Using Music-Based Books to Develop Communication Skills
The original version of What Do You See?, was written in 2012. As a clinical music therapist, the goal I had in mind was to provide both visual cues and song cues for communication.
The simple phrase structure is easy to learn and the music provides a cue for children to say the sentence structure of "I see___". Kids also get to practice saying "bye bye" to each character in the book with musical cues to help children who are struggling to chain two words together.
Motivating Visuals to Inspire Learning
This book was an immediate hit with all ages, even the parents in my community music classes! By cutting out the window panes before laminating, the clear laminate creates a motivating transparent window. You can see how this works in the video below.
This year, I was inspired to write a winter version and have plans to create music-based books for all four seasons. Using a melody and structure that is already comfortable for the kids makes this an easy way to expand the learning opportunity.
There is also a classroom template for making a Who Do You See? version using pictures of your students. More on that resource below with examples of all three versions shown in video.
Three Variations to Expand the Learning Opportunity
As you can see in the demonstration video, the window page can be used in isolation so that each child gets a chance to look through the window as we sing about them! You can even hold the window up to any object in the child's environment.
If you want to make a book using your students' photos, the classroom template for Who Do You See? is included with the original What Do You See? book. By expanding the learning opportunity in this way, kids get a chance to practice both "what" and "who" question forms. Students are very motivated when they have a classroom book that includes their picture!
Keep reading for descriptions and video demonstrations of each of the three variations in this book series:
- What Do You See?
- WHO Do You See? (Classroom Template)
- What Do You See? — In the Winter
What Do You See?
The original book in this series focuses on common objects that are familiar to most children: bird, squirrel, cat, dog and star. Children get to practice labeling these items as well as saying "bye bye" to each one. Click here to view the What Do You See? book.
Purchase of the printable book includes the following:
- What Do You See? printable book pdf
- Suggestions for Printing & Binding pdf
- What Do You See? virtual book pdf
- Classroom Template for Who Do You See? pdf
What Do You See?
— In the Winter
This version uses the same melody but expands the phrase structure a little bit. Instead of saying "I see a snowplow looking at me," we describe what each object does (e.g "...moving down the street"). Click here to view the What Do You See? — In the Winter book
Purchase of this printable book includes the following:
- What Do You See? — In the Winter printable book pdf
- Suggestions for Printing & Binding pdf
- What Do You See? — In the Winter virtual book pdf
If you live in a warm weather climate, I would love to create a version of the winter book for you. If you email me, kathy@tunefulteaching.com, with the name of 5 objects and a phrase for each, I will create the book!
Plans are in the works for creating a book for each season of the year. I have already created the YouTube video title pages and love the way they turned out. I wish I could use them for the book covers but I am always mindful about how much ink the printables will use.
Who Do You See?
The video to the right shows an example of what the Who Do You See? resource looks like with photos added to it. I chose to use childhood pictures of my three children (now ages 17, 19 & 21!) and two of my nieces.
By using a familiar melody and structure, this book gives children the opportunity to work on answering "what" and "who" questions. For struggling learners, this is a big deal.
The classroom template for creating this book is included with the purchase of What Do You See?
The Literacy Connection
Of course, this is a printable BOOK so there is a strong literacy connection right there! This resource is also a great way to introduce word substitution. By changing just one word in the sentence (shown in red in the book), we change the meaning! These seems so basic, but by learning this skill at the word level, kids start to understand the concept of phoneme substitution (e.g. changing /c/ in cat to /h/ in order to create a new word—hat).
As always, I get excited to see kids learn and to create resources that help both children and the adults in their lives who are helping them thrive. Please let me know if you find these music-based books and videos helpful for you!