Using Music to Engage Your Readers (Note: It's Going to Be Loud & You're Going to Love it!)

“Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent.” - Victor Hugo

One of my favorite small moments in a day is listening to my students sing loudly, loud enough to be heard down the hallway, about the water cycle or the Preamble or whatever our current Science or Social Studies topic happens to be that day. 

The right music can change the mood of the classroom. Most students love it immediately, some are too shy to sing but the change in their body language speaks volumes, and an occasional one or two play the "too cool" factor.  The "too cool" kids come around eventually, though. Music and movement builds a creative and kinesthetic transfer of knowledge to students, minus the pressure of text-based learning. It's like a green smoothie...loaded with spinach, kale and vitamins but tastes like candy. 

Over the years, I've compiled a list of go-to songs that correlate to our 3rd and 4th grade Science and Social Studies units, as well as a few just plain fun ones. I'm sharing them below.  Enjoy!

Social Studies

"Tour the 50 States" (My favorite!  I use it throughout the year.)	Tour The States Song
Parts of a Globe	Globe, Teacher and the Rockbots
Landforms	Landforms Teacher and The Rockbots
Reading a Map	How to Read a Map: Teacher and the Rockbots
"The Preamble" (with Lyrics) (By the end of this one, I usually have multiple blue grass bands of students strumming along using notebooks and pencils as their instruments. It's super cool to see and hear the music and movement that develops by diverse students.)	The Preamble: School House Rock
Colonial America	No More Kings: School House Rock
Paul Revere & The Revolutionary War	Shot Heard Round the World: School House Rock
Legislative Branch	I'm Just a Bill: School House Rock

Explorers (Based on "Party in the USA", but it's catchy and memorable.)	Discoverin' America

Science

Water Cycle (You'll find yourself singing this one in the car, doing the dishes... It works, though!  I've heard kids humming it while taking the unit assessment.)	Water Cycle Song
Water Cycle	COOL Water Cycle song
Phases of the Moon (I think this one is hard on the ears, but students like it and learn from it.)	Phases of the Moon
Minerals (Mr. Pharr writes these songs for middle school, so some of the information extends beyond the elementary curriculum. He uses modern songs, though, that do a great job reinforcing science concepts).	Minerals
Types of Rocks - by Mr. Pharr	Types of Rocks
Fossils - by Mr. Pharr	Fossils Song
Force and Motion (This one is weird, but fun and informational.)	What's Newton's Law Say?
Planets	Outer Space: We are the Planets

Just for Fun

Minions - "Happy"	"Happy" Music Video
Minions Song - "YMCA"	Minions' Song: YMCA
"Respect and Pride Song" (This one has to be purchased, but it's worth it.  I use it at the beginning of the year to introduce classroom environment expectations, and return to it throughout the year.	Respect and Pride

Two final thoughts: 

• A lot of these songs have ads before the song plays or in a side bar.  I use the "freeze" button on my Promethean Board to ensure that I'm not showing these advertisements.  I release the Freeze button as the song begins.
• I post these songs to my students' Edmodo accounts so that they can access the songs at home, too.

Have fun!

We teach to inspire our students and change our small corner of the world. Sometimes, we need a little inspiration ourselves. So, here's a pick-me-up for teachers of good things that make our world a better place. 

Unilever Project Sunlight Partners with HatchKids to teach that even the smallest act of sharing a meal can change the future of a child. Could you feed a child for a week on $36.50? These kids are going to try.  Such a small but powerful way to teach about childhood hunger. 
{Read & Watch more...}

What the Slow Food movement can teach the United States about education reform: A fascinating article from The Atlantic on slowing down our instruction to create more meaningful engagement.
{Read more...}

Ten Soul-Feeding Quotes on Writing from The Gift of Writing
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#RulesoftheGame: How Project Love is Teaching At-Risk kids How to Use Values to Succeed
{Read More...}

Super Cool Science: Watch as a White Blood Cell Chases Bacteria - Extraordinary!

{Click the Video to Watch} 

30 Historic Moments in Photographs ~ Lots of Close Reading of a Picture Possibilities

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Kids traveling to school through the Indian Himalayas & other amazing journeys to school from around the world.
{Read more...}

Rita Pierson: Ted Talk
If you haven't seen this TED Talk yet, make time to watch it today! She understands the impact of turning an ordinary moment into an extraordinary connection.
{Watch now...}

30 Read Alouds to Integrate Science, Social Studies, and Literacy Skills

After an exhausting weekend of being chauffeur, family photographer, and social event coordinator for my own kids, I stood in the middle of the children’s section at a major bookseller hoping to find a quick and easy solution for the modeled reading section of my pollution lesson for Monday.   I needed a book that introduced pollution. With this curriculum crunch we’re in, it needed to be down and dirty with the easy details, too…or so I thought as I stood half-heartedly staring at the search menu on the store’s computer. My search for pollution books turned up two (seriously only two at this major retailer): The Berenstain Bears Don’t Pollute (Anymore) and The Magic School Bus and the Climate Challenge.  Since I wasn’t eager to cover the global warming debate, it left one lazy option: The Berenstain Bears.

Fortunately, for my students’ sake, I texted my colleague, Meagan, and ran that clunker of an idea by her.  I could justify it.  Every kid should experience the Berenstain Bears, and the book would quickly teach the problem and solutions of pollution.  But Meagan texted back, “Use the Chris Van Allsburg book…the one where he’s in the bed seeing the way the earth is changing. No bears, please!”  She was referring to Just a Dream, Allsburg’s book about a young boy that dreams of a future negatively impacted by pollution.  I happily picked the book up from her classroom before school started the next day.  That was a quick and easy no-brainer.

