Welcome to our newest
issue of Ready, Set …
LEARN. We are proud to
offer the participants of
WETA Kids educational
workshops information
about WETA Television’s
literacy projects along
with learning tools
for you to use with
your child.
This issue will examine
ways to incorporate
music and poetry into
your child’s learning.
Plus there are book
suggestions and tips on
how to choose and
share great children’s
books. We hope that
Ready, Set … LEARN
will provide you with
ideas for ways you can
actively engage your
kids in fun, educational
activities.
As always, if you are
interested in more
information about
WETA Kids educational
programs and other
WETA Television
programs and activities,
please visit weta.org
or contact the WETA
Outreach & Community
Engagement department
at 703-998-2827 or
[email protected].
The Math in Music and Movement
By Ellen Booth Church,
published by Scholastic, Inc.
How can you connect music and movement to math?
By incorporating musical activities throughout your
day, you can provide children with opportunities
to strengthen basic math skills.
Think about the skills involved in singing a
song such as “This Old Man.” This simple song
incorporates many basic math skills, including
matching and comparing
(through changes in pitch, volume and rhythm);
patterning and sequencing (through repetitions
of melodies, rhythms and lyrics); and counting
and addition (identifying cardinal numbers and
adding one more with each verse). When you
add moving to the beat, you have created an
entire mind/body package of learning rolled
into one song!
Musical Matching. You can focus
on the skill of matching with simple “Call and
Response” musical games. Sing a tone or make
a sound and ask children to repeat it. Just one
note, you can do it! Try making “sounds that
cannot be spelled,” such as mechanical sounds,
made-up sounds, funny sounds, even operatic
sounds! When children match your sounds, they
are using one-to-one correspondence skills.
Use the rhythm of children’s names for a musical
matching activity. Say a child’s name and invite
children to match a clapping beat to it. My
name, “Ellen,” has two claps, but “Cassandra”
has three. Ask children: Who has a name with a
beat that matches yours? Can you tap the beat
of the names with your feet? Can you snap it?
Now here is a challenge: Can you tap the beat
of your name while others are tapping theirs?
Children can not only clap out the beat of their
names, but move to them too! Invite children to
invent a one-, two-, three- (or more) part movement
W I N T E R 2 0 13
to represent the syllables in their names.
For example, Jessica might move to her name
with a three-part arm movement: “1 — arms out,
2 — arms up, 3 — arms down.”
Each time children match something, they are
fully experiencing the mathematics concept of
equal or same as. You can also practice the
concepts of more than and less than with name
clapping. What names have more claps? Which
have less?
Sort It Out. Sorting and categorizing are
important early-math skills. Children can sort
sounds by timbre. Plastic, wood and metal
sounds all have a different quality or timbre of
sound. Invite children to sort the classroom
rhythm instruments by timbre. Then use them
to accompany a favorite song. Use an old
favorite song such as “The Wheels on the Bus”
— children can use the different parts of the bus
(wheels, windshield wipers, horns, and so on).
Change the words of “Old MacDonald Built a
House” and ask children to sort and match each
of the different types of sounds for each verse.
What instruments could make the sound of a
hammer, a paintbrush, a saw?
Keep with the Beat! Patterning is
another important component of math — and
music consists of patterns. The beat is the
compelling part of music for children. Put on
something with a strong baseline beat and you
will have children rocking and rolling right away.
The beginning stage of patterning is echoing.
Much like in the earlier stage of matching,
children repeat a rhythm or a melody by
clapping or singing. The difference is that there
is a longer sequence for children to hear, learn,
remember and repeat.
For more information about connecting math
skills to music and to read the rest of this
article, please go to scholastic.com/teachers.
24-Hour Children’s Programming on WETA Kids
The WETA Kids channel presents television programming
24 hours a day, seven days a week. The channel provides
safe viewing choices created especially for children,
featuring public television’s renowned educational shows.
