Rockin' Reading Songs TM Activities and Teaching ... - Jack Hartmann

Rockin’ Reading Songs TM 

By Jack Hartmann, MA, BMI 

All words & music copyright 2010 Jack Hartmann 

Activities and Teaching Tips 

1. Good Day 

Skills – social skills, caring for others, positive attitude 

Use this interactive upbeat song to help start the day. 

Children can get together with one partner or more. As I 

name the different parts of the body children touch and 

connect that part of their body with their friend/friends. For 

example – “Let your hand wish a good day to a friends – good 

day, good day” Children sing the words good day (2x ) and 

touch each other’s hands; give each other a high five, or any 

move where they connect hands. For each body part I sing the 

children touch that body part with one or more friends. When I 

say “fist” they give each other a gentle fist pump (touching 

each other’s fists). Actually, when our family visited Jamaica 

giving fists pumps were the traditional/ common way of 

greeting each other. 

On the Chorus; It’s a good day for building a bridge … 

On bridge – reach up & out & touch two or more hands 

to connect with a friend 

On dancing together … Hold hands with a friends & 

dance 

On exercise… hold hands & walk together 

On hug… children and teachers can share a gentle 

hug with someone. Continue with touching and 

connecting with your friends 

Repeat Chorus and movements 

This is a great song to start the day and build friendly 

touching connections. 

Words and Music by Jack Hartmann, copyright 2009-2010 Jack Hartmann 

www.jackhartmann.com

Good Day 

Everybody get together with a friend, and wish each other a good 

day! 

Let your Hand wish a good day to a friend 

Good day, good day 

Let your Arm wish a good day to a friend 


Let your Knee wish a good day to a friend 


Let your Hip wish a good day to a friend 


It’s a good day for building a bridge 

Between you and me see we can be friends 

It’s a good day for dancing together 

Singing and dancing, together is better 

Chorus 

It’s a good day to exercise 

Walking with a friend builds your body and mind 

It’s a good day for giving a hug 

So let somebody know you care and share a little love 

Share a little love 

Let your Fist wish a good day to a friend 


Let your Elbow wish a good day to a friend 


Let your Back wish a good day to a friend 


Let your Smile wish a good day to a friend 


(Repeat Chorus) 

It’s a good day; It’s a good, good day! 

1. 



2. Exercising Alphabet – 

Skills – Alphabet awareness, fitness & exercise 

I am a strong believer in the importance of daily exercise for 

both body and mind development. Studies indicate our children 

need to move and exercise much more than they are doing now 

(search the internet with searches such as: childhood obesity, 

fitness for kids, health & fitness for children, & others). 

Singing Exercising Alphabet is a great way to practice learning 

the sequence of the alphabet letters as they move their body and 

stretch pump, reach up high, crossover & hip–hop dance. The 

children follow my suggested movements, sing and move their 

body and groove to this cool beat. 



Exercising Alphabet 

Get your arms ready, pump up high 

Get your legs ready, lift left and right 

Get your brain ready, criss cross, criss cross 

Chorus 

Get ready, get ready, get ready, get set 

Do the Exercising Alphabet 

Take a chance monkey dance 

a b c d e f g h I j k l m n o p 

Move your hips do the twist 

q r s t u v w x y z 

Exercising every day builds your body and your brain 


Don’t you stop, bunny hop 

a b c d e f g h I j k l m n o p 

Right and left hip hop your best 

q r s t u v w x y z 

Exercising every day builds your body and your brain 


Do the Exercising alphabet 

2. 



3. Act Out the Alphabet 

Skills – Letter sounds, listening, creative body movement & 

exercise 

I wrote this acting/ movement, letter sound song to try to make 

learning the letter sounds more fun & creative. Children can move 

to all the action words (move your body like a monster, chomp like 

a shark, take a bow). As children say the letter sounds they can 

act out the word or animal (a says a, a alligator - chomp like a 

gator, for b- bounce, for c – shiver & act like you’re cold; and 

continue with all the letters). 

We always try very hard to say the letter sounds very clearly and 

accurately. Note – we say the letter & sound first and then the 

word so the children can more easily hear the letter sound with a 

word that has that sound at the beginning. 

I love good beats, so I hope the children love the fun beat on this 

letter sound song. 



Act Out The Alphabet 

Move your body like a monster 

Chomp your arms like a shark 

Pump it up like a body builder 

Take a bow like you’re a star 

Here’s your chance to be an actor 

Do your best 

Act out the alphabet! 

