I got done with work early this afternoon and on my walk to the tube wrote this song. The lyrics changed a bit by the time I got home, but close enough.
I was thinking of a song for the kids to sing, but then while singing it to myself it got...bigger. So now I'm not really sure what to do with it, but I spent an enjoyable hour trying to find pictures that would go with it so I could make a little video to put on on the blog.
Hope you enjoy it!
Showing posts with label songs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label songs. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Tykes Music Club
I'm teaching two music clubs on Wednesdays now, which is a great deal of fun. I'm continuing the tykes' music club and then following that I have a new Key Stage 2 (8-11 year olds) composition club. And OH! I'm excited about that one. But lets talk tykes first....
I have nine of them in the club. They are squirrelly as tykes are wont to be, so maybe this wasn't the most brilliant idea ever? (Or maybe it was genius. I'll reserve judgement until I have them again next week.) What happened was this: I was digging around in the resource bookshelf in the music room and found a book called A Sackful of Songs by Jane Newberry. It has some delightful songs in it and I thought "wonderful! I won't be recycling material that these tykes have already seen before!" before choosing a gem called "Scary Monster!" (exclamation point helpfully included.)
This song, like many songs for tykes, involves changing actions. Always a good thing since that gives them an opportunity to control the song and get creative with it. The song is about a scary green monster roaring. Or laughing. Or crying or jumping or you get the point.
So we roared for a bit and that went fine. A couple of tykes were really in to the roaring and a few more were staring off into the distance. It seemed like it was time to move on to another action. So we stomped for a bit and then the song turned out to be about dinosaurs and then dragons and then back to monsters again before little C. piped up with: "I want the monster to eat me."
Very matter of factly like that.
(Exclamation point helpfully not included.)
So I "ate" C. by tickling her belly and then oooh did the floodgates open.
"Me! Me! Eat MEeee!!!"
The tykes scattered all over the room and cowered gleefully under the tables. I said I wouldn't eat any of them unless they all sang- so they all sang with gusto while I crawled menacingly around on the floor tickling each of them in turn whenever I could reach them.
I feel certain I wasn't meant to do that, but I can't actually think of a good reason why except for the whole running in the classroom thing and the fact that I have now set a precedent. (I think it is really the precedent that is going to bite me in the butt.) On the other hand I got them to sing the song enough times so that they all have a handle on the tune and the words and I did that without bashing it repetitively into their skulls while they sat down in a circle. Six of one, half a dozen of the other?
I have nine of them in the club. They are squirrelly as tykes are wont to be, so maybe this wasn't the most brilliant idea ever? (Or maybe it was genius. I'll reserve judgement until I have them again next week.) What happened was this: I was digging around in the resource bookshelf in the music room and found a book called A Sackful of Songs by Jane Newberry. It has some delightful songs in it and I thought "wonderful! I won't be recycling material that these tykes have already seen before!" before choosing a gem called "Scary Monster!" (exclamation point helpfully included.)
This song, like many songs for tykes, involves changing actions. Always a good thing since that gives them an opportunity to control the song and get creative with it. The song is about a scary green monster roaring. Or laughing. Or crying or jumping or you get the point.
So we roared for a bit and that went fine. A couple of tykes were really in to the roaring and a few more were staring off into the distance. It seemed like it was time to move on to another action. So we stomped for a bit and then the song turned out to be about dinosaurs and then dragons and then back to monsters again before little C. piped up with: "I want the monster to eat me."
Very matter of factly like that.
(Exclamation point helpfully not included.)
So I "ate" C. by tickling her belly and then oooh did the floodgates open.
"Me! Me! Eat MEeee!!!"
The tykes scattered all over the room and cowered gleefully under the tables. I said I wouldn't eat any of them unless they all sang- so they all sang with gusto while I crawled menacingly around on the floor tickling each of them in turn whenever I could reach them.
I feel certain I wasn't meant to do that, but I can't actually think of a good reason why except for the whole running in the classroom thing and the fact that I have now set a precedent. (I think it is really the precedent that is going to bite me in the butt.) On the other hand I got them to sing the song enough times so that they all have a handle on the tune and the words and I did that without bashing it repetitively into their skulls while they sat down in a circle. Six of one, half a dozen of the other?
Friday, January 29, 2010
The Tykes Get Traditional
In my new effort to keep up to date with lesson plans and what not I have also tried to keep up to date with topic links so that the songs and musical examples have something to do with what the tykes are learning. One of the reception teachers pointed out that Traditional Stories was a couple of weeks ago, but WHATEVER. It was still this half term and that's close enough for me!
I found this wonderful song. Well, I've known this song for ages- but I found wonderful lyrics for the tune. Do you know "What do you do with a drunken sailor?" I love that song, I really do.
