Submitted by Maryanne J. Kane, Upper Darby School District

Idea posted September 23, 2013

To integrate my music classes with our social studies classes, I created/taught the following chants:

SECOND GRADE

I need to ask, can you answer me?
Just what is a community?
A place to live and work and play
See friends and neighbors everyday
A place to solve problems, work things out
A place for peace without a doubt.

I need to ask, can you answer me?
Just who works in a community?
Firemen, mailmen, policemen too.
Pastor, teachers, me and you.
Some clean streets. Others own a store.
Some build a house. Others shop galore!

THIRD GRADE

Where in the world is our community?
Looking from space it's hard to see.
We'll need a map, a visual tool.
It will guide us safe right back to school.
Start with earth. It is a sphere.
Cut it in half. It's a hemisphere.
Now draw a line across the sphere.
And, what is that? The equator, dear!
Prime meridian - another line -
divides the sphere a second time.
North and South and East and West.
Study now to pass the test.

FOURTH GRADE

What do the four social sciences do?
They answer questions about me and you!
Why do people behave the way they do?
A look at history might give us a clue.
Why do people spend the way they do?
Economics might tell us a thing or two.
Why do people vote the way they do?
Political Science might explain people's view.
Finally, Geography, the study of Earth,
describes the land and what it's worth.
What can the four social sciences do?
They can solve problems to help me and you.