Miss Polly Had a Dolly

Preschool students have learned a new fingerplay called "Miss Polly Had a Dolly."  A fingerplay is a song or a rhyme that includes motions.  These motions help us to remember the words of the song and also help us to show the expression of the song.

The words to this fingerplay are:

Miss Polly had a dolly that was sick, sick, sick.

She called for the doctor to come quick, quick, quick.

The doctor came with his bag and his hat.

He knocked at the door with a rat-a-tat-tat.

He looked at the dolly and he shook his head.

He said, “Miss Polly put her straight to bed.”

He wrote on a paper for a pill, pill, pill.

“I’ll be back in the morning with the bill, bill, bill.”

Can you ask your child to teach you the motions to this song?

Hear a recording of Mrs. Beaudry's preschool class saying this rhyme by clicking the link below:

Miss Polly Had a Dolly

Did your child say this rhyme for you from their "Ask Me" sheet? Let Mrs. Hiltz 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.  That made sitting quietly and listening to several repetitions really easy.  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.

After singing this song enough times for everyone in the class to get a turn to be "it," students had the opportunity to sing this song as a solo.  The brave students who sang a solo got to add their star to the "Solo Singing Super Stars" wall.

Hear Mrs. Larson's class sing this song by clicking the link below:

Closet Key

Did your child use their "Ask Me" sheet to sing you this song?  Let Mrs. Hiltz know by filling out this quick form.  Students who fill out the form will earn a sticker!

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!  After we were strong at singing the song as a whole group, students sang a solo of the song all by themselves.  Brave students who sang a solo got to add a star to our "Solo Singing Super Stars" wall.

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!

Hear Mrs. Armington's kindergarten class sing this song by clicking the link below:

Johnny Had One Friend

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

Aiken Drum

Kindergarteners have been singing the song "Aiken Drum" to practice keeping the steady beat.  The song goes like this:

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.

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

And his ____ was made of ____,
Of ____, of ____,
And his ____ was made of ____,
And his name was Aiken Drum.

Students substituted all of his body parts for different kinds of food.  As we sang about each body part, we tapped the steady beat on that part of our body.  We also drew Aiken Drum on the board.  He looked pretty crazy!

Listen to the song here:


Did your child sing you this song?  Let Mrs. Hiltz know by filling out this quick form.

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)


Hear Miss Randell's class recite the rhyme by clicking the link below:
Grandma's Glasses

Did your child use their "Ask Me" sheet to share this rhyme with you?  Let Mrs. Hiltz 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 picked me up into the air… (alternately reach low and lift both hands up into the air)

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

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 Miss Gagnon's class sing the song by clicking the link below:
Cousin Peter

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

Tongo

First graders learned a new echo song called "Tongo."  This Polynesian canoe song is a song that is sung to help the people paddling a canoe all row to the steady beat.  To practice this, students sat in imaginary canoes and all rowed at the same time.  They echoed the song while they did this.  The words to the song are:

Tongo, (Tongo,)

Chimney bye bye oh,

(Chimney bye bye oh,)

Tongo, (Tongo,)

Oom ba de kim bye oh,

(Oom ba de kim bye oh,)

Ooh alay, (Ooh alay,)

Mahle kaah lo way. (Mahle kaah lo way.)

We also enjoyed keeping the steady beat on the gathering drum while we rowed. Can you echo your child singing this song?

Hear Ms. Giguere's class sing this song by clicking the link below:

Tongo

Did your child sing you this song from their Ask Me sheet? Let Mrs. Hiltz know by filling out this form.

Kye Kye Kule

As we return to school from Winter Break, 2nd Graders have gone back to work on an echo song to help them start off the new year with their best singing voices.

This echo song is from Ghana and it is called Kye Kye Kule.  Though many students were able to learn this song quickly and wanted to sing along with the leader, we discussed how this is an echo song and it is always meant to be echoed, even when we know it really well.  To demonstrate this point, students watched a video of children in Ghana singing this song on the playground.  Even though they knew the song really well, the group always echoed the leader.  You can watch this video here:

Then, we talked about how the children in the video are using more of a shouting voice than a singing voice.  The singing style is different in Ghana, but in music class, students are still expected to use their best and most gentle sound.

Kye kye, Kule. (Kye kye, Kule.)
Kye kye, Kofinsa. (Kye kye, Kofinsa.)
Kofinsa langa. (Kofinsa langa.)
Kaka shi langa. (Kaka shi langa.)
Kum adende. (Kum adende.)
Kum adende.  Hey!

In addition to singing this song as an echo song, students also played a passing game.  At the end of the song, each student who was out got to get an egg shaker and join the shaker band.  They practiced keeping the steady beat while they were there.  The winner got to play the maraca!

Hear Ms. McCance's class sing the song by clicking the link below:
Kye Kye Kule

Did your child sing this song with you?  Let Mrs. Hiltz know by filling out this 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.






Hear Mrs. Beaudry's preschool class play the steady beat on instrument with the song:
Bling Blang Instruments
Hear Mrs. Beaudry's preschool class sing the song:
Bling Blang

Did you sing this song with your child?  Let Mrs. Hiltz know by filling out this form.