces the learning of new vocabulary. Everyone learns in different ways, so its good to incorporate a variety of activities into your lessons. Some students are better with visuals. For them, flashcards are great. Other students remember more easily when they can touch and move things around....

November 18, 2011 · 2 min · 399 words · Robert Carlson

My English Passport

As teachers, we are always looking for ways to engage with our students. One tool that weve found particularly helpful is a student passport. Passports can be used in a number of different ways and are easy to incorporate into your lessons. Its also a great incentive for them to always come to class! Download and print this free English Passport. If possible, print it on thicker paper so that it will last the whole year....

November 9, 2011 · 1 min · 106 words · Lisa Gordon

Everybody Up!

It was a great opportunity to work with some amazing people. This series includes over 100 songs from the Starter Level to Level 6. Songs are a big part ofeverylevel. Heres one of the songs Troy and Devon made for theEverybody UpStarter Level, How Many? : Want to hear a few more songs from the series? Check out theEverybody UpGlobal Sing-along, where you might download five free songs (including How Many?...

November 1, 2011 · 1 min · 93 words · Michele Kramer

Five Little Pumpkins – Classroom Tips

Five Little Pumpkins is fun little song. Five Little Pumpkins Lesson Plan Need a quick and easy autumn lesson plan? Combined with other Halloween songs from Super Simple, youve got a great lesson ready to go. Hello Song: Choose your favorite hello song. For Halloween, we recommend Hello, My Friends. Even if you havent used the song before, students can follow along as you gesture. See this blog post for somegesture suggestions....

October 29, 2011 · 3 min · 522 words · Michelle Hurst

Row Row Row Your Boat

Its a lot of fun tosing in a round. This is just one of the fun extras that kids can learn with ourRow Row YouTube video. His beautiful illustrations breathe new life into this classic tune. ♫ Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily… ♫ Kids love watching as the squirrel and rabbit float gently down the stream, together, through the seasons. Theres plenty of vocabulary to watch out for. Look for various insects, changing seasons, beautiful colors, and signs of aging....

October 27, 2011 · 2 min · 322 words · Noah Norris

5 ways to make Halloween parties less scary for young kids

We always venture to stress the playfulness of Halloween. Its a time for dressing up, playing games, singing songs, carving pumpkins, trick-or-treating, etc. its a confusing time! Here are a few tips for helping kids handle those fears. Pass on the haunted house Many adults get more excited about the holiday than the kids ^_^. Sometimes as adults, we forget how crazy some things must seem to kids....

October 26, 2011 · 2 min · 238 words · Matthew Gill

5 Years of “Uh-huh!”

Thats a lot of head nodding. If you ask a native-English speaking child, Do you like ice cream? she will almost certainly NOT answer Yes, I do. ♫ Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh…unh-unh ♫ Kids say things like yep or uh-huh! This song also helps children learn the rhythm of English. Children who learn this song get a quick lesson in the importance of intonation. Here is aplaylist of people performing Uh-huh!...

October 26, 2011 · 1 min · 166 words · Michele Chapman