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Before researching  Savez-Vous Planter Les Choux, I could conjure up an image of someone planting their hearts into love because in France, it is the done thing to call a sweetheart “mon petit chou”.   Alas, the “chou” in this love statement is probably a pastry “chou”.  More understandable, but not as much fun eh?
reference below
https://spkfrnch.wordpress.com/2010/02/11/mon-petit-chou/

Cabbages became all the rage in Europe during the 1500s as an easy to grow and staple food source.   Chances are this folk song was a part of the same time.    Add the actions to planting cabbage with your elbows and nose as you sing.   If wanted its a simple twist to make the song cumulative.

Or visit John in a backyard garden for an easy to learn Call-Response song.  John the Rabbit

Oats and Beans and Barley  goes through the stages of sowing and reaping a crop.   Check out the video for illustrations of grains and the foods they become as the song is sung.

June is time to enjoy the year’s repertoire.   Challenge students to remember the best and worst of the songs they learned.   How about a contest to promote the “best of year” song with a vote held during the last music class?    Hearing student comments about “the worst” or politically correct phraseology  “the not liked as much” songs gives a review for teachers who will be preparing next year’s syllabus.

from May:   News flash!!!  (actually its not quite that new but)  —Take Me Out To The Ball Game is now in the public domain!!!   Sing it, print it, enjoy it  –and include the rest of the song because its a great story.    Take Me Out To The Ball Game

 

 

News flash!!!  (actually its not quite that new but)  —Take Me Out To The Ball Game is now in the public domain!!!   Sing it, print it, enjoy it  –and include the rest of the song because its a great story.    Take Me Out To The Ball Game

 

 

Are you a “mother hen”?

Explore mothering with some active listening through The Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks.

Then sing Los Pollitos, a soft song about early days in the nest.

Or, for a different tact, try  Who Shall I Be Kind To?   Mothers are important eh!

In like a lion and out like a lamb  –or is it the other way around?

March is known for temperamental weather.   Or maybe for us in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s  our weariness with winter that makes the weather seem so unpredictable.     But whatever the skies or streets look like, the sure sign of Spring is the sun staying in the sky a little longer every day.

Songs this month turn away from snow and towards maple syrup, rain puddles and sunshine.

Maple Syrup   and Maple Syrup Rag (melody next year)

Sun Sun   and    Oh When the Sun

Thunder Crashes   is an easy reading chant which may also be used as a round.    Rain Rain Go Away    sung on   “so – mi”   makes a game out of solo-singing.     If All The Raindrops     focuses on form and a wistful imagination.

January Snow   is an old nursery rhyme following weather through the months of the year.    Variations of Ev’rybody Sing a Song of Seasons   offers opportunities to create a class version of activities for each season.

And remember,

Whether the weather is cold.

Or whether the weather is hot.

We’ll weather the weather, whatever the weather,

Whether we like it or not!

 

Can Do Music is a gift.  No ads, no log-ins, no email list  –just some things to help you make music in your classroom (if you’re a teacher), or to sing-a-long with (if you’re young in years or heart).

Pop around the website exploring.   Download songs for a road trip.  Browse the lessons for ideas about how to present music elements  –and basic info like:  What is the difference between beat and rhythm?

Music, dance and art pull me out of darkness and into light.
Making music with children brings me delight.

May it be that way for you.

Lesley

Used to be we could count on snow in January.   No more.    If that’s the case where you are  —try  I Want To Go Outside.  Sung to an “opera tune” often used in tv shows, for Grade 3 it also will work as an introduction to the theme:  Opera, which is offered later in January  (Hansel and Gretel).

Its Cold Outside   has a melody that uses  “do  –  mi  –  so  –  do” which makes it  a good choice for practicing music reading;  adding orff instruments;  or turning into a round.

Three songs sung side by side by side make up  Shoveling Snow.

