It’s a Small World

Recently I visited a number of nursery schools, so I have all things Pre-K on my mind! This post is for nursery teachers around the globe!

Guess the country origin of the following nursery rhyme excerpts:

Excerpt 1:

En la casa de Pinocho
todos cuentan hasta ocho:
Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis , siete, ocho.

Excerpt 2:

satu satu aku sayang ibu
dua dua juga sayang bapak
tiga tiga sayang adik kakak
|satu dua tiga sayang semuanya

Excerpt 3:

Tinga layo!
Come me little donkey, come
Tingalay-o
Come me little donkey, come

If you guessed the answers Spain, Indonesia and Jamaica give yourself a big sticker! Interested in learning more nursery rhymes from across the globe? Check out It’s a Small World. The site’s homepage states:

Here you will find preschool rhymes from around the world for something a little different to the usual mother goose kids rhymes! Imagine life without world music or ethnic food – that’s what a child’s reading life would be like without international kid’s books and poems – so spice up their literary diet and enjoy some armchair travelling for babies, toddlers and the young at heart!

It’s a Small World also encourages users to share their own poems, nursery rhymes and country facts and traditions! So, take a rhyme, leave a rhyme and pass a rhyme along! Thanks to Danielle for sharing this wonderful resource on LIP!

Anna

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Speakaboos!

One of my favorite things to do during the holidays is go through my delicious bookmarks and review the education sites that various people have recommended to me. Today I explored a real gem called Speakaboos! The site’s about section explains:

Speakaboos brings classic children’s entertainment into a digital world. Beloved characters and treasured stories are given new life through amazing celebrity performances, beautiful illustrations, and original music. At Speakaboos, children develop literacy skills while learning about technology in a safe and fun environment.

Take a look at these Speakaboo video story favorites, fables, nursery rhymes, fairy tales, folk tales and lullabies. Each animated story is read by celebrities such as Kevin Bacon and Jeff Donovan and contains illustrations by these fabulous artists. In addition, the text of each tale is displayed on the screen as the story is read making this a great site to keep on hand for computer time and/or center time during your K-1 literacy block.

Curious? Check out this video of Jack and the Beanstalk! In addition to the animated story, the site provides accompanying spelling, illustration and word search activities for young readers and a story guide for teachers and parents including comprehension, discussion and extension questions, as well as research activities and notes on this particular adaptation of Jack and the Beanstalk.

In addition to providing dozens of stories, take a look at these literacy activities. Pretty soon the site will enable readers to record and share their own tales! Hopefully the site will add more social bookmarking and sharing tools soon as well!

Bravo Speakaboos! What a great site!

Anna

PS Thanks to my husband and mother-in-law (an ESL curricula and teaching specialist) for introducing me to Speakaboos!

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