Learn to Read

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Melody Lou’s alphabet songs are phonics instruction at its best.

  • Music kids love.

    Music that helps them read!

Why are Melody Lou’s alphabet songs so effective?
  • Alliteration and rhymes make learning the letter sounds almost effortless.
  • Memorable lyrics and tunes help children naturally become interested in the alphabet.
  • Fun, silly, interactive songs make kids want to get up and dance!
  • Because children love them, they learn!
With music as STEP ONE kids are prepared to learn.

STEP ONE

Learn the letter sounds by listening to Melody Lou’s alphabet songs, and review with letter cards and alphabet poster.

STEP TWO

Develop fine motor skills to prepare for writing by coloring in a book with all their Critter Crew friends.

STEP THREE

Combine letters to sound out simple words and create their own delightful illustrations in the Little Writer & Artist Book.

STEP FOUR

Sound out words that make sense in complete sentences. Children read their first book!

Every product has a purpose.

Critter Crew with Melody Lou: Alphabet Songs

This audio and book combo is the core of our program. Every letter of the alphabet is featured with carefully crafted songs to teach your child essential phonics skills: in order to learn to read children need to know basic letter sounds. It is the science of reading. Using memorable lyrics with loads of alliteration and rhymes, as well as entirely original tunes, the basic sounds of the alphabet are brought to life. The product includes audio CD; downloadable audio files; and a 56-page, hard-bound, large-format picture book.

Essential Skills: Phonics and phoneme awareness

Ages: 2-6

Melody Lou’s Activity Book: Fine-Motor Development

Writing is the partner skill to reading. We’ve prepared a variety of activities in the Melody’s Lou’s Activity Book so your child can develop vital fine motor skills, essential to begin writing.  They are activities that don’t feel like work at all: 26 Critter Crew illustrations ready to color, sculpting with play dough, manipulating scissors, gluing, creative drawing, and using their creations in play. All this to get their little fingers and hands moving in a developmentally appropriate way.

Essential Skills: Fine-motor development for pre-writing

Ages: 2-6

My Critter Crew Alphabet (wall poster)

This 20″x16″ wall poster is an important tool to continuously expose your child to the alphabet. He or she can review letter sounds with the visual hints that connect each letter to the corresponding animal character. You child will also become more familiar with the differences in each uppercase and lowercase letter combination.

Essential Skills: Letter familiarity, letter review

Ages: 2-6

Alphabet Songs Letter Cards

These alphabet cards are wonderful at every level of learning to read. Even before children know the letters of the alphabet or letter sounds they can become familiar with letters in games of memory—one reason we included a double set of letter cards.  As they continue to learn, children can find the letters in names of friends and family members. (Your stack of letter cards will include upper and lower-case letters, perfect for names.) Before long, children can use these cards to help them sound out simple words. (Pictures of an animal character from the song about that letter give children a helpful reminder of the letter sounds!) These cards help children sound out their first words! The set includes

1) a double set of each lowercase letter,

2) a single set of each uppercase letter, and

3) extra cards of the most frequently-used lowercase letters,

Essential Skills: Letter recognition, phonics practice, basic spelling

Ages: 3-6

Little Writer & Artist Book: A Keepsake

We believe children need opportunities to be creative, especially as they learn. Why? Because they are more eager to work and naturally progress when the work is their own, something they can be proud of.  In learning exercises designed to solidify the phonics instruction your child has learned from Melody Lou’s alphabet songs, children will draw pictures of the words they read. And, yes, they will start reading their first words!

Essential Skills: Reading, writing, drawing

Ages: 4-6

I Am a Frog: 5-in-1 Reader

We created this book to be the first your child will read and a favorite he or she will treasure for years to come. Each of the five stories (I Am a Cat, I Am a Hen, I Am a Pig, I Am a Frog, and I Am a Bug) focus on one vowel sound and have consistent sentence patterns that will help your child anticipate the next words, and begin to read! The sentences are rhythmic and fun. (Kids books should never be boring.) We recommend reading this collection to your child slowly, over and over, with an animated voice, pointing to each word, even before they are able to sound out words. (It doesn’t hurt if they start memorizing the stories; after all, reading fluently is memorizing what words look like.

Essential Skills: Early Reading

Ages: 4-6

I am Fantastic! (wall poster)

This 16″x 20″ wall poster features the popular F illustration in the Alphabet Songs picture book. The poster is designed to remind parents to remind their children that their work and progress is fantastic, and they can be confident in this learning-to-read adventure. After all, your child is fantastic!

Essential Skills: Positive attitude

Ages: 2-6

What are people saying?

I love Alphabet Songs! There is nothing like it on the market and it’s the best tool I’ve found to help children learn phonics. I have a student who has trouble focusing on other techniques, but when we sing Alphabet Songs, he is mesmerized and able to focus on the songs. They bring out his personality and he learns quickly from the music. I’ve used the music with about 150 students and many of their parents say the kids sing the songs at home as well. The lyrics and tunes are very memorable and they easily teach kids the alphabet sounds.

My two-year-old loves the Alphabet Songs music. It took her just two months to learn half the letter sounds in the alphabet. I couldn’t be more pleased with this music!

My four-year-old daughter was born with a cleft palate and she requires weekly speech therapy sessions. When her preschool teacher introduced her to the Alphabet Songs music, my daughter instantly loved the music and characters. She is learning the letter sounds and focusing on pronouncing the words in the song. (She really needs to practice her pronunciation in order to be understood.) She sings along with all the songs, has memorized several of them, and has decided to learn all the songs and pronounce the words exactly as they are sung by Melody Lou.

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.

This book is amazing!!! I’ve never had a kid so joyfully and happily learn their letters so fast. I was driving in town and my daughter said, “Oh, mom, that’s a C!” I praised her then asked what sound C makes and she told me! It’s a magical way to learn to read!!

My nineteen-month-old grandson was playing in the living room while I was in the kitchen. The A song of Alphabet Songs had just ended when he got up off the floor and came to me waving arms, saying, “Ah, ah, ah!” The Alphabet Songs music is teaching him the letter sounds, even as a very young child.

I use the Alphabet Songs music as part of the curriculum in my fine arts preschool. My students love singing the songs and hearing the stories that they tell. I am so glad to have songs to help them learn the sounds that each letter makes. Music is such a powerful way to learn. Many parents have also wanted this music to use at home. They like hearing their children sing as much as I do.

My four-year-old daughter was born with a cleft palate and she requires weekly speech therapy sessions. When her preschool teacher introduced her to the Alphabet Songs music, my daughter instantly loved the music and characters. She is learning the letter sounds and focusing on pronouncing the words in the song. (She really needs to practice her pronunciation in order to be understood.) She sings along with all the songs, has memorized several of them, and has decided to learn all the songs and pronounce the words exactly as they are sung by Melody Lou.

I play the songs while the children eat lunch, and they love it! It’s amazing to see how easily the letter sounds come to them—even when they aren’t concentrating. It’s the power of music.
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