Music in the Classroom
~ Kim Ziemann

One of first grade teachers I work with in the mornings for Title I has children keep a song/poem binder. As they learn new songs and poems, she types up the lyrics and hole-punches them for children. As a literacy center, children read their poems/songs and illustrate them.

I love Ella Jenkins and have a couple of her CD's. Of course, Raffi is always near the top of children's favorites as well. One newer resource I've found is Makin' Music ~ http://www.makin-music.com/musicalbums.htm ~ I have two of their CD's: "It's fun to play in the snow" and "Ring around the Rosy." Dial 911, Feel the Beat, Tua Tua, The Itsy Bitsy Spider (with added lyrics for big fat spider and teeny weeny spider), Shiver, and Jim Along Josie are all favorites requested repeatedly.

I teach Head Start and my preschool students love these. I think they would also work for kindergarten and first. I have typed up the lyrics and inserted clipart for some of the songs to make posters. You should see my pre-k kids reading those posters. They love them so much that they fight over who gets to read what song/poem during reading time.