Miss Donna 4 Music

Incorporating familiar folk songs and dances into elementary music classes can be a game-changer for elementary music students.

This approach not only makes learning more engaging but also helps in cultural education and emotional development. By introducing new lyrics to these familiar tunes, you can literally tailor the content to fit whatever theme you are focusing on at the moment.

Over the last few years I have really purposed to have some kind of movement in every music class. An easy way to do that is to use simple folk songs and dances. Children naturally gravitate towards tunes they recognize and they are usually very easy to learn to sing. Using familiar folk songs like “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” or “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” provides a sense of comfort and confidence.

Singing and dancing to folk music can enhance emotional expression and social skills, as well as develop a connection to a cultural heritage or whatever theme you are using for your lyrics. Group activities involving music and dance encourage teamwork, cooperation, and empathy among students.

Seashell Seashell (K-2)

If you have been teaching music for any length of time, I’m sure you have heard or used the song Star Light Star Bright. Its an easy song that most K-2nd grade students know and can easily sing. It uses quarter notes (TA) and eighth notes (Ti-Ti) and the sounds So and Mi, which its kids voices very naturally. At the beginning of the school year, it is still summer so I like to incorporate an ocean or beach theme into my lessons. I took the song Star Light Star Bright, changed a few words, and voila! An ocean-themed song that was easy and somewhat familiar to my K-2nd graders.

“Seashell, Seashell/ First shell I see today/ Wish I might, wish I may/ Have the shell I see today”

We sing the sing a few times while learning the lyrics, then sing while we pat the beat. Then we sit in a circle and practice passing a seashell to the beat. Once they can easily pass the shell to the beat, we add the song back in. We can also play a game somewhat like “duck duck goose”. The students stand in a circle and I scatter paper seashells around on the floor. One person walks around the outside of the circle while the students sing. At the end of the song, the outside person taps the shoulders of the 2 people nearest him. Those 2 students race to try to gather as many seashells as they can. The student with the most seashells gets to be the outside person the next time.

Little Red Sailboat (K-4)

This song is based on the folk song, Old Brass Wagon. I literally only changed the words “old brass wagon” to “little red sailboat” and added a few extra verses. Everything else is exactly the same! And the students stand in a circle and perform the movements exactly as the song says.

Circle to the left little red sailboat/ Circle to the left little red sailboat/ Circle to the left little red sailboat/ You’re the one my darlin’

Then verse 2: circle to the right… Verse 3: lets jump in… Verse 4: lets jump out… Verse 5: spin around… Verse 6: stomp your feet… Verse 7: clap your hands…

The beauty of this one is you can literally make up verses and movement as you go and use whatever movements you want!

Little Mermaid Gal (3rd-6th)

This one uses the tune “Alabama Gal”. Again I mostly just changed the words “Alabama Gal” to “Little Mermaid Gal” and on the 4th verse, the original says, “Ain’t I rock candy” and I changed it to “Ain’t I a seashell”.

Students stand in 2 lines facing each other so they have a partner across from them. On the first verse, the top pair of students dances/skips/sashays/swims down the alley between the 2 lines and goes to the other end. Sometimes there is time for 2 pairs to go through the middle. You can also keep having pairs go through and skip the movement on the 2nd verse (I added this one). But verse 2, I just had them switch places with their partner and then switch back. For verse 3, they swing their partner by the elbow to the left, then to the right. On the 4the verse, the top pair “casts off” (meaning they turn to the outside and go to the other end of the line and make an arch). The rest of their lines follows and then goes through the arch and back to their lines, with a new pair at the top.

These moves are very typical of a lot of folk dances so if you’ve done this one, you’ve almost done them all!

And by the way, I did all these dances with my students on the first day of music class! And my students picked them up with ease!

Conclusion

Integrating familiar folk songs and dances with new lyrics in elementary music classes offers numerous educational benefits. This approach not only engages students but also supports cultural literacy, language development, and social-emotional learning. By creatively adapting folk traditions to modern educational needs, teachers can create a dynamic and inclusive classroom environment that fosters a lifelong love of music and learning.

And I am in the process of creating resources for all 3 of these songs to put in my TPT shop! The resources will include all the song lyrics, steady beat charts, rhythm charts with icons and actual notes, plus icon pictures for games and composing activities! And of course, there are “Teacher Cheat Sheets” included so these can easily be used by any music teacher, non-music teacher, sub, or homeschool parent even if they may not know much about music themselves!