The Provinces Of Canada

by Karl Hitzemann

Can you name all of the Canadian provinces in order from west to east? It's fun! And it's nice to know a bit about the geography of our good neighbors to the north. We've always found that a great way to remember things like this is to use a mnemonic device. So, we came up with one for the 10 Canadian provinces. It goes like this:

Billy And Sally Made Omelets, Quipping Neither Person Needed Noodles.

The beginning of each word, of course, is the first letter of the corresponding province: British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador. (The last two are combined.)

Throughout the course of the song, your singers will get to sing this phrase several times to help them remember it. In the middle section of the song, they will actually sing the name of each province from west to east. It's a great way to remember all 10! You'll probably notice that several times Canada's national anthem is referenced. In particular, the opening line, "O Canada." It's another way to honor our northern friends.

Also, you may be interested to know that Paul Jennings did a marvelous arrangement of "O Canada!" It's available in Music K-8, Vol. 13, No. 1 and as a Downloadable Singles Reproducible Kit on our web site.

Text is taken from Music K-8 magazine.