             |
Our Past After the unsuccessful journey of searching for songs that my students could sing, my business partner and I decided to write our own. We recorded and released our first CD, “Wake Up to the World of Words” through a grant through the Osseo School District. The response from kids, parents, and staff in the district was so great that we decided to go on our own and re-release the first CD, renaming it Imitation Station (with modifications and permission from the Osseo School District). Soon after, we recorded another CD, Vocalocomotion, with the same goals in mind, but done in a “rap style” as opposed to singing. We have been thrilled with the feedback we have received from those who have used our CDs. Conversation Station and Rocking and Talking, Our musical journey continued with the release of our third CD, Conversation Station, in early 2004. Our goal for this CD was to continue to provide simple, sing-able songs that contained functional words for children. We varied this CD from the other two by eliminating the phrase, “your turn” in the songs and adopting more of a “conversational style” as opposed to direct imitation. Later in 2004 came Rocking and Talking - the SUPER CD that took us almost a year to make due to a long process of obtaining permissions from music houses such as Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group, Fantasy, Inc, and many others. We are very excited about the variety of songs on this CD as well as the array of concepts, vocabulary, and speech practice that this CD holds. From practicing simple consonant-vowels in Singing a Song (adaptation of Land of 1,000 Dances) to teaching the rules of lining up at the door in Stop at the Door (adaptation of Stop in the Name of Love), this CD will entertain you from start to finish. Chez the monkey - our “assistant”. More ideas came and more have been implemented including our addition of “Chez”, the adorable monkey “assistant”. Chez has been a huge hit, not only because of his cute personality but also due to his versatility as a speech therapy tool. We also decided to illustrate some of our songs so that children could have visual cues to follow our songs. These “song sheets” are free to anyone who downloads them from our “FREE stuff” page. We, at Kids’ Express Train, have the philosophy of providing songs as well as support, free activities, and materials to anyone interested in the speech and language development of children. Our Present
Our newest CD! variety of ways including chains of sounds, consonant-vowels, words, and simple phrases. Includes practice of the following sounds: vowels, h, m, w, t, d, n, k, f, s, sh, ch, and j. The phrase “your turn” is often included to give children cues. Oh yes, and our puppy, Tiny Tony, is featured on a song named after him. Contains 12 songs. and Drills On Wheels 2 It emphasizes imitation practice and sound blending but achieves those goals in a rap/speaking style. Some raps focus on particular consonant sounds such as the y and b sounds, but many others combine several sounds within the same rap, maximizing the practice of sound blending. Other raps encourage gross motor imitation featuring our colorful scarves. In addition, there are 3 raps using our set of 12 magnets of common objects. These raps encourage naming, imitation of single words to 2 word phrases, receptive identification, and sound blending. And don’t forget the rap featuring our puppy, Tiny Tony (In, Out, Up, Down). Contains 13 raps. Tiny Tony the puppy We believe in imaginative play at Kids’ Express Train, and we love combining that type of play in our songs. That is why we include in our sets, adorable stuff animals like our Tiny Tony puppy. Two songs have been written especially for Tiny Tony that are included in our Drills on Wheels CDs. Tiny Tony can also be used with the Puppy song from Imitation Station. Tiny Tony comes with a backpack and is the perfect size to fit our 12 magnets that come with the Drills on Wheels CD set B. If you do not have a stuffed puppy to use with our songs, we encourage you to get Tiny Tony.
Seminars Our
Future |
|||