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This has been one of my most popular songs in the past
twenty years, and I’m including it as a song of the month by request.
It’s a good example of what I think makes a successful song for use
with young children. It ‘s simple, has a strong rhythm, hand motions,
incorporates early literacy, and is relevant to children’s lives. It’s
a finger play, but has visuals as well, so is a great song to use with
all kinds of children, including special needs and ESL You can use the
printed pictures included here, or a bowl of vegetables (great when
you’re getting your snack ready).
Suitable for ages 2-6.
Below are examples of how this song reinforces the six early reading
skills when you use the pictures on the
words printout.
| Print Awareness:
Hold the word “seed” upside down, and the children will correct you.
Or follow the word with your finger as you read from left to right.
Letter Recognition:
Letters and words are provided on the pictures,
and you can talk about them.
Vocabulary:
Some of the vegetable names will be new to
children, and you can include others as well.
Print motivation:
Giving a clue before revealing each vegetable turns
this into a game.
Narrative skills: You can stop
and talk about each vegetable before going on to the next. Ask
about what they like to eat, if they go to the
market, etc.
Phonological Awareness: The hand
motions follow the syllables as you sing, letting children feel the
smaller sounds with their bodies.
PROPS:
Pictures of vegetables. In
addition to the five vegetables in the song, there are four others you
can use. Print out nine copies of the “Seed” page, use them to back
each of the vegetable pictures ( I have done mine on different colored
paper just for fun). This brings early literacy into the song. You can
glue or laminate each, or slip them into page protectors.
INSTRUCTIONS:
At the end of each
verse, hold up a picture and ask children to name the fruit or
vegetable. With children three and older, you can give a hint and ask
them to guess. |
NOTE:
On the CD or MP3 download,
all three verses are done together, but you can pick one verse to do
at a time so children aren’t confused.
Plant a Little Seed
Plant a little seed,
(one hand makes loose fist to form a pot, other hand
moves down through pot in 3 movements, in time
with the music)
Watch it grow,
(hand comes back up through “pot” in 3 moves with
the music)
Soon we will have a vegetable
(one fist on top of the other, then fist over fist
“growing “upward, in time with the music)
Other versions for fruit
or fruit and vegetables:
Plant a little seed,
Watch it root
Soon we will have a piece of fruit
Plant a little seed,
Watch it sprout,
Let’s all try to figure it out
(is it a fruit, or a vegetable?)
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April
2010 Song of the Month