5. After you have posted, try reading back to see what others have said, then respond to someone else by posting another comment. Use the “Reply” button or the @ symbol to address that student directly.
6. To learn more, read “How ‘Sesame Street’ Keeps the ABCs Fresh, Every Single Time.” Melena Ryzik writes:
Elmo and Abby Cadabby came to the New York Times studio recently to talk about the alphabet song. It’s a tune that, in its 50 years on the air, “Sesame Street” has covered a lot — with Muppets and celebrities, in dance numbers and ear-wormy songs, like Usher’s “ABCs of Moving You,” which has nearly 115 million YouTube views.
Music has been a part of the “Sesame Street” DNA since the show was developed in the late ’60s, and its legacy with artists is remarkable: It counts Stevie Wonder, Katy Perry, Nina Simone and Romeo Santos among its alums, and continues inspiring audiences and musicians, of many ages, today.
As curriculum-driven programming, the show also has a mission, to teach children and get them ready for school. Singing the traditional alphabet song wasn’t enough. To really promote reading readiness, said Rosemarie Truglio, vice president of education and curriculum at Sesame Workshop, kids need to focus on individual letters: “So that’s why we created the ‘letter of the day.’”
Now “Sesame Street” has a library’s worth of pop song parodies about the alphabet, with A and C songs (as in “C is for Cookie”) among the most popular. And they’ve done dozens of original versions of the whole ABCs too. But just how do you reinvent a tune that’s as elemental as language? And how do you do it, over and over again, for a half-century?
More?
• See all the films in this series.
• Read our list of practical teaching ideas, along with responses from students and teachers, for how you can use these documentaries in the classroom.
• Want to make sure you never miss a film? Add Film Club to your Google calendar to receive weekly reminders and see our full publishing schedule for the 2019-20 school year.
