Reading, Singing, and Dancing Can Prepare Kiddos and Parents!
1, 2, 3… who will count with me?
Preschool is a big step, for kids and parents alike, but getting prepared can be just as fun as your family’s new adventure will be!
The First 12 Days of Preschool invites you to join new animal friends as they learn valuable preschool lessons in an irresistible sing-along book by 25-year veteran educator (and smile creator) Jeanette Crystal Bradley
Captivating and colorful illustrations will encourage helpful and exciting conversations like:
Do animals like to take naps at school?
Can cats become superheroes?
Which hand does an octopus write with?
The charmingly brilliant combination of pictures, words, and music will stay with your kiddo throughout the day and with each read (or song and dance solo if that’s their thing!) they’ll feel more prepared for everything new and exciting that’s coming their way!
The First 12 Days of Preschool also supports the Olivia Hudson Foundation, which funds pediatric brain cancer research, helps families in financial need, and increases awareness of brain cancer in children. Copies of the book will be donated to hospitals treating children and supporting families.
Watch The First 12 Days of Preschool Teachers Video
The First 12 Days of Preschool by Jeanette Bradley is a fun and rhythmic picture book depicting the first twelve days of preschool. The story spends one page talking about each day, using a short paragraph that coordinates with the Twelve Days of Christmas song. There are beautiful and vibrant illustrations that go along with the story, following various students in the classroom as they make their way through preschool. From learning how to count to learning to be kind to others and so much more, The First 12 Days of Preschool is a cute, educational story that children are sure to love.
Even as an adult, I’m a sucker for children’s stories that include great illustrations because they’re just such fun to look at. The First 12 Days of Preschool is no different! Not only is this a great educational resource for young children, in my opinion, but it also provided an enjoyable reading experience. After finishing the book, I had the Christmas song stuck in my head for a few hours, but I loved it. This was an easy-to-read story, and the illustrations were so colorful. I loved seeing both children and animal characters together in this story. I thought the classroom setting was done well and would help young children as they prepared for or went through their first few preschool days. Jeanette Bradley did a wonderful job creating this story, and I think both children and parents will enjoy reading it and looking at all the pictures!
- Reviewed By Rylanne Burdette for Readers’ Favorite
Professional Industry Endorsements
“We are happy to award deserving books like The First 12 Days of Preschool, Our panel of judges really felt this book merited a place on our list of the best in family-friendly products that parents and educators can feel confident in using.”
Dawn Matheson, CEO, Mom’s Choice Awards.
Jeanette Bradley’s book, The First 12 Days of Preschool, is an answer to prayer for every parent who is preparing their child for this next step in their development. This colorful, engaging book, and the joy-filled song that accompanies it, will replace any anxiety or trepidation with a sense of excitement as he or she anticipates all the wonders and fun that preschool has to offer. The First 12 Days of Preschool will have children racing toward their classroom with delight and parents celebrating their child’s exuberance. A true win-win!
Jill Wyckoff, Co-Founder of Kingdom Creativity International
This book is perfect to get your kids excited to go to preschool! I especially liked how this book is teaching numbers, as well as explaining 12 of the most important things teachers will teach your child to prepare them for kindergarten. Excellent illustrations with superb details! This book will help parents know what they could be practicing with their young children to prepare them for school, like colors, shapes, numbers, etc.
Julie Nynas, B.A., Liberal Studies, Fmr. Kindergarten Teacher
The First 12 Days of Preschool will knock your socks off! This fun, whimsical, brilliant book comes to life with a song and video, which adds to this already amazing book. It’s not just a book, but an experience. You will not want to read and listen just once or twice, but this will get you up on your feet moving to the tune of the song and the movements on the video. Adults and children alike are filled with joy and laughter. The First 12 Days of Preschool is perfect for teachers, students, parents, kids, grandkids, and grandparents too! This interactive book is very exciting, exhilarating, and somehow just makes life better. Read it!
James L. Garlow, M.Div., Ph.D., Author & Historian
Jeanette Bradley has created an interactive masterpiece. Children’s books are one of the most difficult genres to write and Jeanette’s The First 12 Days of Preschool will capture the hearts of the children and parents reading it together. I wholeheartedly endorse this book and this author. Well done!
