What are your questions?
Is my child too young for Alphabet Songs?
Children are never too young for music! Alphabet Songs is great even for toddlers. By 18 months of age, your child should be read to regularly and should be encouraged to sing, actively develop large motor skills, and start noticing letters. These alphabet songs are perfect for young children. Listening to the music side-by-side while you help to turn pages is quality parent-toddler time.
What is the age range for using Alphabet Songs?
The alphabet songs were created to teach preschool children, who are four and five years old, but much younger children listen to the songs, love them, and learn as well. Alphabet Songs is a highly effective teaching aid for kindergarten and first-grade children, up to age six, and special education students beyond that. Is there an age limit? Not really. We recommend Alphabet Songs for illiterate teenagers and adults who can improve their reading skills by learning and then teaching these songs to their own children, younger siblings, or friends with special needs.
Does Alphabet Songs work well for children with disabilities?
Yes! Music offers a mode of communication and instruction that can work very well for children with disabilities. Music is engaging. It isn’t demanding or stressful. It is fun. It lends itself to repetition that is important for the children and desired by them!
In case you missed this testimonial, we’d like to share it here. It is evidence that Alphabet Songs is a joyful for way to reach and teach children with disabilities. Bob Zancanella, a former teacher for the Utah School for the Deaf and Blind had this to say:
As a teacher of blind preschool-age children, I found Melody Lou’s Alphabet Songs to be very, very good. My goal was to get the kids to talk; and as they would listen, they began humming—which is the first step to learning to talk. The kids loved listening to the music and eventually began to say the sounds of the letters. I knew they were understanding what they heard because they began laughing more and more as they would listen to the songs. I saw genuine happiness in the children’s faces.
I am a school teacher already using a great reading program. Can I integrate Alphabet Songs into my own curriculum?
Absolutely! Because Alphabet Songs focuses on one letter at a time, it is easy to share a new song with your students when your curriculum calls for learning a new letter sound. The truth is, you can use Alphabet Songs anytime, even outside of Language Arts. Students love to have a turn looking through the picture book and choosing a letter song to sing along with. Remember, these songs are excellent for casual exposure, formal instruction, and a practical review of letter sounds!
Does Music Helps Me Learn have resources for older children and adults who struggle to read?
Even though the music is designed for young children, we are confident that these alphabet songs can help adults and older children learn or review letter sounds and improve their reading. While our outreach program is still in the developmental stage, if you know a teenager or adult who struggles to read, encourage him or her to work with a child (maybe their own child, a younger sibling, or an individual with special needs) in a teacher-student team. We believe that struggling readers will learn these essential phonics skills—with dignity—while they simultaneously help younger children learn the same skillset.
My child isn’t interested in the alphabet. What can I do?
Try introducing Melody Lou’s Alphabet Songs. Your child probably just needs more kid-friendly exposure to the alphabet. Melody Lou helps children understand that learning the letter sounds is how they will begin to learn to read.
Should I be worried that my child won’t be ready to read?
Helping your child prepare to read can be a fun and engaging experience. It also can happen fairly quickly. Even if your child has already started school and is falling behind in reading because he or she doesn’t know the letters and their sounds, the problem can be solved with a little effort. Alphabet Songs was created to help children learn their letter sounds in a kid-friendly way, so nagging, drilling, frustration, and discouragement can be avoided for both parents and their children.
How can I get my preschooler interested in books in a tablet world?
Studies and practical experience provide ample evidence that limiting screen time is important for the wellbeing of children. You can help your child become more interested in books and real-world interactions by completely eliminating their unlimited access to devices and being very selective about supervised access. It may be difficult at first due to the addictive nature of constant audio/video exposure. Consider giving devices to someone outside of your household for a while.
Your example as an adult of engaging in a wide variety of non-screen activities like reading (with and without your child), talking rather than texting, playing board games, singing songs, walking and looking at nature, writing, drawing, etc. (especially with your child) will be more impactful than anything else you do.
Regularly using the Alphabet Songs book and audio can be an excellent first step to moving away from too much screen time. Be sure to make use of your local library and ask the librarian for time-tested classic children’s books from authors such as Shel Silverstein, Dr. Seuss, and more. Only the best books are good enough for your child. Books with great stories, language, and art will help your children become interested in books.
Why are original melodies important?
The greatest benefits of learning through music happen when an inseparable connection is created between a tune and a concept. When children already know the lyrics to a melody like “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” that music isn’t nearly as effective as a new melody is to teach a new concept. These alphabet songs work memory magic in the brain because they are all original melodies.
Does Music Helps Me Learn offer special pricing for teachers and schools?
We are eager to partner with educators! The Alphabet Songs audio downloads may be freely shared so every child in your classroom or school district can learn the letter sounds with music. These songs will enhance the learning-to-read curriculum you already use. Music really does help children learn. Here are a few ideas for using Alphabet Songs in your classroom:
1) As a start-of-day activity when students are arriving,
2) to introduce a new letter,
3) in listening centers where children learn or review letters independently,
4) as an end-of-day activity for the entire class to review,
5) as part of a lending library the kids can check out for home use,
6) as a tool to allow children to get up and dance or wiggle,
7) to integrate curriculum, and
8) as a resource to inspire their imaginations.
