Making sense of numbers

In any given day, I work with a variety of students who are working on making sense of numbers.

Counting, rote counting, sequencing, identifying numbers, identifying quantities, sets and the list of goals and objectives goes on and on.  

Today I want to share a song that I wrote for students working on identifying and counting the numbers one to five.

"Clickety Clack" is all about trains and counting.  I purposely chose the train theme because many of the younger students love trains (especially the boys!), and they already have numbers on them (the Thomas trains do).  

When singing this song, there are several different visual aids you can incorporate to make this song even more fun.  You can use real Thomas trains, train stickers or clip art images which can easily be found online.  Felt board train cutouts would work too.  When learning how to count and identify numbers, visual aids are a must.  They provide the student with visual and/or tactile input and help them learn these concepts more easily.
The song and lyrics are below.

Clickety clack, coming down the track
Find the number of the train on the track (Repeat)

Number one-having fun.
Number one-here it comes!

Number two-chugging right to you.
Number two-chugging right to you.

Number three-coming right past me.
Number three-coming right past me.

Number four-pulling more and more.
Number four-pulling more and more.

Number five-coming down the line.
Number five-coming down the line.

Clickety clack, coming down the track.
Find the number of the train on the track. (Repeat)

Christmas Lights

The winter holidays are quickly approaching and I've been busy rounding up all of my favorite songs for the holidays as well as writing some new songs too.  

Today I'm sharing a song that I've already been singing with students this week.  

"Christmas Lights" features the following colors:  red, green, yellow and blue.  

It is sung to the tune of "London bridge is falling down", and I added a violin part to make it extra special. :)  Every December, this song is a serious favorite to many of the students I see each week!

The repetitive lyrics and tune make this song one that students will quickly learn and sing.  Students can work on color identification, spelling of color words, and sequencing skills (which color was first, second,etc. in the song?), all in one simple song!  This year I've also incorporated a little bit of sign language for the words bright and night.  The students are doing so well incorporating the signs and singing along!

The song and lyrics are below.

Christmas lights are shining bright,

shining bright, shining bright.

Christmas lights are shining bright all through the night.

Red lights are shining bright...

Green lights are shining bright...

Yellow lights are shining bright...

Blue lights are shining bright...

Christmas lights are shining bright,

shining bright, shining bright.

Christmas lights are shining bright all through the night.

Have a great weekend and check back soon for more holiday songs!