Sing hellos in different ways. Pat the beat or play on castanets.

Practice distinguishing between speaking and singing voices by introducing a toy elephant named Melody. Melody the elephant will do what the children tell her, if they tell her in a “singing voice.” If they speak, she does nothing. Tell Melody to “jump up and down” using a speaking voice. Melody won’t move. Then sing to Melody to “jump up and down” and make your elephant jump. Invite the children to sing to Melody what to do. This activity helps the students to learn the difference between singing and speaking voices. It’s also great to encourage solo singing. You can soon tell who is matching pitch and who you need to work with when they sing to Melody.

Invite the children to do the movements with you while you sing the song. Sing it again, and invite the children to sing the echo parts. Finally, teach them the last phrase and tell them to sing it each time it occurs.

Demonstrate how to say the poem and do the finger motions. Then invite the children to do the motions with you. Substitute the children’s names for “Johnny.” Say the poem using a variety of expressions: quiet/loud, slow/fast, high voice/low voice.

Movements: Starting with your pinky finger, touch each of your fingers in turn when you say, “Johnny.” When you say, “Whoops!” slide your finger from the tip of your pointer finger to the tip of your thumb. Say, “Johnny” on the thumb, then when you say “Whoops!” slide your finger from the tip of your thumb to the tip of your pointer finger. Touch each of your fingers in turn when you say, “Johnny.”

Uncle Ugo was a very strange uncle. Mom thought that he came from a UFO. He was unusual and kind of untidy, but he was a lot of fun to play with. Uncle Ugo would play all the games that Mom and Dad were too
scared to play. With Uncle Ugo, we climbed up, up, up into a tall tree, and jumped off onto a swing. Mom got upset when we told her.

Mom got really upset the day that she found Uncle Ugo’s underwear on the floor.

“Ugh,” she said. “Aren’t you wearing any underwear?”

“Uh oh,” he said. “I think I forgot to put my underwear on this morning.”

Uncle Ugo went back upstairs and got dressed again. The kids thought it was really funny, and they started to call him Uncle Underwear instead of Uncle Ugo. Uncle Ugo was very unusual - he LIKED his new name.

Teacher note: includes uncle underwear lyrics. Long letter U doesn't mention uncle underwear. The video can be found under both letter u songs: uncle underwear and umbrella bird.

This is a song to encourage friendship and to practice the names of your class. When the singer leaves a space, insert the names of the children in your class.

Create actions to accompany the song. The actions could be as simple as swaying left and right on phrases 1, 2 and 4. On phrase 3, motion “out” for “your friends” and motion “to self” for “my friends.”

Invite the children to do the movements with you while you sing the song. Sing it again, and invite the children to sing the echo parts. Finally, teach them the last phrase and tell them to sing it each time it occurs.

Another option is to play an instrument with the song.

Teach the song by rote. Sing and move to the music. Invite the students to think of other ways that the penguins could move. Sing and move to the new verses.

Teach the song by rote. Sing and do the actions to the song.

Print a set of 5 penguins to use as manipulatives while you sing the song (manipulatives are available in the song's printables section). The first time you use them, the teacher should model. Each verse, you’ll take one penguin away and count the ones that are left. You can make class sets of penguins for the students to use. Cut them out and package five penguins in a ziplock bag. Glue the penguins onto different colors of cardstock. When you give out the ziplock bags, give each child a set with a different color background. This will help to keep the ziplock bags organized. The students enjoy singing and counting their own penguins as they sing.