Please contact us directly to discuss how the Music Helps Me Learn products can benefit your classroom, school, or school district specifically meet its early literacy goals.
How often should my child listen to the music?
Because the songs are so engaging and fun, we have found that most children look forward to listening to the songs; it is not a chore for them. Your child may want to listen every day to a few songs, or to all the songs three or four times a week. The entire soundtrack takes approximately 38 minutes to listen to. Gauge your child’s attention span and plan accordingly. Any interaction with the music will be beneficial. We have found that three full times a week is optimal.
Why is it so easy for children to learn with this music?
Children love the silly alphabet songs, the creative settings, and the adorable characters, which make them want to listen to the songs over and over again. They beg for their favorites. They learn the letter sounds quickly and easily and begin reading simple words in no time. You’ll be amazed with the results!
I am an early-childhood teacher. How would you recommend that I use the book and songs in my classroom?
You can use the book and songs in your classroom:
1) as a start-of-day activity when students are arriving.
2) to introduce a new letter.
3) in listening centers where children learn or review independently.
4) as an end-of-day activity for the entire class to review.
5) as part of a lending library the kids can check out for home use.
6) as a tool to allow children to get up and dance or wiggle.
7) to integrate curriculum.
8) as a resource to inspire their imaginations.
At what age is a child ready for Melody Lou’s Alphabet Songs?
The music is recommended for preschool age children, but the earlier your child begins, the earlier he or she will develop sound/symbol connections. We have heard from mothers with children as young as one that their toddlers love listening and have benefited from the music. In addition, struggling readers up to eight years old will benefit from a review of the basic letter sounds—some of which they may have missed or forgotten. This review may help to dramatically improve their reading skills.
My child has a learning disability. Can Melody Lou’s Alphabet Songs help my child?
Children with learning disabilities often struggle because the traditional teaching methods are typically visual and linguistic, (i.e., sitting at a desk, listening to instructions, copying from the board, etc.) Teaching through music is often an easier way to reach children with disabilities. They can relax and wiggle. They are encouraged to move, which can help them learn.
Does my child need to know the alphabet before beginning?
Your child does not need to know the alphabet. In fact, no previous knowledge is necessary for your child to begin learning the letter sounds with this music.
We don’t speak English in our home. Does Melody Lou’s Alphabet Songs teach English?
Children usually learn second languages best when they are immersed. Listening to all English lyrics, with pictures as aids, can be highly beneficial. Remember that ESL students need to hear the letter sounds over and over because many of them will be different from their native sounds. Repeated listening is optimal with the songs.
Does Melody Lou’s Alphabet Songs teach spelling?
Learning to spell is a natural outgrowth to learning to read. It is the same process with an added measure of attention to memorization. The Little Writer & Artist Book (see the store) is a great resource for introducing basic spelling skills.
Is this alphabet program compatible with my child’s school curriculum?
Many preschool and kindergarten teachers traditionally teach one letter or one sound per day. They appreciate the simplicity of using the Alphabet Songs to connect the letter with its sound, and they find that it is a fun and easy exercise for kids.
I have no idea how to help a child learn to read. What do they need to learn?
First, teaching a child to read isn’t as difficult as you might think. (It isn’t rocket science.) That’s because children’s minds are hard-wired with an incredible capacity for acquiring aural and written language skills. To put it simply, children’s minds are prepared to recognize and remember patterns and to use them.
So, how do we teach children to read? We teach them the patterns, we review the patterns, we use the patterns, and at some point, children take off like a rocket. They can read! (Maybe learning to read is rocket science, but only because we’re working with little rocket scientists.)
The first pattern we teach is the letters of the alphabet—that each letter represents a sound. We name each letter and then work to remember the various sounds. Remembering the letter sounds is a skill and skills take practice to develop. (This first step of learning to read is why Alphabet Songs was created—to help preschoolers easily learn and remember the letter sounds with music.)
There are 44 distinct sounds in our language. These sounds are called phonemes. Teaching the various letter combinations that spell out these 44 phonemes is phonics instruction. Children see phonics as patterns.
Once children know the letter sounds, they are ready to put the sounds together to form short words. They make the sound of each letter in order (which we call “sounding out the words”) several times, perhaps, until they begin to hear the word.
At first, all words are “sounded out.” But children very quickly recognize the pattern of a given word and recognize it by sight. Like any skill, the more a child practices reading, the easier sight-reading becomes.
Some words like you and the are often taught strictly as sight words (words to recognize by sight, not by sounding them out), because these words don’t follow the basic letter-sound patterns, and children will need to recognize them early on in order to read sentences.
Many words cannot be fully “sounded out” because the letter sounds don’t follow the original patterns, but they do follow new patterns. As you help a beginning reader, you should know what patterns they do know, and which ones they do not know. And if you don’t know what they don’t know, be careful not to be surprised that they can’t “sound out” a short word like one. (It may be short, but it doesn’t follow the phonics patterns they have learned.) So, always be positive with your beginning reader. What they are doing is very impressive!
After children have mastered the basic letter sounds, we teach them new patterns, a few at a time. The second book in the Alphabet Songs series teaches children the consonant digraphs /ch/, /ph/, /sh/, and /th/ and other patterns.
Children become truly fluent readers when they recognize most words by sight (because they have read a lot!) and they understand the meaning and purpose of the words they read. This is reading comprehension.