Mind Mapping & Making Music in Early Childhood with Debbie Clement

MUSIC! MUSIC! MUSIC!!!

Once upon a time there was a music-lady. 

Actually. Before that she was an elementary Art teacher..... 

but let's just start with the music-lady chapter, 

which is now unfolding in the 19th year of evolution. 

The music-lady travels about the country sharing her ideas, songs and 

happy sing-song simple, repetitive approach with teachers near and far. 

In the course of those travels she saw this "Mind Map" displayed in the hallways of Concordia College's Early Childhood Building, in Chicago. 

It stole her heart. Literally. Completely.

This simple graphic inspired our artsy-music-lady. 

This mind-map started a gazillion thoughts all these years later. 

What if she could capture & summarize her insight onto one page?

So she got out her dry erase board and started thinking. 

That lead to grabbing a great drawing marker and some colored pencils.

Here's what things looked like early on. 

[Maybe you saw that image on her Instagram feed this summer?] 

MUSIC: At the heart of it all! 

Singing is 'within' music. 

So that's where I started. 

I put the word singing in the middle of my page.  

Then I built everything out from that starting point. 

There are a bajillion benefits to singing {and music.} 

I looked at two major categories of benefits. 

Moving above the word singing are all of the benefits that arise in what I have classified as the 'language' division, arising from the lyrics within the song. 

Below the word 'singing' are the benefits that arise from the beat. 

I think of the beat as the foundation for my song/the music. 

You will see I have then divided those benefits into two major compartments: 

-INSTRUMENTS 

-MOVEMENT 

My finished "Mind Map" is now in pdf format and can be downloaded for

 FREE at Teachers Pay Teachers!

This is what it looked like just prior to being 'finished.'

----------------------------------------------------

***I have TWO earlier articles here at blog-Rainbow, 

where I have attempted to spell out my approach. 

If you click the picture you will be transported back in time. 

Debbie's Dozen Directions for Classroom Music 

Music as Motivator: Intelligence Theory and MORE! 


I spend an inordinate amount of time sharing visual images here. 
Let's conclude today with some of my favorite 'visuals' from the MUSIC world. 


This first bulletin board was so WIDE it was impossible
 for me to photograph the entire image. 
This is from my school visit in Arlington, outside of DC.

Look at the 'header' from one of my newest Twitter followers! 

What an incredible collaborative MUSIC bulletin Board. 

Sue gave me permission to use it in this article. 

THANKS!

MUSIC PEOPLE. TEACHERS. LIBRARIANS! 
My intro-freebie song is "Going to the Library" 
which is available for immediate download at Teachers Pay Teachers. 



I have written over 100 original songs. 
The two that I think are the *MOST* perfect for the beginning of the school year are: 

"You're Wonderful" and 
"Red, White and Blue" 



Each of these two songs I have turned into the traditional picture book format. 
There is a CD insert with the sung version & also the instrumental version. 
Also included in the end-matter are charts for both sign language and music instrumentation. 

-- Debbie 

Freebie Summer Subway Bucket List Printable

Can you believe that June has arrived!?! 

That means my article for today is over at "PreK+K Sharing." 

I created my list of  "10 Things I Want to Do this Summer."

{You can download it for *F*R*E*E* 

over at our Early Educational Emporium.} 

What's on your list? 

Will you get to roll down a hill? 

March in a parade? 

Read a book by flashlight?

Hang upside down on the monkey bars?

Have a watermelon seed spitting contest? 

Blow gigantic bubbles? 

Play catch in the backyard? 

Gather sea shells?

Take a picnic to the park?

Throw a frisbee?

Hunt for four leaf clovers?

Go to a planetarium?    

Jump off the diving board?

Pick a dandelion bouquet?

Paint your tennis shoes?

Buy ice cream from the ice cream truck?

Go to a farm?  

Skip rocks?

Braid daisy chains? 

Roast a hot dog over a fire?

Go tubing down a river?

Take some bread to feed ducks on a pond? 

Hang some laundry out on the line? 

Catch some tadpoles?

Play croquet? 

Go barefoot? 

Make a daisy chain? 

Play freeze tag? 

Tell ghost stories?

Take a nap in a hammock? 

Go on a hayride? 

Play trucks in the dirt? 

Hopscotch? 

Fly a kite? 