And, if it ever gets cold,   really cold   (like it was the year I spent in Yellowknife), enjoy the chattering of teeth mimicked in It s Cccc Cc Cold.

Can Do Music is a gift.  No ads, no log-ins, no email list  –just some things to help you make music in your classroom (if you’re a teacher), or to sing-a-long with (if you’re young in years or heart).

Pop around the website exploring.   Download songs for a road trip.  Browse the lessons for ideas about how to present music elements  –and basic info like:  What is the difference between beat and rhythm?

Music, dance and art pull me out of darkness and into light.
Making music with children brings me delight.

May it be that way for you.

Lesley

Is this the year to try some music for the holiday between December and January?    Maybe  …

December-January holidays that have their roots in the Northern Hemisphere grow during a time of decreasing light.  The further north you go, the less sun-light there is as mid-December approaches.    Was it fear?  or longing?   or cabin-fever from cold?    Whatever the reason, fight off the darkness by decorating, remembering, celebrating, praying for light to return.   The date for Christmas was chosen  (yes, sorry to stomp on widespread myths because no one today knows Jesus’ birthdate) to be linked with the Winter Solstice (shortest day of year in Northern Hemisphere) traditions.

Christmas and Chanukkah are religious holidays that naturally fall into the Solstice pattern.

Even though the date of Diwali doesn’t fall into this pattern, its ideas do.   Diwali once marked the beginning of a new year, celebrating the defeat of darkness by light  (much of India doesn’t experience a large change in daylight hours) and usually falls in late October-early November.

A little exploring can link other religious holidays with the very human longing for light     e.g.   Ramadan remembers the time when the Quran was revealed, bringing the light of understanding,  fasting during the month of Ramadan ends each day when the first star may be seen in the sky (the advent of light).      In the Northern Hemisphere, many aboriginal myths and celebrations coincide with the Solstice.

So,  Advent candles,  a Hanukkah menorah, sometimes called a hanukkiah, clay lamps and stars might all be included in a teaching unit.

Light The World   Holiday Lights   This Little Light of Mine

Hanukkah:   In The Window   Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel

Christmas  –Sacred:   The Friendly Beasts  Mary and Joseph

Christmas Around the World:   Twas In The Moon -The Huron Carol  (Canada)    Japanese Carol  African Noel  O Christmas Tree (Germany)

Secular Christmas:   Santa Claus Has 10 Toys!   Jolly Old St. Nicholas   Up On The Housetop

Multi-cultural Celebration:  We Wish You a Happy Holiday   The Holiday Hop   We Wish You ? (cumulative)

Alternatives:  The Nutcracker   In the Hall of The Mountain King

 

Since the advent of Covid, viruses have taken on a new prominence in daily life.    Singing about “Cold and Flu Season” won’t make it go away  —but it is one of many activities that may help “regularize” its presence.   Check out this add-on to the chant.

Germs spread with the greatest of ease

So wash your hands with the ABC’s

Use a sleeve when you feel a sneeze,

If you don’t want to catch a disease,

Stop those germs,  NOW!

 

And now there’s an alternative to singing  The Alphabet Song to time hand washing.   Remember the describing how to wash song that was a joint effort of Dr. Nisha Thampi and her daughter Lekha in Ottawa with collaboration by Dr. Yves Longtin in Montreal?   (tune:  Frere Jacques)  As a person with an immune deficiency,  I particularly like the idea of going on the “thumb attack” against germs.

Scrub your palms, between the fingers

Wash the backs,  wash the backs,

Twirl the tips around, Scrub them up and down,

Thumb attack,   thumb attack!

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/washing-hands-song-1.5398385

 

“Soft Kitty” may help Sheldon Cooper  (Big Bang Theory)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-qra604RbU   feel better when he’s sick, but what works for you?    Try the “Soft Kitty” song with your class as an ideas starter   OR    try  Farmer Brown’s Cow  for a barnyard take on comfort ideas.