Sing About Martin!

The Kindergarteners celebrated Martin Luther King Day by learning this familiar tune. We added sign language for Martin, caring, peace, world, and love. The second day we sang the song, we added hand drums and tambourines in place of the clapping. I also let students come up and sing the echo as a solo.

Jim Along, Josie

The letter J song for the Kindergarteners this year was "Jim Along, Josie". After learning the song, we added our own actions. We jumped along, skipped along, tip-toed along, and danced along. One class got very creative and decided we should crab-walk along. I didn't join in on this one, because I had to take a picture instead. ;)

The xylophones in the middle were for reviewing the letter 'I' song/activity. We were working on Improvising on the Instruments. We talked about the proper way to hold the mallets, how to play softly and hit the bars in the correct spots. They made beautiful sounds and took their turns very seriously. Not a single student had to sit out for playing incorrectly or out of turn. In Kindergarten, that is rare!

Humuhumunukunukuapua'a

1st graders have been learning about echo songs and songs that have repeats in them. What better song to talk about repeats that "Humuhumunukunukuapua'a"?! After listening to the song and creating a hula dance to tell the story, we drew pictures of what we thought this creature looks like. The origin of the name means "the fish with the pig-like nose". We also learned that it is the state fish of Hawaii. Do you know what your state fish is?

Singing through the Alphabet

Each week this year, the Kindergarteners have been learning a song/poem for each letter of the alphabet. We are nearing the end and are getting into the tricky letters (try finding songs for U,V, and X!). For 'W' we learned a poem called "Willie Ate a Worm". Once the students had memorized the entire thing, we celebrated by eating gummy worms. The kids loved it! Here are some pictures of them enjoying their squiggly, wiggly, worms!

For the letter X we learned about the xylophone. I couldn't find a xylophone song or poem, but we have been talking about high and low a lot in class lately, so we learned how to find the low notes and the high notes on the different sized xylophones. Then, we learned the song "Merlin, Merlin Magical Man." At the end of the song, a student gets to make a wish. After making a wish, I let them improvise magic wishing music on the xylophones to help make the wish come true. They loved it!

In case you were wondering, here are the songs and poems we used this year. I tried to pick songs that all had a game, dance, or instrument activity to go along with them.

A: Apple Tree, Apple Tree.
B: Bee, Bee Bumblebee
C: Charlie Over the Ocean
D: Doggy, Doggy
E: The Elephant Song
F: Five Little Pumpkins
G: Grizzly Bear
H: Hickory Dickory Dock
I: If You're Happy and You Know It
J: Jim Along Josie
K: K-I-N-D-E-R-G-A-R-T-E-N Song (YouTube video)
L: Lucy Locket
M: Mouse, Mousie
N: No Bears Out Tonight
O: One Finger, One Thumb
P: Princess Game
Q: Queen, Queen Caroline
R: Rhythm Stick Rainstorm
S: Skip to My Lou
T: Time for Music
U: Up, Down, All Through the Town
V: Vegetable Stew
W: Willie Ate A Worm
X: Xylophone X-ploration
Y: Yankee Doodle
Z: Zip-a-dee-doo-dah