Kick the can?

Dig in the dirt? 

Chase butterflies? 

Start a rock collection? 

Go to the library? 

Paint pictures on your driveway? 

Light sparklers? 

Make a scrapbook? 

Wade in puddles? 

Plant some seeds?

Run through the sprinkler?

Play hide and seek?

Go to a drive-in movie?

Take a road trip? 

Adopt a pen pal? 

Photograph some butterflies?

Visit a museum? 

Read a best seller?

Make mud pies? 

Go fishing? 

Build a fort? 

Go roller skating? 

Jump on a trampoline? 

Outrun your shadow? 

Go to a ballgame?

Write a letter that requires a stamp? 

Start a collection? 

Ride a horse? 

Serenade your neighbors? 

Put on a play? 

Hike in a park? 

Study a map? 

Begin a journal? 

Take everyone to a putt-putt course?

Make ice cream? 

Throw rocks in a stream?

Ride a roller coaster?

Play an instrument? 

Build a fairy house?

Plant a garden? 

Make a movie? 

Chase fireflies? 

Sleep in a sleeping bag? 

Go to a National Park? 

Learn the words to a new song? 

Memorize a poem? 

Pick some wild berries? 

Paddle a canoe? 

Attend a fiesta? 

Learn a new sport? 

Run around the block? Or a Marathon? 

Hang some of your artwork?

Make snow cones?

Climb a tree? 

Count the stars? 

Go on a scavenger hunt?

Wear sunscreen? 

Play badminton?

Go to a garage sale? 

Fly paper airplanes? 

Go to the state fair? 

Run in the rain? 

Break a pogo stick record?

Tour a submarine? 

Drive a go cart? 

Put on a play in the backyard?

Try a new recipe?

Weave a basket?

Give a puppet show?

Create a castle with goodies from your Recycle Bin?

Make your own list?

JUNE HAS ARRIVED!

I now have 153,000+ Pinterest followers. Click pic to join them!

100 Days & Throwback Thursday FREEBIES!

FREEBIE THURSDAY: 100 Days Song in Mp3! FREE 2/6!

Welcome! If you're here in 'real' time (on February 6th) I have a happy little surprise for you as a thanks for visiting my blog. I have been invited by two brilliant masterminds of the blogosphere to join them for their weekly 'Throwback Thursday' project. They GIVE a typically-paid-product to their regular readers for FREE as a gesture of goodwill, for a period of 24 hours. 

I'll introduce them in a minute, because I'm quite certain you'll want to conclude your reading here by hopping through to their blogs and scooping up their gifts of the week. When my buddies asked if I'd like to get involved I realized that I had a 'perfect' digital product for this exact time of year. My "100 Days" song! 

I'm a music-lady, morphed into an author-illustrator of picture books. I travel the country making school visits and speaking at conferences. This week I've done some of both! I just got to give the keynote for SDE's "Kindergarten/PreK Conference" in San Marcos, TX. From there I traveled on to New Braunfels and gave presentations to the Kinders, Firsties and Super Seconds. We sang together. We danced! We read. We laughed! I was there on their 99th day of school, only because they had just had a snow day the week earlier. 

These beautiful 'homework' displays for ALL things 100

 were on display in the hallways.

All in anticipation of THE 100th day! 

I thought you would enjoy seeing all of this creativity. 

So now that you've been inspired by all of these projects, let me share all the good news!

Just a reminder: I am SO grateful for every supportive piece of feedback entered at my TpT store. Would you please leave your feedback in 'real time' as you download it? Once it reverts to a paid product you won't be able to leave your comment. 

Not only will you get their free stuff, if you continue to follow their Thursday Throwback series, you might get to "meet" someone new and want to follow his or her store, too.  How great is that?!!! 

Here are the masterminds of this project. 

Fern Smith and Teach 123..... 

so pop over to their blogs next for additional goodies!

I am hopeful that you'll be motivated to 'follow' my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

I have a TON of ideas and inspiration around here for the 100 Day celebration! 

Just click this LABEL to go see everything I have catalogued as such. 

Here's a RoundUP I just put together last week. 

Here's the LINK to last year's RoundUP! 

{or click the pictures} 

and here's my PINTEREST Board for all things "100 DAYS"

Are you following me on Instagram? 

Here's the image I shared over there this morning.