My first couple of years of teaching, I actually avoided simple songs. You know, the songs that are super short? What can I teach with short songs? By the time you start singing, the song is already over!
Well, I’ve changed my tune a bit as I’ve learned more! Today I’m going to give some examples of how I might teach concepts using simple songs, as well as ideas for extending the song and activity.
Teaching Rhythm
What can I teach using short songs? Steady beat, of course! These songs are actually perfect for learning about steady beat because they’re short. I love to use beat charts in my classroom. They might not always be the most exciting thing we do, but I think sometimes it’s good for kids to have something tangible to look at and point to when we’re singing.
Iconic rhythms are also really easy to show students with short songs! You can, of course, extend this into standard notations, too. Iconic rhythms are great because they show the number of sounds but are usually something that students can identify. For example, in Bow Wow Wow, students can see that there are two dogs close together and that there are two sounds on that beat (because we’ve already looked at the beat charts!) They can also see that there are no sounds with the dog bowls. They already know what those pictures are, so they’re less overwhelming. When we introduce standard notation after they’ve seen the iconic rhythms, they find it much easier to understand.
The shoe activity is one of my favorites for Cobbler, Cobbler! After we’ve gone through the beat charts and the iconic rhythms, we’ll do this activity. To do this, I’ll first show the students 4 beats- I usually use chairs with cut out hearts taped to them. Students will take their shoes off and then use their shoes to make the sounds of each phrase. So if the first beat has two sounds for “cob-bler”, students will put two shoes by the first chair. In the last beat of the first phrase, “shoe”, it’s only one beat and should only have one shoe. They love this activity mostly because they get to take their shoes off, but it’s also a great kinesthetic activity, too!
Body percussion is an easy addition to short songs that can make the song more interesting or challenging. You could first give students an ostinato such as “pat pat clap clap” that they do during the song Snail, Snail. After the students sing the song while doing that ostinato, they can create their own pattern!
Improvising and Form
Adding a part in the middle to improvise to can make it fun and challenging to teach simple songs. For example, if students are singing the song Snail, Snail, they could add a poem about about spring in the middle. Students could keep a steady beat to the song, improvise a melody using a pentatonic scale to the rhythm of the poem, then sing the song again while keeping a steady beat. This activity could make even a short simple song engage your upper elementary students! This is a great time to talk to your students about ABA form!
You could also add a movement piece for the B section. Instead of doing a poem, try having students sing the song again while doing a body percussion ostinato or free movement. You could also divide the class in half so one group is doing the xylophones and the other group is doing movement.
Books
Adding a short song to a book is a great cross-curricular addition. You can add the song every time a certain part of the story happens (for example, every time they say “and the bear snores on”) or after every page, depending on what makes sense for the story. Here are some fun options of books that can go along with your simple songs. I always try to find them at the school or public library first, then if we enjoyed the lesson I’ll purchase the book for my classroom.
Cobbler Cobbler (There Was an Old Lady who Lived in a Shoe)
Rain, Rain (Rain!)
Grizzly Bear (Bear Snores On)
Snail, Snail (Norman the Slug)
Engine Engine #9 (The Goodnight Train, Polar Express)
Bee Bee Bumblebee (Buzzy the Bumblebee)
So what can I teach with simple songs? Pretty much anything. Honestly, though, you can teach so much more with them than I initially thought! What are some of your favorite simple songs to use in your classroom? Comment below or DM me on Instagram (@caffeinated.j) and I would love to talk with you about lesson ideas!
