Past Musical Monday Posts:

• Education Through Music
• The Song Experience Game
• Early Literacy in ETM
• Every Child Ready to Read and ETM
• Sing
• Play
• Talk
• Write
• ETM in Lapsit

Fall Tales for 2's & 3's

In the fall my themes were Marvelous Me, Fall, and Favorites.  These are the ETM songs that I incorporated into my Fall Tales for 2’s and 3’s storytime.

Sing with Me
Sing with me altogether
Sing with me altogether
Sing with me altogether
Won’t you be my darling?

Stomp with me altogether
Stomp with me altogether
Stomp with me altogether
Won’t you be my darling?

Twist with me altogether
Twist with me altogether
Twist with me altogether
Won’t you be my darling?

High Stepping Horses
High stepping horses
High stepping horses
High stepping horses
Go jiggety-jiggety-jog

Looby Loo
Here we go looby loo, here we go looby light
Here we go looby loo, all on a Saturday night

I put my nose in, I take my nose out
I give my nose a shake, shake, shake
and turn myself around

Here we go looby loo, here we go looby light
Here we go looby loo, all on a Saturday night

I put my arm in, I take my arm out
I give my arm a shake, shake, shake
And turn myself around

Here we go looby loo, here we go looby light
Here we go looby loo, all on a Saturday night

I put my tongue in, I take my tongue out
I give my tongue a shake, shake, shake
And turn myself around

Oats, Peas, Beans
Oats, peas, beans, and barley grow
Oats, peas, beans, and barley grow
Oats, peas, beans, and barley grow
Nor you (point to the crowd)
Nor I (point to self)
Nor anyone knows (shrug)
How oats, peas, beans, and barley grow

First the farmer (hold up index finger for 1st)
Sews the seed (pretend to scatter seeds)
Then he stands and takes his ease (stand with arms folded like you are relaxing)
He stamps his foot (stamp foot)
And claps his hands (clap hands)
And turns around (turn around)
To view the land (have hand above eyes like you are shielding your eyes from the sun)

Come Along and Walk with Me
Come along and walk with me
Come along and walk with me
We’ll walk and walk and walk and walk
So come along and walk with me

Come along and jump with me
Come along and jump with me
We’ll jump and jump and jump and jump
So come along and jump with me

Come along and twist with me
Come along and twist with me
We’ll twist and twist and twist and twist
So come along and twist with me

Come along and bend with me
Come along and bend with me
We’ll bend and bend and bend and bend
So come along and bend with me

*You can add in other actions like tickle, wiggle, hop, and creep

Spring Tales for 2's and 3's

In the Spring, my themes were love, farm, and favorites.  These are the ETM songs that I incorporated into my Spring Tales for 2’s and 3’s.

Come Along and Wave with Me
Come along and wave with me
Come along and wave with me
We’ll wave and wave
and wave and wave
So come along and wave with me

Come along and hug with me
Come along and hug with me
We’ll hug and hug
And hug and hug
So come along and hug with me

Come along and twist with me
Come along and twist with me
We’ll twist and twist
And twist and twist
So come along and twist with me

Come along and stretch with me
Come along and stretch with me
We’ll stretch and stretch
And stretch and stretch
So come along and stretch with me

Come along and wiggle with me
Come along and wiggle with me
We’ll wiggle and wiggle
And wiggle and wiggle
So come along and wiggle with me

Old MacDonald Had a Farm
I chose to sing and play Old MacDonald as a flannel.
I would hide the animal behind my back and have the kids guess what animal it was before the "grand reveal"

Clap Your Hands Duo, Duo
Clap your hands duo, duo
Clap your hands duo, duo
Clap your hands duo, duo
Shake those fingers down

Wiggle your hands duo, duo
Wiggle your hands duo, duo
Wiggle your hands duo, duo
Shake those fingers down

Stomp your feet duo, duo
Stomp your feet duo, duo
Stomp your feet duo, duo
Shake those fingers down

Tap your knees duo, duo
Tap your knees duo, duo
Tap your knees duo, duo
Shake those fingers down

Rub your tummy duo, duo
Rub your tummy duo, duo
Rub your tummy duo, duo
Shake those fingers down

Looby Loo
Here we go looby loo, here we go looby light
Here we go looby loo, all on a Saturday night

I put my elbow in, I take my elbow out
I give my elbow a shake, shake, shake
and turn myself around

