This is a weekly update of what songs we’re currently singing, yoga poses, movements, the whole nine yards.
In most cases, the song/activity listed is a link so you can read the lyrics and listen to the song , etc.
June 12, 2023
We did the “beanbag machine” again today, passing them around the circle.
And, of course, we did one last round of Freeze Dance!
Then we sang all the songs we’ll be singing at the singalong:
CORNER GROCERY STORE – beans, giraffes, corn and rats!
And I finished by singing (not in the singalong) My Favorite Things
It has been a wonderful year with your children. Thank you for sharing them with me!
June 5, 2023
Sittin’ Down to Eat – (no link; see description in last week’s post)
I Can’t Imagine Life Without Popcorn – we couldn’t live without popcorn, dandelions, cameras or mushrooms!
May 22, 2023
Sittin’ Down to Eat – (no link) This is a fun Bill Harley song: “I was sitting down to eat, just about to begin, there was a knock on the door, said: Can I come in? I opened up the door and what did I see, it was a great big [elephant] looking at me.” Each time a new animal comes, we scoot closer and closer together in our “house” until a tiny animal comes knocking, which is too much for the house to take – the house goes BOOM and we all roll back.
Freeze Dance
I Can’t Imagine Life Without Popcorn – we reviewed the OOO and WOW cheers, and we couldn’t live without popcorn, pajamas, elephants or pickles!
May 15, 2023
Freeze Dance
I Can’t Imagine Life Without Popcorn – we reviewed the OOO and WOW cheers, and we couldn’t live without popcorn, waffles, rainbows or worms!
I Shampoo My Hair – we switched it up again: I look for alligators while I’m in a rocking chair; I stir the soup while I’m on the elevator; I shampoo my hair while I do the hula hoop!
May 8, 2023
May Day song – It looks like it will be a perfect day for our May Day celebration on Wednesday. See you there!
I Shampoo My Hair – we switched it up today: I stir the soup while I’m in a rocking chair; I shampoo my hair while I’m on the elevator; I look for alligators while I do the hula hoop!
Freeze Dance
I Can’t Imagine Life Without Popcorn – we learned the OOO and WOW cheers, and we couldn’t live without popcorn, ladybugs, donuts or bellybuttons!
May 1, 2023
YOGA butterfly turtle tulip
I taught them the sign for “turtle” and “spaghetti” and made a few sentences like “my turtle always eats spaghetti.”
May Day song – I told them that May Day is planned for this Wednesday, but if it’s rainy we may end up having it next week instead.
Freeze Dance
April 24, 2023
We did some more sign language; I taught them the sign for “eat” and we made sentences like “the spider ate the spider” (Douglas’ suggestion). Then I sang a bit of No More Pie and made up different kinds of sign language pie – popcorn pie, worm pie, ball pie, spiderweb pie, etc.
May Day song – I previewed what we’ll be doing for May Day, with the whole school: marching with all the classes around the sculpture park, ending up at the big hearts, where we’ll have a Maypole. It will have ribbons and we’ll each hold a ribbon and walk around it singing the May Day Song. When all the classes have done that, Nancy will bring popsicles for us to eat!
We repeated the beanbag passing game. It’s very simple, but can be tricky for this age, and they’re getting better at it. “It’s like a machine!” someone said. We first passed one beanbag around – when you get the beanbag, you put it down hard on the floor in front of the person to your left with a “chunk”. I added more beanbags, and soon lots of beanbags were being passed around simultaneously. Then we tried it with everyone having a beanbag, which means you have to all pass at the same time – that was harder, but they’re getting better!
April 10, 2023
I reviewed the signs from Today is Monday (sign language version – popcorn, ball, pie, worm, gorilla, spiderweb and cake), and also “Spider pie, spider pie, gorillas love spider pie” Then I made up a few sentences for them to “read.” I showed them how we can use the sign for “always” that we use in “May There Always Be Sunshine” in a sentence (“I always love popcorn,” “Gorillas always love spiders.”)