A says a a alligator, alligator 

B says b b bounce, bounce 

C says c c cold, cold 

D says d d dive, dive 

E says e e exercise, exercise 

F says f f fishing, fishing 

G says g g gooey, gooey 

H says h h hula, hula 

Act out more words 

I says i i insect, insect 

J says j j jiggle, jiggle 

K says k k karate, karate 

L says l l laugh, laugh 

M says m m march, march 

N says n n nod, nod 

O says o o opera, opera 

P says p p pull, pull 

Let’s have more fun 

Q says q q quiet, quiet 

R says r r run, run 

S says s s surf, surf 

T says t t tickle, tickle 

U says u u under, under 

V says v v vibrate, vibrate 

W says w w wag, wag 

X says x x like in box, like in box 

Y says y y yawn, yawn 

Z says z z zig-zag, zig-zag 

Today we’ve had some fun acting - you did your best to act out the alphabet! 

3. 



4. Vowel Sound Hound Dogs ( middle sounds ) 

Skills – Vowel sounds, movement/ exercise 

I hope children will love to learn the vowels with the Vowel 

Sound Hound Dogs. Children can bark & howl with the song and 

then repeat the vowel sound and word. Version 1 includes the 

vowel sound in the middle of the word (beg for a bone; /e/ /e/ /e/ 

beg). Version 2 includes the vowel sound at the beginning of the 

word (/a/ /a/ /a/ Africa) Children use their hands, arms & legs to 

follow the fun movements of the hounds (wag, beg, dig, flop, 

jump) and say the short vowel sounds. 

I wrote this song with the help of my wife, Lisa, who was a 

kindergarten teacher for fifteen years. We had fun writing it; have 

lots of fun singing with it with your children. 

You could find some Bassett hound photos, puppets and use 

these visuals of the hound dogs as you sing this song. 

Aaooooooo! 



Vowel Sound Hound Dogs 

A - E - I - O - U - ahoooo 


Here come the Vowel Sound, woof, woof, Hound Dogs - ahoooo 

They love to learn every day 


They say their vowels this way 

They say the short (a) sound as they wag their tails 

They go a - a - a wag 

They go a - a - a wag 

They say the short (e) sound as they beg for a bone 

They go e - e - e beg 

They go e - e - e beg 

They say the short (i) sound as they dig in the dirt 

They go i - i - i dig 

They go i - i - i dig 

They say the short (o) sound as they flop their ears 

They go o - o - o flop 

They go o - o - o flop 

They say the short (u) sound as they play and jump 

They go u - u - u jump 

They go u - u - u jump 







4. 



5. Clap, Stomp & Chomp ( the Syllable Song ) 

Skills – Listening, syllabication (parts in words) 

Awareness & body movement 

Three different movements are incorporated into this fun song 

as children listen for the parts of words (syllables) and make their 

body move. Syllabication is a very important language skill for 

reading, writing and spelling. 



Clap, Stomp and Chomp 

(Syllable Song) 

Make your hands Clap, Clap, Clap 

Make your feet Stomp, Stomp, Stomp Chorus 

Make your arms Chomp, Chomp, Chomp 

Now listen carefully 

Everybody follow me and Move, Move, Move to the syllables in 

words 

Let’s clap! 

Class - room 

Mon - key 

Yel - low 

Dog 

Sat – ur - day 

Rain - bow 


Let’s stomp! 

Com – pu - ter 

Food 

Pig 

Ap - ple 

Prin – ci - pal 

Foot - ball 

Let’s chomp! 

Di – no - saur 

Rain 

Sun - shine 

Go – ril - la 

Mon - ster 

Bi – cy – cle 


It’s Fun! 

5. 



6. Silly Rock Star Song 

Skills - Comprehension, listening, recalling auditory sequences 

I wrote this song at the end of this project, but is one of my 

favorites. I hope the children enjoy it and that it challenges them 

to remember all the characters and their sequence. Be creative & 

make up fun movements for each character with the song (sound) 

they make. For example; on rock, rock, roll, roll, boom, boom, on 

rock children can act like they are rocking out playing the guitar. 

On roll children can roll both their arms over & over. On boom, 

boom they can give two big claps. On the cheerleaders chant 

children can clap hands, stomp their feet and raise both arms up 

high to say, “Our school can’t be beat”! On chicken they can flap 

their arms like wings & “buck –buck”, like a chicken. Have fun and 

do all kinds of silly movements. 

After moving to the song you can discuss all the characters, 

what they said and their sequence. There is a message of diversity 

at the end of the song that all these different people, animals got 

together & made a new band. 

Children could also draw pictures of the characters to enhance 

the visual & artistic elements. 



Silly Rock Star Song 

Once there was a rock star who sang a rock song 

Along came a rapper who sang a different song 

You’d hear Rock, Rock, Roll, Roll, Boom, Boom 

Yo, Yo, Yo, hey dog that sounds pretty cool 


Along came cheerleaders who sang a different song 


Clap your hands, stomp your feet, our school can’t be beat 



Along came a cowboy who sang a different song 


Yippee I Yay, Yippee I Yoh 




Along came an astronaut who sang a different song 


3 - 2 - 1 Blastoff! 





