Hickory Dickory
Dock.
Hickory, North
Carolina, was on my clock.
We sang and had
fun.
I loved everyone!
Hickory Dickory
Dock!
If you’ve ever
been to one of my workshops you know how I love “Home on the Range.” It’s a classic American song that all
children should know. I like to
choose teachers/children to be the coyotes when we sing the song. They get down on all fours and howl
their little hearts out. The rest
of us get to be cowboys and cowgirls and strum our guitars as we sing. Isn’t it fun to take something old and
make it new again?
“Home on the
Range” can be a great springboard for introducing vocabulary. What are some different meanings of the
word range? Can you take discouraging and find the prefix and suffix? What is an antelope?
How can you find out?
Have the children
close their eyes as you sing “Home on the Range” and make a picture in their
head. Give them a white sheet of
paper and ask them to draw the picture.
Enlarge the words to the song, cut them out, and glue them to a picture
that seems appropriate. Make a
cover and bind their pages together to make a book.
There are dozens
of songs that can be turned into SINGING BOOKS to be used for class sing alongs
or in the listening center.
Aden Cranford
reminded me of another chant I used to do. If you ever went to camp or were a scout you probably will
remember this as well. It was
called “Little Cabin in the Woods” and each time through you left off a verse
and clicked your tongue as you did the movements. The problem was that the rabbit said something that was
politically incorrect. “Help
me! Help me!” he said, “Or the
hunter will shoot me dead!” Well,
we tweaked the words a little so you can hug the bunny and make it warm.
Little Cabin in
the Woods
Little cabin in
the woods, (Make
a square shape in front of you.)
Little man by the
window stood. (Circles around
eyes.)
Saw a rabbit
hopping by (Index
finger and middle finger up for ears.
Pretend
to hop your fist like a bunny.)
Knocking at my
door. (Pretend
to knock.)
“Help, me! Help me! Help me!” he cried.
(Hands up in the air.)
“For I’m lost and
it’s cold outside.” (Pretend to
shiver.)
Little rabbit come
inside, (Make
motion with hand.)
Safely you’ll
abide. (Pretend
to pet the hand that is the bunny.)
Repeat the rhyme,
each time leaving out one line as you make the motions and clicking the
syllables with your tongue. When
you do it the last time children will be quiet and focused.