May Day song – I told them that we’ll be celebrating May Day with the whole school when the month of May comes, and this is the song we sing then.
We did a beanbag passing game. It’s very simple, but can be tricky for this age. We first passed one beanbag around – when you get the beanbag, you put it on the floor in front of the person to your left. Then I added more beanbags, and soon lots of beanbags were being passed around simultaneously. Then we tried it with everyone having a beanbag, which means you have to all pass at the same time – that was harder! Maybe we’ll get a chance to try it again, and see how we do after some practice.
April 3, 2023
We played the rhythm sticks to the ABCs
Using the rhythm sticks, we passed a “click” around the circle, then a “zip” (rubbing the sticks against each other)
Then we played (and some sang) to This Little Light of Mine
Elephant in my Shoe – in our shoes were kangaroos, alligators, jello, drills, robots and mashed potatoes.
I reviewed the signs from Today is Monday (sign language version – popcorn, ball, pie, worm, gorilla, spiderweb and cake)
I taught them sign language for “Spider pie, spider pie, gorillas love spider pie” – see the picture below that we read. Then we made up other crazy sentences like Spiders love gorilla, Gorillas love popcorn cake, and so forth. They’re just beginning to be able to sign these on their own.
Where’s My Pajamas? – by request
March 27, 2023
No More Pie – there were suggestions for types of pie, so we went around the circle and sang each person’s kind of pie. When I do this, I highlight how many taps we sing (cat pie is two taps, watermelon pie is 5 taps)
Where’s My Pajamas? We sang this regular volume, then very quietly (curled up in a ball when singing quietly, trying out Eden and Sylvie’s idea) and then coming up with a loud HEY! Then there was a request to shout 2 and then 3 “hey”s, so we tried that, too.
Elephant in my Shoe – in our shoes were elephants, jumping beans, dinosaurs, milkshakes, poison ivy (itch all over!), ballerinas (spin with arms in air).
We repeated this from last week: Children are paired off, facing each other. I sing a song, “As I was walking in the park one day, as I was walking in the park, I saw two sculptures that were touching (elbows), as I was walking in the park,” And of course, each pair touches the elbows together, and so forth.
March 13, 2023
Yellow Jello – I incorporated other things besides body parts: “Do you like it on your belly… shark… hotdog… gorilla… pie?”)
Where’s My Pajamas? We sang this regular volume, then very quietly (curled up in a ball when singing quietly, trying out Eden and Sylvie’s idea) and then coming up with a loud HEY! Then there was a request to shout 2 and then 3 “hey”s, so we tried that, too.
Today we passed a tap (knees) and clap around the circle (that is each person did tap & clap). Then I showed them a song that has tap, clap, knock on head, clap: Tarzan
We repeated the sign language Today Is Monday (no link, sorry!).
Elephant in my Shoe – in our shoes were elephants, rocking chairs, mashed potatoes, popcorn, ski jumps (one foot in front of the other in a long stance, and then jump and switch feet), washing machine (wiggle your waist) and astronauts (move very slowly).
We tried a new thing: Children are paired off, facing each other. I sing a song, “As I was walking in the park one day, as I was walking in the park, I saw two sculptures that were touching (elbows), as I was walking in the park,” And of course, each pair touches the elbows together, and so forth. We tried it with hands, backs, shoulders, and then hand to knee.
Eden requested On Top of Spaghetti, so we sang that, too!
March 6, 2023
Today we passed a tap (knees) and clap around the circle (that is each person did tap & clap), and then, at Douglas’ suggestion, we passed around a head tap and clap.
We repeated the sign language Today Is Monday (no link, sorry!), and they remembered so much! Instead of singing a food for each day of the week, we did an item in sign language: Monday-popcorn, Tuesday-ball, Wednesday-pie, Thursday-worm, Friday-gorilla, Saturday-spiderweb, Sunday-cake. The refrain is “come on everybody, show me what you see.”