Here we go looby loo, here we go looby light
Here we go looby loo, all on a Saturday night

I put my belly in, I take my belly out
I give my belly a shake, shake, shake
and turn myself around

Here we go looby loo, here we go looby light
Here we go looby loo, all on a Saturday night

I put my bottom in, I take my bottom out
I give my bottom a shake, shake, shake
and turn myself around

Here we go looby loo, here we go looby light
Here we go looby loo, all on a Saturday night

Booklist

​Last year I put together a booklist for the ETM literacy team and conference participants.  I initially used Google Docs.  I was happy with having an electronic list of books that can be used to extend the play of an SEG.  This semester, I decided that I wanted to create an updated version of the list as part of my final project for my independent study of ETM.

I examined various curation platforms before I finally settled on Pearltrees.  I liked that it wasn’t as busy as Pinterest and that I could create collections for various SEGs.

This booklist is a “living document” so I will continue to add titles to the list. I hope that this will be a valuable resource to the ETM literacy team and the conference participants this summer.

In the children’s library world, the decision to use a theme or not use a storytime theme is akin to deciding which is the superior beverage- Coke or Pepsi.  As someone who is not a consumer of dark carbonated drinks, I do not have a preference in regards to the Coke/Pepsi debate.  Now, if we were to debate what the most superior holiday candy is, I will 100% root for Cadbury Eggs (particularly the hard shell mini ones).

I digress.  

What I am trying to say is that there are two camps of thought in the children’s library world: YES - themes and NO - themes.   I see the value of using themes, but I also know the importance of selecting books, songs, bounces, and tickles that are delightful, rich in language, and that build early literacy skills.  I love a good theme - unicorn storytime?  Yes, please!  I also love using books, songs, and tickles that do not center around a specific topic.  

Sometimes, I have a deep rooted feeling that I must do this particular theme because I think that my storytime crowd will love it.  Other times I have a gut feeling that I should use specific books, songs, and bounces because I feel that my storytime crowd will delight in them.

​When it comes to ETM in storytime, I use ETM SEGs all of the time.  If they fit the theme, I consider it to be a bonus.  If not, that is perfectly fine too.  I want to try and repeat some of the SEGs as much as possible because repetition is great for the kiddos and repetition empowers caregivers to try it at home.

I have three storytime tenets when planning a storytime:

• I will use books, songs, bounces, tickles, etc. that I love
• I will use developmentally appropriate materials
• I will empower caregivers to use storytime materials (i.e., songs, bounces, books, etc.) at home

From there, I decide:

• Theme? yes/no
• Books
• ETM songs
• Additional songs, bounces, tickles, etc.

For the purpose of this post we are not going to focus on one particular storytime theme.  These are songs and bounces that can fit into any storytime.
​

​When someone calls you by name and pronounces your name correctly, it’s a nice warm and fuzzy feeling.  Being called by our name makes us feel seen.  Our names are one of the first words that we learn to recognize, spell, and write.  Names are very important in ETM.  

In the digital age we live in, human connection and social interaction are becoming even more important and valuable.  A big piece of ETM is building regard.  The facilitator is responsible for creating a welcoming and safe atmosphere - a place full of warm fuzzies.  

One of the best ways to fill a room with warm fuzzies is to sing a name song.  I focused on name songs in lapsit because I wanted to learn the names of the babies that were attending my storytime.  I also wanted the caregivers to learn who was who so that they could connect with one another during playtime.

As everyone came into the room, I had a table with laminated hearts (with velcro on the back) and dry erase markers.  Caregivers wrote baby’s name on the heart and the caregiver (or baby) put the heart on the flannel board.  It was a great way to put names to faces, to count how many participants were in my storytime, and also gave the babies ownership of something in storytime (during playtime they loved to take their name heart and walk around with it).

The song that I chose to use was “Oh, I Know” which is to the tune of “The Farmer in the Dell.”  I would find one of the names on the flannelboard and say “where is James sitting today?” and James’s caregiver would raise their hand.  Then we would sing and wave “Oh, I know James.  Oh, I know James (finger cheer in the air).  Hi-ho the derry-o!  We all know James.  We would repeat this process until we sang about every baby.  The smiles, gurgles, and coos in response to their name being sung was something to behold. 

