Future Hits: Songs for Learning! Playbook

Songs for Learning! Playbook is a song-driven activity book that explores phonics, literacy, and language. Written by elementary school teacher and musician Matt Baron, this colorful book includes ten songs, which are all (secretly) aligned to learning themes. Literary devices, social emotional learning, spelling patterns, idioms and more are planted in the lyrics. Suitable for independent work, group activities, and family time, all activities are exceptionally fun when paired with the songs that accompany the book (included free via mp3 and streaming). Activities can be completed without the music as well. While all children will enjoy the Songs for Learning! Playbook, it's ideal for early readers, kids who love music, and children whose first language is not English.

About the Author :
Matt Baron (author & songwriter) worked in logistics sales for years until he realized cold-calling in business parks wasn't his calling. He decided to pursue teaching to share his love of learning with English and Spanish-speaking students (plus some structured time off to write and perform music!). In his first year teaching for Chicago Public Schools, Baron began writing standards-based songs with corresponding activities to teach his ESL students as well as the general population of kids at his school. When he's not teaching or writing for Future Hits, you can find Matt riding his bike, shooting hoops, and eating at restaurants all around Chicago. About Future Hits This band from Chicago combines music and education seamlessly to create one-of-a-kind kid friendly rock n' roll with a twist. By teaching kids language skills through music, bandleader and Chicago Public Schools teacher Matt Baron helps children cultivate their love of learning. Since 2011, Matt and his bandmates Emma Hospelhorn, Ben Sutherland, and Nick Kabat have written nearly 70 songs, released two albums (with a third one slated for a 2018 release), presented and led professional development, provided Future Hits Enrichment programs in countless classrooms and after-school settings, and played shows in Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, China, and even the Galápagos Islands. The activities and word games Matt wrote to correspond with their debut album, Songs for Learning, found their way into the Future Hits Songs for Learning! Playbook.

Review :
"Part activity book, part songbook, part textbook -Songs For Learning! gives kids a ton of ways to have fun while learning, and will have them singing along the whole time (and reading, and drawing, and writing, and in all likelihood dancing, too). I think it's a great idea, I'm surprised others haven't done this. Now that I've seen [the book], I can't see it being done any other way." Jeffrey Brown Author and illustrator of Cat Getting Out of a Bag, Cats are Weird, and Darth Vader(TM) and Son. "Future Hits has created a beautifully designed workbook of language activities paired with a CD full of tunes that will help jumpstart a love of learning. This such a cool product to help young learners!" Justin Roberts GRAMMY-nominated family musician and author "The Future Hits Songs For Learning! Playbook provides an exemplary set of tools and lessons to boost students' literacy and build their skills in analyzing & decoding. The songs and activities are successfully designed to be accessible for all learners as well as attend to social emotional learning (SEL) needs in the process. Cheers to Matt and the team for sharing this wonderful resource!" Mario R. Rossero John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts "Cheerful, colorful, creative, and (not-so-secretly) educational, the Future Hits Songs For Learning! Playbook is a dynamite addition to the literacy landscape. Educators and their lucky students will find a dazzling array of materials here, from the catchy songs themselves all the way through crosswords, word searches, charade prompts, and illustration sheets. An A+ collection from the stellar Future Hits crew." Stacy Ratner Chicago Literacy Alliance & Open Books "This is an excellent program for those looking to get ELL students engaged and interested in learning. The combination between the catchy tunes and the creative activities are sure to engage English language learners. Your children will have fun and learn at the same time." Dr. Aaron Willis Social Studies School Service