Baa Baa Black Sheep – this is a movement version, standing up and holding hands.
We got to the last page of BUG ON THE WALL, so I’m now providing the link!
ABC
February 27, 2023
MAGIC PENNY, passing around the heavy red ball.
We passed five and then six(!) claps around the circle!
Baa Baa Black Sheep – this is a movement version, standing up and holding hands.
We continued my version of a song called Bug On the Wall, but I’m not putting the link up for it yet. That will have to wait until we’ve done the whole thing!
We did a new twist on Today Is Monday (no link, sorry!). Instead of singing a food for each day of the week, we did an item in sign language: Monday-popcorn, Tuesday-ball, Wednesday-pie, Thursday-worm, Friday-gorilla, Saturday-spiderweb, Sunday-cake. The refrain is “come on everybody, show me what you see.”
February 13, 2023
MAGIC PENNY, passing around the heavy red ball.
We barely finished passing the ball when there were requests to pass four and five claps around the circle – which they took on with concentration and success!
Baa Baa Black Sheep – this is a movement version, standing up and holding hands.
Freeze dance, with poses
We began my version of a song called Bug On the Wall, but I’m not putting the link up for it yet. That will have to wait until we’ve done the whole thing!
February 6, 2023
Yoga butterfly turtle tulip candle mouse snake dog cat
At the children’s suggestion, we passed around two claps and then three – some want to try four and five next week!
We again did an old song that Ella Jenkins does: Head and Shoulders. I pick two body parts and we tap them with our hands, singing: “head and shoulders and a 1, 2, 3, head and shoulders and a 1, 2, 3, then a bit faster) head and shoulders head and shoulders head and shoulders and a 1, 2, 3. We also did variations like clap and belly (clap your hands then tap your belly), tap and flip (tap knees then flip your hands over, palms up.
January 30, 2023
We passed around a clap and then, I think at Reese’s suggestion, we passed two claps, and they did very well!
Like last week we did an old song that Ella Jenkins does: Head and Shoulders. I pick two body parts and we tap them with our hands, singing: “head and shoulders and a 1, 2, 3, head and shoulders and a 1, 2, 3, then a bit faster) head and shoulders head and shoulders head and shoulders and a 1, 2, 3. We also did variations like clap and belly (clap your hands then tap your belly), tap and flip (tap knees then flip your hands over, palms up.
January 23, 2023
We passed around a clap and they were great at knowing when it was their turn.
We did an old song that Ella Jenkins does: Head and Shoulders. I pick two body parts and we tap them with our hands, singing: “head and shoulders and a 1, 2, 3, head and shoulders and a 1, 2, 3, then a bit faster) head and shoulders head and shoulders head and shoulders and a 1, 2, 3. We also did back and belly, knee and head, ear and foot, and someone suggested nose and eyes and we did that, too.
Jingle Bells, as Sylvie started singing it!
I passed out a long, thick rope and we pulled and pushed and swayed and shook to SHAKE IT ALL OVER TOWN and a “toes and knees and tummy and pull” exercise. I taught those who didn’t know it the crocodile verse to ROW ROW ROW (your boat), but first we practiced a quiet scream! We finished the rope with a bit of Michael Row the Boat Ashore.
January 9, 2023
Jingle bells: Shake the Bells
With the bells – an Ella Jenkins song: 1&2&3&4
And of course, Jingle Bells!
YOGA: candle mouse snake dog (and backwards to candle)
Freeze dance – I show them a pose, and then play the guitar. When the music stops, we freeze in that position.
December 19, 2022
I lost my voice! While I wouldn’t want this to happen much, it’s a great way to engage the material in a new way, and the children step up to the challenge. First we just passed around the red ball, and I played Magic Penny. By the second time the ball was going around, many children had started singing the song.
