I love Monarch butterflies. Their caterpillars need milkweed plants to live. The fall is the perfect time to plant milkweed. There are four different species of native Milkweed— the Whorled, Common and Swamp Milkweeds, as well as Butterfly Weed (also a milkweed)— are found in most states from the eastern seaboard to the Rocky Mountains as well as in southern Canada, and will thrive in a wide range of garden and meadow habitats.

How to plant milkweed seeds in the fall from American Meadows:
If you want to start milkweeds from seed, the easiest way is to emulate Mother Nature and plant them in the fall! In the wild, milkweed plants scatter their seeds quite late in the season—at a time when the coming cold would kill any seedlings that germinated right away. But the seeds of milkweed (and other plants that flower late in the season) are cleverly programmed to delay their germination until after they have been exposed to winter’s cold followed by gradually rising temperatures in springtime—an adaptation known as stratification.

See my videos of butterflies and learn more about planting butterfly gardens here.

Join me at noon on Tuesday August 14th! I'll perform in the Main Atrium of the hospital. This show is OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. 

I'm thrilled to also be performing for the Ryan Seacrest Studio in Children's National Medical Center from 11:00-11:30 a.m. This is not a public performance. My interview and performance will be broadcast directly to patient rooms. I hope to leave smiles on a few faces before I leave!

If you are looking for songs to help children learn to read and count, here is a recording that I made especially for a dear friend who owned a Kumon school. Her Kumon school used this recording with the young children who came for tutoring. The original and traditional songs are also excellent for English language learners! You will find traditional songs that children in the United States learn like "London Bridges," "Old MacDonald," "Twinkle, Twinkle," "Pat-a-cake," and more.

One of the top hits of this recording has been the song "What's the Weather?" Teachers and parents have enjoyed singing the chorus of this song and having children look outside to identify the weather. Then everyone can sing the verse that describes the weather they see outside.

https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/rachelsumner7

If you need to have a patriotic parade this week, here is an mp3 to inspire the kids (and adults) to march and wave their flags! Happy 4th of July!!!!
https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/rachelsumner8

We asked to NECAT Network to consider making 9 of our 26 temporary time slots for our children's TV show permanent. Guess what happened?

My Storytime Place was given ALL 26 TIME SLOTS because they have been pleased with the quality of the show! We have music, puppets, finger plays, and a book on every episode. We are proud to feature our friends who are some of Nashville's most talented children's performers, writers, puppeteers, and children's librarians.

The members of our talented team plan to celebrate together as we watch the new movie about Mr. Roger's called Won't You Be My Neighbor. Of course, Mr. Rogers was a wonderful inspiration to all of us.

You can watch My Storytime Place on three channels and air 34 times a week in 19 middle Tennessee counties. You can also stream our show at http://www.necatnetwork.org/watch-live

• iQtv Educational channel - Comcast channel 10 and AT&T Uverse channel 99.
Sunday 1:00 a.m. / 1:00 p.m.
Monday 8:00 a.m. / 8:00 p.m.
Tuesday 1:00 a.m. / 1:00 p.m.
Wednesday 3:00 a.m. / 3:00 p.m.
Thursday 12:30 a.m. / 12:30 p.m.
Friday 3:00 a.m. / 3:00 p.m.
Saturday 9:30 a.m. / 9:30 p.m.

• Access Nashville channel - Comcast Channel 19 and AT&T Channel 99.
Monday-Wednesday, and Saturday 7:00 a.m.
Sunday 6:30 a.m. / 10:30 p.m.
Monday 1:30 p.m.
Tuesday 3:30 p.m.
Wednesday 2:30 p.m.
Thursday 8:30 a.m.
Friday 9:30 a.m. / 5:00 p.m.
Saturday 4:00 a.m.

• The Music City Arts channel - Comcast channel 9 and AT&T Uverse channel 99.
Saturday and Sunday 6:00 p.m.
Monday 2:00 p.m.
Tuesday 5:30 p.m.
Wednesday 8:00 p.m.
Thursday 7:00 p.m.
Friday 2:30 p.m.

Learn more about My Storytime Place at www.rachelsumner.com/tv_show

 #Mystorytimeplace, #NECAT, #NashvilleTVShowForKids

I visited and toured Radio Lollipop at Nicklaus Children's Hospital in Miami last week. This is such a fabulous program for sick children and their families!!! The Easter bunny was there too. Volunteers passed out stuffed bunnies to all the patients so I sang "The Bunny Boogie" on the radio station for them and had the patients hop their bunnies around!!!!

Radio Lollipop is headquartered in London. They have stations in the U.K., Australia, and 3 hospitals in the U.S.

My newly designed website is up! Check it out and let me know what you think. http://www.rachelsumner.com

Cool! I found a post from Parent's Choice saying my Tap Those Toes CD is one of their favorites for dancing & exercising! http://goo.gl/g4ksCU

I'll be performing at Whole Foods Franklin on December 27 at 9:30 a.m. I hope you will join me.