I always have such fun when I read my "Over" books to kids, because you can also "sing" the words to the "Over in the Meadow" tune by Olive A. Wadsworth .
When I was teaching and also at library story times, I used many different traditional children's tunes and even modern country and rock songs that are filled with rhythms and sound patterns, adding different words.
When you do, young children are expanding their vocablary and exercising memorization skills. I love putting rhyme and repetition in many of the books I have now published, and in my latest, "Over on a Mountain, Somewhere in the World" I hope you will try singing it after reading it. The music is included in the book.
If you don't read music, you can hear the melody for my first "Over" book, "Over in the Ocean, in a Coral Reef. Just go to:
http://www.dawnpub.com/our-authorsillustrators/marianne-berkes/
Scroll all the way down to the end under "Media" in the right hand column and click onto the audio file. You will hear how "Over in the Ocean" is sung, and just use the same melody for "Over on a Mountain" or any of my other "Over" books.
As you "sing" the story, ask the children to act out what each animal is doing. Acting out a story teaches kids story sequence, which is an important foundation for reading comprehension.
After you have read the book to children, you may also want to try singing it to a different tune.
Remember "The Bear Went Over the Mountain?" Holding the book up, showing Jill Dubin's adorable illustration of the llama, start singing the words below, which I made up to go with this book:
The llama went over a mountain
The llama went over a mountain
The llama went over a mountain
With her little baby one. (hold up one finger)
Before you turn the page, let the children tell you who the next animal is, then sing:
The panda went over a mountain
The panda went over a mountain
The panda went over a mountain
With her little babies two. (hold up two fingers)
Turn page and let children tell you who the next animal is:
The ibex went over a mountain
The ibex went over a mountain
The ibex went over a mountain
With her little babies three (hold up three fingers)
Continue until you get to 10.
The penguin went over a mountain
The penguin went over a mountain
The penguin went over a mountain
With his little babies ten. (hold up ten fingers)
Last verse
They all went over a mountain
They all went over a mountain
They all went over a mountain
To see what they could see!
They saw another mountain
They saw another mountain
They saw another mountain
And that is what they saw!
When I was teaching and also at library story times, I used many different traditional children's tunes and even modern country and rock songs that are filled with rhythms and sound patterns, adding different words.
When you do, young children are expanding their vocablary and exercising memorization skills. I love putting rhyme and repetition in many of the books I have now published, and in my latest, "Over on a Mountain, Somewhere in the World" I hope you will try singing it after reading it. The music is included in the book.
If you don't read music, you can hear the melody for my first "Over" book, "Over in the Ocean, in a Coral Reef. Just go to:
http://www.dawnpub.com/our-authorsillustrators/marianne-berkes/
Scroll all the way down to the end under "Media" in the right hand column and click onto the audio file. You will hear how "Over in the Ocean" is sung, and just use the same melody for "Over on a Mountain" or any of my other "Over" books.
As you "sing" the story, ask the children to act out what each animal is doing. Acting out a story teaches kids story sequence, which is an important foundation for reading comprehension.
After you have read the book to children, you may also want to try singing it to a different tune.
Remember "The Bear Went Over the Mountain?" Holding the book up, showing Jill Dubin's adorable illustration of the llama, start singing the words below, which I made up to go with this book:
The llama went over a mountain
The llama went over a mountain
The llama went over a mountain
With her little baby one. (hold up one finger)
Before you turn the page, let the children tell you who the next animal is, then sing:
The panda went over a mountain
The panda went over a mountain
The panda went over a mountain
With her little babies two. (hold up two fingers)
Turn page and let children tell you who the next animal is:
The ibex went over a mountain
The ibex went over a mountain
The ibex went over a mountain
With her little babies three (hold up three fingers)
Continue until you get to 10.
The penguin went over a mountain
The penguin went over a mountain
The penguin went over a mountain
With his little babies ten. (hold up ten fingers)
Last verse
They all went over a mountain
They all went over a mountain
They all went over a mountain
To see what they could see!
They saw another mountain
They saw another mountain
They saw another mountain
And that is what they saw!