Do You Know Silly Tilly?

When I searched through my books for Thanksgiving activities, I came upon this wonderful little story, Silly Tilly's Thanksgiving Dinner. It's one of those books that I fondly remember from several years ago when my daughter was first learning to read. Tilly is such an endearing little mole. She is so forgetful, and her antics in the book really make children smile. She forgets to send out the Thanksgiving invitations (sending recipe cards instead because her glasses are foggy!), and when Thanksgiving arrives (and she hasn't cooked anything) she thinks no one will show up. Instead, everyone shows up with their recipe in hand and it's a wonderful Thanksgiving.

I read the book to my five year old this morning, and then I let him read it to me when I had finished. There are so many opportunities to be EXPRESSIVE in this book. My little guy had fun acting out each character's part. The cast includes Silly Tilly, Mrs. Squirrel, Mr. Woodchuck, Mr. Chipmunk, Mr. Rabbit, Mrs. Fieldmouse, and Mr. Turkey (who is not eaten, but brings along his special corn for popping).

To my delight, we found a song that goes with the story. I sang it to the tune of "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush":

Here we go over to Silly Tilly's,

Silly Tilly's, Silly Tilly's,
Here we go over to Silly Tilly's,
On Thanksgiving Day.

Mrs. Squirrel brought acorn jam,
Acorn jam, acorn jam,
Mrs. Squirrel brought acorn jam,
On Thanksgiving Day.

Mr. Woodchuck brought nut cake,
Brought nut cake, brought nut cake,
Mr. Woodchuck brought nut cake,
On Thanksgiving Day.

Mr. Chipmunk brought cranberry stew,
Cranberry stew, cranberry stew,
Mr. Chipmunk brought cranberry stew,
On Thanksgiving Day.

Mrs. Fieldmouse brought oat bran pudding,
Oat bran pudding, oat bran pudding,
Mrs. Fieldmouse brought oat bran pudding,
On Thanksgiving Day.

Mr. Bunny brought potato pie,
Potato pie, potato pie,
Mr. Bunny brought potato pie,
On Thanksgiving Day.

Mr. Turkey brought corn to pop,
Corn to pop, corn to pop,
Mr. Turkey brought corn to pop,
On Thanksgiving Day.

It was the very best Thanksgiving,
Best Thanksgiving, best Thanksgiving,
It was the very best Thanksgiving
The animals had ever had!

Tomorrow if I have time I'd like to copy some pages of the book, let my little guy cut out the characters and make puppets so we can sing the song with the puppets in our puppet theater. Doesn't that sound like fun?

This post is linked to Teach Me Tuesday over at Bokros Kind of Life - check out what other teaching is going on today!

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Our New Favorite Song

We have been hearing this song on the radio for several weeks, and the last time it came on my daughter asked me to download it - so, I did. Listen to the words while it plays. It's funny how God works. Yesterday I got to know a homeschooler from our co-op a little better. She has adopted three children who are from Mexico. She told me that God brought the mission field right here to her. I thought about our talk all day, and then when I looked at this video it dealt with problems so many are facing in Mexico. For me, it is a powerful song!

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Music Study for Halloween - In The Hall of the Mountain King

Do you know who this is? It is Edvard Grieg, a Norweigan composer from the 1800s. He has written one of the most famous "Halloween" pieces of all time. 

Now is the time of year when my background as an Elementary School Music Specialist kicks into overdrive! There are so many wonderful pieces of music that we can tie into various holidays. I love Halloween.... I do not believe in celebrating the evil aspect of Halloween or doing anything scary with my children, but I love the creativity that goes into costumes, pumpkin carving, and just the air of excitement leading up to October 31.

I plan to do this music lesson with my children this week - all of the resources you need are online, so if you want to add some music enrichment to your homeschool this week - go for it!

In The Hall of the Mountain King
(from The Peer Gynt Suite)
by Edvard Grieg

• Visit the Classics for Kids website to see the information about Edvard Grieg. There is a fabulous activity sheet (on the left sidebar of the page I linked you to) that will download as a PDF to your computer! It is a cute listening map for the piece, which always cements the details of music into a child's brain.
• If you have a pianist in your homeschool, click here for the free downloadable sheet music for the piece
• There is a very nice printable biography of Edvard Grieg here
• I always enjoyed having my students illustrate the music while listening.... it was interesting to have them illustrated WITHOUT knowing the story behind the piece, then to see if their drawings were at all similar to the story of Peer Gynt.
• If you want a cute version of the piece, check out this Lego video from YouTube.... I know this will speak to my son!

This is one of those "mainstream" pieces of music that lots of people have heard, but few know the background of the piece. I hope you can use this in the days leading up to Halloween. If you do, please leave me a comment and let me know what your students thought!