Johnny Appelseed Day: Sept. 26

My kindergartens always have an "Apple Day" in the fall.  This year they did it a little bit before Johnny Appleseed day, so since the actual Johnny Appleseed day hasn't past I thought I'd share some apple rhymes.

I Climbed Up the Apple Tree:  This one I learned from Lamar Robertson
I climbed up the apple tree
All the apples fell on me
Bake a pudding, bake a pie
Did you ever tell a lie?

The rhythm of each line is ti-ti ti-ti ti-ti ta so it's nice to bring back in first grade when I teach that first rhythmic comparative.

I first say the chant all the way through and then they echo each phrase.  I like to do this multiple times, changing the "voice" I use each with each repetition.  That is, the first time through echoing I might use a high voice (sometimes we call this our "Mickey Mouse" voice).  The nice time through I might use a low voice (this is called  our "monster voice"- but I've had to change it a couple times when some students seemed scared by the idea of monsters).  I also will use whispering, shouting, robot and arioso voices (arioso is a term that John Feierabend will use when you make up a melody to something).  We will also say the phrases with our voices ascending and descending in pitch.  By 4-5 through they have this memorized.  With kindergarten, at the next lesson we will add instruments and keep a steady beat with the rhyme.  With first grade, we will pass an apple around and whoever has it on the last word of the song will try to stump the class by telling us something about themselves (i.e. their favorite color is black, they were born in Nebraska, etc.) and the class will try to decide if it's a truth or if it's a lie.

The next two Apple songs come from the Amidon's new book, "I'm Growing Up."  This is a gem and a must for your early childhood library!!

I am so glad I bought this resource, if you're familiar with the Amidon's other materials you know that all of their resources are top quality!





Apple Sauce Rock:  This is sung just like the "Peanut Butter and Jelly" song and the teacher makes up movements to the song that match the tasks in the song.

Refrain:
Apple, applesauce and cider
Apple, applesauce and cider

First you take the apples and you pick 'em, you pick 'em, you pick 'em, pick 'em, pick 'em
Then you wash them, you wash them, you wash 'em, wash 'em, wash 'em

Refrain

Then you take the apples and you peel them, you peel them, you peel 'em, peel 'em, peel 'em
Then you core them, you core them, you core 'em, core 'em, core 'em

Refrain

Then you take the apples and you chop them, you chop them, you chop 'em, chop 'em, chop 'em
Then you cook them, you cook them, you cook 'em, cook 'em, cook 'em

Refrain

Then you take the apples and you mush 'em, you mush 'em, you mush' & mush' & mush 'em
Then you spice them, you spice them you spice 'em, spice 'em, spice 'em

Refrain

Then you take the sauce and you eat it, you eat it, you eat it, eat it, eat it
And you share it, you share it, you share it, share it share it

Refrain

A Lovely Bunch of Apples: Finger play
A Lovely bunch of apples (pretend to hold a basket of apples)
Picked from the tree (pretend to pick apples from the tree)
Rosy red for you (point out to others)
Shine green for me (point to self)
Some of them are big (pretend to hold a big apple, I say this with a low voice)
Some of them are small (pretend to hold a small apple, I say this with a high voice)
Some of them are oval (hold hands with palms touching and finger tips touching, making an oval shape)
And some are like a ball (pretend to hold a ball)
Some are very sour (pretend to take a bite of an apple and make a "sour" face)
Some of them are sweet (pretend to take a bite of another apple and rub tummy as if saying "yum!")
A lovely bunch of apples, for you and me to eat.  (using fists, stack fists one over the other on the beat, as if stacking apples)

Apple Tree
 I wrote a post about this song, you can access it by clicking here.

Happy Johnny Appleseed Day! :)

0

Out of the Mouths of Babes

First of all, I have two versions of Higgity Piggity on my computer and I posted the wrong one in the previous post.  Here's the one I sing:

Secondly, I mentioned that the extension idea from Higgity Piggity came from my four year old.  This extension idea on the finger play "Two Little Blackbirds" also comes from Noah.  

Here's a really cute puppet set that I found for "Two Little Blackbirds."  If you'd like to purchase the puppets click here:

As you can see in the image above, the finger play goes like this:

Two little blackbirds sitting on a hill (hands are up in front of you with finger tips to thum, mocking a bird beak)

One names Jack (raise Jack (a.k.a. your hand) up)

The other named Jill (raise Jill (a.k.a. your other hand) up)

Fly away Jack (Jack flys behind your back)

Fly away Jill (Jill flyes behind your back)

Come back Jack (Jack flys back into sight)

Come back Jill (Jill flys back into sight)

Here's Noah's variation for high and low:

Two little blackbirds sitting in a row

One sang high (use a high voice for this bird and its actions)

One sang low (use a low voice for this bird and its actions)

Fly away high

Fly away low

Come back high

Come back low

So, this prompted me to think of some other variations to use with vocal exploration and comparatives. Here are a few:

Soft and Loud:

Two little blackbirds sitting on a cloud

One sang soft (use a whisper voice for this bird and its actions)

One sang loud (use a shouting voice for this bird and its actions)

Fly away soft

Fly away loud

Come back soft 

Come back loud

Speaking and Singing:

Two little blackbirds flapping their wings

One would speak (use a speaking/talking voice for this bird and its actions)

One would sing (improvise a singing melody each time for this bird and its actions)

Fly away speak

Fly away sing

Come back speak 

Come back sing

Fast and Slow:

Two little blackbirds flying very low

One flew fast (use a fast tempo for saying this bird and its actions)

One flew slow (use a slow tempo for this bird and its actions)

Fly away fast

Fly away slow

Come back fast

Come back slow

If you can think of any other comparatives and how to add them please share them, I'd love to hear them!!! :)

0

Bee Songs for First Grade

When I took Level I Kodály at PSU, Susan Brumfield taught materials and pedagogy.  In those classes she taught us a lot of literature to use with kindergarten and first grade.  Three of those songs she lovingly titled her "Bee Trilogy".  Here they are with an additional song that I learned from Jo Kirk and some rhythmic and melodic teaching ideas.

