Sign Language with a GREAT Bedtime Story

If you're teaching a bedtime theme with your students, I highly recommend this book!



Story time with your students can be even more engaging when you incorporate American Sign Language signs while you are reading. I have always enjoyed the book Time for Bed by Mem Fox. I have read and signed this book with my daughter and think it is a wonderful bedtime story. I also currently read it to baby classes and pre-school classes that I teach.

“Bed” and “sleep” are two words that repeat throughout the book that I suggest you sign with your students. To sign “bed,” put your palms together and rest your head on your hands as if you were sleeping. To sign “sleep,” bring your open hand down over your face and close it near your chin. As your hand closes, lay your head to the side and close your eyes as if you are sleeping.

If you know more words, you can sign those as well. It will not overwhelm or confuse your students if more signs are used. The most important aspect is that you are consistent. I find it to be helpful to only use these two signs to begin with in order to maintain consistency. This is how students will come to recognize and understand signs and their meanings. You can add more signs gradually as your students becomes more familiar with these words.

In this story, each page shows a different animal at bedtime. The first few pages repeat “It’s time for bed” and it soon changes to “It’s time for sleep.” These words repeat on every page, so the repetition will help your students to recognize the signs more quickly. The illustrations on each page are an added visual element. You can begin to add animal signs and the other bedtime words in the book later on as well.

Remember, you can find out more information about signing with your baby on my website. I have a free video where I reveal my #1 secret on how you can drastically reduce your baby’s crying and temper tantrums which you find at www.babysignlanguageonline.com

Thanksgiving Signs and a Song

With Thanksgiving coming up in just a few weeks, I thought it would be great to share a great Thanksgiving song that you can sing and sign with your child or pre-school classroom. For this particular song, you will need to know the following signs:

Thanks– Bring your hand from your chin and direct it towards the person you are thanking.
Thankful– This will be the same as “thanks,” but use both hands
Sun– Make a circle in the air above you and then open your fingers to point down on you like the sun’s rays
Moon- Make a crescent shape with your pointer finger and thumb next to your eye and extend it out toward the sky
Friends– Link your pointer fingers together and again the other way
Family– Sign the letter F with both hands by making a circle with your pointer finger and thumb. Then, form a circle in front of you with your hands
See– Bring your pointer and middle finger out from near your eye

This song is sung to the tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star:”

“Let’s Be Thankful”
Thank you for the sun so bright
Thank you for the moon at night
Thanks for friends that play with me
Thank you for my family
Thanks for all that I can see
I am thankful yes indeed

This is a fun song to sing during the Thanksgiving holiday season. Children will have fun singing the song and they will be learning more signs as well.

Remember that I have a free video where I reveal my #1 secret on how you can drastically reduce your baby’s crying and temper tantrums which you find at www.babysignlanguageonline.com.

For a few more Thanksgiving signs, see this quick Signing Time video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRua_Jpy79U

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sign of the Day - Stop

Parents and teachers are always searching for new ways to effectively instruct their students. Speaking or shouting verbally often causes a distraction for on-task children, and are therefore not effective. American Sign Language is a great approach to help with this issue, lessening frustration among adults and children. It is a way that children will understand what you are saying without having to stop what you were doing at that particular moment.

One sign that I suggest learning is stop. Teachers and parents use this word on a daily basis in order to tell children to stop something they should not be doing. Instead, you can now sign this. To sign stop, hold one palm out flat and firmly put the side of your other hand on top of it, like a karate chop.

For teachers, this is a great sign to use to improve classroom management. In a classroom of young children, it can be challenging to be sure all of your students are doing what they should be at once. When in front of a classroom, you may find yourself telling one student across the room to stop doing something they shouldn’t be doing. During the time you are talking to this particular student, the other children in the room have now become distracted and now you need to get them back on track as well.

If you incorporate American Sign Language signs into your program, this student will understand what you want them to do, and the rest of the class will not be distracted. If you are teaching and notice a student fooling around or talking to a classmate, you can simply sign stop. Your lesson does not have to be interrupted and other students will not be distracted. Without having to shout across the room, the child will understand what you want them to do. This could also be done at home if you want your child to stop doing something, but you don’t want to interrupt something you are doing, such as talking on the phone.