​For young children, making self-made symbols (i.e., “scribble/refrigerator art”) is the first step in the process of learning how to write.  The symbols that young children make are pretty fluid.  One day the “scribble” can represent Doug, the dog and the next day the “scribble” can represent a superhero platypus eating a can of beans.  

In ETM, song mapping allows children to make their own self-made symbol to represent an SEG.  For song mapping to be beneficial in the development of pre-writing skills, it is crucial that children have internalized the SEG before mapping.  There are a few ways to tell if a child has internalized the song: they can sing and play the song on their own, they begin to play with the language of the song, or they can identify the song when presented with a series of movements, pictures, or clapped rhythms that represent the song.  

An excellent example of internalization is the SEG that I like to use in my Tales for 2’s and 3’s storytime.  I have been using Come Along and Wave with Me for the whole storytime cycle (spring and fall - so about 24 weeks).  We have been doing the same movements in the same order.  If I were to walk into my Tales storytime next week and say “guess my song” then proceeded to do the motions of our hello song - wave, hug, twist, stretch, and wiggle without singing any of the words, the children who have been coming to my storytime every week will likely know that it is our hello song.

​Let’s pretend that I’ve been facilitating preschool storytime.  We’ve been singing and playing the song "Fly Away Little Birdie" every single week.  I notice the kids are playing it out in the play area after storytime.  The following week, we play "Fly Away Little Birdie" again, and I have them follow along as we “draw” the song in the air our fingers.  We will not “draw” the entire song.  Instead, we will “draw” short phrases like “Fly away little birdie” or “way up in the sky.”  After three or four weeks of having the kiddos mirror my movements when we chunk the song, I will notice the way that a child has chosen to “draw” the song and we will mirror that child’s movements.

Since most storytime sessions are between 10-14 weeks, that will be as far as we get with mapping and that is perfectly okay.

When you think about it, all songs tell a story.  Music is just another form of communication. Basically, music and communication go together like unicorns and rainbows.

Think of a conversation that you recently had with a friend.  Think about the way that you conveyed what you had to say to your friend.  Did you use facial expressions? Did you use your hands?

When we communicate, even if we are aware of it or not, we like to move when we speak.  Movement is an essential function. Think of movement as coffee for your brain - it helps you think.  In order for us to communicate our thoughts coherently, we employ our entire body in the process of conveying our message.  We use our voice, eyes, ears, hands, and brain! This is particularly important for children because they are still new here and they are learning how to communicate.  In her book Aesthetic Foundations of Thinking, Mary Helen Richards says “children are drawn to move when they are speaking in order to say what they mean and to develop their understanding more thoroughly.”

Talking plays a HUGE role in the acquisition of early literacy skills.  If adults do not talk to children, then they do not have the words to communicate, and if children cannot communicate then they cannot read and write!  We want to encourage talking in storytime by asking questions - “what do you think will happen next?”, “what color is the cat?”, “how are you today?” In smaller storytime groups, we can also provide children with the opportunity to explain something or to share a story of their own.  

In addition to talking, singing is an excellent way to boost a child’s language development.  Mary Helen Richards said it best “song, (is the) godmother of communication and the godchild of language.” When it comes to language development in children, ETM SEG’s are a triple threat - there is language, movement, and experience.  When children participate in the playing of a SEG, they also have the added benefits of practicing social skills and communication. Basically, SEGs are the vitamins of early literacy!

​I have never understood why the word “play” is considered a four letter word.  I have learned that play is vital to the development and education of children, but our society deems play as “a waste of time.”  We have a system in place that wishes to rush children through childhood rather than protecting their right to play. 

We forget that play helps children explore and experience the world around them.  Play leads to imagination, creativity, and innovation - a cardboard box becomes a robot companion that goes on adventures, a stick becomes a wizard’s wand, a hula hoop becomes a portal to a new world.  Cultivating imagination in the post-modern child just may lead to discoveries that will propel our society forward - a dryer that dries AND folds clothes, flying cars, a safe and renewable energy source, or the cure to cancer.

​Libraries are encouraging play by providing toys and games in their children’s departments. Children’s departments in libraries aren’t bastions of solitude and silence anymore.  They are full of singing, talking, exploring, and playing.  Caregivers are playing “dinosaurs” with their children, children are giving impromptu puppet shows, or families are sitting down to play a board game together.  

Playing has also been extended into library programming. Librarians are creating and facilitating programming that encourages imagination and play.   Librarians are also incorporating playtime into our age-specific storytimes.  

