Accelerate Literacy within a Love of Language

Advertising and Literacy Information

Accelerate language and literacy in your classroom with Nellie Edge Read and Sing Big Books™! They are designed to immerse children in meaningful language that has rhythm, rhyme, and repetition. These traditional English and Spanish folk songs and rhymes will build skills and confidence in students at all stages of language and literacy development, from internalizing the sounds and patterns of language to fluent independent reading!

Children memorize, recite, and perform language Learning to read becomes a "scaffolded" extension of their pleasure and delight in using language. Choral singing and reading is a satisfying social experience where every child belongs and perceives themselves as successful. They participate at their own level. When children are singing, they are joyful and relaxed – the optimum state for language learning. They acquire language fluency while having the magical "I can read" experience.

"My kindergarten children love Nellie Edge Read and Sing Books. We begin the year with her songs – it’s how we build oral language." – Susie Haas, Author of Cornerstones of Kindergarten Literacy

Songs and rhymes surround the child with authentic literature. Children internalize grammatical patterns and learn concepts about print in a joyful, engaging way. Skill instruction is accelerated because it is placed in a meaningful context. (See Developing Phonemic Awareness and Phonics Skills Within the Context of Songs and Rhymes.)

Build powerful phonemic awareness skills and a love of language. Singing songs and playing with the sounds of language is the most powerful strategy for developing phonemic awareness, thus preventing many early reading difficulties. Incorporating song picture books into a comprehensive literacy program accelerates fluency with oral language while allowing each child to self-concept as a successful reader. High-frequency words are reinforced by engagement in songs that are a part of our culture. Research – and common sense – remind us that it is the familiarity with English language patterns that allows the child’s decoding to be error-free.

"These Big Books are just perfect for the kindergarten teacher – they’re the ones I recommend first."
– Regie Routman, Author of Kids’ Poems: Teaching Kindergartners to Love Writing Poetry

The reading and singing connection takes advantage of how the brain learns best. For children who enter school with limited prior book-reading experiences, we must build a strong language foundation in the most efficient way so children can hear, speak and manipulate the sounds of English. Systematic use of Nellie Edge Read and Sing Big Books™ and their accompanying Little Books is a powerful tool that facilitates success with explicit phonics instruction, builds reading fluency and develops a love of language.

"As you can see, Nellie Edge Read and Sing Big Books™ are the books of choice!" – Janine Chappell Carr, Author of A Child Went Forth: Reflective Teaching with Young Readers and Writers

Each Nellie Edge Read and Sing Big Book™ includes a black-line master for child-sized Little Books.

Your children will treasure these Little Books. They love to practice reading them over and over again and are proud to take their Little Books home. Reproducible Little Books match text and illustrations of the Big Books, but in a size that can be folded, cut and stapled to fit in children’s hands and pockets.

We cannot overemphasize the value of these Little Books. Group singing and reading build a sense of community, where every child feels he or she belongs. When every child in your class is singing and reading in unison from the Little Books, even the least-able language user perceives himself or herself as successful. Children will naturally engage in reading-like behavior and role-play themselves as successful readers with their Little Books.

"My kindergarten children absolutely love their Little Books. They can’t wait to take them home."
– Diane Larson, Kindergarten Teacher, Oregon

"My kindergarten children are building their own personal ‘I can read’ libraries with Nellie Edge Little Books." – Georgeann Olson, Mentor Kindergarten Teacher, California

"My students are so proud, they want to read Little Books to me, to their parents, and to their brothers and sisters." – Lizi Aguilar-Nelson, Migrant Bilingual Preschool, Oregon

Children deserve to memorize songs and rhymes that are a part of our shared cultural heritage.

Phonemic Awareness is most easily developed through songs and rhymes.
Nothing supports a child more as a confident and fluent reader, writer and speaker than a rich storehouse of memorized language.
It is the familiarity with the English language that will allow a child’s decoding to be error free.
“Magical memory reading” is an important phase that most children go through as they construct their knowledge of how print works.
With guided practice and differentiated skill instruction, children begin recognizing high-frequency words and using their phonics skills as they experience the joy of confidently reading and singing a whole book!

Bobbi Fisher, in her best-selling book, Joyful Learning in Kindergarten (Heinemann, 1998), describes her students during Shared Literacy using songs, chants, and rhymes.

"I notice that they are participating at their own developmental level and with their individual style. They seem to be taking the responsibility for selecting what they need to be successful. Each child is approximating and self-correcting to make sense of the text, and is working toward becoming an independent, self-regulating reader."

Why do thousands of teachers choose Nellie Edge Read and Sing Big Books™ and Little Books in English and Spanish?

"Children love them. Parents love them. I love them."
– Bobbi Fisher, Kindergarten Author and Consultant

We simply offer the widest selection of quality Read and Sing Big Books in the country! Each of our Big Books is carefully selected for the power and integrity of the language that allows children to experience success in reading. The songs are authentic literature that reflect our shared cultural heritage. They are available on our Music is Magic cassettes and CDs.

No other publisher of Big Books offers all these benefits:

A free Little Book black-line master with each Big Book. This is the most economical way we know to get memorable language into the hands, homes, and hearts of children. With each Big Book purchase you can make hundreds of copies of the matching Little Book for only pennies apiece, year after year.

Easy-to-use format. With their comb binding and their ideal size of 11" x 17", Nellie Edge Read and Sing Big Books™ are delightful to use and easy to store.

Art worthy of children. Our professional artists take pride in creating captivating animals and images of children of the world, making them appropriate for today’s multiethnic classrooms. The art extends and enhances the meaning of the language.

Our goal is to support you as a teaching professional. Sharing current literacy research is one of the many ways we connect with our colleagues. You can influence a child for a lifetime. Bruno Bettleheim’s research reminds us that how children perceive themselves in the act of learning to read generalizes to the whole self-concept.

"Engage your students in language learning with familiar songs, rhymes, and chants so the pleasure and success they feel will support them as lifelong learners."