HeidiSongs Teaching Resource

YUP,  you guessed it!! I have another Distance Learning Packet for your TK/K kiddos!!! This week has an INSECT theme, and it's pretty darn cute, if I do say so myself! ;) In this file , you will find all of the work for one week of school, for TK or Kindergarten for both Math and Language Arts subjects, with some pages specially made to follow the theme of Insects. We've included a variety of worksheets and activities, so feel free to use any or all of it with your students!  Permission is granted to distribute to families in your school or school district, as long as you purchase one license per teacher whose students are using it. Once again, there are two different packets in this one download : One for TK or Kindergarten students who have been in TK all school year, and one for TK or Spring TK students who have only been in school since January. Choose the level that suits your students best! :)  Note: Some items are provided in both color and black and whit...

Does your district use the language arts curriculum Benchmark Advance or Ready to Advance? If so, then you're in luck! Here's how to give your students home access to HeidiSongs videos on Benchmark completely FREE! I’ve been doing this for the last two years, and it’s AWESOME! The basic idea is that you need to make an assignment on Benchmark for your students, and then drag those videos over to the assignment as the materials you want them to use. Then you will choose the students that the assignment is for, and the dates. When I make an assignment, I drag over ALL of the sight word videos that they may need for the entire year, and then make the dates starting on that day and ending on the last day of school. That way, I don’t ever have to make another assignment for them, unless I want to give them access to some of the Sing and Spell videos that are above the TK level, just to challenge the faster learning students. There are also shape songs that can be put...

Defiance, disrespectfulness, kids yelling “NO!” – this is what a teacher’s classroom management nightmares are made of!  These days, most teachers may have had one or two defiant children in their class at some point, even all the way down to primary levels like Kindergarten, first, or second grade.  So what do you do if a child yells, “NO!” right in your face?  How do you handle if a child simply ignores your instructions or disrespects you, right in front of the whole class, even on the very first day of school? Issues like this MUST be handled immediately and handled well, but I’ve never heard of a university teacher prep course addressing it.  I think that every educator knows that there is much more going on emotionally with a child that is expressing their frustration in this way.  But until you can get to the bottom of it, what should you do? Let me start by reiterating that I am NOT a child psychologist!  I am just going to explain w...

We often get emailed questions from parents on how to help their children. As I answered this question, I thought that the content might make a great blog post, so I decided to post it here. I hope it is helpful to you! Question: "My son is a special needs child who is having difficulty remembering sight words. Do you know of success stories (using HeidiSongs) with special needs children and what exactly do I need to start with?" Answer: We have heard from many, many special ed teachers over the years that swear by our products, so I am certain that they are good for children with special needs! I have also had lots of special needs children in my own class over the years who have responded well to my products and methods. (Some children were as yet unidentified, and some were mainstreamed.) I have written a few blog posts specifically on how to help children learn the sight words.  Here is one blog post called, Tips for Using Sight Word Songs Effectively in ...

With summer right around the corner, it is important to remind students and parents the importance of reading 30 minutes a day. Parents really are a child's first and most important teacher. This is a wonderful explanation of why it is important for your child to read every day. A great teacher at my school passed this information on to me, and I thought it was important to post here in the hope that more people can pass this around to those that matter most in children’s lives: their parents!   You can download the infographic you see below in both color and black and white by clicking here. "Why can't I skip my 30 minutes of reading tonight?" Let's figure it out ---  MATHEMATICALLY! Student A reads 30 minutes a night; Student B reads only 5 minutes a night Step 1: Multiply minutes a night x 7 times each week. Student A reads  210 minutes a week. Student B reads  35 minutes a week. Step 2: Multiply minutes a week x 4 weeks...

Did you know that young children can learn to read many words easily just by playing with them and singing about them?  This can easily happen at home or at school- or better yet- in both places!  The more they interact with and talk about or sing about the words, the more easily and quickly this is likely to happen.  The brain of the preschool aged child is often compared to a sponge, and there is a good reason for that:  at this age, their brains are wired to pick up languages and language related activities faster than we would as adults.  Add some visual stimulation into the mix (the printed word), and you may just find that your child is the family genius! We recently received a letter from Susan, a veteran Kindergarten teacher.  We LOVE receiving feedback letters from parents, grandparents and teachers that have seen the impact Heidi Songs can have on little learners. Susan told us that after she saw how her grandson can read all the...

Welcome to Week 3 of Summer School at Home with Heidi Songs!  We have great ideas to work on over the summer so your little one will feel confident and prepared to start Kindergarten in the fall. If you are just joining us, check out Week 1  and Week 2 . Campus Visits Helping children to become comfortable with their physical space will go a long way in reducing first day fears. Over the summer take time to visit the campus your child will be attending. Show them where you will drop them off or where the bus will be. Help them to find the main office, library, bathrooms, and drinking fountains. The kindergartners at my school were all greeted with personalized lawn signs to take home on their first day of school! This is also a great time to have conversations about following rules, who to ask for help if they need it, and what to do if they feel sick or forget their lunch. To help keep the conversations going at home, take photos on your vi...