In addition to around-the-clock programming on the
WETA Kids channel, children’s programs can be found
weekday and Sunday mornings on WETA TV 26.
WEEKDAYS ON THE WETA KIDS CHANNEL
6:00 a.m. Raggs
6:30 a.m. Clifford The Big Red Dog
7:00 a.m. Super WHY!
7:30 a.m. Arthur
A
8:00 a.m. Martha Speaks
Kids’
w
e
N
m
8:30 a.m. Curious George
Progratch
9:00 a.m. The Cat in the Hat Knows
a
to W
a Lot About That!
9:30 a.m. WordGirl
10:00 a.m. WordWorld
10:30 a.m. Dinosaur Train
11:00 a.m. Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood
11:30 a.m. The Electric Company
12:00 p.m. Sid the Science Kid
12:30 p.m. Raggs
1:00 p.m. Sesame Street
2:00 p.m. Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood
2:30 p.m. Angelina Ballerina: The Next Steps
3:00 p.m. Peep and the Big Wide World
3:30 p.m. Maya & Miguel
4:00 p.m. Arthur
4:30 p.m. WordGirl
5:00 p.m. Wild Kratts
5:30 p.m. Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood
6:00 p.m. Super WHY!
6:30 p.m. Martha Speaks
7:00 p.m. Curious George
7:30 p.m. Zula Patrol
8:00 p.m. The Electric Company
8:30 p.m. Sid the Science Kid
9:00 p.m. Biz Kid$
9:30 p.m. Barney & Friends
10:00 p.m. Sesame Street
11:00 p.m. Bob the Builder
11:30 p.m. Thomas & Friends
12:00 a.m. Caillou
12:30 a.m. Dinosaur Train
1:00 a.m. Super WHY!
1:30 a.m. The Cat in the Hat Knows
a Lot About That!
2:00 a.m. Zula Patrol
2:30 a.m. WordWorld
3:00 a.m. Clifford The Big Red Dog
3:30 a.m. Wild Kratts
4:00 a.m. Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood
4:30 a.m. Angelina Ballerina: The Next Steps
5:00 a.m. Peep and the Big Wide World
5:30 a.m. Miffy and Friends
You can find WETA Kids at 26.3 over the air via antenna
Comcast 266 • Cox 801 • FIOS 472
Visit weta.org/kids for the complete schedule
of children’s programs.
Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood
Join a new generation of preschool “neighbors” and experience the Neighborhood
of Make-Believe in Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood on WETA Kids. The first TV series
inspired by the iconic, award-winning Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, Daniel Tiger’s
Neighborhood stars 4-year-old Daniel Tiger (son
of the original program’s Daniel Striped Tiger)
who invites young viewers into his world,
giving them a kid’s-eye view of his life. As they
closely follow and share Daniel’s everyday
adventures, preschoolers ages 2-4 and their
families learn fun and practical strategies and
skills necessary for growing and learning.
Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood airs weekdays
at 11:00 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. on WETA Kids.
Learning with Computer Games
Have you ever gone apple picking with
Curious George? Or matched snowflakes with
Sid the Science Kid and his friends? If you and
your children have been logging on to
Courtesy of Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood © 2012
The Fred Rogers Company
pbskids.org, you probably have. PBS KIDS has
always offered high-quality educational games that parents and teachers can trust.
Now you can find engaging games that teach the specific literacy and STEM
(science, technology, engineering and math) skills that you want your children to
practice and learn. Early research has shown that children who play the PBS KIDS
games available online and for download on portable devices improve their reading
and math skills. To learn more about WETA Kids training on how to use these
games, contact the WETA Outreach & Community Engagement department at
703-998-2827 or [email protected]. For more information about the games and the skills
they help develop, check out pbskids.org/lab.