Librarians are making play the norm and I am 200% here for it.

Mary Helen Richards defined playgrounds as something “full of wonderful things for the child to use, build with, manipulate, take apart, and put back together,”  

In ETM, the Song Experience Game (SEG) is very much like a playground or children’s department. 

Benefits of playing through the use of a SEG:

• Children are having a shared experience with friends
• Exploration and creativity is encouraged
• Children learn how to navigate their surroundings (spatial awareness)
• Children work on social interaction and communication 

When I get to experience the singing and playing of ETM SEGs, I find that I am happier, more engaged, and I am more regardful of others.  If I can experience those benefits as a 33-year old, can you imagine the benefits for a 3 year old?  

For children, the play state has a slew of benefits:

• They are actively engaged - they are 100% in it to win it
• They are experiencing enjoyment and a genuine pleasure from the activity
• There is (playful) structure and routine which provides children with a sense of safety, but also encourages them to take risks.  
• Increased motivation
• Stronger language skills and symbolic thinking

When I facilitated Lapsit, I liked to tack on 10-15 minute playtime at the end.  It provided babies with an opportunity to explore our various age appropriate toys and caregivers with an opportunity to socialize and share stories.  During this time, I like to talk with the caregivers and play with the babies.  Aside from the total complete joy of getting to interact with a baby, I also had an opportunity to foster relationships with the caregivers.  

In my years of study of ETM, I realized how important it is to allow yourself to be a little vulnerable and be completely silly because it shows children that this is a safe space to explore, play, and imagine.  This session of Tales for 2s and 3s, I used an ETM favorite that I adapted “Come Along and Walk with Me” as our hello song.  Each week we sing “Come Along and Wave with Me”.  The last action that we do is “come along and wiggle with me.”  Every week when it is time to wiggle, the kids all look at me expectantly because they know that this is the part where Ms. Nicole gets super dooper silly.  Every week they laugh and wiggle along with me.  Every week, we play.

My goal as a librarian is to make play the norm in storytime.  Whether it is through using a SEG, reading an interactive picture book, playing a guessing game on the flannel board, or adding on some time for children to play at the end of storytime.  I want caregivers and children to know that play is a far more effective learning tool than flashcards, apps, and standardized testing will ever be.  Play is part of the human experience.  It allows us to create, marvel, and engage with one another. 

The Voice: A Built-In Instrument

​The first musical instrument a child knows is their own voice.   Starting from infancy, human beings begin playing with sound.  The babbling sounds that are often emitted from babies is their way of exploring their native language.  In her book, Aesthetic Foundations for Thinking Rethought Part I: Experience, Mary Helen Richards says, “we imitate what we hear most often.”  Children will explore and play with the sounds that they are supplied with from caregivers, children’s program characters, and popular music.

Children are basically born with an innate desire for music making.  As caregivers, educators, and librarians it is vital that we provide children with joyful and meaningful music making experiences.

The Amazing Auditory System

​Singing is vital to the study of language. According to Mary Helen Richards, Inner hearing is defined as the “making of hearing images”.  When a child repeatedly sings a song they begin to internalize the song.  They can “play” the song in their head without singing the song out loud.  

Singing and moving to music is the best way to boost inner-hearing.  A child that has strong inner-hearing can think of (and hear) all of  the words that rhyme with “bat.”  When you attach movement to the song, the child is able to recognize that “what I say is what I do”.

So, it’s important to start putting that auditory system to work when children are very young.  Storytime provides opportunities for young children to sing, move, say nursery rhymes, interact with their caregivers and peers, and practice the sounds of language!  

Who knew that one 20 or 30-minute storytime could do so much for the inner hearing of a child?

​Beware the Low Register

Head Voice
This is where finding the “Head Voice” comes in handy.  To find your head voice, say “A -Ha!” The spot where your voice lands on “a!” is the note that you will begin to sing/speak in.   

For the young ears of a child, it is easier for them to hear and process sounds that are produced in a higher register.  Since children imitate the sounds they hear, we also want to model good vocal habits for them too.  We want them to have healthy vocal chords that have command over their voices for the times when they have to read aloud, recite a poem, give a speech, or lead a business meeting.

