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7 Songs to Teach Re in Elementary Music
Re is one of those concepts that opens up a lot of familiar songs for students. Once students know do, re gives them another step in the scale and lets them start reading and singing more melodies.
Below are seven songs I use in my second- and third-grade classrooms to prepare, present, and practice re. Several of these songs are also great for reviewing concepts students already know, including do, sol-mi, half note, steady beat, and sight reading.
Long Legged Sailor
Activity:
There is a really fun hand clapping activity with this! This activity helps students work together and also makes them cross the midline which is developmentally important in elementary grades! Once the students get it done at the normal tempo, they love to seee how fast they can go!
Have students stand facing a partner.
As they sing, use this repeating clapping pattern:
Pat both hands on your legs.
Clap your own hands together.
Clap both of your partner’s hands, patty-cake style.
Continue repeating that pattern throughout the song.
Whenever students sing the word “long,” both partners stretch their hands or arms out wide instead of doing the regular clapping pattern. Then return to the pat-clap-partner pattern on the next beat.
Let Us Chase the Squirrel
Let Us Chase the Squirrel is one of my favorite songs to use when students are first reading re. I also use it to review the half note, so it works well for connecting a new melodic concept to something students already know.
Game:
Have students stand in a circle.
Students sing and walk to the beat around the circle.
Pick two students to make the squirrel's mouth by holding hands and raising their arms. (like London Bridge)
The other students are the “hickory nuts” and walk under their arms while everyone sings.
On the final word, “tree,” the squirrel's mouth closes and catches a hickory nut.
The student who is caught joins the squirrel's mouth, making it larger each round.
If no one is caught, the student closest to the squirrel's mouth joins it.
Continue until only a few hickory nuts remain.
Hot Cross Buns
Hot Cross Buns is a perfect song to use for presenting and practicing Re! Instead of teaching it by rote, I like to put the notation in front of the class and see if they can sight-read the song using solfège.
Bow Wow Wow
Bow Wow Wow is a song my students already know from first grade, which is exactly why I like bringing it back after we learn re.
Game/Activity:
Game:Have students stand in a circle with a partner directly across from them. One partner will be facing clockwise and the other counterclockwise.
On “Bow wow wow,” students wag their finger at their partner to the beat.
On “Whose dog art thou?” students shrug their shoulders as if asking a question.
On “Little Tommy Tucker’s dog,” partners switch places.
On the final “Bow wow wow,” students point or wag their finger at their partner again.
On the rest at the very end of the song, everyone jumps and makes a half-turn so they are facing the person behind them. That person becomes their new partner.
Repeat the song with the new partner. Keep going around the circle, changing partners each time.
The last jump is always the best part — students usually start giggling as soon as they realize who their next partner is!
I Lost the Farmer's Dairy Key
I Lost the Farmer's Dairy Key is one of my favorite passing games. I use this song in 3rd grade to review Re at the beginning of the year. Since students have know Re for a while they can focus on reading and practicing the melody while still getting plenty of repetition through the game.
Game:
Have students sit or stand in a circle with their hands together in front of them.
Pick one student to stand in the middle and close their eyes.
Give a key to another student in the circle.
As the class sings, students pass the key around the circle. Students who do not have the key should “fake pass” so the person in the middle cannot tell where it is.
Once the singing begins, the student in the middle opens their eyes and watches.
The key must continue moving for the entire song.
At the end of the song, everyone freezes with their hands together.
The student in the middle gets three guesses to find the key.
If they find it, they choose the next person for the middle. If they do not, the student holding the key becomes the next person in the middle. You can use an old key or I bought a dozen skeleton keys on amazon which the students loved!
Frog in the Meadow
Frog in the Meadow is another song I use later to prepare or practice re. It's fun talking about hunting for frogs at night with flashlights and talking about how people eat frog legs! Depending on the part of the United States you are from, this may suppose students!
Game:
Have students sit in a circle to create the “pond.” One student stands in the middle as the frog hunter.
The frog hunter closes their eyes, holds one arm straight out, and slowly turns in a circle while stepping to the steady beat as everyone sings.
When the song ends, the frog hunter freezes and opens their eyes.
The two students they are pointing toward become the frogs.
The two frogs stand up, link elbows, and the frog hunter lightly taps their joined elbows with a stick to start the race.
The frogs then speed walk in opposite directions around the outside of the pond.
When they meet on the other side of the circle, they stop and say, “Good morning, good afternoon, good evening,” before passing each other and continuing around the circle.
Meanwhile, the frog hunter returns to their starting spot and stands with both hands held out.
The first frog to make it all the way around the pond and touch one of the frog hunter’s hands wins. They become the next frog hunter!
Important rule: Students must speed walk, not run. If a frog runs, they are disqualified.
Great Big House
Great Big House is a fun way to continue practicing re in third grade. I use it as both a solfège-reading song and a play-party activity.
Activity:
After students can sing and read the song, we add the play-party dance. This one can be difficult without specific instructions but if done successfully students absolutely love it! There are many versions of this play party but this is the version I do in my classroom:
These songs give students lots of different ways to experience re through movement, singing games, and solfège practice. I especially like how much acapella singing their is with the Kodaly method and how they learn through games and activities! I hope you can use some of these songs and games in your own classroom!
Need more song ideas? Check out:
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