Creating a welcoming environment is integral to fostering success in your preschool room. Students who feel seen, have a chance to get their wiggles out, and are greeted by their teacher and peers are more likely to be able to focus during their learning day! From name chants to greeting songs and scarf dances, these welcoming songs will help each day begin with a focus on joy and community!
1. Hickety Pickety Bumblebee
“Hickety Pickety Bumblebee” is a classic song that helps students learn their classmates’ names while practicing syllabication. This simple song also incorporates movement to get little ones ready to focus on the school day. Kids can clap, pat, stomp, or jump to break their names into syllables!
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2. Jump In, Jump Out
This silly song activates students’ vestibular systems as they jump in, out, and spin in circles. They’ll love the chance to shout their names during one of those rare opportunities to abandon their inside voices! This is sure to become one of your class’s favorite morning songs.
3. Clap a Friend’s Name With Me
Another great song for practicing syllables! Students start by keeping a steady beat, then stop after each verse to clap a name. Change up the action to stomp, pat, wiggle, or spin as you break down each student’s name, much like “Hickety Pickety Bumblebee.”
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4. Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar?
Use this common preschool song to practice name recognition by placing name cards into a “cookie jar” and pulling them out one at a time. The last person remaining is the “thief”! Add to the suspense by having the children guess who is left before you make the reveal!
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5. Where is _____ ?
This song can be used along with “Hide and Seek” as a circle time game! Have all of the students hide, then sing a verse to each child. As you sing their name, have them come out of their hiding place and join you on the carpet!
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6. The Good Morning Train
Songs that combine movement and a greeting for each student are a great addition to any morning meeting! As you sing the lyrics, have the children walk in a circle around your carpet and move their arms like a locomotive. Make sure to really play up the “Choo choo,” too!
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7. How Many Friends Are Here Today?
This one may be more of a chant, but the actions make it just as engaging as any interactive song! Make it a part of your daily classroom schedule to count how many students are in attendance using various movements. Choose different students to pick the motion!
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8. I’ll Find a Friend at School
This circle time song will help children start the day by making a caring connection with a few of their peers. As the lyrics say, students will “find a friend” to hold hands and jump or dance with as they all sing together. Expect giggles and joy to follow!
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9. Pass the Letters
This literacy song lets your little ones practice their letter names and sounds. Students will pass around a bag like a hot potato, and when the verse stops, the student with the bag will pull out a letter. Have them verbalize the letter, sound, or reference word!
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10. Good Morning
Students will love singing this catchy song so much that they won’t even notice you’re using it to activate their listening mode! “Good Morning Everyone” gives students the opportunity to play with volume, get some wiggles out, and get ready to learn while being silly along the way.
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11. Wave Your Scarf
If props are part of your classroom repertoire, this song is perfect for breaking out the scarves for Morning Meeting! “Wave Your Scarf” is a great way to practice academic skills; like encouraging students to move their scarves to draw shapes or numbers in the air!
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12. Hello Neighbor
This silly morning action song from Dr. Jean is sure to become a classroom staple! It gives every student the opportunity to be greeted by a peer and get some movement in before the academic day begins! Learning the actions is the biggest hurdle, but they’ll catch on quickly!
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13. My Friends Go Marching
This morning song is perfect for preschoolers who are working on the letters in their names! Change the lyrics to work on ages, colors, or any other skill your students need to practice. This song also teaches students about keeping a steady beat!
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14. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Work on those counting skills with this morning’s circle time chant! Each student counts up to 5 as they take steps into the circle and say hello, then takes 5 steps backward and counts from 6 to 10! Students will love the ending where they get to “introduce” their friend!
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15. Shake Your Sillies Out
This awesome song from The Learning Station will quickly become one of your class’s favorites! Your children will love shaking their sillies, wiggling their waggles, and jumping their jiggles out as they sing along. This catchy tune also provides a bit of practice with alliteration!
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16. Down By the Bay
This one is a classic! Down By the Bay” is a great song to work on phonemic awareness, specifically rhyming. The first few times you sing this, the teacher can establish the lyrics. In later weeks, children can provide the rhyming word or come up with the whole rhyming pair!
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17. I Have Feelings
Learning to name emotions is a major skill for preschoolers and those in the early elementary grades. This special song helps children to feel safe to experience each one of their emotions in your classroom. They will also practice recognizing particular feelings through facial expressions as they sing!
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18. The Weather Song
Tracking weather on a chart is a common part of many Morning Meeting circles. Let your Weather Helper report the weather as their classmates sing to this song! You can easily adjust the lyrics to fit the typical weather patterns of each season in your region.
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19. Open and Shut Them
This is the perfect song for a group that needs some help transitioning to carpet time. This sweet song has motioned to keep kids engaged, but the lyrics and actions get progressively calmer as the song goes on, leaving your class ready to learn by the end!
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20. Willoughby Wallaby Woo
Let the giggles begin! Kids love this classic song by Raffi. They will laugh uproariously at the idea of being sat on by an elephant and get to practice their rhyming skills along the way. You can use this one to dismiss back to centers or to line as well!
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