BSL 1: Lesson 6, Bedtime Signs

Level 1 baby sign language class

LESSON 6: Bedtime Signs

signs taught in class: bedtime SIGNS

1.Bath
2.Bed
3.Tired
4.Sleep
5.Book
6.Read
7.Change
8.Diaper
9.Moon
10.Light
11.Night
12.Goodnight
13.Potty
14.Stop
15.Pacifier
16.Ready

Signing songs from class

I See the Moon

LYRICS:
(tune of Hush Little Baby)

I SEE the MOON & the MOON SEES ME
DOWN through the leaves of the OLD oak TREE
PLEASE let the MOON that SHINES ON ME
SHINE on the ONES I LOVE.

OVER the MOUNTAIN, OVER the SEA
Back where MY HEART is longing to be
PLEASE let the MOON that SHINES ON ME
SHINE on the ONES I LOVE.

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

Lyrics:

TWINKLE, TWINKLE, LITTLE STAR
HOW I WONDER WHAT YOU are.
up ABOVE the WORLD so HIGH,
like a DIAMOND in the SKY!
TWINKLE, TWINKLE, LITTLE STAR
HOW I WONDER WHAT YOU are.

Please Change Me (#14 on My Smart Hands CD)

LYRICS

1. When my DIAPER’S ON I like it DRY
And when it’s WET, I get UPSET.
When my DIAPER’S ON I like it DRY
And when it’s WET, I get UPSET.
I want it OFF
I CRY, “please CHANGE ME.”

2. When my DIAPER’S ON,
I like it CLEAN
And when it’s DIRTY, I get UPSET.
When my DIAPER’S ON,
I like it CLEAN
And when it’s DIRTY, I get UPSET.
I want it OFF
I CRY, “please CHANGE ME.”

3. When my DIAPER’S WET, I run to MOM,
Please pick me UP,
don’t put me DOWN.
When my DIAPER’S WET, I run to MOM,
Please pick me UP,
don’t put me DOWN.
Don’t put me DOWN,
I CRY, “please CHANGE ME.”

4. When my DIAPER’S FULL, I run to DAD,
Please pick me UP,
don’t put me DOWN.
When my DIAPER’S FULL, I run to DAD,
Please pick me UP,
don’t put me DOWN.
Don’t put me DOWN,

5. I CRY, “please CHANGE ME.”
When I GROW UP it will be GOOD,
I’ll use the POTTY like a big KID.
When I GROW UP it will be GOOD,
I’ll use the POTTY like a big KID.
But for NOW,
I CRY, “please CHANGE ME.”
But for NOW,
I CRY, “please CHANGE ME.”

movement songs from CLASS

Looby Lou

LYRICS

Here we go Looby Loo,
Here we go Looby Lie
Here we go Looby Loo,
All on a Saturday night.
You put your right hand in,
You put your right hand out.
You give your hand a shake, shake, shake
And turn yourself around.

10 in a Bed as a Movement Song

LYRICS:

There were 10 in the bed
And the little one said,
"Roll over! Roll over!" (Spin around with baby)
So they all rolled over and one fell out (Dip baby down)!

Count down from 10 to 1.

This is a great song to help your child learn patterns and rhythm! If you keep practicing this song, you'll notice your child may start trying to spin or dip down when they hear those lyrics. Practicing patterns and prediction skills like this are a foundational language and math skill!

shaker songs from class

Egg Shakers Up

Click to set custom HTML

Lyrics:
(tune: Driedel, Driedel, Driedel)

Shake the shakers up
And shake the shakers down,
See the shakers dancing
All around the town!

Dance them on your shoulders
Dance them on your head
Dance them on your knees
And tuck them into bed!

The Merry Go Round

Lyrics:
(Tune of All Around the Mulberry Bush)

The merry go round goes round and round
The children laugh and laugh and laugh
So many were on the merry go round
The merry go round collapsed!

book read in class

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

I can't think of a bedtime book more classic than Goodnight Moon! Some reasons I love it + a little random trivia:

Very rhythmic
In the 1930’s, most children’s books were fairytales – this was one of the first that talks about the “here and now” + daily routines that children experience from hanging out socks to saying goodnight
All 44 sounds of the English language are in this book! (some other books that have all the English sounds: Make Way for Ducklings, Charlotte’s Web)
You can find the mouse on every page
Margaret Wise Brown also wrote Runaway Bunny (and LOTS of other books!). The illustrations tie in Runaway Bunny to this book - there's a picture from Runaway Bunny hanging on the wall in Goodnight Moon and a copy of Runaway Bunny on bookshelf

Should signing be a part of reading?

Studies of the qualities of parent-child book-reading show that children gain the most from these interactions when parents actively engage them in interacting with the book. Researchers call this dialogic reading, and it involves parents asking the children open-ended questions, asking questions about the functions or attributes of the things in the book, and responding to children’s attempts to communicate about the book. A study by Laura Namy, Linda Acredolo, and Susan Goodwyn showed that the gestures that parents use during book-reading with their infants predicts the gestures the children will use [1]. When the quality of parent-child book-reading is enhanced, children’s language skills are greater [2], and is especially helpful for children with limited vocabularies [3]. Parents who use signs with their preverbal children report that their children take a great interest in books [4], and use signs to actively participate in book-reading with their parents [5].

