Heart Week: Love Me Tender

One of my absolute favorites!! The lyrics are the same ones Elvis Presley sang, but the pictures depict the love between a father and a daughter. It is beautifully illustrated and so sweet! A perfect song for Heart Week!

Heart Week: Do You Know My Valentine?

This is what is called a piggyback song (a song that takes a tune that is familiar to everyone, but with changed lyrics to fit in with whatever theme is being presented). I don't use piggybacks often -- I think they confuse the kids, but on holidays like this it's hard not to! This song is great for quizzing the kids on knowing each others' names. If you've got a particularly brave bunch of kids, you can have them stand up after their name is sung and have them follow whatever command (spin, wave, jump, clap, etc.) you put into the second verse of this song. This song is sung to the tune of Do You Know the Muffin Man?

Do You Know My Valentine?

Do you know my valentine,
My valentine, my valentine?
Do you know my valentine?
His/her name is (Child's name)

Spin my little valentine
My valentine, my valentine!
Spin my little valentine,
(Child's name), take a bow!

Heart Week: If you like this, raise your hand!!

This is a song I use when I am just getting to know a new group of students! All they have to do to be involved is raise their hand, which they've been programmed to do already by this point in their lives! It's easy and familiar to them, and they love letting us know what they like. I use it for theme weeks, too. If we're doing colors we can sing "If you like orange, raise your hand!", or if we're learning about healthy eating we can sing "If you like broccoli, raise your hand!". It's a lot of fun to throw in things that you KNOW they are not going to say they like. Keeps things lively :)  The lyrics that I used for my voice recording are as follows:

If you like bananas, bananas, bananas
If you like bananas, raise your hand.

It goes a little something like this:

Shark Week! Somewhere in the Ocean

This sing-a-long book includes fantastic illustrations of 10 different kinds of sea creatures. You can count them as you go and there is even a hidden number on each page the kids can find! The musical score in included in the book, so you can figure out the tune if you don't already know it. Worth the time to learn this song!

Shark Week! Charlie Over the Ocean

There are a few different versions of this folk song, and true to my nature I've tweaked it a little and made it mine. :) Here are the words I use:

Charlie Over the Ocean (have kids echo "Charlie over the ocean")
Charlie over the sea (echo)
Charlie caught a big fish/dolphin/shark/octopus...etc. (echo)
Can't catch me! (echo)

I have the kids take turns naming all the different ocean animals they can think of, and they enjoy changing the lyrics slightly. I do hand signs as well to keep them involved. On the first line I make a wave with my right hand. On the second line I make a wave with my left hand. On "Charlie caught a big fish" we pretend to cast a fishing line, and on the last line we shake our heads left to right. There are lots of things you can do with this song. You could bring finger puppets of sea animals. You could show them pictures of sea animals and have them guess what they are. You could even have mini-lessons between each verse to teach them about the animals they are naming. If the kids are slightly older you can have them take the lead on the song and have everyone, including you, echo their lead. This is fantastic practice for helping them learn to sing confidently on their own!

Here's an audio file of my daughter and I singing this song:

SHARK WEEK! 5 Little Fishies

This is by far one of the funnest songs for the little ones! The fear, but LOVE this shark. 5 Little Fishies is just like 5 Little Monkeys. We chant it like this:

5 little fishies swimming in the sea
Teasing Mr. Shark, "You can't catch me, no you can't catch me!"
Along came Mr. Shark, quiet as can be and SNATCHED a fishie right out of out of that sea!

Of course, from there you sing it again singing about 4 little fishies and so on until there are no little fishies swimming in the sea. I have the kids put their fingers up and pretend that their fingers are the little fishies. I walk around with the shark and stealthily swerve between the kids and usually snatch their fingers several kids per verse. A lot of giggling ensues and a lot of smiles are made. :)

Oh Where, Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone?

This book elaborates on a simple and favorite childhood song. The dog's owner scolds him and the dog runs away. He goes on a grand adventure and decides that home is the best place for him. Adoring, cute and a lot of fun to sing!