Witches, Ghosts, Bats, Owls, and Black Cats . . . What are you going to be for Halloween?

For our young learners, Halloween presents an opportunity to nurture their creativity through imaginative activities. Students can dress up as a character and move in more expressive ways. They can use their voice in different ways, too. Let’s explore moving like various Halloween characters.

First of all, I gather students in front of me to teach the vocabulary from this song. I sing the transitional song, “Come and Sit In Front of Me.” (by K. Kampa) The professional version of this transitional song is here for you.

Come and sit in front of me, in front of me, in front of me.

Come and sit in front of me, in front of me,

You can gather students in a circle, too.
Let’s make a circle, big and round (4X).

Show the Google Slides vocabulary images for the song “I’m A Witch.”

“What sounds do each of the characters make?”

Sing the lyrics below. Students can add hand or arm movements while sitting.

I’m A Witch

Words by Kathleen Kampa melody: Skip to my Lou

Spoken: Let’s be witches and fly on our broomsticks.

Cute witch with cats happy halloween background vector.jpg

Hee! Hee! Hee! I’m a witch

Hee! Hee! Hee! I’m a witch!

Happy Halloween!

2. Spoken: Let’s be ghosts and float gently through the air.

Boo! Boo! I’m a ghost! (3X) Happy Halloween!

3. Spoken: Let’s be bats and fly through the night sky.

Eeek! Eeek! I’m a bat! (3X) Happy Halloween!

4. Spoken: Let’s be owls and turn our heads from side to side.

Whoo! Whooo! I’m an owl! (3X) Happy Halloween!

5. Spoken: Let’s be black cats. Put on your whiskers and sneak around.

Meow! Meow! I’m a black cat! (3X) Happy Halloween!

Let’s add some locomotor movements to this song. Stand up and make a slightly larger circle with your students. You can sing the transitional song, Let’s Make a Circle Big and Round, to make a circle.

Make this activity magical by waving your hand or a wand, and saying the words “Abracadabra! You’re a witch!” Ask, “How does a witch move?” Wait for ideas and try some. “Get on your broomsticks and fly around the circle.” Practice each movement, making sure that students are moving in the same direction around the circle. Say “Stop!” to end the movement. Since stopping is an important concept for young learners, acknowledge students who have stopped in interesting poses. Continue with the other characters, asking students how that character might move. While they are moving, describe what you see. “I see Kumi creeping and sneaking around like a cat. Her back is arched, or high in the air.” In this way, students learn more vocabulary and develop more interesting movements.

Now play the music! The spoken cues on the recording guide your students’ movements. My students love the special sound effects. Students start by posing like the characters, such as the witch, then move around in a circle. You can show the characters on the Google Slideshow.

Add your own ideas. What sound or sounds does this character make? Some characters don’t really make a sound, so you have to use your imagination.

When your students are ready, invite them to move throughout your classroom space rather than in a circle.

“I’m a Witch” is on Kathy Kampa’s Special Days and Holidays, available on Spotify or Apple Music.

Find more Halloween ideas on our Magic Time Kids blog and on my Pinterest page. If you’re interested in more of my work, check out my YouTube channel at Kathy Kampa.

Songs for the seasons, songs to transition, songs to move to . . . it’s all here in Jump Jump Everyone!

My second album is filled with many happy songs that have grown in my young learner classroom. The songs encourage children to move. Many songs link to classroom content. Children can dance like falling leaves, bloom like a spring flower, move through the butterfly life cycle . . . . you’ll find LOTS of fun and magic in this album. This is available at iTunes, Apple Music and Spotify.

A little about me . . .

Kathy Kampa is a passionate educator of young learners. She seeks to nurture children’s imaginations and spark creativity through fun and engaging activities. Kathy believes that music and movement should be a part of every young child’s learning.

Kathy and her husband, Chuck Vilina, are co-authors of Magic Time, Everybody Up, Oxford Discover, Beehive, Buzz, World Class, and Blue Dot (all published by Oxford University Press). Their latest course Blue Dot encourages students to be changemakers and take action in the world.

Kathy has taught young learners in Tokyo, Japan for over 30 years. She’s also active as a teacher trainer, inspiring teachers around the world. She has currently returned to Minnesota where she continues to teach young learners, write educational materials, and compose songs for children.

Let’s Do the Skeleton Dance

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Skeleton Dance is definitely one of my students’ favorite songs! Why should you love it, too?

Skeleton Dance is one of the first children’s songs that I wrote. And it’s certainly been requested over and over by children and teachers around the globe. I’ve taught Skeleton Dance to students in pre-kindergarten through junior high school. It was a favorite song with my online students from Ukraine. I’ve shared this song with teachers in the US, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, The Philippines, Mainland China, Indonesia, Mexico, Finland, and Turkey.

Kathy Kampa’s Skeleton Dance has been performed by many students around the world. You can watch some of my students in Japan doing the Skeleton Dance, and read the lyrics below:

Here’s how you do the Skeleton Dance:

In this song, students will move four different body parts: shoulders, elbows, knees, and feet.
First, students move their shoulders to the beat. Explore different ways of moving each of these body parts.

