Bellwood-Antis kindergarten teacher Pete Harry makes and sells music videos for classroom use. Harry has worked at Myers Elementary School for 11 years and has had teachers from as far away as Australia buy his music.

BELLWOOD — In Pete Harry’s kindergarten classroom this month at Myers Elementary School, his 5-year-old students are singing “Turkey Time, Turkey Time,” and following directions embedded within the song.

As the music plays, the youngsters can sing “gobble, gobble, gobble” until they’re told to stop. They also know what to do when they hear the command to jump and the command to squat.

But Harry’s class isn’t the only one making use of the catchy holiday tune.

Through Harry Kindergarten Music LLC, an online business offering video and audio files, everyone all over the world has access to “Turkey Time, Turkey Time” and hundreds of other educational songs and videos created by the Bellwood man with an ability to combine his talents and computer skills.

“I have to say I love Pete’s music and so do the kids I teach,” said Dan Colquhoun­, a kindergarten teacher from Sydney, Australia. “His songs are super-catchy, and they make learning new concepts fun for children.”

“I have been caught singing his songs without the kids in the room or at home,” said Susan Conner, who teaches kindergarten in Phoenix, Ariz. “My students always beg for his songs.”

Harry, who has been teaching at Myers for 11 years, said his online music video business grew out of the frustration he experienced as a new teacher.

“When I was in my second year, I was ready to quit teaching,” Harry said. “I felt overwhelmed. The students weren’t engaged.”

But Harry, who had 10 years of piano lessons as a child, said he began to consider how he might use music in the classroom and was partly inspired by the success of his older brother, Ryan.

At that time, Ryan Harry was working in Atlanta, Ga., teaching an inner-city kindergarten class. To engage those students, Harry said his brother began using instrumental tracks from rap songs and composing his own lyrics for use in the classroom.

Harry said the music videos he first made in 2009 were “totally amateuresque” and posted on YouTube primarily for his students and their parents. But they continued to draw attention, he said, so he kept making them and improving the quality.

Today, Harry uses a computer application and sometimes his piano to create musical sounds and repetitive beats that set the stage for a wide range of video lessons, such as one that explains the parts of a plant and another that offers six rules for classroom behavior.

The results have created a following for the teacher and his online lessons. Seventeen of his videos have more than 1 million viewings each.

“His pursuit has worked out extremely well for our school,” Myers Elementary School Principal Terri Harpster said. “While all of our teachers bring something unique to their classroom, Pete has taken the kindergarten curriculum and created some engaging content that he shares with all the other kindergarten teachers.”

And through online websites, Harry’s work and recognition extends way beyond Bellwood.

“When he goes to a conference, he has had people come up and ask for his autograph,” Harpster said.

Colquhoun said he traveled from Sydney to Las Vegas in 2014 for a conference where Harry was among the list of speakers.

“His presentation was called teaching with YouTube, and it was amazing,” Colquhoun said.

Conner said she drove to that conference from Phoenix and was star struck to see and meet Pete Harry.

“I can’t imagine nor do I want to imagine kindergarten without Harry Kindergarten songs and videos,” Conner said. “That would not be a happy place.”

Megan Perron said she met Harry a few years ago at a conference of kindergarten teachers in Moorehead, Minn.

“My students have mastered so many kindergarten standards easily because of Mr. Harry’s videos,” she said. “His songs aren’t just surface level. They cover each topic in depth and with such clarity.”

Harry said that he makes a lot of videos available for free as a way to help teachers, youngsters and their parents and sets a maximum price of $2.49 for downloading others.

The business generates some online advertising revenue, he said, which supplements his teaching income and allows his family to be more charitable.

In addition, his family sometimes gets involved. For instance, he videotaped a trip that he and his wife, Jen, and their two children, made to a local pumpkin patch in October. Within that video, he used his teaching skills to explain the parts of a pumpkin to every viewer who watched his online video.

“I am passionate about my work,” Harry said. “And I do like to share it.”

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 946-7456.