carnival parade

let’s have a party

let’s have a party

a celebration

a masquerade

let’s have a party

let’s have a party

let’s make a carnival parade

let’s get together

let’s be friends

and we can make this town a happy place

into your heart put a happy feeling

put a little make-up on your face

you can wear a costume

you can wear a mask

you can wear a smile

that’s not too much to ask

and decorations for all to see

a joyful colour jubalee

let’s have a party

let’s have a party

everybody sing a song so sweet

listen to the music

can you feel the rhythm

then clap your hands to the happy beat!

festivals to welcome spring

festivals for harvesting

fiesta any time of year

everybody cheer!

let’s have a party

let’s have a party

a celebration

a masquerade

let’s have a party

let’s have a party

let’s make a carnival parade

do a little dance

come take a chance

and wave your hands

high up in the air

a caribana, a carifesta

a junkanoo, see happy people there!

let’s have a party

let’s have a party

everybody sing a song so sweet

listen to the music

can you feel the rhythm

then clap your hands to the happy beat!

samba, la bamba, soca, ska

a carnival a mardi gras

festivals around the world

for every boy and girl!

let’s have a party

let’s have a party

a celebration

a masquerade

let’s have a party

let’s have a party

let’s make a carnival parade

activities

1) Make a classroom carnival by creating costumes, masks, and musical rhythm makers. 2) Sing the song and make up a dance routine. Wave your arms in the air for the chorus, “Let’s have a party…..

our school rap

(doing the school yard cha cha cha)

music & chorus lyrics by Jack Grunsky

p WOOD ROOSTER MUSIC, SOCAN

original lyrics: Louise Cullen  - p C&A Notes

Na na na nobody does it like our school

‘Cause our kids are superstars

Na na na nobody does it like our school

That dream will take us far

We’re dream makers, that we know

Working to star in our own show

Striving for the best that we can be

Living with pride and dignity

We’re number one, and we’re keen

It’s easy to ace that ‘learning scene’

Working together, learning how to share

Showing one another how to care

Doing the ‘schoolyard Cha Cha Cha’

Doing the ‘schoolyard Cha Cha Cha’

When you’re readin’ and a-rappin’

to a brand new beat

The hours fly by on ‘learning street’

It’s a snap like ‘A B C’

To know that music and kids go naturally

activities

With the use of ‘pom poms’ or other props, create a ‘cheerleader’ group and choreograph a performance of this ‘raising the school spirit’ song and rap.

iko iko

trad. arranged by Jack Grunsky

New original lyrics: Jack Grunsky

P WOOD ROOSTER MUSIC, SOCAN

Iko Iko Iko

Iko Iko all day

Jock-a-mo-ee-na-ee-na-nay             

Jock-a-mo-ee-na-nay                         

Talkin' 'bout, hey now - hey now      

Iko Iko all day                                     

Jock-a-mo-ee-na-ee-na-nay

Jock-a-mo-ee-na-nay

Say can you imagine

Let's go to the Mardi Gras

Where people come from miles around

For a "hoopla" and "yah yah" 

You can blow your saxophone

Pick your old guitar

Shake shake shake a tambourine

Be a super star

Listen to the rhythm

The music sounding sweet

Then put your hands together

Let’s clap the greatest beat

Clap your hands!     Alright!

Come on now everybody!

Put on your dancing shoes

With a wiggle and a jiggle

We'll dance away the blues

Reach up high, shake your hands

Bend down, touch your knees

Now find a friend to dance with

And give your friend a squeeze!

activities

Make a ‘Mardi Gras’ parade. Do the following actions: for ‘Iko iko iko’ wave your arms back and forth over your head. For ‘Jock-a-mo-eena-nay’ point your finger in the air on top of your head and turn around like a merry-go-round. For ‘Hey now!’ just call back the echo. For the rest of the song, follow the actions of the words.

samba  

                          

There’s a little song in my head goes round and round

There’s a little song in my head, aha

There’s a little song in my head goes round and round

It’s a happy tune like an old samba

Samba, samba

Samba, samba

There’s a little rhythm I feel down in my feet

There’s a little rhythm I feel, aha

There’s a little rhythm I feel down in my feet

It’s a happy rhythm they call samba

Samba, samba

Samba, samba

I’m singing

La la la, La la la

La la la la la la la la la

La la la , La la la

La la la la la la la la la

La la la ………….