Everyone Can Sing

​Mary Helen Richards said it beautifully “Everyone can sing - everyone can move to music.”  When I hear caregivers tell me “I’m not a good singer” because they were told at some point by an adult that their singing voice wasn’t “good enough” - it breaks my heart. 

We want to establish an environment in our storytimes that encourages and celebrates singing.  There is no judgment, only joy.   

Singing in Storytime

Mary Helen said, “Song belongs to every person in the same way that his mother tongue belongs to him”.

Song in storytime has several benefits:

• Encourages the eploration of sound and language
• Organizes language
• Simplifies language so that child can make it their own
• Focuses attention
• Boosts motivation because it is intriguing (and fun!)
• Creates a joyful atmosphere that delights in music-making

Song holds the power of language.  Singing with children is the key to unlocking that power.  Song makes language accessible to children.  When we think about ECRR, children cannot write, talk, or read if they do not have a strong foundation in their native language.  Song is the vehicle that we can use to help children develop their auditory and speech-processing systems so that they will be great readers, writers, and communicators.

As Mary Helen Richards said, “Song is a catalyst for communication.” 

Song in Practice: Lapsit

Name Song - Oh, I Know

from Education Through Music
To the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell"

I began every lapsit storytime with this song.  I would sing the names of the babies and caregivers.

A Bouncing We Will Go

from Let’s Do It Again by Mary Helen Richards (adapted for Lapsit by N. Lawton)
To the Tune of "The Farmer in the Dell"

Bounce Old Squirrel

from Let’s Do It Again by Mary Helen Richards (adapted for Lapsit by N. Lawton)
To the tune of "Hop Old Squirrel"

​A large reason why I had become disenfranchised with the education system was due to the fact that we (as a society) are constantly putting developmentally inappropriate demands on children.

When I heard that libraries were investing their time and energies in Every Child Ready to Read, I was thrilled.  Caregivers are a child’s first teacher and a child’s biggest advocate.  ECRR empowers caregivers and also gives the word “play” it’s due.  Play should receive the amount of weight and respect that is given to the words “reading” and “math.” The play of children has academic value and I love that ECRR is acknowledging this.

My A-Ha! Moment that pieced together the components of ETM and ECRR happened last July when I was attending ETM’s week-long study in California.  After spending several hours a day thinking about ETM and literacy and speaking with several bright individuals, I realized that ETM addresses the big picture, the whole child if you will.  ECRR helps address the pre-literacy skills and caregiver instruction/empowerment.  Together, the two approaches go together like s’mores and campfires.

When we examine a majority of early childhood (Preschool-Kindergarten) standards and curriculums, the starting point for literacy instruction often begins with:

• Letter idenfication - the naming of the letters and the sounds they make
• Phonological awareness - can the child play with the sounds of language?  Can they break down and identify the sounds in a three letter word?
• Vocabulary - the words that the child has acquired from being spoken and read to since birth 

Somewhere there is a disconnect between literacy skill acquisition and instruction.  ETM bridges the gap beautifully. 

ETM is able to build a strong foundation in these areas:

• Aesthetic
• Attention
• Motivation
• Motor development - fine motor and gross motor
• Auditory processing 
• Speech processing

Why are these areas important to making sure that children start off on the right foot in school?  They are the foundation that every child needs.  ETM provides the necessary experience and context that will help make it possible for a child to learn and thrive in school.  

The overarching goals of ETM and ECRR are to foster a love of learning and reading in children.  If ETM is used regularly in storytime programming in conjunction with ECRR, I believe that it will lead to a strong foundation in reading skills. 

​Next week I will begin to dig into my favorite component of ECRR - Singing.  I plan to discuss how singing the songs of ETM can help cultivate an enjoyment for music while simultaneously building the auditory and speech processing systems in young children.

 When we think about early literacy and Every Child Ready to Read (ECRR), we need to think about and emphasize the importance of experience.

​Let’s think of experience in terms of Pre-GPS and Smart Device times, which we will call “The Before Times” - A friend invites you to their house for the first time.  You are not familiar with the area - so what do you do in order to prepare for your drive to your friend’s house for the first time?  You look at a map and familiarize yourself with the streets and necessary turns.  You get in the car and begin to drive to your friend’s house.  You pay close attention to the street names, landmarks, and turns.  You may even pay attention to the mileage.  After you have been to your friend’s house a few times you find that you do not need to pay close attention to every little street name and landmark.  Why?  Because you have experienced driving to your friend’s house.  You have stored away all of the important streets, landmarks, and (if you are like me and get lost easily) you know which turns not to take.

