Today is the last day of the winter break, and I have gotten myself so excited with all this music talk that we just might have to extend both morning and afternoon meeting tomorrow to fit in a little extra music!But I do want to share one more favorite children's artist of mine... Dan Zanes. When I was in college, I worked at Books of Wonder in Manhattan, and we carried Dan Zanes' first album, Rocket Ship Beach, in a little pile on the counter. It was in a beautiful board book kind of packaging, and I bought it for myself, and then for everyone I knew under the age of eight. But I think it's great for all ages.
The second release from Dan Zanes and Friends was called Family Dance, and it has one of my favorite original songs from the group, Jump Up.
Jump up
Day is breaking
Jump up
Let's get shaking
I know you're lying down
Jump up
And we'll dance around
Since that first release in 2000, the band definitely took over New York and then the rest of the country quickly followed. They tour every year, playing family friendly venues on Saturday afternoons so the whole family can dance together! They include classic folk tunes on many of their records, exposing children to new sounds and languages. It is probably the most "kid-like" music of the artists I have been talking about, but I'm happy to include it in my music collection.
This coming week, I'll be talking about writing in the classroom, and hopefully giving you a peek into our current sewing project!
I will look forward to your posts on writing in the classroom. We have Portfolio sessions next week but then I am plannning to do a bookmaking/writing focus in our classroom for the rest of the month.
ReplyDeletean all time favorite of mine.
ReplyDeleteall time.
I discovered your blog last week and spent an entire afternoon reading all your posts. I'm currently working on my early childhood degree and plan on using the project approach in my own classroom. I really enjoyed reading about your experience with the forest project and now your music suggestions. I love that you are choosing projects your students are most interested in.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to hearing about your future classroom projects!
-Michelle
Juliann - Great! I was just talking with another teacher about how bookmaking really is a project all on its own -- we just stretch it out over the whole year. The stories and books that the children are making right now are great.
ReplyDeleteKristin - I'm glad! And the chords are easy... just g/c/f...
Michelle - Thank you - I'm glad you found me. Come back soon!