Sing & Sign for Young Children

A Guide for Early Childhood Professionals

Anne Meeker Watson

• Publisher: Brookes Publishing
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781681254982
• Topic: Didattica
• Subtopic: Didattica per la prima infanzia

Research shows that teaching sign language to all young children has a wide range of benefits, from enhancing social?emotional and preliteracy skills to supporting positive parent?child relationships. With Sing & Sign for Young Children, early childhood professionals will have a fun, easy, and highly effective way to teach and practice key ASL sign vocabulary through music and play during everyday classroom routines.

Packed with engaging sign language activities and original, kid?friendly songs, this innovative program was created by a music therapist and early childhood specialist with years of experience working and playing with young children. Dr. Anne Meeker Watson, creator of the SING.PLAY.LOVE.® program, shows you how to transform your daily activities—including arrival, mealtime, shared book reading, free play, and departure—into joyful learning opportunities infused with music, play, and warm adult?child connections. You'll get everything you need to implement the program when you purchase the book: original songs with lyrics and scores, guidance and tips for beginning the program, pictures of all the signs and hand formations, suggested activities and games, a list of additional resources, and videos modeling signs for each song.

BENEFITS:

• Strengthens skills essential for academic and social success: communication, social?emotional, self?regulation, and literacy skills
• Combines signing with music —a powerful, motivating, and neurologically rich experience for young children
• Helps children build positive, meaningful relationships with each other and with their educators and caregivers
• Infuses the school day with joy and fun, creating an environment that's conducive to sustained attention and engagement
• Gives children many chances to practice and demonstrate new skills across daily routines
• Helps support communication development for all children, including dual language learners and children with language delays

DOWNLOADABLE MATERIALS: Put Sing & Sign into action with a complete package of downloadable online materials, including 13 audio recordings, 18 instructional videos, and 18 printable pages of song cards, instructions, and photographs and illustrations of key vocabulary words. (Vocabulary word pages are available in both English and Spanish.) See how this product helps strengthen Head Start program quality and school readiness

1

Mealtime and Manners

“If music be the food of love, play on!”

(Watts & Shakespeare, 1992, p. 129)

Thanks to Mr. Shakespeare for stating what every teacher and caregiver of toddlers knows: Music and food are a perfect pairing for teaching a variety of important developmental skills. And when combined with key signed words for meals and manners, music and play create the perfect recipe for alleviating mealtime challenges.

Erin Lawrence teaches Sing & Sign classes for parents and young children in her community. She is uniquely qualified for this occupation because she is a deaf educator as well as the mother of three daughters who all learned to sing and sign with her. Erin has witnessed firsthand how helpful sign language can be for young children to be able to request what they want and need. Erin said, “Mealtimes are motivating and provide a beautiful stage upon which we can practice and perfect communication skills as we talk, laugh and learn together.” Erin has helped hundreds of babies and toddlers realize for the first time the powerful connection between their signed gesture and the object of their desire: FOOD! “The moment a baby catches sight of the sign for MILK, her hands and feet begin to dance as she squeals with sheer delight!”

Mealtime routines are the perfect time for teaching a variety of important language and social skills. Check out all of the easy ways to embed vocabulary development at breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snack:

•Children must first WASH their hands before eating, which may require that they WAIT patiently at the sink as FRIENDS each take a turn washing.

•Enlist the help of children to gather a cup and napkin to take to your snack table. They can HELP you prepare.

•Once all children are seated, children can serve themselves using appropriate serving utensils. Say and sign their two snack CHOICES for the day. Offering choices goes a long way toward honoring the emerging self-determination of your youngsters.

•Teach them how to pour their own WATER into their cups using a child-size pitcher. They can refill their cup if they are still THIRSTY.

•Remind children to say and sign PLEASE and THANK-YOU to you or a friend when they are served WATER or a snack.

A child demonstrates the sign for PLEASE. See page 133 for more!

•Just as you look forward to a special dinner and conversation with a friend, your children enjoy special moments spent dining and visiting with you. It is important to model polite and attentive conversation with your children. Ask them questions about the things that interest them. Utilize your knowledge of their families to talk about the topics they care most about. Perhaps a child has a new BABY SISTER, or someone’s GRANDMA will be the special guest for book reading in the afternoon. Is there a new TOY to PLAY with in centers? What was your favorite TOY to PLAY with when you were little? Tell a fun...