Even as adults it takes us a while to learn something new despite the fact that we have acquired several years of background knowledge.  We know how to read a map and drive a car, but that is only a small piece of the equation when it comes to driving someplace new.  We still need to have the experience of driving to our friend’s house for the first time in order to learn how to get there. 

So, if adults need experience to learn something new - why do we expect a child that is only five/six years old to read and understand the words on the page of a book?  

Those Littles have only been alive and in this world for five - six years.  That’s a drop in the bucket compared to an adult! 

As adults, we need to remember two very important things:

1. Children are in their bodies before they are in their heads 
2. Children learn best by doing.  In other words, experience is key.

In ETM, a child’s “experience” bucket is filled up through playing the Song Experience Games (SEG).  In an ETM SEG there is movement, thinking, social interaction, music, and language. 

You may be wondering - What does that look like?  How does it work?

Let's take a look at one of the songs that I use as my weekly hello song in my Tales for 2's and 3's storytime - “Come Along and Walk with Me” 

Come along and wave with me
Come along and wave with me
We’ll wave and wave
and wave and wave
So come along and wave with me

Come along and hug with me
Come along and hug with me
We’ll hug and hug
And hug and hug
So come along and hug with me

Come along and twist with me
Come along and twist with me
We’ll twist and twist
And twist and twist
So come along and twist with me

Come along and stretch with me
Come along and stretch with me
We’ll stretch and stretch
And stretch and stretch
So come along and stretch with me

Come along and wiggle with me
Come along and wiggle with me
We’ll wiggle and wiggle
And wiggle and wiggle
So come along and wiggle with me

If we were to dissect "Come Along" into the “five pillars” of an ETM SEG we would see:

Movement
Wave, hug, stretch, wiggle

Thinking
Children need to think about when/how they will move
​Children are thinking about the words that are being sung and they are interpreting them 

Social Interaction
They are waving to me, their caregiver, to their friends, to other children 

Music
singing

Language
“Come along” = follow me!
Wave, hug, stretch, wiggle 

​The ideal situation would be to fill up each and every child with playful, meaningful, and language-rich experiences when they are very young so that they have a GINORMOUS bucket full of experiences.  

If they have all of these experiences of being read to, talked to, played with - what will happen?  
They will have this wealth of experience to draw from when we tell them that “oats, peas, beans, and barley grow” they know that these are types of plants that grow in the ground because they pretended to be a farmer sowing seeds, when they see the word “creeping” they know what it is because they have experienced creeping around the room with that goofy Librarian lady, Ms. Nicole, or when we ask them to write an essay or book report, they will be able to do it because they have this GINORMOUS bucket full of words and experiences that they can draw from.

Storytime is a great way to fill up a child’s experience bucket. When we look at the fabulous components of ECRR in storytime we plan for and lead activities that have singing, playing, reading, and talking.  In other words, we provide the children that come to our storytimes with an environment where they can have playful, meaningful, and language-rich experiences. ​

I will leave you with this parting thought:
"I have to see it,
I have to say it,
I have to hear it,
I have to do it."

All roads lead to experience.

In my previous post I mentioned how the work of ETM is built on Song Experience Games (SEGs). The songs for the games come from English folksongs.  There are games for oldie, but goodies such as “Looby Loo”, “The Farmer in the Dell”, “A-Hunting We Will Go”, and “Oats, Peas, Beans.”

The Song Experience Game often includes:

• Singing
• Movement
• Dance
• Drama
• Storytelling

In her book, Aesthetic Foundations for Thinking Part I Mary Helen Richards mentions that the SEGs of ETM are meant to create an aesthetic experience which build an “aesthetic foundation for living.”  I think that notion is a wonderfully brilliant and fulfilling way to live one’s life - to find joy and to soak in the beauty, awe, and wonder in the happenings that inspire and excite us.

In the fall, I continuously played a SEG called “Come Along and Walk with Me” with my Tales for 2’s and 3’s storytime. The littles stayed near their parents and happily did the actions (clapping, hopping, stomping, etc) while their grownups sang and moved with them.  One day, they all decided that it was time to leave the safety of their caregiver so that they could participate in following me around the room! We crawled, rolled, creeped, and twisted our way around the room. There were smiles, giggles, and belly laughs. There was discovery and wonder.  In moments like these, I am reminded of how powerful singing, playing, and moving can really be.

