Down by the Bay

Preschoolers and Kindergarteners are singing Down by the Bay, a new echo song.  Students are really starting to sing in their singing voices after all of the work we have done with echo songs.  This one is sure to get students laughing!

First, students echoed the teacher and had to picture what was happening in the song by themselves.  It is so important to help children develop listening skills by first asking them to imagine the words of the song for themselves.

After a few weeks of creating our own images in our heads, students were introduced to the song in book form.  We laughed all over again after seeing the pictures in this Raffi book!

Along with being introduced to the picture book, after a few weeks students were asked to echo song fragments as solos.  Students are becoming so brave with their solo singing.

Here are the lyrics to our song.  Try to sing it together.

Down by the bay, (Down by the bay,)

Where the watermelons grow, (Where the watermelons grow,)

Back to my home, (Back to my home,)

I dare not go, (I dare not go,)

For if I do, (For if I do,)

My mother would say... (My mother would say...)

"Did you ever see a bear combing his hair,

Down by the bay?"

"Did you ever seeing llamas wearing pajamas,

Down by the bay?"

"Did you ever see a bee with a sunburned knee,

Down by the bay?"

"Did you ever see a goose kissing a moose,

Down by the bay?"

You could also create your own rhyming verses with your children to make the song go on longer.

Hear Miss Daigle's class perform this echo song with Miss Dagenais in the video below.