Go ahead and start signing. You’ll find it can be an effective way to improve classroom management and to help your child behave at home as well.

Ring Around The Apples

If you are interested in learning some new sign language activities to teach your students or child, I have a great song for you to learn, sing and sign. With the Fall season quickly approaching, I have a gross motor activity that is great for introducing children to the changes they’ll be seeing outside in their world. Some of these things that are often seen and talked about during this time of year are: apples and nuts.

The signs you will need to know for this song are apples and nuts. To sign apple, take the knuckle of your pointer finger and twist it next to your cheek, with your remaining fingers in a fist. To sign nuts, flick your thumb out from behind your 2 front teeth.

The following are the lyrics, which are sung to the tune of “Ring Around the Rosie:” Words in italics are signed.

Ring around the apples
Pocket full of nuts
Apples, apples
They all fall down

To make this even more interactive for students, have them turn in a circle for the line “ring around the apples.” Also have them fall down to the floor during the line “they all fall down.”

You can also substitute words other than ring, such as march, stomp, or jump. Any action word you can think of would be a great way to make it more fun for children and engage them in the activity. This is how it would work:

March around the apples
Pocket full of nuts
Apples, Apples
They all fall down.

Jump around the apples
Pocket full of nuts
Apples, Apples
They all fall down.

Keep going until you run out of action words. This is a great song to teach to help children learn the words apple and nuts. The best part is that they will have fun doing it!

Apples and More Apples

If you are already aware of the benefits of sign language, you are probably interested in new ideas to use in the classroom with students or at home with your child. It can be simple and fun to include new ideas into your already established daily routine. With the weather cooling down, it is clear that the Fall season is approaching. Children have fun learning about their world and the things they are seeing and doing, so it would be great to use signs for words they are seeing or using regularly during each season.

Apples are plentiful in the Fall, especially where I live in the Northeastern US. So many children are familiar with apples, as many of us go apple picking, make apple sauce, drink apple cider, etc. A great story to use in the classroom or with your child at home is Apples, Apples by Salina Yoon. This flap book talks about different things that can be done with apples such as making applesauce, apple cider, or apple pie.

Children will enjoy this book because of the flaps throughout the story that provide surprises as to what is underneath them. If you add signs while reading this story, they will have even more of a visual demonstration. I suggest that the first time you read the story, to sign only apples each time it appears in the book. To sign apples, take the knuckle of your pointer finger and twist it on your cheek. The next time you read it, you might want to add apple picking, apple sauce and the signs that accompany each apple item or activity. Students can sign along with you, learning both words and signs. Therefore, helping to build their knowledge of new words, vocabulary and pre-literacy skills.

I love to use this book with my pre-school and early elementary students because they become so engaged in the reading. It is a fun and interactive way to teach the word apples, the sign, and to learn about them.

And the Winner Is....

The contest is now closed. The winner has been randomly chosen from the 39 posts below and it is..... ANGIE! Congratulations!

Sign Language DVD's Contest

As you've probably learned about me by now, I'm very dedicated to your success with using sign language with your children and/or students - whether it be to improve communication, behavior/classroom management, or school success.

I have a way to help you better! My 4 most requested workshops are coming out in DVD very soon. The 4 DVD's are: Helping Your Baby, Toddler or Late Talker Achieve Communication, Helping Your Special Needs Child or Student, Helping You Improve Behavior or Classroom Management, and Help Your Child or Student Learn to Read (Even Struggling Readers) all using American Sign Language Signs.

One of you will get the full set (ALL 4 DVD's) for FREE! All you need to do is post a comment or question below. It can be about signing and how it has helped or how you hope it will help, or it can be a question for me. Just post below and you will be entered to win! One person will be chosen randomly when the contest closes on midnight on Monday, August 24th, 2009. The announcement will be made on the 25th.

One of you will WIN ALL 4 DVD's! Good luck!