I reminded them of what will be happening for the lantern walk, and we sang through most of the Lantern Walk songs (Here’s the link to all the Lantern Walk songs)
We Walk With Our Little Lanterns
We also did freeze dance, in which I show them a stick figure pose which we try out. Then I play guitar and we dance. When the music stops, we freeze in the pose.
YOGA: candle mouse snake dog cat and backwards to candle. Also, butterfly, turtle, tulip
December 5, 2022
Jingle Bells (We’ll be singing this at the Lantern Walk)
I passed out the rhythm sticks and we played along to Frosty the Snowman and This Little Light of Mine
I again showed them images of a buzzard and a dead tree, demonstrating these “poses.” Then we learned (my version of) the song 3 Short-Necked Buzzards. (It has a surprise ending.)
YOGA: candle mouse snake dog cat (a new one which involve two positions, one in which we hiss and one in which we meow), and backwards to candle.
We Walk With Our Little Lanterns – I explained to them that we’ll be singing this in the Lantern Walk, in which we’ll carry lanterns in a parade with the whole school, and then sing and have hot chocolate in the courtyard. They wanted to know what other songs we’ll be singing. We’ll also be singing Jingle Bells and Frosty the Snowman, and then we sang a couple others we’ll be doing then: Over the River and Skidamarink. Here’s the link to all the Lantern Walk songs.
November 28, 2022
Jingle Bells – actually written as a Thanksgiving song
I passed out all different instruments, which we played to This Little Light of Mine and What Makes the Fire
YOGA: candle mouse snake dog (and backwards to candle)
I showed them images of a buzzard and a dead tree, demonstrating these “poses.” Then we learned (my version of) the song 3 Short-Necked Buzzards. (It has a surprise ending.)
Over the River – another Thanksgiving song
We All Need More Kindness In This World
Here Comes Mouse – I asked if there was anything else they’d like to do, and this came up.
November 21, 2022
I arrived with my guitar in its case, asking what was inside – a guitar, of course. What is a guitar case for? “To keep it safe,” a child answered. Yes! I told them a brief story about how I had a guitar that I leaned against my refrigerator and it slid down and broke. So now I try to keep my guitar safe. This was all as a segue into using lots of different kinds of instruments, which I passed out. I told them that these are instruments that we need to keep safe by playing them in the right way so we don’t break them. Not everyone got to play every instrument, but hopefully they’ll have a chance next time. There were claves of various kinds, shakers of different kinds, something I don’t even know the name of that Wendy calls a “clickety clack,” a triangle, and a frog and a toad whose bumpy backs you run a stick across. We played along to This Little Light of Mine and We All Need More Kindness In This World.
YOGA: candle mouse snake dog (and backwards to candle)
YOGA: smoothly transitioning: mountain moon star square triangle and then approximately backwards: triangle star mountain moon (tiling to both sides) mountain, and then palms together at heart, “rest position.”
November 14, 2022
We “passed a clap around the circle” and later, when we had the rhythm sticks, we passed around a “click.” They really understand this and attend to the task. Someone remembered that we had passed around a shaker last week, which may have helped, too.
YOGA: btrfly turtle tulip
Having reviewed butterfly and turtle, we put these to use in this: TWINKLE TWINKLE (SILLY VERSION)
Mrs. O’Leary – I typically do this with older children, but there was a request for this from a child who had a sibling in Red last year, so I tried it with them. I told the story of how Mrs. O’Leary lived before there was electricity – a difficult concept! Then we sang it, line by line.
I brought out the rhythm sticks and we played to All Together Now. We worked a little on a click, tap (the rug), click, tap pattern. Then we did Building a New Way.
YOGA: smoothly transitioning: mountain moon star square triangle and then approximately backwards: triangle star mountain moon (tiling to both sides) mountain, and then palms together at heart, “rest position.”
November 7, 2022
We “passed a clap around the circle” which they are quite good at. Later, when we had the shakers, we passed a “shake” around the circle – a little trickier, as it is the first time we’ve tried this.
