Fluency With Camp Songs

I'm teaching Summer School right now...I know, crazy right? Well, it keeps me out of trouble! :)

I was struck with a little bit of inspiration. I always start my whole group reading instruction with a warm-up that includes a poem for fluency. I put it up on the SmartBoard and we read it every day for a week, hoping that they are making that connection with the words. Plus, you can't beat poetry for vocabulary instruction.

Anyway, since it's summer I thought I'd try using camp songs. The kids just LOVE it! I think it's something I'm going to do with my Kinder kids throughout the year next year.

Now, I admit, I was a Girl Scout (I grew up in the country, not much else to do). I actually went away to a week-long camp 3 summers in a row. Good time! Memories of polar-bearing and kayaking and of course, making useless macrame stuff (that doesn't seem like a skill that would help on Survivor). The 2nd summer my sister attended too and didn't brush her teeth or her hair for a week-that one's not a great memory. But I can still remember the classics-like the entire lyrics to Billboards (I swear my brain is probably 70% song lyrics-I can't remember what I ate for breakfast, but I remember that :).


 I think this is a really good collection:  http://www.ultimatecampresource.com/site/camp-activities/camp-songs.html

My all-time favorite (not sure I could use this in class, but remember it fondly):

A Boy and A Girl In A Little Canoe 

A boy and a girl in a little canoe 
With the moon shining all around.
They paddled their paddles so
They couldn't even hear a sound.

And they talked and they talked 
'till the moon grew dim
Then he said you better kiss me 
or get out and swim


So what 'ya gonna do with a little canoe
with the moon shining all-a
the boy paddling all-a
The girl swimming all around!

Some I've been using this summer:

Boom Chick-a Boom

I said a boom chick-a boom
I said a boom chick-a-boom
I said a boom chick-a rock-a chick-a rock-a chick-a boom
Uh-huh

Oh yeah

One more time…

Change style each time
Italiano style (boomba, rrrock-a)
Valley girl style
Astronaut style (zoom chick-a zoom, take a rocket to the moon)
Opera Style
Janitor Style (broom sweep a broom, sweep-a mop-a)
Underwater style

Austrian Yodeler

Once an Austrian went yodeling
On a mountain top high
When along came a _________
Interrupting his cry
Chorus:
Oh lee lah
Ohlee lah kee kee lah
Oh lee lah cuckoo cuckoo, …
Oh lee lah kee kee lah
Oh lee lah cuckoo cuckoo …
Oh lee lah kee kee lah
Oh lee lah cuckoo cuckoo, …
Oh lee lah kee kee lah oh

Things to come by:
Cuckoo bird (cuckoo, cuckoo)
St. Bernard (woof, woof)
Grizzly Bear (grr, grr)
Skier (swish, swish)
Cow (moo, moo)
Duck (quack, quack)
Miss Piggy (Kermie!)
Girl Scout (Cookies, Sir?)
Avalanche (rumble, rumble)

Each time you sing through this song, use a new “thing to come by.” In the chorus, add the new sound/action following the completion of all of the old ones. For example, on verse three, the chorus would be: Oh lee lah, oh lee lah kee kee lah, oh le lah cuckoo, cuckoo, woff, woof, grr, grr.

Littlest Worm

The littlest worm
I ever saw
Got stuck inside
My soda straw!

He said to me,
“Don’t take a sip!
For if you do,
I’ll surely slip!”

I took a sip,
And he went down,
All through my pipes.
He must have drowned!

He was my friend,
He was my pal.
But now he’s gone,
I know not how!

This is the end,
There ain’t no more;

Unless I see
My friend once more.