Transitional Kindergarten and the English Learner

Over the last semester, The English Learner Group has been working with English Learners in Transitional Kindergarten and to put it succinctly: it has been a blast! We’ve been supporting the Fresno County Office of Education and the Merced County Office of Education, promoting the use of children’s music to teach and reinforce language development with English Learners.

Here is a list of songs and the literacy skills being developed as teachers use music with their students:

The Hokey Pokey | Vocabulary related to parts of the body, directional words (right, left), directional prepositions (in, out), rhyming, Total Physical Response, humor and student engagement

This Ole’ Man | Ordinal numbers (1-10), rhyming, rhyming vocabulary

On Top of Spaghetti | Cause and effect language, rhyming, imagination, humor

Boom, Boom, Ain’t It Great to Be Crazy! | Rhyming, story telling, comprehension, TPR

The Farmer and the Dell | Sequencing, rhyming and the use of English nonsense words (Hi-ho, the dairy-oh)

Apples and Bananas | Phonemic awareness, rhyming, the power of repetitive language

We highly encourage the use of children’s music in your Transitional Kindergarten classroom but make sure to help students and teachers establish the direct connection to Common Core Standards. 

Do you use music in your classroom?  What do you teach with it?? We’d love to hear your experience connecting English Language Acquisition with the Common Core Standards with your students in the comments below.