Move your shoulders . . .
A. Skeleton, skeleton, skeleton dance,
Move your shoulders, do the skeleton dance.
Skeleton, skeleton, skeleton dance,
Move your shoulders, do the skeleton dance.

Next, students move their whole bodies to the front, to the back, and to the side. I usually start by moving only my arms, but my students love to jump in each direction.

B. To the front, to the back, to the side, side, side,
To the front, to the back, to the side, side, side,

Next, students move their shoulders up, down, and around. Each time they repeat the song, they will move a different body part in these directions. When I teach this, I point with my finger to show the directions.

C. Put your shoulders up. Put your shoulders down.
Move them up and down and all around.
Put your shoulders up. Put your shoulders down.
Move them up and down and all around.

Finally, students move their shoulders in their own way.

D. Shoulders dance . .ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch
Shoulders dance . .ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch

This dance is repeated with the following body parts.
Before I play the music, my students and I figure out how we’ll move up, down, and around using each of these body parts.

2. Move your elbows . . .
3. Move your knees . . .
4. Move your feet . . .

You can download this song from iTunes (Track #15).

Why use this song in your class?

It teaches body parts.

It teaches directional movements.

It’s a great way to start your school day!

It’s an easy, energizing Brain Break.

It’s a perfect rainy day, get-your-wiggles-out song.!

It’s an effective activity for a health unit.

The song will stick in students’ heads.

It’s just what you need for your Halloween celebrations!

And you can invite parents to have fun dancing with their children!

The kids will ask for it again and again.

It’s so much fun!

Bonus activities

What else can you do with this song?

Reading and Writing:

If you’d like to practice reading the lyrics, check out these fabulous reading and writing activities by Yoko Oho. It’s a fun way to read the words! Click through to see all of the pages to see what Yoko created.

Skeleton_Dance_worksheet (2)Download

Coloring

Here’s a fun coloring activity from Daria. You can see skeletons for Dia Los Muertos (Day Of The Dead). Have fun coloring “calaveras.” Get these activities on Daria’s TPT page

ColortheDiaDeLosMuertosCalaveraSkullFreebie2-1 Download

Pinterest ideas: Here are some fun songs, worksheets, blogs, craft activities, games, costumes, and simple cooking ideas for Halloween.

So, grab your costumes and get ready for one of my favorite holidays.

Kathy’s songs were written especially for young learners. Each song focuses on popular classroom topics and invites children to use their imaginations. Songs also support the development of English language skills through repetition and simple melodies. Students love moving to Kathy’s songs!

Kathy is the co-author of Magic Time, Everybody Up, Oxford Discover (ELTon winner), Beehive/Buzz and Blue Dot(published by Oxford University Press). She has taught young learners in Tokyo, Japan for over 30 years. Kathy has composed educational music for Tokyo Shoseki and recorded songs for Learning World. She is active as a teacher trainer, inspiring teachers around the world. Kathy and her husband are working in Minnesota.

If you’re interested in more of Kathy’s work, check out her YouTube channel at Kathy Kampa.

Everything You Need for Halloween

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If you’re looking for easy-to-sing, easy-to-remember, fun Halloween songs for young learners, you’ve come to the right place! If you’re planning a Halloween party, you’ll find so many songs to use. I’ve been writing songs for my young learners for many years. These songs have grown in my young learner classrooms. I have taught many students over the years, so lots of students have added their ideas to make these songs exactly what you can use in your classroom.

In addition to being fun, each song boosts an English language goal, a music goal, and/or a movement goal. You’ll find lyric notes, Google slides, videos, movement notes and complementary arts activities. Just head over to iTunes to purchase the songs you like best. I hope that you’ll love them and use them for years to come! All of these songs come from my first album Kathy Kampa’s Special Days and Holidays.

Click on the link to each of the blog posts.

Skeleton Dance: Students learn about body parts and directional movements. My students ask to dance this song over and over throughout the year. Once your students learn it, use it as a “Brain Break” song. If you’re having a sports festival, get the whole school dancing to this song!!!

Trick or Treat: I created this fun song to help my Japanese students work on the sound /r/ and /l/. You hear /r/ in “trick or treat” and /l/ in Halloween. Students use functional language, I see a . . . to describe Halloween creatures. Use the Google slides to teach the characters in the song. Add your own Halloween picture cards or your own ideas to create a new version of the song.

After learning the song, we sang it the next time with our own ideas. I placed Halloween picture cards face down in a circle. Students took turns turning them over and singing about that character. You can also hang picture cards around your space.

Use this song to “trick-or-treat” with your students.

Marching Monsters: This song teaches phonemic awareness of initial sounds. It also practices locomotor and axiel movements of marching, skipping, waltzing and jumping. Use the colorful Google slides to teach the characters.

Pumpkin, Pumpkin: Autumn is a time for change, and this song surely demonstrates that! Change is a concept we teach in our young learner classrooms. Our pumpkins change size, growing from small to big. We change our body shape in this song. Pumpkins change into jack-o-lanterns. We change our faces. Our voices change from high, little voices to low, big voices.