Along came a chicken who sang a different song 


Buck, buck, buck, buck, buck 






Along came a princess who sang a different song 


Do the Egyptian, dance, dance 









Along came a pirate who sang a different song 


Yo Ho, Yo Ho, Arghhh 

Do the Egyptian, dance, dance 






They all gave a high five and said respect, man 

Let’s get together and make a new band 

6. 



7. Digraph Dance 

Skills – letter sounds, listening, digraphs movement 

Learning how the sounds change in the digraphs can be very 

challenging for young children. I wrote this song to try & make the 

learning more fun as the children move & do different dances. It’s 

just like Dancing With the Stars but we are dancing with the 

digraphs. 

As children follow the song, they can say out loud with me the 

sound of the isolated letters. C makes its own sound /c/. H makes 

its own sound./h/. When they work together they make a new 

sound /ch/. Students can say the word cha, cha, cha and do the 

dance together. 

There are 4 Digraph Dances, The ch is the Cha, Cha, Cha dance. 

The sh is the Shake. For the th sound the children can thump like 

a country stomp. For the /wh/ sound children can say what 

(“What” is a common hip-hop phrase and they can do a hip-hop 

dance move). 

You may want to have visual aids showing the different 

digraphs. 



Digraph Dance 

Let me introduce you to the digraph letters. 

They’re ready to dance, you dance too! 

Do the Digraph Dance Cha, cha, cha, cha, cha, cha 

The Digraph Dance Shake, shake Chorus 

Digraph Dance What? What? 

The Digraph Dance Thump, thump 

Heeere’s C, it makes it’s own sound C C 

Heeere’s H, it makes it’s own sound H H 

When they dance together they really groove 

They make a new sound ch and here’s the dance that they do 

Ch ch - Cha cha cha, cha cha cha 

Ch ch - Cha cha cha, cha cha cha 

Heeere’s S, it makes it’s own sound S S 



They make a new sound sh here’s the dance that they do 

Sh sh - shake, shake 

Sh sh - shake, shake 


Heeere’s W, it makes it’s own sound W W 



They make a new sound wh here’s the dance that they do 

Wh Wh – what, what 

Wh Wh – what, what 

Heeere’s T, it makes it’s own sound T T 



They make a new sound th here’s the dance that they do 

Th Th – thump, thump 

Th Th - thump, thump 


The Digraph Dance 7. 



8. Onomatopoeia Alphabet 

Skills- Letter sounds, awareness of onomatopoeia sounds, 

creative movements 

Onomatopoeia is a big word for a very simple and fun way to 

help make reading and writing exciting. I decided to write this 

song to help make learning letter sounds more exciting. 

Have the class be creative and come up with different moves to 

demonstrate these sounds. For zoom the children can roll their 

arms like the fast wheels on a race car. For Kaboom students 

shoot their arms up and out like a fireworks going off. Have fun 

and let your imagination help create the Onomatopoeia Alphabet 

movements. 



Onomatopoeia Alphabet 

Zoom, Zoom, Zoom, Kaboom 

Do the Onomatopoeia Alphabet Chorus 

Boo, boo, boo, choo, choo 

Onomatopoeia Alphabet 

Say the letter, say its sound, then say a word that makes a sound 

Move, move, move girls and boys, 

Move, move, move to the words that make noise 

Onomatopoeia 

A says a achoo, achoo 

B says b boing, boing 

C says c caw, caw 

D says d ding-dong 

E says e eck, eck 

F says f fizzle, fizzle 

G says g gobble, gobble 

H says h ho, ho, ho 


I says i itch, itch 

J says j jingle, jingle 

K says k kapow, kapow 

L says l lick, lick 

M says m munch, munch 

N says n neigh, neigh 

O says o ooga, ooga 

P says p ping, ping 


Q says q quack, quack 

R says r ruff, ruff 

S says s soowee, soowee 

T says t toot, toot 

U says u ugh, ugh 

V says v vroom, vroom 

W says s whoosh,whoosh 

X says x xing, xing 

Y says y yeehaw, yeehaw 

Z says z zap, zap 

(Repeat Chorus) 8. 



9. Reading Rocks 

Skills- Motivating children to read, literature appreciation, recall 

auditory sequences 

I wrote this song to inspire children to believe reading is 

cool. This song can be used a springboard for students to 

discuss their favorite reading subjects and find out about other 

students’ interests. Make a list of many everyday activities 

where reading is essential (store names, computer, news, 

signs, etc). 

Children can follow our children’s singers & echo the call & 

response lines. First and second graders can try to write some 

other action lines that summarize key parts of popular stories. 

