CD: Green Is Our Garden: Songs Of Nature
Part of the Auditory Materials collection, this delightful CD features original nature songs composed by Sanford Jones and performed by elementary students from Countryside Montessori School. The collection celebrates the natural world through child-centered music that connects young learners to gardens, seasons, and environmental awareness. A strong fit for circle time, movement activities, or peaceful transitions, these songs support the Montessori emphasis on connecting children with nature through artistic expression.
“The greatest sign of success for a teacher is to be able to say, 'The children are now working as if I did not exist.'”
Green Is Our Garden brings the outdoor environment into the classroom through carefully composed songs that children naturally want to sing.
- Development of environmental vocabulary through repeated listening to nature-themed lyrics
- Rhythmic awareness and beat competency through participation in garden songs
- Seasonal cycle understanding through musical storytelling about nature's changes
- Auditory discrimination skills by distinguishing between different instruments and voices
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In Montessori education, music serves as a bridge between the child's inner life and external experiences, and this CD specifically connects young learners to nature's rhythms through melodies they can master independently. The songs performed by elementary students create an authentic peer-to-peer learning model, where children hear voices similar to their own celebrating gardens and seasons. Each track on Green Is Our Garden provides vocabulary and concepts about the natural world in a format that engages multiple senses simultaneously - hearing the melody, feeling the rhythm, and visualizing the garden imagery. The CD format allows children to request specific nature songs repeatedly, exercising choice and building familiarity with environmental themes through self-selected repetition.
How to present it
Follow the Montessori method of presentation for optimal child development.
Place the CD player at child height on a designated music shelf. Create song cards with simple illustrations representing each track. Arrange these cards in a basket near the player.
- 1
Demonstrate how to carefully handle the CD and operate the player independently
Mark the play button with a green dot to match the garden theme - 2
Show how to select a song card and match it to the track number on the CD
Start with just three favorite tracks until children master the selection process - 3
Model appropriate listening postures - sitting, standing, or gentle movement
Create a designated 'music mat' where children can move freely while listening - 4
Introduce one song's key vocabulary through three-period lesson before playing
Use real objects like leaves or seeds when teaching garden vocabulary
Every Child Is a Little Creator
Heritage
Since 1929
Brands used by
schools worldwide
European brands
AMI
Endorsed
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