Namy, L.L., L. Acredolo, and S. Goodwyn, Verbal labels and gestural routines in parental communication with young children. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 2000. 24(2): p. 63-79.
Whitehurst, G.J., et al., Accelerating language development through picture book reading. Developmental Psychology, 1988. 24(4): p. 552-559. See study here.
Hargrave, A.C. and M. Senechal, A book reading intervention with preschool children who have limited vocabularies: The benefits of regular reading and dialogic reading. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 2000. 15(1): p. 75-90.
Acredolo, L. and S. Goodwyn, Baby Signs: How to Talk with Your Baby Before Your Baby Can Talk. 2002, Chicago: Contemporary Books.
Vallotton, C.D., K.B. Decker, and M. Fusaro. A bridge to somewhere: Symbolic gestures as concrete representations that build towards abstract ones, in XVIIth Biennial International Conference on Infant Studies. 2010. Baltimore, MD.

Early literacy skills

See Handout Here.

When does it happen?

Happens in the first 5 years of life
Early experiences are the MOST critical

What is it?
Early Literacy Behaviors

Book handling: turning pages, mouthing or chewing books
Looking and recognizing: paying attention to pictures, pointing, laughing
Picture and story comprehension: imitating actions or talking about the story
Story reading: pretending to read or following the words with their fingers

6 Early Literacy Skills
(in the order that we can focus on them, with earlier skills for younger babies listed first, then progressing to more difficult skills)

Print Motivation: I love books!
- Children’s interest in and enjoyment of books
Vocabulary: I know words!
- Knowing the names of things
- Understanding feelings and concepts
- Adds to background knowledge
Print Awareness: I see words!
- Noticing print
- Recognizing that print has meaning
- Knowing how to follow the words on a page
- Knowing how to handle a book
Narrative Skills: I tell stories!
- Describing things, events
- Telling stories
Phonological Awareness: I hear sounds and words!
- The ability to hear and play with the smaller sounds in words
Letter Knowledge: I know my ABC’s!
- Knowing the names of letters
- Knowing that letters are different from one another and make different sounds
- Realizing the same letter can look different (different fonts, capital vs. lower case)

How to Do It?
General Early Literacy Practices

Talking
Sign Language
Singing
Reading
Writing
Playing

Different Ways To Share Books With Babies & Toddlers
Pick 1-2 of These to Focus on Periodically. If that tip doesn't feel like it's working for you in that moment, pick a different one.

Make Sharing Books Part Of Every Day: Read or share stories at bedtime, while in the car or while waiting.
Have Fun: Children can learn from you that books are fun, which is an important ingredient in learning to read. ALL POSITIVE EXPERIENCES WITH BOOKS = GOOD!
A Few Minutes is OK—Don't Worry if You Don't Finish the Story: Young children can only sit for a few minutes for a story, but as they grow, they will be able to sit longer. And it’s ok if they are “paying attention” the whole time!
Talk or Sing About the Pictures AND Actions: You do not have to read the words to tell a story.
Let Children Turn the Pages: Babies need board books and help turning pages, but a 3 year old can do it alone. Remember, it's OK to skip pages!
Show Children the Cover Page: Explain what the story is about.
Show Children the Words: Run your finger along the words as you read them, from left to right.
Make the Story Come Alive: Create voices for the story characters and use your body to tell the story.
Make It Personal: Talk about your own family, pets or community when you are reading about others in a story.
Ask Questions About the Story, and Let Children Ask Questions Too! Use the story to engage in conversation and to talk about familiar activities and objects.
Let Children Tell the Story: Children as young as 3 years old can memorize a story, and many children love to be creative through storytelling.

Why Focus on Early Literacy Principles?
Research on General Early Literacy Practices:

Book-reading quality during early infancy, in particular, predicted early reading skills while book-reading quantity and quality during toddler years appeared strongly tied to later emergent literacy skills, such as name-writing at age 4. (Cates et al., 2017)
In comparing the language in books to the language used by parents talking to their children, the researchers found that the picture books contained more “unique word types.” The text of picture books may be an important source of vocabulary for young children, and these findings suggest a mechanism that underlies the language benefits associated with reading to children. (Montang, 2015)
Children whose parents reported more reading at home and more books in the home showed significantly greater activation of brain areas in a region of the left hemisphere called the parietal-temporal-occipital association cortex. This brain area supports mental imagery and narrative comprehension. Children who were exposed to more books and home reading showed significantly more activity in the areas of the brain that process visual association, even though the child was in the scanner just listening to a story and could not see any pictures. (Hutton, 2015)

Research on Phonological Awareness & Phonemic Awareness:

The two best predictors of early reading success are alphabet recognition and phonemic awareness. (Adams, 1990)
Phonemic awareness is central in learning to read and spell. (Ehri, 1984)
The lack of phonemic awareness is the most powerful determinant of the likelihood of failure to read. (Adams, 1990)
Phonemic awareness is the most important core and causal factor in separating normal and disabled readers. (Adams, 1990)
Phonemic awareness has been shown to be a very powerful predictor of later reading achievement. In fact, it is a better predictor than more global measures such as IQ or general language proficiency. (Griffith and Olson, 1992)
Phonemic awareness is the most potent predictor of success in learning to read. It is more highly related to reading than tests of general intelligence, reading readiness, and listening comprehension. (Stanovich, 1986, 1994)
Yes, there really is a difference in brain activation patterns between good and poor readers. We see the difference when people carry out phonologically based tasks. And that tells us that the area of difficulty - the functional disruption - in poor readers relates to phonological analysis. This suggests that we focus on phonological awareness when trying to prevent or remediate the difficulty in poor reading. (Shaywitz, 1999)
The most comprehensive reading program EXPLICITLY teaches about the sounds of language. It teaches children that words can be broken up into these smaller units of language, that the letters represent this unit of language - phonics. (Shaywitz, 1999)
ALL children can benefit from being taught directly how to break up spoken words into smaller units and how letters represent sounds. (Shaywitz, 1999)