Numbers & Shapes
To help kids learn: to identify & write numbers, counting skills, shape name and formation
If your kids cannot identify the shapes or the written numbers out of order, then start with the CD “Jumpin’ Numbers and Shakin’ Shapes.” It has a song for each number 0-10 and each of the seven basic shapes. The visual cues on specially designed flash cards available to print on the HeidiSongs Resource CD speed up learning these shapes and numbers a great deal, as they give the children something to visual to focus on that reflects the words of the songs, and a movement cue to cement it in their brains. I usually use this one quite a lot during the first three or four weeks of teaching Kindergarten, along with the flash cards from the HeidiSongs Resource CD.
If your kids already know the shapes and numbers 0-10 out of order but don’t know 11-30, then skip Jumpin’ Numbers and Shakin’ Shapes and go straight to “Jumpin’ Numbers Vol. 2: 11-30.” This CD has a short song for each number 11-30, and helps kids figure out if the number they are looking at is a 12 or a 21, etc. There are no special flash cards or visual aides needed for this CD, but it will help if you show the students the number when they are singing. As a Kindergarten teacher, I usually use this one a lot in November and December, the third and fourth months of the school year..

What works well in the classroom
and how do you use it?
To get the most out of simultaneous multisensory teaching, take a look at these helpful hints from Heidi!

Primary Plays
Primary musical based on stories of the Gingerbread Man and the Mitten, are easy enough for Kindergarten students to perform successfully, but still fun for first or second graders!

Letters of the Alphabet
To help kids learn: the alphabet, letter sounds and letter formation
If you children cannot yet identify the letters of the alphabet or give their sounds, then this is the CD you need. There is a song for each letter, one reminding the children what each one looks like as a capital and a lower case letter, as well as the sound that it makes. Many of the songs also assist in correct letter formation. I use this CD a lot during the first six weeks of the school year, or however long it takes the class to master the majority of the letters and sounds. The DVD version of this CD is particularly helpful, since it shows the visual formation of each letter as the song plays. The motions also have the children form the letter with their bodies, which is a great way to for children to actively notice the shape of each letter. Preschoolers and Kindergartners can have so much fun with these songs that they won’t have any idea that they are learning when doing this activity!.

Often times, teachers call or email me, asking which CD’s they should start with in a specific grade level. I always tell people that the best thing to do is to look at the words that are covered in each CD, and choose the one or ones that best suit the curriculum that you are required to teach. Many first grade teachers wind up buying all of the Sing and Spell the Sight Word titles that I have! And often times, Kindergarten teachers do the same. Over the years, I have come to realize that my Kindergarten students were capable of learning much more than I previously thought was possible. It was just a matter of exposing them to as much material as possible, and giving them the opportunity to stretch themselves. One thing seems to be true of most young children: they can learn just about anything if you set it to music. Add some movement and visual aids, and you only increase the likelihood that they will retain the information in long term memory. The only obstacles in your way are the amount of time you have in your school day, your own personal energy level, and your own preconceptions about what your students can and cannot learn. I have not yet heard of an administrator that has forbidden a teacher from challenging his or her students to learn above and beyond what is required during the school year!

As a Kindergarten teacher, I always start with the color songs from “Sing and Spell Vol. 2” during the first month of school, since the songs give examples of what each color looks like as well as how to spell the word. This works for children who do not yet know the names of each color in any language, as well as for those that already know them and are ready to learn to read the color word. I begin introducing the other basic sight words such as “the,” “see,” and “is” after about six weeks of school or so, from “Sing and Spell the Sight Words Volume 1.” The words on this CD are the ones that most K/1 teachers need to teach first. Consequently this CD/DVD is the biggest seller and my most popular item. After my students have mastered most of the basic words in Sing and Spell Vol. 1, we go back and pick up the remaining words in Volume 2. “Sing and Spell Vol. 3: Even More Sight Words” has words that I typically teach during the second half of Kindergarten, such as “look,” “make,” “come,” and “help.” However, if we are reading a book that contains these words, I will teach them as needed earlier in the year. It also has some harder words, such as “there,” “their” and “they’re” that are typically not taught in Kindergarten, but are very often introduced in first or second grade. Sing and Spell Volume 4: Fun Songs for More Sight Words has most of the words from numbers 30-50 of the Dolch list, including lots of very easy words taught in Kindergarten, such as “I,” “am,” “be,” “by,” etc. This set of songs features lots of animal sounds and movements, and is a favorite of mine! Whenever I introduce the songs from this CD, my students don’t want to sing anything else! Sing and Spell Volume 5: Number Words and More Sight Words, has most of the Dolch words from 51 - 75, plus the number words from zero to ten, of course! It also has a wonderful “Zero the Hero” song on it that the children just LOVE, plus the “Fight” song is great for teaching conflict resolution skills while teaching children how to spell this tricky word. It has a great, “classic rock” feel that the children immediately fell in love with and demanded to hear over and over again- especially the BOYS, who decided that playing the “air guitar” was the coolest thing EVER!

