Sing Books with Emily, the Blog

We had a joyous time singing mostly the celebrate Thanksgiving in Ms. Anctil’s class today!

We started with Mike Wilkin’s art work “Preamble.”  I told the kids that this work of Singable Art is at the Museum of American Art downtown and you can sing both the “Preamble” by Lynn Ahrens’ song for Schoolhouse Rock and “Fifty Nifty States” (by Ray Charles of the Ray Charles Chorus) since the Preamble to the United States Constitution is “written” out with text on license plates from each of the United States (and the District of Columbia) with the plates arranged in alphabetical order by state:

*

Preamble
Art by Mike Wilkins (1987)
Smithsonian American Art Museum
http://americanart.si.edu
Sing this ART with “The Preamble Song” from “School House Rock” (and Fifty Nifty States, too!)
Additional Lyrics by
Music by Lynn Ahrens

*

Over the River and Through the Wood
Traditional Tune
Poem By Lydia Maria Child
Illustrated by Christopher Manson

*

I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie
Traditional Words and Tune
Words Adapted by Alison Jackson
Illustrated by Judy Schachner

*

Sunshine on My Shoulders
Words by John Denver
Music by John Denver, Mike Taylor & Dick Kniss
Illustrated by Christopher Canyon

I thought a little more about it, and can put it this way:  “Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy…”  seems like you can’t really be happy about something without appreciating it.  And you can’t really appreciate something without being grateful for having it… This is why I think “Sunshine on My Shoulders” makes a terrific Thanksgiving song.

*

When I First Came to This Land
Words and Music by Oscar Brand
Illustrated by Doris Burn

*

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
Poem by Jane Taylor
Illustrated by Jerry Pinkney
(This gorgeously illustrated book gets a gold star for using the mostly unacknowledged FULL text of the poem)

*

When You Wish Upon a Star
Music by Ned Washington
Words by Leigh Harline
Illustrated by Eric Puybaret

*

All God’s Critters
Words and Music by Bill Staines
Illustrated by Kadir Nelson
Published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, New York, 2009
ISBN 987-0-689-86959-4

**********************
Related Posts

THANKSGIVING
A Songlist to help us Celebrate Thanksgiving!
http://singbookswithemily.wordpress.com/2010/11/06/thank-heavens-singable-picture-books-for-thanksgiving/