Witch, Witch

My choice for this week's blog post is probably no surprise. Witch, Witch is a good option for a Halloween-themed song that isn't too scary for your little ones. I'm going to share some of my favorite ideas for using this song and all the different musical elements you can teach with it.

EASY MOVEMENT ACTIVITY

Supplies: You will need enough pennies for each student.

1. Students stand in a circle in front of a penny and sing the song. 
2. When they sing the words “fell in a ditch”, they fall down in their spot.
3. When they sing “picked up a penny”, they pick up their penny and stand back up.
4. Each time they sing “Yes, we’re your children”, they turn around in their spot.
5. When they shout, “No, you old witch!”, they quickly sit back down.

Teacher Tip: Place the pennies in a circle before the students enter. Then, tell them to sit in front of one, but not to touch it until you say so. Then, once they’ve all sat down in the circle, give them a few moments to pick up the penny and examine it. Kindergartners and first graders will enjoy doing this. Giving them the time to examine the penny is a tangible reward for their patience in waiting. Plus, it’s a great opportunity for them to satisfy their own curiosity!

CHASING GAME

Teacher Tip: You can use this song as a way to practice call and response or as a fun chasing game to expend some extra energy.

This is a duck, duck, goose style chasing game.

1. Students sit in a circle with one student (it) standing outside the circle.
2. It sings the “Call” part and walks around the circle as the rest of the students sing the “Response”. 
3. It taps someone on the should when the group shouts “No, you old witch!”
4. The person who was tapped must try to catch It before they make it back around to the vacated space. 
5. The person who loses the chase is “it” for the next round.

Teacher Tip: Solos can be especially daunting to young students, and it requires a lot of preparation to create the kind of safe space in which all students will feel comfortable singing along. Therefore, you may want to sing along with the soloists the first time through or until all students are comfortable singing alone. As always, you know your students best, so trust your own teacher instincts.

CALL & RESPONSE FORM

You can practice call and response form or even assess students' pitch-matching skills with this song. The best part is, you can do all this while the students play the chasing game. I loved assessing students in this manner because they were at their most relaxed and were too busy having fun to notice what I was doing with my clipboard. It's a far cry from the stressful testing environment most students experience nowadays. But that's a whole other topic...

PRACTICING SO AND MI

For those of you following the Kodály Method, this piece is great for practicing So/Mi and for reinforcing high and low.

Click to see this file in my store.

STEADY BEAT

I think that students can't get too much steady beat practice. Steady beat is the foundation of which will help them to understand and perform complex rhythms later on. 

Beat charts are a great way to help students visualize the beat. The following beat chart is from the Witch, Witch file in my store.

Click to see this file in my store.

Students tap the potions to the steady beat. The last four poison bottles are the section in which they shout, "No, you old witch!"

If you don't want to recreate the wheel, click on the image below, and you can see everything that's included with this set in my store.

Click to see the full product description

I hope these ideas are helpful to you as we near the end of October. Behind-the-scenes, I've been prepping to send out my October newsletter. If you'd like to receive it, you can sign up HERE. Also, if you're a subscriber and haven't been receiving my emails, please let me know. I'm always happy to help! You can reach me via email at: theylbrickroad@gmail.com.