*Every teacher needs a Meagan in your life to shake you back to your senses and hold you to high standards!

Matching our science and social studies content to a modeled read aloud every single day for every single lesson is challenging. But the literacy rewards are off the charts when we take the time to make it happen.  I ended up using Just a Dream for our modeled reading on Monday.  I focused on the literacy reading standard CCGPSRL.3 on character traits.  We charted the change in perspective of Walter, the main character, throughout the story.  I pulled in our word study on shades of meaning, and the word choice on our chart was outstanding…unreliable, cantankerous, sketchy, shady, changing to dependable, trustworthy, and compassionate.  Yep!  Third graders used those words on their own.  We followed it up with a shared reading on the types of pollution.  Students then completed a partner task sorting the events in Just a Dream into the four categories of pollution.  It was way better than a trip down memory lane with Brother and Sister Bear.

We all need support finding modeled reading selections that promote critical thinking skills and integrate science and social studies content.  Below, you’ll find 30 fantastic science and social studies themed books that I’ve used in my classrooms during Modeled Reading:

Habitats/Ecosystems/Pollution

Just a Dream by Chris Van Allsburg	Pollution	Character Traits/ Change in Perspective
Flute’s Journey by Lynn Cherry	Migration	Text Structure: Sequence/Temporal Words
About Raptors: A Guide for Children By Cathryn Sill	Animal Traits	Text Structure Organization: Description
Teeth By Sneed B Collard	Adaptations	Text Structure: Compare & Contrast
Aliens from Earth: When Animals and Plants Invade Other Ecosystems  By Mary Batten	How plants and animals affect ecosystems/ Interdependence	Text Structure Organization: Cause and Effect
When the Wolves Returned: Restoring Nature's Balance in Yellowstone By Dorothy Hinshaw Patent	Human Impact on Ecosystems / Interdependence	Text Structure Organization: Problem and Solution
The Great Kapok Tree by Lynn Cherry	Human Impact on Ecosystems / Interdependence	Main Idea and Details / Inference / Plot & Conflict: Somebody, Wanted, But, So / Figurative Language
A River Ran Wild: An Environmental History by Lynn Cherry	Natural Resources /Pollution/Consumers & Producers	Text Structure: Cause & Effect Relationships / Using Illustrations & Maps to aid Comprehension
Who Is  Jane Goodall? by Roberta Edwards	Habitats	Novel Study – Multiple Literacy Standards / Biography
Hoot by Carl Hiaasen	Human Impact on Ecosystems	Novel Study – Multiple Literacy standards / Fact & Opinion / Theme / Figurative Language

Fossils/Rocks and Soils

National Geographic Kids Ultimate Dinopedia	Fossils	Text Features
Dinosaur Named Sue: The World's Most Complete T. Rex  By Relf, Pat	Fossils	Text Features
Magic School Bus Inside the Earth	Rocks and Minerals	Monitoring Comprehension-  think marks, fix-up strategies, jotting thinking in the margin or on post-its, connections
Dirt: The Scoop on Soil by Natalie Rosinky	Soil	Monitoring Comprehension-  think marks, fix-up strategies, jotting thinking in the margin or on post-its, connections

Economics/Resources

The Lemonade War By Jacqueline Davies	Economic Concepts – excellent for teaching economic vocabulary	Monitoring our comprehension through questioning/Main Idea/ Inferencing/Context Clues
Pancakes, Pancakes! By Eric Carle	Resources / Production	Sequencing

Colonial America/Democracy/American Revolution

Blood on the River By Elisa Carbone  (4th grade +)	Colonial America	Novel Study – Multiple Literacy standards / figurative language/ theme/ character traits and change
Homespun Sarah By Verla Kay	Colonial America	Poetry – rhythm & rhyme / Illustrations support comprehension
Tattered Sails By Verla Kay	Colonial America	Poetry – rhythm & rhyme / Illustrations support comprehension
You Wouldn't Want to Be an American Colonist!: A Settlement You'd Rather Not Start  by David Salariya	Colonial America	Visualizing
If You Lived In Colonial Times  by Ann McGovern	Colonial America	Visualizing
Katie's Trunk by Ann Turner	Revolutionary War	1st person POV, text dependent questioning, figurative language, shades of meaning of words
George vs. George: The American Revolution As Seen from Both Sides by Rosalyn Schanzer (4th Grade+)	Revolutionary War	Text Structure: Compare & Contrast / 1st Hand Accounts / Quotes /
Revolutionary War on Wednesday by Mary Pope Osborn (2nd and early 3rd Grade)	Revolutionary War	Narrative Elements
Redcoats and Petticoats by K. Kirkpatrick and R. Himmler	Revolutionary War	Text Structure: Compare & Contrast / Reading for Detail & Evidence
Buttons for General Washington by Peter Roop	Revolutionary War	Content Vocabulary, Context Clues, Inference
And then What Happened Paul Revere? by Jeanne Fritz	Revolutionary War	Sequencing, Visualizing
Shh! We’re Writing the Constitution by: Jeanne Fritz and and Tomie dePaola	Constitution/Branches of Government	Sequencing historical events/ visualizing /opposing viewpoints/ Content Vocabulary

Water Cycle/Weather

I Survived Hurricane Katrina by Lauren Tarshis	Weather	Novel Study – Multiple Literacy standards / flashback / figurative language / historical events
Hurricanes! by Gail Gibbons	Weather	Text Features /Content Vocabulary/ Main Idea and Details