This is a music reading song and game. Have the students read the rhythms using rhythm names, and sing the melody using either solfa or letter names.

Game directions: Print and cut up the Rhythm Flashcards that are found in the supporting resources (choose the rhythms that your students can read), and put them into a pumpkin, or another container if you don’t have a pumpkin. As the students sing, they pass the pumpkin. At the end of the song, or at a signal, the student who has the pumpkin in front of them pulls a rhythm from the pumpkin and claps it. The class echoes. The student that clapped the rhythm goes to the front of the class to become the start of a rhythm chain. The second student that claps becomes rhythm two in the chain. When there are two students, clap both rhythms, then have the students turn away from the class so the class has to remember both rhythms. If the class is successful remembering two rhythms, continue adding to the chain. How many rhythms can your students remember?

Playing and Creating: Have the students improvise or create rhythms on non-pitched instruments as an interlude between repetitions of the song.

Teach the song by rote. This song is part of a Maori stick game (E Papä Waiari) from New Zealand. Long ago, young Maori men practiced stick games with six-foot-long sticks so they could practice their spear fighting.

The full instructions are in the song activities under the song (click on the link right below the name of this procedure and scroll down to Teacher Tools and click on "Song Activities".

Choose 3 instruments to play along with Schumann.
A - sticks
B - triangle
C - drum
Substitute body percussion or other instruments if needed.

If the music is too fast, use the gear tool on the lower right side of the video to slow it.

Have the students sing the song in solfa with handsigns. If you don't teach solfa, you could have the students sing the letter names for this song. In Lesson 7 we discussed steps and skips. Count how many steps and skips you see.

Creative Ideas: Set the instruments up in E minor pentatonic. Have the students improvise melodies on the barred instruments or on recorders using DE GAB D.

Add Sound Effects: Give balloons to four or five children. They make the “eee eee eee” sound by letting only a little air out of the balloon. At the end of the song, they release the balloons letting them “fly away.” This works best when you give the balloons to only four or five children. When I’ve given them to the entire class, they get so excited about having the balloons that they forget to sing.

If you don't have Orff instruments you could accompany the song with E-B Boomwhackers.

In Lesson 7 you started to write your own spooky story.

You can use the recorded sound effects in the activity or you can create your own sound effects.

If your class has completed their stories, read them out loud and add sound effects to them.

When your story is written, read it with sound effects.