I’m a Witch: It’s fun for young learners to use their imaginations to move like different Halloween characters. They can use different locomotor movements to move from one place to another and change the way they move (slowly/ quickly). Grab the free picture cards, too.

I’ve gathered a bunch of Halloween ideas on Pinterest, too.

Here’s my YouTube channel with some videos of my students. These songs are from my album Kathy Kampa’s Special Days and Holidays. You can grab my music on Spotify and Apple Music!

I love celebrating Halloween with my students! Throughout the entire month of October, we sing songs and use our imaginations. As a teacher of young learners, I find that songs with strong rhythm and repetition stick in students’ brains. Fun songs become well-loved. I hope that you’ll find my music a great tool for building students’ skills in language and the arts.

If you’re looking for a song about another lesson or topic, send your idea to me at magictimekids@gmail.com.

Pumpkins and Jack-o-lanterns!

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Halloween is right around the corner! Children love dressing up in costumes, trick-or-treating, and participating in all the wonderful Halloween activities teachers prepare in the classroom.

Halloween is filled with magical changes. Children put on costumes, and “change into” a princess, Spiderman, a witch, a ghost, or a character from their favorite Disney movie. We see the magical change of pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns.

The concept of change is one of the “big ideas” we teach young learners. Babies grow and change. Bean seeds planted in the soil in little paper cups grow into bean plants. Caterpillars turn into beautiful butterflies. Small pumpkins grow into big pumpkins and pumpkins turn into jack-o-lanterns!

Halloween is also a perfect time to teach new English words and the concept of change.

The song “Pumpkin, Pumpkin” is a fun Halloween song to do! The children experience change:

-from a pumpkin to a jack-o-lantern

-from small to big

-from a quiet voice to a loud voice

-from tiny, high voice to big, low voice

-from sitting to standing

To begin, make two paper pumpkins — a small one and a large one. Each of the pumpkins should have two sides — one plain side, and one side with a face (jack-o-lantern). This pattern by Shala on Pinterest is helpful. Show the students the plain side of the “small” pumpkin and say “pumpkin.” Then turn it around and say “jack-o-lantern.” Once students know these two words, put them into this simple chant:

Jack-o-Lantern Chant by Kathleen Kampa

Pumpkin, pumpkin, (turn picture around) jack-o-lantern
Pumpkin, pumpkin, (turn picture around) jack-o-lantern
Pumpkin, pumpkin, (turn picture around) jack-o-lantern
Happy Halloween!

Now you’re ready to expand upon the language and sing the song “Pumpkin, Pumpkin.”

Use this slide show to teach the song. The lyrics and ideas for movements are below:

Pumpkin, Pumpkin
(words adapted by Kathleen Kampa, music: traditional)

(Sit with students in a circle. Sing quietly.)

Pumpkin, pumpkin small and fat,
(With fingers, make the shape of a small pumpkin.)

Turn into a jack-o-lantern,
(Roll hands. Spread fingers out wide.)

Just like that!
(Tap two fingers on the palm of your hand as you say each word.)

(Sing the verse again!)

Spoken: Grow and grow and grow and grow
and grow and grow and grow and GROW!
(Slowly stand up while making a big pumpkin shape. Get louder!)

(Sing loudly.)

Pumpkin, pumpkin big and fat,
(While standing, make the shape of a big pumpkin with your whole body.)

Turn into a jack-o-lantern,
(Turn around. Jump into a big shape.)

JUST LIKE THAT!
(Clap and stamp on each word.)

(Sing the verse again!

Here’s a video of my Japanese students singing this song.

Thanks to my dear friend Setsuko Toyama for creating this pdf of the song lyrics.

“Pumpkin, Pumpkin” is one of many holiday songs featured on Kathy Kampa’s Special Days and Holidays CD available on iTunes and Apple Music. Here’s the link on Spotify. Four more Halloween songs are featured, so check out recent the blog posts.

Kathy Kampa’s Special Days and Holidays

I have numerous activities saved on my Halloween Pinterest board.

Thanks to my dear friend Setsuko Toyama for creating this pdf of the song lyrics.

Let me know how your children enjoy “Pumpkin, Pumpkin.” Happy Teaching!

Kathy

Kathy is the co-author of Magic Time, Everybody Up, Oxford Discover (ELTon winner), and Beehive (published by Oxford University Press). She has been teaching young learners in Tokyo, Japan for over 30 years. Kathy has composed educational music for Tokyo Shoseki and recorded songs for Learning World. She is active as a teacher trainer, inspiring teachers around the world. Kathy and her husband have currently returned to her home state of Minnesota in the US.

If you’re interested in more of Kathy’s work, check out her YouTube channel at Kathy Kampa and subscribe to this blog at magictimekids.com. Her second album, Jump Jump Everyone, is available on iTunes and Apple Music.

Just in case you didn’t find enough goodies here, check out this video of Kathy teaching her Japanese students the song “Pumpkin, Pumpkin” without the recording. Enjoy!