Head, Shoulders, Knees, and all that

Who took the cookie?

We (my colleagues and I who make Super Simple Songs), had a nice little milestone today.  We got our 100th subscriber to our youTube channel.  If you aren't familiar with how youTube works, once you set up an account, you can subscribe to your favorite "channels" and everytime a new video is posted to that channel you will see it amongst your subscriptions.  Have a look if you haven't already. 

Our latest video is for "Who Took the Cookie" off of Super Simple Songs 2 and it shows how we use the song in class.  I wrote a little bit about the creation of the song/chant last year.  It's such a great chant for practicing rhythm and question intonation in English, as well as introducing some very useful language.  We made a few changes to make the song a little simpler and more practical for young learners and ESL/EFL students. 

Traditional versions of the chant usually go:

Group: Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?
Group: Johnny stole the cookie from the cookie jar.
Johnny: Who me?
Group: Yes you!
Johnny: Couldn't be!
Group: Then who?
Johnny:  Julie!

In the Super Simple Songs version, we chant "Who took the cookie from the cookie jar?" because take/took is such a useful word and a bit nicer and more appropriate for young learners than steal/stole.    Also, instead of "Couldn't be!", we use the much more widely applicable expression, "Not me! "

These small changes not only make the chant easier for young learners to fully grasp, but they lead to more natural classroom exchanges. 

"Who took my pencil?" 
"Not me!  Yuko took the pencil!"

and

"Franky...it's your turn."
"Who me?"
"Yes, you."

Hope you enjoy the video!  Thanks to my students Aya, Sana, Toshie, Mina, Maika, and Kazuya for helping out!

Father's Day Songs

With Father's Day coming up on Sunday, be sure to check out Nancy Stewart's downloadable Father's Day classic, Thank You, Daddy.  The verses may be a little difficult for very young learners and English learners, but everyone can enjoy singing the chorus together and Daddy will really appreciate when the kids come home singing this song to them. 

The chorus is very simple:

Thank you, Daddy.  Thank you, Daddy.  Thank you, Daddy.
Daddy, I love you.

Here's another simple Father's Day song set to the tune of O Tanenbaum.

For a little on the origin of Father's Day, check out my post from last year.

To the best of my knowledge, Father's Day is an international celebration these days.  Will you be celebrating Father's Day this weekend? 

Happy Father's Day!

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood

15 reasons why Mr. Rogers was the best neighbor ever.  I couldn't agree more. 

More on the great Fred Rogers here, here, and here.