There’s a great big joy in my heart  that music brings

There’s a great big joy in my heart, aha

There’s a great big joy in my heart  that music brings

There’s a great big joy when I sing samba

(first chorus)

activities

Discuss how music can make you feel happy. Do you sometimes hear a song in your head that you hum to yourself? Have you noticed it can keep you company like a close familiar friend?

pyjamarama                      

It’s a ‘peejay’ pyjamarama

See the animals in their pyjamas

It’s a ‘peejay’ pyjamarama

See the animals in their pyjamas

From Florida to the Bahamas

See flamingos wearing pink pyjamas

Look at the leopard wearing polka dots

The dairy cow, she loves her beauty spots

The zebra’s pyjamas look so fine

Black and white with stripes of bold design

If a pyjama with a pouch appeals to you

Stay awhile to see the kangaroo

Here comes the long-necked giraffe

In tall pyjamas, you can take a photograph

If pyjamas with a mask should be your style

The racoon is sure to make you smile

Penguins and polar bears together

Wear pyjamas for cold and freezing weather

The possum wears its PJ’s

Hanging upside down

And baboon likes to be pyjama clown

Here comes ‘Dandy’ the lion in his nighty

Shakes his mane and yawns

Loud and mighty

There’s the camel coming down the track

In pyjamas with a hump on the back

Let’s celebrate this big pyjama party

Let’s applaud their beauty loud and hearty

Hooray for the animals and all their worth

So dear and precious to the earth

activities

Have an animal dress-up pyjama party. Create a performance piece with all the animals represented and have each character step out to perform a little solo to go along with the words of the song.

mexican hat dance

trad. arranged by Jack Grunsky

activities

Learn the steps to the Mexican Hat Dance. Here is one version: Each child takes a partner. For the first part of the music, put your hands on your hips and facing your partner, skip to the beat. Clap your hands together when you hear the castanets. (ta-dum, ta-dum, ta-dum, clap clap; ta-da-da-da-dah-da-dum, clap clap, etc.) For the next part of the music, lock elbows with your partner and swing around in a circle, first in one direction and then in the other.

cha cha cha                                        

Oh let me tell you about the fun

That we had one holiday

On an island in the sun

Where palm trees gently sway

When we arrived people came to greet us

They take our hand, point to our feet, and they say

"Put down your suitcase and your camera

Cause now we'll dance the Cha Cha Cha"

Then it's hee hee hee, ha ha ha

Everybody dancing the Cha Cha Cha

Then it's hee hee hee, ha ha ha

Even little children do the Cha Cha Cha   

Our teacher showed us how to dance

She get our feet to step in time, saying

"Don't be shy, just take a chance"

And then we joined in the chorus line

The conga drum plays the 'Cha Cha' beat

And the cowbell keeping time

Guiros scrape, maracas shake

And the music sounds so fine

Peeking out under the patio

I saw little crabs come to see the show

And like some people on a date

They danced the Cha Cha till very late

In my room when I woke up one night

And I turned on the bathroom light

There on the floor, oh me! oh ma! 

I saw cucarachas dancing Cha Cha Cha

activities

Learn to dance the simple steps of the Cha Cha Cha. Count aloud: ‘one, two cha cha cha, three four cha cha cha’. Now add the steps to the count: left, right, left, right, left and then; right, left, right, left, right. Practice makes perfect.

alligator stomp     

Two alligators in the swamp

Doing the alligator stomp

Two alligators in the swamp

Doing the alligator stomp

Now take a gator by the hand

Step to the music of a Cajun band

Clap your hands! Stomp your feet!

And walk your gator down the street.  Ayee!

You can roll your eyes, you can wiggle your nose

But you better not step on your gator's toes.  

Tippy toe

Swing to the left, swing to the right

We're nice alligators, we don't bite.    Ayee!

Now throw your hands up in the air

We're a little bit crazy but we don't care

One thing gators love to do

Is jump up high and shout "yahoo!"

Jump up high and shout, “yahoo!”

activities

You can dance along. For ‘two alligators in the swamp’ stretch out your arms and clap your hands to the beat four times, and for ‘alligator stomp’ stamp your feet four times. For the rest of the song follow the actions of the words.

supermarket tango                       

                                 

We shop for food and go to town

I push the buggy all around

Sometimes it makes a squeaky sound

We do the supermarket tango

My little brother in the baby seat

He points to things he loves to eat

Like strawberries and cream of wheat

We do the supermarket tango

We do the tango

We do the tango

We do the supermarket tango

From the papaya to the mango

We do the supermarket tango

We check to see what we have missed

From items on our shopping list

Tell baby grabs it with his fist

We do the supermarket tango

From peaches, pears and plums so nice

To cauliflower, corn and rice

We love to taste the samplers, twice!

We do the supermarket tango

From bread and milk and cottage cheese

To pizza, pasta, frozen peas

Sweet grapes that baby loves to squeeze

We do the supermarket tango

Now down the aisles that never end

I ride the buggy ‘round the bend

I hold on tight and I pretend

To do the supermarket tango

Then to the cashier, the check out aisle

We promenade in single file

It’s so much fun to shop in style

We do the supermarket tango

activities

Make a ‘food book’ collecting pictures and descriptions of as many different kinds of food you can explore. Take a field trip to a supermarket and record and make notes of the ways items are grouped and categorized.