Aiken Drum

Kindergartners' new favorite beat keeping activity is called "Aiken Drum."  Aiken Drum is a strange man.  He lives on the moon.  But to make him even stranger, his whole body is made of food!  As if that weren't enough, Aiken Drum changes every time we see him.  One week, his head is made of pizza, and the next it's made of cookies!  One week his hair is made of spaghetti, and the next it's made of lollipops!

You can sing this song with your child using the words below:

There was a man, lived in the moon,
Lived in the moon, lived in the moon.
There was a man, lived in the moon,
And his name was Aiken Drum.

His head was made of pizza,
Of pizza, of pizza.
His head was made of pizza,
And his name was Aiken Drum.

His _______ was made of _________,
Of ________, of __________.
His _______ was made of _________,
And his name was Aiken Drum.

While we sang this song, students tapped the beat on different parts of their bodies to go along with the song.  We had so much fun choosing the foods and seeing what Aiken would look like.  Check out some of the Aiken Drums that were created by our students:

Here is a great recording of this song:

All-State Rehearsal

This weekend, 5th Graders Jacki Gallant and Ella Smith participated in their first rehearsal for All-State Treble Chorus.  The girls auditioned to join this prestigious group of the top 200 elementary singers in the state.  They will be performing at the Massachusetts Music Educators Association Conference on Saturday, March 3rd in Boston.

Grandma's Glasses

Kindergartners have just learned the fingerplay "Grandma's Glasses."  Fingerplays are songs or rhymes with actions.  These help students to show the meaning of the words with their actions and the inflection of their voices.

We loved showing Grandma's teeny tiny glasses and hat and Grandpa's great big glasses and hat.

The words to this fingerplay are:

These are Grandma's glasses,
(make small circle with fingers for each eye to look through)
And this is Grandma's hat.
(place one hand flat on top of head)
And this is the way she folds her hands,
(fold hands)
And puts them in her lap.
(set folded hands in lap)

These are Grandpa's glasses,
(make large circles with hands for each eye to look through)
And this is Grandpa's hat.
(hold hands and arms straight up and out)
And this is the way he folds his arms,
(fold arms)
Just like that.
(bounce folded arms up and down three times)

You can hear Miss Randell's class saying this rhyme in the video below.


Did your child use their "Ask Me" sheet to share this rhyme with you?  Let Miss Dagenais know by filling out this quick form.

Cousin Peter

First graders have been singing an action song about a cousin who likes to visit their house and teases them while he's there.  "Cousin Peter" pretends to be a bear and scoops the child up into the air before he leaves.

Actions songs teach us how to show the lyrics of the song with our bodies.  This particular action song also helped us practice keeping the beat.  Each one of the motions we did followed the beat of the song.

The words are:

Last evening Cousin Peter came,

Last evening Cousin Peter came,

Last evening Cousin Peter came,

Just to say that he was here. (walk in place)

He wiped his feet upon the mat… (alternately wipe feet)

He hung his hat upon the peg… (alternately touch head and reach hand out in front)

He played he was a great big bear… (with both arms up, rock back and forth)

He picked me up into the air… (alternately reach low and lift both hands up into the air)

He took a bow and said, “Good-bye.”... (alternately bow and wave good-bye)

This has been a fun song for us to sing and students have really enjoyed the silly things that Cousin Peter does.

Hear Ms. Bayer's class sing this song in the video below.




Did your child sing you this song from their "Ask Me" sheet?  Let Miss Dagenais know by filling out this quick form.

Closet Key

Our first graders are learning the simple song "Closet Key."  As with all simple songs, 1st graders started by listening to the teacher sing this song several times.  After careful listening, they were able to sing the song effortlessly!

Luckily for us, this song has a game that goes along with it.  One student hides the key in their hands, and the person who is "it" tries to guess who has the key.  We give that person hints about who has the key by singing loudly when they are close to the key and softly when they are far away.  At the end, "it" has three guesses to find the key.

Here are the words:

I have lost my closet key
In my lady's garden.
I have lost my closet key
In my lady's garden.

Help me find my closet key
In my lady's garden.
Help me find my closet key
In my lady's garden.

I have found my closet key
In my lady's garden.
I have found my closet key
In my lady's garden.

Hear Mrs. Larson's class singing this song and playing the game in the video below:




Did your child use their "Ask Me" sheet to sing you this song?  Let Miss Dagenais know by filling out this quick form.

Bling, Blang

One of our focuses in preschool music is becoming "beatful" - that is having the ability to keep the steady beat.  To help us become beatful, we sing songs and keep the beat with our bodies or instruments.


We have been singing a fun song about tools called "Bling, Blang."  First, students kept the beat by miming a hammer and a saw on their hand.  Next, we added some instruments - the claves that tap were the hammer and the sand blocks that scrape were the saw.  Students listened carefully so they would play at the correct time.

 

Once we had a chance to play these instruments to the beat, I introduced a book about this song that had some more words.  We listened to the verses of the song, then played our instruments during the refrain.  We also listened to a recording of someone else singing this song.

Johnny Had One Friend

"Johnny Had One Friend" is a simple song.  Preschoolers and kindergartners spent several weeks just listening to this song and counting the friends with their fingers.  After several weeks of only listening, the whole class sang the song together.  After all that careful listening, they knew it very well!  In the coming weeks, students will be singing this song solo, really building their vocal independence.

The words to the song are:

Johnny had one friend,
One friend, one friend.
Johnny had one friend,
Johnny had two.

Johnny had two friends,
Two friends, two friends.
Johnny had two friends,
Johnny had three.

Johnny had three friends,
Three friends, three friends...

We usually sing this song up to five friends so we are counting with just one hand, but as a special challenge, we add a second hand and sing all the way up to ten friends!

Listen to Ms. Jewell's kindergarten class sing this song in the video below:




Did you child sing this song for you from their "Ask Me" sheet?  Let Miss Dagenais know by filling out this quick form.