YOGA: smoothly transitioning: mountain moon star square triangle and then approximately backwards: triangle star mountain moon (tiling to both sides) mountain, and then palms together at heart, “rest position.”
We played shakers to We All Need More Kindness In This World. After trying out “we all need more families in this world, a suggestion came up to sing “we all need more kids in this world” so we sang this, and then many more suggestions were made that we sang, of animals: we need more: cats, cows, dinosaurs, elephants, warthogs, and more! Then we played shakers to the Beatles song “All Together Now.”
YOGA: btrfly turtle tulip
Having reviewed butterfly and turtle, we put these to use in this: TWINKLE TWINKLE (SILLY VERSION)
October 31, 2022
We “passed a clap around the circle” a couple of times.
I passed out rhythm sticks and we played along to ABC, and an Ella Jenkins song called 1 & 2 & 3 & 4. Then we played a rhythm of three clicks (and a rest), and then did this to Miss Mary Mack (playing on “mack, mack, mack…black, black, black…, etc.” Then we played along to All Together Now (Beatles).
YOGA: we’re doing sets of poses that can smoothly transition into each other: btrfly turtle tulip; and mountain moon star square triangle. This second set we did forward and then approximately backwards: triangle star mountain moon (tiling to both sides) mountain, and then palms together at heart, what I’m calling resting position.
October 24, 2022
We continue to practice passing a clap around the circle (they’re getting better and better at knowing what to do)!
I passed out a long, thick rope and we pulled and pushed and swayed and shook to SHAKE IT ALL OVER TOWN and a “toes and knees and tummy and pull” exercise. I taught those who didn’t know it the crocodile verse to ROW ROW ROW (your boat), but first we practiced a quiet scream!
YOGA: we’re doing sets of poses that can smoothly transition into each other: btrfly turtle tulip; and mountain moon star square triangle. This second set we did forward and then approximately backwards: triangle star mountain moon (tiling to both sides) mountain, and then palms together at heart, what I’m calling resting position.
I passed out scarves, and we made different kinds of winds, strong and gentle. We twirled them while I sang Pop Goes the Weasel, and threw them up on “pop!” and caught them. Then I sang Merry Little Breeze as we moved and danced.
October 17, 2022
We passed a clap around the circle again, and they did a great job!
We used the egg shakers, singing ABC, the 1&2&3&4 Ella Jenkins song, and an old song by the Beatles, All Together Now.
YOGA: Reese was spontaneously doing a pose on all fours, but with one leg up in air, so we all tried that, and some children took it further, trying to get a leg and an arm up! Then we did poses: btrfly turtle tulip mtn moon star square (I don’t have square on the site yet, but it is also called goddess, if you know that one.)
I then passed out scarves, and talked a bit about different kinds of wind, and there was mention of hurricanes and tornados! Then we talked about gentle winds, and I sang Merry Little Breeze and they danced to it.
October 3, 2022
Paw Paw Patch (no link)
We passed around the red mini-medicine ball, singing Magic Penny. They have started to learn the words, quietly singing to themselves.
As we did last week, we “passed around a clap,” in which I clapped once, and then the person on my left clapped, and the next person, on around the circle. They’re getting better at this, and we even tried it with two claps for each person and they did very well!
Then we did a exercise where we “held” and moved an invisible ball which expanded when we breathed in and contracted when we breathed out. We lifted it up with one hand, letting it drop into the other hand. We imagined what color it was, and when we were done with it, we made it small and put it in our tummy for whenever we needed it.
I passed out rhythm sticks and we played along to ABC, and an Ella Jenkins song called 1 & 2 & 3 & 4. Then we played to We All Need More Kindness In This World and BLING BLANG.
YOGA poses: butterfly, turtle and tulip.
September 19, 2022
Repetition is key for this age, so we repeated much of what we did last week (introducing the songs to children who weren’t here last Monday), and added some new songs and activities, too.