What brought us to that fabulous moment?
Children’s librarians and educators already know the power of repetition.  For the littles in my storytime, they had been soaking up and internalizing the language of the song.  Their little brains were making sense of the song. Even though they weren’t following me around the room, they were still participating.  As they participated in the safety net of their caregivers, they worked on internalizing the song. They sang the words, they saw the actions, the heard the words, and they felt the movement.

The SEGs are designed to develop a child’s ability to listen and hear.  It is an oft repeated phrase in ETM that “children are in their bodies before they are in their heads.”  Children need to be concrete before they can be abstract.  

The more we sing and play in storytime, the more opportunities a child has to develop rich experiences in becoming a farmer or a dog or knowing what prancing and creeping look like because they have internalized those motions.

Think of it this way: when we ask them to read the word “glide” they will know what the word glide means because they have experienced gliding across the storytime room.  The SEGs are better than any flashcard, app, or workbook.  

We play, sing, and move in storytime so that they can

• rhyme
• read
• write

Imagine a world full of lifelong readers because they played, sang, and moved in storytime as children.  

That’s the goal:  to reclaim playtime for children -  because that is what they are designed to do.

The body of work that makes up ETM is comprised of English folksongs.  The folksongs have been set to Song Experience Games (SEGs).  The SEGs of ETM have a structure and routine that is designed to support a child’s development and learning process.

ETM teaches caregivers (I am using this term very broadly but it applies to anyone that works with or cares for children) how to: 

• build regard and healthy adult/child relationships
• stabilize and motivate children 
• teach children how to…
  • take turns
  • manage their disappointment
  • how to read by providing caregivers with a foundation of understanding the latest research in brain development in children

For the librarians reading this - ETM is also a wonderful vehicle for literacy.  It meets children where they are at developmentally and fills them with joyful experiences that will help them develop literacy skills that are essential to becoming a lifelong reader.

​My discovery of ETM was kismet.  As the saying goes, I was “in the right place at the right time.”

It was 2009 and there were no teaching jobs to be found (#GreatRecession). I was a freshly minted graduate with a degree in elementary education and a minor in music. Until I could secure a full-time teaching gig, I kept myself busy working as a substitute teacher in the district where I student taught and moonlighted as a children’s associate at my local library.  In June of 2010, I finally landed my first teaching gig as a first through third-grade music teacher.  I was elated!

​When August rolled around and it was time to meet my 325 students I began to feel a small sort of panic set in.  How on earth was I going to learn 325 names?  How was I going to connect with 325 very different individuals?  Then I remembered this name song called “Oh, Here We Are Together” we sang and played in the ETM session at the conference.  By the middle of September, I had all 325 names down. I was able to call my students by name in the hallway or when I was doing bus duty.  The way that their faces lit up when I took the time to notice and connect with them was my Eureka! moment. I was eager to learn as much as I could about this approach because I knew in my soul that it was going to have a profound effect on the way that I work with children.

I knew that I needed to learn more so I signed myself up for the winter course.  The more ETM I brought back to my students, the more they asked for it.  There was something about it that kept them (and me) very intrigued.  I worked with several English Language Learners that were often quiet in music class, but when we played “Oats, Peas, Beans” or “Rig a Jig Jig” they were all in. By the end of the year, they were not only singing but confidently engaging in conversation with me. 

Through my study, I have learned about neuroscience, attachment, child development, and motivation.  I have also learned about how ETM can be a vehicle to building early literacy skills in children.  Even though I have been studying this “working of a work” for nine years, I still have a great deal more to learn. 

In 2015, I decided to leave the classroom to work as a children’s library associate at a public library.  I am given Storytime programming and I am racking my brain as to how I am going to approach my programs.  I find Storytime Underground, Jbrary, and Storytime Katie.  I am grateful to them because I have no idea how to plan a Storytime.  I can lesson plan, but planning a Storytime?  Totes different.

As I became more comfortable and confident in my new role, I began exploring how I can use ETM in my programming. I also learn about ALSC's Every Child Ready to Read and have another Eureka! moment.  ETM and ECRR2 go together like peanut butter and jelly.

How?  Tune in next week to find out!

P.S. While you wait for next week's post - watch this awesome video made by my friend George!