Sunday, September 30, 2018

Counting- IV

Well, I just got back from a music trip out west, (flew there and back in one day!) and I'm feeling fine (relatively)!! So, today I'm going to write about a number song called Dr. Knickerbocker. Here is the way I've done this song with kids:

Dr. Knickerbocker, Knickerbocker, number nine
I just got back and I'm feeling fine.
Let's put the rhythm in our ________.*
*Repeat until you "put the rhythm" in your hands (clap), shoulders (alternate shoulders up and down),  feet (walk in place to the beat), head (nod), and hips (shift hips right and left).

I've always said the words as a rhythmic chant, and kept the movement going until it changes to a different body part. The words were fun to say and made pretty much no sense at all- kids loved to move and say the words! Sometimes children asked- who is Dr. Knickerbocker? I had no clear answer.

After some searching I found out that Knickerbockers are a type of colonial style pants worn just over the knee, and a man wearing this style of pants (Mr. Knickerbocker) was a symbol of New York- (a la the New York Knicks baseball team). And apparently there were nine original New York Knickerbockers (later shortened to Knicks).

Maybe "getting back" means getting back to home plate? I'm still unsure how "Mr. Knickerbocker" got changed to "Dr. Knickerbocker," but the point is- this is a fun song with lots of movement AND there's more!!!

I just discovered that you can practice counting to the number nine with this song, and that is extra exciting because that makes it a great activity for getting those kids with a lot of energy to focus and count with you. To do this, you "put the rhythm" in the "number nine" itself. Here are two examples of this- one from the Wiggles and one from Alina Celeste.



Here is also a new one by Liz Buchanan that is a counting backwards from 9 song.

More fun with number songs next week!




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