Submitted by Christopher L. Saraga, Rancho Palos Verdes, California

Idea posted June 17, 2008

I wrote a little song to go with "The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything". After each section of story (about two pages before where the scarecrow is introduced), the kids sing the song:
"The woman kept on walking. She had no fear at all."
(ti/titi titi titi rest ti/titi titi ta rest)
(E/EE GG AA [r] B/BB AG E [r])

The 2nd and 3rd graders learned the song and sang it as directed.

The 4th graders learned the song to sing (first) and also play on their recorders (second). I found that it was helpful to reinforce the low E and the up and down movement of E to B and vice versa - a mini etude if you will.

The 5th graders (yes, even the 5th graders) liked the story (some of them remembered it read to them when they were younger.) They sang the song with ease and played it with ease. Some boys began to improvise on the drum as we played and it worked!