These words are for traditional stories. For instance (this is an example I made up and in the style of the lyrics but not from the actual song which is, I think, copy written)
I have a basket and skipped to Grandma's, I have a basket and skipped to Grandma's, I have a basket and skipped to Grandma's, Do you know my story?
or
I sold our cow and got three magic beans, I sold our cow and got three magic beans, I sold our cow and got three magic beans, Do you know my story?
or
My hair gets longer day by day, my hair gets longer day by day, my hair gets longer day by day, Do you know my story?
or
We wear our shoes out every night, we wear our shoes out every night, we wear our shoes out every night, Do you know our story?
Clearly I could keep doing this all day, but I'll stop now.
Some of the stories chosen in the real lyrics (that are on the CD) are less popular, so I started off the class by listening to the song and then finding out if they knew all of the stories. This turned out to be a fascinating exercise since what ended up happening was that in each class there were a couple of tykes who would volunteer to tell stories.
Have you heard a four or five year old tell a story? It's amazing. There are no "um's" or "ah's" and strange things are important- there isn't really any dialogue, but the structure of the story is all there. They understand how these things work. They know the stories. Well, the ones that they know, they know. Would you remember that Jack bought the beans from an old man? I mean, I think if I were telling Jack and the Beanstalk I would have remembered that there *were* magic beans, but not necessarily how they came to be.
The difference in storytelling style was made abundantly clear when I got to the third and final class because no one in that class knew the story of Rumpelstiltskin. It was up to me to tell them the story. Do I really remember how Rumpelstiltskin goes? No. I mean, sort of? My version was full of "So he was like 'blah blah blah' and then she was all 'blah blah blah'" Which is silly. And hard to follow. And not clear and concise and full of the important things like the tykes' versions were. Also, does Rumpelstiltskin burst into flame and then end when he is jumping up and down so mad at the Queen/peasant girl? Because in my version he did and the other teachers disagreed...
I found this wonderful song. Well, I've known this song for ages- but I found wonderful lyrics for the tune. Do you know "What do you do with a drunken sailor?" I love that song, I really do.
These words are for traditional stories. For instance (this is an example I made up and in the style of the lyrics but not from the actual song which is, I think, copy written)
I have a basket and skipped to Grandma's, I have a basket and skipped to Grandma's, I have a basket and skipped to Grandma's, Do you know my story?
or
I sold our cow and got three magic beans, I sold our cow and got three magic beans, I sold our cow and got three magic beans, Do you know my story?
or
My hair gets longer day by day, my hair gets longer day by day, my hair gets longer day by day, Do you know my story?
or
We wear our shoes out every night, we wear our shoes out every night, we wear our shoes out every night, Do you know our story?
Clearly I could keep doing this all day, but I'll stop now.
Some of the stories chosen in the real lyrics (that are on the CD) are less popular, so I started off the class by listening to the song and then finding out if they knew all of the stories. This turned out to be a fascinating exercise since what ended up happening was that in each class there were a couple of tykes who would volunteer to tell stories.
Have you heard a four or five year old tell a story? It's amazing. There are no "um's" or "ah's" and strange things are important- there isn't really any dialogue, but the structure of the story is all there. They understand how these things work. They know the stories. Well, the ones that they know, they know. Would you remember that Jack bought the beans from an old man? I mean, I think if I were telling Jack and the Beanstalk I would have remembered that there *were* magic beans, but not necessarily how they came to be.
The difference in storytelling style was made abundantly clear when I got to the third and final class because no one in that class knew the story of Rumpelstiltskin. It was up to me to tell them the story. Do I really remember how Rumpelstiltskin goes? No. I mean, sort of? My version was full of "So he was like 'blah blah blah' and then she was all 'blah blah blah'" Which is silly. And hard to follow. And not clear and concise and full of the important things like the tykes' versions were. Also, does Rumpelstiltskin burst into flame and then end when he is jumping up and down so mad at the Queen/peasant girl? Because in my version he did and the other teachers disagreed...
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
The Tykes at Holiday Camp
I've been working at the tykes school for their Holiday Camp this week (and will continue to do so next week) and here are some things I've learned:
1. little boys *never* have their flies zipped. It's just not going to happen- dexterity comes later
2. tykes are GROSS. I've washed my hands more in the last three days than in the last two weeks combined. On the plus side: my fingernails are sparkling.
3. When holding hands with a tyke, say for street crossing purposes, your hand will be used to scratch their face, shove up their nose, brush hair out of their eyes, or stick into their ear.
4. There is a specific facial expression- sort of pleading, guilty, and concerned all at the same time- it means they need the toilet. Learn to identify it quickly.
5. If you start paying attention to a tyke they will most likely want your attention, undivided, for the next 20 minutes. Then they will drop you abruptly for a small wheelie truck.
6. This isn't exactly something I learned- but today one of the girls came up to me and exclaimed "all the flowers are gone!" meaning the patch of grass she'd been messing with had been picked clean of dandelions. Naturally my first response to that was to tell her that there was a song about that and to start singing Pete Seeger's "Where have all the flowers gone?" to which she reacted by looking at me like I was crazy and possibly dangerous before scampering off to go be a dragon/good fairy.
