Sing Books with Emily, the Blog

Are you sleeping, letter J?

Sing the words of the song for the letter J to the tune of “Frere Jacques!”

Read, Sing, Play ABC Sing-Along
Words Adapted by Teddy Slater
Illustrated by Liisa Chauncy Guida

James and Judy
(Lyrics by Teddy Slater, from book “ABC Sing-Along”)
James and Judy, James and Judy
jumped all day, jumped all night.
Jumping Double Dutch, they
jumped rope much too much; they
jumped all night,
jumped all day.

Find a simple, usable sing-along track here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001DTDV5I/ref=dm_dp_trk14?ie=UTF8&qid=1274560091&sr=8-2

I love this sing-along track using traditional insturments (played by Nashville Studio Instrumentals):
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/american-heritage-music-set/id259436767
(“Are You Sleeping Brother John” is Track 12 of Disk 2)

In “Frere Jacques” we have another example of the use of an ancient tune.  Read an interesting article about the origins of “Frere Jacques” here, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fr%C3%A8re_Jacques.

Find a charmingly mousey one page illustration of “Frere Jacques” in

Children’s Treasury of Lullabies
Traditional Words and Tunes
Illustrated by Linda Bleck
(This book has no page numbers, but you can find “Frere Jacques,” in both French and English, about one-third the way through the book)

Use the tune for “Frere Jacques” with this book as well,

Are You Sleeping
Words Adapted by Debbie Tafton O’Neil
Illustrated by Benrei Huang

Frere Jacques
Traditional Words in French, Traditional Tune

Frère Jacques,
Frère Jacques,
Dormez vous?
Dormez vous?
Sonnez les matines,
Sonnez les matines,
Din, din, don!
Din, din, don!
Are You Sleeping Brother John
Traditional Words in English, Traditional Tune

 Are you sleeping,
Are you sleeping?
Brother John?
Brother John?
Morning bells are ringing,
Morning bells are ringing,
Ding ding dong,
Ding ding dong.