Paw Paw Patch (no link)
We passed around a red, slightly squishy, heavy, mini-medicine ball, while I sang Magic Penny
After passing around the ball, we then passed around a clap! I clapped (one clap), then Wendy, to my left, clapped once, then Cora, then Sue, then Emerson, and on, all around the circle. They did well!
I passed out egg shakers and we made a long sound, and then made a single sound, with one shake. Then we played to the ABC’s, with one shake for each letter. We did the same with an old Ella Jenkins song, One and Two and Three and Four (no link).
Then we played the shakers to TINGALAYO
We also played along to We All Need More Kindness In This World: We sang verses: we all need more kindness…shaking (shakers),,,sunshine…friendship.
We did the YOGA poses butterfly and turtle
I passed out yellow scarves, and we explored them for a bit, then we sang Pop Goes the Weasel, swinging them in a big circle up and down until we got to “pop!” and then threw them up in the air.
We danced with our scarves to If I Were a Kite.
And we finished with the Goodbye Song
September 12, 2022
We started with Paw Paw Patch, so I could learn everyone’s names (no link).
Then we passed around a red, slightly squishy, heavy, mini-medicine ball.
I passed out egg shakers and we explored the sounds they make. We figured out how to shake it to make a long sound, and also how to make a single sound, with one shake. Then we played to the ABC’s, with one shake for each letter. We did the same with an old Ella Jenkins song, One and Two and Three and Four (no link).
Then we played the shakers to TINGALAYO.
We did a calming song: OOH OOH, followed by some YOGA poses, butterfly and turtle.
We sang an old favorite that I have dramatized: 3 GREEN & SPECKLED FROGS.
I showed them a song by Guy Davis: We All Need More Kindness In This World. We didn’t sing it as it is in the link, but after singing Kindness, we sang Clapping, Stomping, Tapping, and Stomping and Clapping (at the same time, after a child started doing this), and then we just tapped along to the song however we liked, and children had all different ideas for how to tap – on their knees, chest, back, head, cheek…!
I passed around rhythm sticks (one is smooth and one has ridges, so you can tap them or rub them. We soon found that you can also tap them on the ground, too. We played along to Bling Blang, and then to Building a New Way.
We finished with the Goodbye Song!
Repertoire
(a running list of songs that we’ve sung this year)
Link to the Lantern Walk Songs
3 Green & Speckled Frogs
3 Little Hot Dogs
3 Short-Necked Buzzards
A B Squeeze
Alligator Song
Baa Baa Black Sheep
Be My Echo
Bling Blang
BUG ON THE WALL
Building a New Way
A Cat Had a Birthday
Corner Grocery Store
Draw the Circle Wide
Elephant in my Shoe
Form the Corn
Goodbye Song
Here Comes Mouse
Hickory Dickory Dock
I Can’t Imagine Life Without Popcorn
I Couldn’t Sleep Last Night
I Shampoo My Hair
If I Were a Kite
Inch By Inch
It’s a Rainy Day
Look Out the Window
Magic Penny
May Day song
May There Always Be Sunshine
Merry Little Breeze
Michael Row the Boat Ashore
Movie Star
Mrs. O’Leary
My Favorite Flower
My Favorite Things
Mysterious Fish Tank
No More Pie
Old Oak Tree
On Top of Spaghetti
Ooh Ooh
OPEN SHUT THEM
Peace Like a River
Popcorn Chant
ROW ROW ROW (crocodile verse)
Sailor Song
SHAKE IT ALL OVER TOWN
Sit Down Stand Up Song
Skidamarink
Tarzan
There Was a Little Turtle
This Little Light of Mine
Tingalayo
Touch the Ground
TWINKLE TWINKLE (SILLY VERSION)
Under One Sky
We All Need More Kindness In This World
We Walk With Our Little Lanterns
What Makes the Fire
Where’s My Pajamas?
Who Fed the Chickens?
Willoughby Wallaby Woo
Wishie Washie Washerwoman
Witch Has an Itch
Yellow Jello
Zip Zip Bam