Formation: seated circle, with one person, the "bee" on the outside of the circle.

Action:  this is basically "Duck, Duck, Goose" with the outside player, the "bee," keeping a steady beat as they walk around the outside of the circle and on the final word "out" tagging the seated player that they are behind.  That player chases the "bee" one time around the circle one time until the "bee" is tagged or the "bee" reaches the other player's seat.  I have a bee puppet that the player who is the "bee" gets to use. . . this is very motivating. :)

When I play this activity, once we know ta and ti-ti, if the "bee" is tagged they must sit in the "bee hive" (the center of the circle).  While the next game is played the player in the middle must compose a 4 beat pattern using known rhythmic elements.  I have a big poster bee that I got at a teacher store and laminated.  Using a Vis-a-Vis marker they compose the rhythm on the bee.  To leave the center of the circle, the rest of the class must read the rhythmic pattern that the center player composed.

I actually use Burnie Bee as a spoken chant (in our Kodály PST another member shared the melodic version).   Using Burnie Bee as a chant, I have the students perform it with different voices: singing voice, spoken, high voice, low voice, whispering voice, shouting voice, and any voices that they can improvise. 

Formation: seat circle (standing if we perform it later in the first grade year- they have to have the skills to keep a circle round to do this standing).

Action:  one student is the bee and weaves in and out of the "windows" in between the players of the seated circle.  The "bee" lands on the closest player on the text "me" at the end of the song.

This is a finger play:

"Here is the bee hive, where are the bees?"- fingers laced, tucked in towards the palms of the hands- similar to "here is the church, here is the steeple"

"Hiding inside so nobody sees."- turn hands "inside out" so that the fingers are showing

"They are coming out now, they are all alive", fingers "fly" away 

"1, 2. . .etc." count showing fingers.

All these songs are great for preparing and practicing ta & ti-ti, with "Here is the Beehive" adding the rhythmic element quarter rest.  In preparation activities I use cards with bee stickers.   The cards are the beat and the stickers are the number of sounds on a beat.  So, just to clarify: one sticker on a card equals one sound on a beat and two stickers on a card equals two sounds on a beat:

Once ta and ti-ti have been presented the sticker cards get replaced like this:

All of these songs are also great for teaching so-mi (extractable phrases) and la (Bee, Bee (in the so-mi-la turn) & Burnie Bee (in the so-la-so turn) are pure "la" songs while Busy Buzzy and Here is the Beehive have extractable phrases.  Once la has been presented I use these tone ladders and solfa charts to have the students track the solfége of the songs.  These can also be used for warm-up patterns, dictation (teacher sings a pattern on "loo" and students sing back on solfa), etc.  The possibilities are endless

0

Sea Shell

This is one of my favorite songs for solo singing for kindergarten and first grade:

Lamar Robertson and Ann Eisen have a different version in their book An American Methodology.  This version I learned from Sue Leithold-Bowcock.

Formation:  seated circle

Action:  as the song is sung, the students pass a sea shell around the circle.  Whoever has the seashell on the final "do" of the song ("sing about the sea")  holds onto the sea shell.  All players ask that player "What do you see?"  The student sings the answer "I see a whale," but they improvise something they would see at the sea or ocean for the word whale.  

I love that it's a simple solo singing exercise but also has a simple introduction to improvisation.   In addition to some traditional answers of seeing sharks, whales, eels, crabs, etc., I've had some pretty funny and clever answers to what my students see. Some of the more popular/silly ones include seeing Spongebob Square Pants and some other characters from his series.  Others include pirates, treasure chests, lifeguards, umbrellas and so forth.  But the all-time high chuckle answer is "bikini."  :)

Pedagogically, I use the song to reinforce "so-mi" in first grade.  A fun coincidence is that it starts "so mi so mi" just as the song "Snail Snail" does.  With my students we actually use seashells to write the so-mi pattern on the staff.  This year I did use it with my second graders and we wrote the entire solfa of the song on the staff using seashells.  This alleviated the rhythm writing, which they aren't able to do yet.  (I teach dotted eighth/sixteenth pattern in 5th grade)  And they really enjoyed using the seashells to write the song. :)

With kindergarten there is a really sweet finger play that can be used in conjunction with the Sea Shell song:

Five Little Seashells:

Five little seashells (hold out five fingers)

Lying on the shore.

Swish! (open your other hand and pass it over the five fingers)

Went the waves (make a light fist with the first hand and pass the open hand back over the first hand)

And then there were four (hold out four fingers on the first hand)

Four little seashells, pretty as can be.

Swish went the ways and then there were three.

Three little seashells, all pearly and new.

Swish went the waves and then there were two.

Two little seashells, lying in the sun.

Swish went the waves and then there was one.

One little seashell, lying all alone.

I whispered "shh!" and I took it home.

Some extensions include using scarves to act as the ocean waves on "swish!" and/or an ocean drum or rain stick to sound like the ocean waves.  

0