Tidy Up Time
From Song Child
By Venus Tsang
Contents |
Tidy Up Time Song
Introduction
I decided to create my own Tidy Up Time Song for teachers and children of all ages to sing along to during clean-up time and transitions. The melody was found on a copyright-free site containing many different types of midi files, and the lyrics were originally created. It is a fun and easy-to-sing song for all, and is appropriate to use in schools as well as childcare centres.
The Song
Link to:
Lyrics
- Translated in English
Pick up, pick up, pick up toys,
Every little girl and boy.
Look around and you will see,
All the things that shouldn't be.
Girls and boys, let's tidy up, put the toys away.
Girls and boys, let's tidy up, we're finished for today.
We'll get them out next time we play
Let's tidy up, tidy up, and put the toys away!
- Translated in Chinese
Ling hay, Ling hay, dee goong jii,
Chuun bo liu jii tong lam jii.
Tii ha lay wuy geen do,
Chuun bo ye mm ying goy.
Liu jii, lam jii, jup woon guy.
Liu jii, lam jii, gum yut yuun.
Aw day Ting yut wuy joy wan
Jup ho, jup ho, dee goong jii!
- Translated in Spanish
Coger, coger, coger los juguetes,
Cada niña y boy.
Mirar alrededor y verás,
Todas las cosas que no deben be.
Las muchachas y los muchachos, ponen los juguetes away.
Las muchachas y los muchachos, nosotros son finished para today.
Os saldremos la vez próxima nosotros play
¡Pongamos en orden, y pongamos de lado los juguetes!
Learning Context
According to Jonassen, et al. (2008), children are learning meaningfully when they are fully and "willfully engaged" in the task at hand. They should be:
- Active: Manipulative / Observant.
- During Tidy Up Time, children are active participants in singing and moving to the song. They are not sitting still, but instead they are playing and having fun while tidying up.
- Constructive: Articulative / Reflective.
- Children are able to reflect on their actions during Tidy Up Time and make goals from it as well. For example, their goal can be to clean up all of the blocks before the song is over and reflect on their outcome afterwards.
- Intentional: Goal-Directed / Regulatory.
- There is a purpose to the song and children recognize this. They learn that when the song is sang, it means to stop what they are doing, that it is time to tidy up the classroom, and it is also a transition into their next activity.
- Authentic: Complex / Contextual.
- Tidy Up Time occurs in the actual classroom, and allows children to learn in real-life context. They are practicing their tidy up and organizational skills, and they also learn to take responsibility.
- Cooperative: Collaborative / Conversational.
- During Tidy Up Time, children are encouraged to work collaboratively in order to reach their goal. Children learn teamwork and how to help each others out rather than working individually.
My Experience with SongChild
For this assignment, I decided to create a song for teachers to use for "clean up time" in their classrooms. I think that having a consistent and expected song for transitions between activities is essential, and helps children anticipate change and the end of an activity. Especially for children with special needs, a tidy up time song helps their adjustment to transitions from activity to activity. Some teachers use other methods such as turning off the lights, clapping, etc., but I chose to create a catchy song that the teacher and children can sing together.
For the melody, I found it by googling on the Internet, but I chose to create my own lyrics to the song because I wanted it to be an original. Put together, I think that it makes a catchy tune and it is easy for children of all ages to sing along to.
This was my first experience recording a song on my own, and overall I believe it was a success. I downloaded an audio file for background music, a recording program to record my lyrics, and a mixer program to put it all together in order to make Tidy Up Time. When working with Songchild, it was fairly simple to use and all the functions were well laid out. For example, the navigation panel on the left hand side is a useful tool for uploading files, getting help, etc. I found that I used much of the knowledge I learned from previous labs from class that were completed. (Wiki lab helped a lot, Flickr and Google helped too). However, if children were to use Songchild, I think that functions may need to be made a little more user-friendly because some of the wiki functions were fairly advanced. I also think that Songchild can focus more on music and songs by having a more distinct, separate section just for music.
Overall, creating my SongChild wiki page was a fun process, and I also enjoyed making my own song. It was time consuming, but I learned a lot and I feel that I am much more capable with technology than I was before.
References
Jonassen, D., Howland, J., Marra, R. M., & Crismond, D. (2008). Meaningful learning with technology. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education.
Lenise, K. (2006). Those were the days. Retrieved April 17th, 2008 from http://www.flickr.com/photos/klenise/130933051/
Martin, D. (2007). Upstairs classroom. Retrieved April 17th, 2008 from http://www.flickr.com/photos/8411827@N07/509412689/
NET4TV. (2001). Copyright-free MIDI loops 4U. Retrieved April 15, 2008 from http://www.net4tv.com/VOICE/resources/toy2.mid