Free PBS KIDS Mobile Apps
This year, several PBS KIDS mobile apps for iPhone and iPad devices will be
featured in the Mobile Learning Program, the PBS project providing free mobile
apps for families. Each of these mobile apps sells for $1.99 in the Apple iTunes
Store, but can be downloaded for free through the use of gift codes. A gift code
will be available on a gift card that describes the learning goals of each mobile app
and provides instructions in Spanish and English on how to use the code to
download the app from iTunes for free.
You can request gift cards for Dinosaur Train Camera Catch! (iPhone app), All
Aboard the Dinosaur Train! (iPad app), Martha Speaks Story Maker (iPhone app),
Martha Speaks Word Spinner (iPad app), Wild Kratts CreatureHood (iPad app),
and Cyberchase 3D Builder (iPad app).
To order the free gift cards, please email the WETA Outreach & Community
Engagement department at [email protected] or call 703-998-2827. The deadline for
ordering gift codes is August 31, 2013. All gift codes expire on September 30, 2013.
Images, left to right: Dinosaur Train: Dinosaur Train™ & © 2012 The Jim Henson Company. All Rights Reserved. Martha Speaks: © 2012 WGBH Educational
Foundation.™ © “Martha” and underlying artwork: Susan Meddaugh. Cyberchase: CYBERCHASE is produced by THIRTEEN for WNET. © 2012 THIRTEEN.
All rights reserved. Wild Kratts: © 2012 Kratt Brothers Company. All Rights Reserved
Learning Through Rhymes and Poetry
Rhyming helps us develop an ear for language. Rhyme and rhythm highlight the sounds and
syllables in words, and understanding sounds and syllables helps kids learn to read.
Activities for younger children
• Create word families. Use refrigerator
magnets to spell a word ending, for
example -ap. Put other letters
in front of the word
ending to create
rhyming words
(tap, cap,
map, lap).
• Fill in the blank.
Read children’s
poems aloud and
leave off the final word,
so your child can guess the
missing rhyming word:
WordWorld (ages 3-6) and The Electric
Company (ages 5-9).
Activities for older children
• Write a swap poem. You write
one line of a poem and have
your child write the next line,
matching the rhythm and
rhyming the last word.
(Hint: Use words that are
easy to rhyme.)
• Create a rhyming dictionary. Have
a page for –op words, –end words,
–ing words, and –oat words. Then move
on to more complex letter patterns like
–ouble (trouble, double).
Courtesy of ©2007 Word World, LLC.
All Rights Reserved.
“Run, run, as fast as you can,
you can’t catch me, I’m the gingerbread ___.”
• Make TV watching a time for learning.
Choose programs with a focus on reading.
Check out the WETA Kids shows Sesame
Street (ages 2-5), Super Why! (ages 3-6),
Some good poetry books for kids
• Sing to the Sun by Ashley Bryan
• In the Eyes of a Cat: Japanese Poetry
for All Seasons selected and illustrated
by Demi, translated by Tze-Si Huang
• This Big Sky by Pat Mora, illustrated by
Steve Jenkins
• The Random House Book of Poetry for
Children selected by Jack Prelutsky,
illustrated by Arnold Lobel
• A Child’s Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson
• And any book by Dr. Seuss
• If kids don’t like reading prose, try poetry!
Poems are short, provide important
practice with reading fluency, and help
reluctant readers develop a sense
of accomplishment.
For more information about helping your child with reading, please check
ReadingRockets.org or ColorinColorado.org, WETA’s bilingual site for parents and educators.
Courtesy of Series copyright 2010, CITH Productions, Inc. and
Red Hat Animation, Limited. Underlying characters copyright
1957, 1985 Dr. Seuss Enterprises, L.P.
Explore Recommended Books
SING, RHYME AND GROW
A poetry and music book list for preschool through primary grades
Poetry and music go together like peanut
butter and jelly or salt and pepper. Be sure
to read or sing the books suggested here
with the children in your life.