Brae Wyckoff, Director of Kingdom Writers’ Association,
Award-Winning Children’s Book Author of The Unfriendly Dragon
The First 12 Days of Preschool made my heart sing and my body dance all day long after experiencing it for the first time! What an incredible and educational introduction to a preschooler’s first days of preschool.
The way Ms. Jeanette Bradley composed the book, all modalities are involved for children to remember in a very meaningful way, what to expect in their preschool experience. Though it is written, it is sung to the tune of the “Twelve Days of Christmas.” There are body movements to associate with each day. As each page is read, the whimsical drawings by Anna Fox encourage participation all the way to the very last page! The children are practicing counting numbers one through twelve forwards and backwards without realizing they are learning number sequencing. I cannot recommend The First 12 Days of Preschool highly enough! It needs to be in every preschooler’s home whether they are attending preschool or being homeschooled!
Cassie Brunker, M.Ed., Del Mar Union School District
Establishing a consistent routine and the expectation it creates in the mind of a young learner is paramount for all personal and academic growth in early childhood educational settings. The First 12 Days of Preschool by Jeanette Crystal Bradley is a versatile learning tool that beautifully and thoughtfully joins elements from various aspects of child development into a comprehensive, easy to follow, and FUN educational experience that can be used at home and at school. This book encourages responsibility, teamwork, and respectful interactions. From music, rhythm, and movement, to colors, numbers, and shapes, your students, classrooms, and schools are sure to benefit from its diverse application.
Julian T.F. Sesma, M.A., PPS
This book is wonderful! It captured my four-year-old’s attention again and again. It highlights the many activities and routines that kids learn in preschool, and my daughter was excited to share the experiences she’s had because she could relate. This book is great for any child, and especially those in or about to begin preschool. The illustrations are fun too, and we are always finding new details that we didn’t notice before. To top it off we have begun singing The First 12 Days of Preschool song.
Valerie Kay, M.F.A., B.A., Single Subject Teaching Credential, Department Chair
This book plays an instrumental role in setting the academic foundation that helps shape children for the rest of their lives. Early childhood education is imperative for young children. The way this book partners with an unforgettable tune and a dance routine makes it fun and easy to remember! You and the children are sure to walk away full of joy and singing the song all day long! The First 12 Days of Preschool book, song and video will light up your life!
Justina Sanchez, Best-Selling Author, Co-Founder of Radiant Pearls Ministries
QualityEngineer/Lean Expert & Wife and Mom
Our dear friend Jeanette Bradley has written a delightful multi-sensory book and animated song that is an excellent tool for teachers, parents, and caregivers in engaging bright-eyed preschoolers as they experience the growth, challenges, and fun of this season.
As the founding pastors of The River Family Church for the past 34 years, we have the privilege of interacting with enthusiastic preschoolers each day and we can say with confidence that they will love The First 12 Days of Preschool over and over again. It is clear that Jeanette’s 25 years of experience as a preschool owner and director, coupled with her passion for igniting a lifelong love for learning in the hearts of little ones, has resulted in this delightful story and song. We hope that it will be the first of many to come. We are excited to engage with our own grandchildren as we read and sing together!
Matthew and Amy Stoehr, Founders of The River Family Church,
River Gardens, Bright Beginnings Christian Preschool
After reading this book to my children they couldn’t stop singing and joyfully talking about the story. Your children will also love this book! It brings to life the heart of so many preschool teachers who unselfishly give everything they have to love and nurture their little students. This book will be a favorite of children for generations to come and beyond.
Burton Sue, Creative Director, Japan, Dad of Three
FORWARD
By Manna Ko
If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music.
Albert Einstein
***********
Alfred A. Tomatis was born in 1920 and was raised in Nice, France where he grew up loving and learning music. He thought he might also join his father as a traveling opera singer, but this grueling life, especially in those early years, was not what his parents wanted for him. Instead, they encouraged him to study medicine, and he became a physician specializing in otolaryngology (Ear, Nose, and Throat).