Remember to always show your students the word as you are singing. I hold a flash card of the word in my hand as I do the motions. In fact, I put the flashcards in order on a ring, and color code them by CD. That way, I can just grab the one that I need without any trouble. I keep my CD player on a plastic drawer that I got at Target, and I put all of these flashcards on the rings in this drawer. As soon as we are done singing a song, I ask the children what that word was. This helps them realize the purpose of the song, since many children believe we are singing just for fun! I now also use an ipod in my classroom, and I LOVE the flexibility of being able to create a playlist that contains exactly the songs that I want, in the order that I want to play them. I put the songs that we need to practice the most near the beginning of the list so that we get to them, and then we work our way backwards to the songs that we don’t need to practice as much.

The DVD’s for all of the Sight Words CD are extremely helpful, since the children get to see the words written in front of them as the music plays, and do the motions as well. This is especially true of those teachers that have a Smartboard or some other type of large computer screen in their classrooms. These teachers tell me that they really only use the DVD’s and really don’t use the CD’s much at all! (You can always make up your own movements, but most teachers seem to like to have them all “prepackaged” and ready to go, and would rather just follow along with me as I do the motions. Teachers seem to prefer the DVD’s to the CD’s, and we now sell more of the DVD’s now than anything else.)

Sight Words, Spelling & Colors
To help kids learn: basic sight words, spelling and eleven color words

Primary Math
To help kids learn: patterning, addition, skip counting, coin recognition
This CD is great for introducing and reviewing basic math concepts, such as sorting, patterning, coin recognition, skip counting, addition, and subtraction. I use different songs from this CD all year long, beginning with sorting and patterning in September, and finishing up the school year with subtraction in June. These songs help kids remember the academic vocabulary associated with the math concepts presented in this CD. It also has a song that counts with the children from 1-100. Singing and dancing along to this song is a great way to practice counting and get your exercise all at the same time! I frequently replay the all of the songs throughout the school year to make sure that the children do not forget concepts that they have already mastered.

Language Arts
To help kids learn: phonemic awareness, reading skills and seasonal themes
The first several songs in this CD help kids learn basics such as what is a letter, word, or sentence. It also has songs to help kids practice Phonemic Awareness skills in a fun way, such as thinking of words that begin the same as other words, syllable deletion, rhyming words, and how we sound out words. The song, “Parts of a Story” helps them remember what the terms “character” and “setting” refer to, as well as what the beginning, middle, and ending parts of a story might be. The rest of the CD is devoted to seasonal songs that are fun to sing, but can also be made into books for kids to make and read. There is a different song (and book) that can be made for several holidays, as well as to go with units on farm, zoo, and sea animals. There is also a song for each season of the year. The masters and directions, and sample pictures of each book are sold separately on the Printable Projects Resource CD.

These CD-Roms contain printable resources that support the different CD’s. The HeidiSongs Resource CD contains a Sing-Along Song Book for both of the Jumpin’ Numbers CD’s, and Sing and Spell Volumes 1, 2, and 3. It also has the special flash cards for Jumpin’ Numbers and Shakin’ Shapes CD in it, which is a very important component of teaching number recognition with this CD. It also has Sing and Spell worksheets that go along with each word covered in Sing and Spell Volumes 1, 2, and 3.
Musical Math Resource CD
The Musical Math CD-Rom contains printable resources that support the Musical Math CD only. There are activities and games that have withstood the test of time in my classroom and have proven very helpful in helping children master the concepts covered in a fun and engaging way. There is also the master for a Sing-Along Songbook to use with the Musical Math CD.

Teaching Resources for the Classroom
Includes many supporting resources for you to print yourself at home or at school!