03 April 2010

Tunes for Geography

So, I know how horrible I have been about posting lately, but before you give me a hard time, just know that I've been on Spring Break and my mind has been on nothing but reading and relaxing for nearly 7 days now. It has been so refreshing and I'm kind of having a hard time making myself do anything school related.

Nonetheless, I feel I owe you faithful friends something useful. I'm sharing two songs today because I am in a cheerful mood. These songs were written by one of my amazing colleagues. Seriously, I have used more of her curriculum materials this year than anything else and they have been so helpful starting out a year with a brand new curriculum.

The first is a song to teach younger children about what city, state, and country they live in. I am using where I live as the example in the song but you can adapt it to your needs.

Where Do We Live? (Tune: Adam's Family)

Where do we live? * *
Where do we live? * *
Where do we live? Where do we live?
Where do we live * *

Our continent's North America
The US is our country
Our state is South Carolina
Our city is Greenville!

That's where we live, * *
that's where we live, * *
that's where we live, that's where we live,
that's where we live. * *

Whenever you see a * it means snap your fingers

This next song teaches children the continents. I'm sure many of you may already know a song or chant for this, but I'm sharing anyway because it's different!

The Continent Song (Tune: Are You Sleeping?/Where is Thumpkin?)

North America, South America
Antarctica
Australia
Europe and Asia
Oops I forgot one!
Africa, Africa


I love both of these songs because they are so simple and easy to sing along with because of their familiar tunes. When I write my own songs, which I often do to go along with the content I teach, I often choose simple tunes that all of the kids know because it makes it so much easier when teaching them the song. I have plenty more songs where those came from but I'll save those for another day!

1 comment:

  1. Phew! I'm not alone in making up songs for my kids. We teach in an open studio environment, so I take a lot of ribbing for my songs!

    Thanks for sharing, Ginger. My kids will appreciate the Addams Family one!

    -Jennifer (TeachingTinkerings.com)

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