So far we have had free play time, gone to the science museum (where I had a lovely time talking to a kindly grandmother in the play space), set up the hall as a gym with hula hoops, a small climbing structure and a collapsible tunnel, and gone to one of the play areas in Hyde Park.
When we go on outside adventures the teachers wear neon yellow "City of Westminster" safety vests. Cute. Then we explain that the tykes need to look for the green man before crossing the street and that they must hold our hands, no really, we mean it. Also- catch up to the people in front of you in line and please stop hitting our butts!
Holiday camp is basically babysitting for 16 three year olds with three other babysitters who don't all totally agree about what is supposed to be happening. So that's kind of frustrating. I like teaching music better- there is a set thing I am supposed to being doing with the tykes and the structure helps. That being said the other three women I'm working with are lovely and we're getting better at working together as the week progresses.
We have a few problem children- one has just moved here from Argentina and doesn't speak a word of English. It is such a huge change for the foreign kids- we had a big break through today in that he spent the entire afternoon with us without his nanny and only cried pathetically for about 10 minutes which is a huge achievement. We also for the first time today ended up with a new nearly six year old girl from Hong Kong. She's also dealing with the abrupt change to everything she knows- but she was good by the end of the day too.
Then there is a family of three siblings and their friend from another school. They are a handful. A demanding, smart enough to know how to play us, and snarky for four/five handful. I secretly like them, but they rile each other up and then the rest of the class up and life would be much easier without them in it currently. That being said, I kind of like watching the schemes the eldest has- she reminds me of Jimmy and his "pajamas are too interesting!" comment. I feel like Laine could totally school this kid. Come visit Laine, help a sister out.
In other news I have borrowed a recorder and a beginners book to teach myself the recorder. I've been sitting at my kitchen table and chortling to myself while attempting to play. I'm on page 27! It's a waltz with 5 pitches, tied notes, slurs, and it is in 3/4 time. Fancy.
1. little boys *never* have their flies zipped. It's just not going to happen- dexterity comes later
2. tykes are GROSS. I've washed my hands more in the last three days than in the last two weeks combined. On the plus side: my fingernails are sparkling.
3. When holding hands with a tyke, say for street crossing purposes, your hand will be used to scratch their face, shove up their nose, brush hair out of their eyes, or stick into their ear.
4. There is a specific facial expression- sort of pleading, guilty, and concerned all at the same time- it means they need the toilet. Learn to identify it quickly.
5. If you start paying attention to a tyke they will most likely want your attention, undivided, for the next 20 minutes. Then they will drop you abruptly for a small wheelie truck.
6. This isn't exactly something I learned- but today one of the girls came up to me and exclaimed "all the flowers are gone!" meaning the patch of grass she'd been messing with had been picked clean of dandelions. Naturally my first response to that was to tell her that there was a song about that and to start singing Pete Seeger's "Where have all the flowers gone?" to which she reacted by looking at me like I was crazy and possibly dangerous before scampering off to go be a dragon/good fairy.
So far we have had free play time, gone to the science museum (where I had a lovely time talking to a kindly grandmother in the play space), set up the hall as a gym with hula hoops, a small climbing structure and a collapsible tunnel, and gone to one of the play areas in Hyde Park.
When we go on outside adventures the teachers wear neon yellow "City of Westminster" safety vests. Cute. Then we explain that the tykes need to look for the green man before crossing the street and that they must hold our hands, no really, we mean it. Also- catch up to the people in front of you in line and please stop hitting our butts!
Holiday camp is basically babysitting for 16 three year olds with three other babysitters who don't all totally agree about what is supposed to be happening. So that's kind of frustrating. I like teaching music better- there is a set thing I am supposed to being doing with the tykes and the structure helps. That being said the other three women I'm working with are lovely and we're getting better at working together as the week progresses.
We have a few problem children- one has just moved here from Argentina and doesn't speak a word of English. It is such a huge change for the foreign kids- we had a big break through today in that he spent the entire afternoon with us without his nanny and only cried pathetically for about 10 minutes which is a huge achievement. We also for the first time today ended up with a new nearly six year old girl from Hong Kong. She's also dealing with the abrupt change to everything she knows- but she was good by the end of the day too.
Then there is a family of three siblings and their friend from another school. They are a handful. A demanding, smart enough to know how to play us, and snarky for four/five handful. I secretly like them, but they rile each other up and then the rest of the class up and life would be much easier without them in it currently. That being said, I kind of like watching the schemes the eldest has- she reminds me of Jimmy and his "pajamas are too interesting!" comment. I feel like Laine could totally school this kid. Come visit Laine, help a sister out.
In other news I have borrowed a recorder and a beginners book to teach myself the recorder. I've been sitting at my kitchen table and chortling to myself while attempting to play. I'm on page 27! It's a waltz with 5 pitches, tied notes, slurs, and it is in 3/4 time. Fancy.
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