Arroz con leche: canciones
y ritmos populares de América
Latina/Popular Songs and Rhymes
From Latin America
by Lulu Delacre
Dogku
by Andrew Clements, illustrated by Tim Bowers
Max Found Two Sticks
by Brian Pinkney
How a small dog finds a family home and love
is told completely in the poetry form of haiku.
Charming illustrations add to the story’s
accessible language.
Max uses sticks to make the rhythmic sounds of
the city around him, from pigeons to a subway
train. Scratchboard illustrations bring Max’s
world into focus.
Hush! A Thai Lullaby
by Minfong Ho, illustrated by Holly Meade
Snow Music
by Lynne Rae Perkins
A mother falls asleep after she hushes the sounds
Gentle illustrations complement rhymes in around her so her child can rest. Alliterative
both Spanish and English that are meant to sounds and collage illustrations humorously tell
be shared aloud. They can be read or sung. this recognizable story.
A boy looking for his dog on a snowy day hears
musical sounds as he walks in his neighborhood.
Melodious language and detailed illustrations
evoke the sounds of music everywhere.
Charlie Parker Played Be Bop
by Chris Raschka
Jazz Baby
by Lisa Wheeler, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie
The musical sound of jazz great Charlie
Parker comes to life through lively sounds
and unique illustrations. Nonsense
language is meant to be shared aloud.
Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin
by Lloyd Moss, illustrated by Marjorie Priceman
Dance with a huge, extended family to jazzy
rhymes. They be-bop and hip-hop across
colorful pages in bouncy illustrations, and
readers are sure to, too!
Catchy rhymes use alliterative language (and a
bit of onomatopoeia) to create the sounds of an
orchestra. Loosely lined, colorful illustrations
capture the movement of the music and poetry.
Use the Ready To Learn Learning Triangle
View
Do
Arthur
Mon., January 14 at 7:00 a.m. — WETA TV 26
Tues., January 15 at 7:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. and
Sat., January 19 at 8:30 p.m. — WETA Kids Channel
Learn more about poetry with Fern’s Poetry Club, which can be
found at pbskids.org/arthur/games/poetry. Use rhyme and
rhythm to express yourself, while learning to write all different
kinds of poems, including narrative poems, haiku, limericks, free
verse, cinquains and lyric poems. Then become a poet yourself
as you write your own poem and send it in! Each day, Fern
chooses a child’s poem and publishes it on the site.
Episode: I’m a Poet!
Fern is the only person who volunteers to enter the poetry
competition, which will be judged by Jack Prelutsky. When
others start making fun of her, Fern reveals a new side to
her quiet character and challenges them all to write poems
for the competition. If they don't succeed, they will be roped
into a year’s membership in the school Poetry Club.
Read
For younger children
Learn to rhyme with Elmo! Families can go online and play the Elmo
Rhymes game at pbskids.org/sesame/games/elmoRhymes.html.
Rhyming is a very important skill for reading development, and
who better to engage kids than our favorite red furry friend?
For more activities
It’s Raining Pigs & Noodles
by Jack Prelutsky, illustrated by James Stevenson
Read-Aloud Rhymes for the Very Young
selected by Jack Prelutsky, illustrated by Marc Brown
Pizza, Pigs, and Poetry: How to Write a Poem
by Jack Prelutsky
Log on to pbskids.org, pbsparents.org or pbsteachers.org.
For more information about WETA Kids Ready To Learn, Where
Literacy Begins or other WETA activities and programming,
please go to weta.org or contact the WETA Outreach &
Community Engagement department at 703-998-2827 or
[email protected].
Special thanks to Scholastic, Inc. and Ellen Booth Church; Maria Salvadore; and Esty Foster for their contributions to this newsletter.
WETA Kids Ready To Learn and Where Literacy Begins are made possible through the generous support of Salem, The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation,
The J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation, Claude Moore Charitable Foundation, PNC Foundation, RealNetworks Foundation and an anonymous foundation.
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