Tomatis won numerous awards and honors for his pioneering work, including his alternative medicine theories (audio-psycho-phonology) and inventions such as the “Listening Test,” and his “Electronic Ear Therapy.” He believed the entire body worked in unison, and he used a comprehensive approach to address the formulation of language and speech in his practice. Before long, he also treated many seemingly unsolvable cases including dyslexia, depression, severe schizophrenia, and even autism.1
In 1991, Tomatis published Pourquoi Mozart? (Why Mozart?) where he coined the phrase, “The Mozart Effect.” Since then, numerous articles, academic commentaries, and books have been written about “The Mozart Effect” (as well as “The Tomatis Effect”). In short, Tomatis showed the genius of Mozart’s specialized harmonics and how this music activated a wide distribution of areas within the brain. By listening to Mozart, many students’ IQ scores were boosted, and certain spatial reasoning skills improved as well. These kinds of harmonics also seemed to support many epileptic patients by diminishing the frequencies and intensities of their seizures.2 Eventually, additional studies showed music that had energetic and emotional qualities could potentially increase spatial-temporal reasoning and extended the speed of processing and creative problem solving.3, 4
Why did I share all this in a Foreword for a “seemingly” simple children’s song? I shared all this because Jeanette Bradley’s The First 12 Days of Preschool is not just a simple children’s song. While all songs for children ought to be carefully crafted because children are one of the most precious and sacred gifts we are given to love, steward, and champion, Bradley’s The First 12 Days of Preschool, is especially impressive. She intuitively knew the power of music in education and brilliantly paired the iconic music of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” with insightful life-giving lyrics for our little ones. The timeless qualities of character and good citizenship, and the lessons of being kind, collaborative, creative, thoughtful, respectful of others, respectful of self, and honorable, are all incorporated into this memorable tune.
No, this is not a simple children’s song.
More than ever, we must be tenacious, even fierce, in our fight for our children. With the ubiquitous use of the Internet, the accessibility of the dangerous dark web, and the cultural, societal, and governmental influences on our children, it appears we are helpless against these untouchable giants, these titanic forces.
But we are not.
Remember what happened to the giant, Goliath?
Remember what happened to the Titanic?
One seemingly small and harmless stone.
One seemingly impotent chunk of ice against the unsinkable steel of the largest ship ever built at the time.
One seemingly simple children’s song against the pervasive assault of societal ideologies.
No, we are not helpless.
The First 12 Days of Preschool, together with your love and consistency, your unwavering advocacy, your fervent prayers, and the guidance of Holy Spirit, can be the foundation from which your little ones can build, grow, and thrive. And these seemingly “simple” words paired with an unforgettable melody can intercept fiery arrows that will come as a part of living life.
How can The First 12 Days of Preschool quell the fiery arrows of life?
From ancient sages, to Tomatis, to other researchers and scholar-practitioners, the evidence showing music affects our minds — our imagination, consciousness, memories, psyches, inclinations, physiology, health, well-being, and even our beliefs, is undeniable. When we build the habit of thinking rightly, and loving each other well, together with God, we can stand against anything.
Yes, Bradley understands the power of words and music.
Plato once said, “Music is a more potent instrument than any other for education.” Science has now proven this to be true.
Winston Churchill once said, “I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught.” And isn’t this also true as well for many of us, young and old? The way we are taught anything is critical. And The First 12 Days of Preschool is a beautiful instrument to teach some of the most important lessons of life — honor, dignity, compassion, and identity.
Lastly, Tomatis’ story is also significant because it is an example of what we, too, can discover and impart to the world. Even if you end up going in a different direction than what you initially intended, “Your Gifts Will Find You™.”5
Keep believing.
Keep seeking.
Keep asking.
Keep knocking.
Keep learning.
And keep singing.
Unapologetically for the Children™,
Manna Ko, PhD, EdD Leadership Doctoral Candidate CEO & Founder Manna For Life® Speaker, Trainer, Educator, Author
August 2021 San Diego, California
References
Tomatis, Alfred A. (1991). The Conscious Ear: My Life of Transformation through Listening. Paris: Station Hill Press.
Wilson, T., Brown, T. (2010). “Reexamination of the effect of Mozart’s music on spatial task performance”. The Journal of Psychology. 131(4): 365–370. doi:1080/00223989709603522
Ilie, G., & Thompson, W.F. (2011). “Experiential and cognitive changes following seven minutes exposure to music and speech”. Music Perception. 28(3): 247–264. doi:1525/mp.2011.28.3.247
“Your Gifts Will Find You” is Federally Trademarked by USPTO for Dr. Manna Ko.
“We are happy to award deserving books like The First 12 Days of Preschool, Our panel of judges really felt this book merited a place on our list of the best in family-friendly products that parents and educators can feel confident in using.”