Reading is cool – rock out and sing this reading anthem. 



Reading Rocks 

Let’s rock it out for reading!! 

Stand up, clap your hands - celebrate, reading everywhere 

Rock out, play your guitar - rock out, reading makes you a star! 

Rock out, reading makes you a star! 

Reading Rocks - Reading Rocks Chorus 

Reading Rocks - Reading Rocks 

Reading is cool – everyone sing and move! After me. 

Swish in the sea with a rainbow fish (children repeat all verses) 

Stomp to my school with a dinosaur 

Spray water from your big red fire truck 

Jump with a cow right over the moon 

See so many things - dream so many dreams 


Run real fast with the Gingerbread Man 

Spin as you dance like a prince or princess 

Stand proud and march for America 

Rock like a star in a rock n’ roll band 

See so many things - dream so many dreams 


Rock with your arms left to right 

Rock with your hands top to bottom 

Rock with body, front to back 

It’s cool to read 

Stand up, clap your hands - celebrate, reading everywhere 

Rock out, play your guitar - rock out, reading makes you a star! 

Rock out, reading makes you a star! 


9. 



10. Exercise to the Beginning Letter Sounds 

Skills – Beginning letter sounds, auditory discrimination, fitness, exercise 

I designed this song to combine both developing awareness of beginning 

sounds and exercise. I believe our children need so much more physical 

activity than they are getting now. Music can be a powerful tool to motivate 

children to learn and move. 

Children follow the exercise instructions, listen carefully and do the 

physical movement when the word starts with the letter I state, and then 

“freeze”, when the exercise word starts with a different letter. 

You can also use some visuals to enhance learning. 

I hope the children like the cool Black Eyed Peas type of beat – it’s cool. 



Exercise to the Beginning Letter Sounds 

Pump your arms up 

Lift your knees high Chorus 

Exercise now, to the beginning letter sounds 

If I say an exercise that begins with the letter S 

You do that exercise with me 

If I say an exercise that begins with another letter 

You stand like a statue and freeze 

Stretch, stretch, stretch, stretch 

Swim, swim, swim, swim 

Bend, bend, bend, bend 

Squat, squat, squat, squat 

If I say an exercise that begins with the letter R 




Reach, reach, reach, reach 

Twist, twist, twist, twist 

Run, run, run, run 

Roll, roll, 

Hop, hop 


If I say an exercise that begins with the letter P 




Pump, pump, pump, pump 

Jump, jump, jump, jump 

Push, push, push, push 

Curl, curl, curl, curl 




10. 



11. Exercise When We Rhyme 

Skills – Rhyming, listening, exercise 

Children follow all the exercise directions: lift those legs, pump 

up those arms. Listen for words that rhyme and when they do 

follow the exercise direction. When the words don’t rhyme – 

just freeze, don’t move a muscle. 

This great rhythm & beat should get everyone having fun 

exercising and becoming more aware of hearing those ending 

sounds in words that make them rhyme. 

Many studies have shown that exercising improves brain 

functioning and ability to do better work at school. 



Exercise When We Rhyme 

Everybody let’s move and groove and exercise when we rhyme 

Get your heart pumping 

Get your legs running Chorus 

Get your brain jumping 

Exercise when we rhyme 

If I say two words that rhyme do this each time 

Say those words rhyme and jog in place 

If I say two words that don’t rhyme you stop every time 

Say those words don’t rhyme and freeze 

Car - Star 

Bee - Tree 

Pig - Horse 

Pig - Dig 


Say those words rhyme, clap side to side 

If I say two words that don’t rhyme you stop every time 

Say those words don’t rhyme and freeze 

Can -Van 

Can - Cat 

Cat - Bat 

Silly - Truck 



Say those words rhyme and do scissors 

If I say two words that don’t rhyme 

You stop every time say those words don’t rhyme and freeze 

Zoo - Boo 

Yellow - Jello 

Toy - Boy 

Boy - Girl 


C’mon, exercise when we rhyme 

11. 



12. Rock Out Tooty Ta 

Skills – Listening, Recall auditory sequences, body 

movement, 

This is a fun rock and roll version of one of my old 

favorites. This song adds on a new movement for each 

verse. Students have to remember and act out the 

correct sequence when adding on a new movement. 

For a fun innovation, change the beginning sounds in 

Tooty Ta and sing the song with different onset sounds. 

Some fun innovations could be; Looty La, Mooty Ma, 

Hooty Ha. Use digraph sounds to change Tooty Ta to 

Chooty Cha, Shooty Sha etc. 

Children, of course, love this song. We now have four 

different versions: this new one is –1. Rock. We have a 

2. Hip – Hop Tooty Ta with a fun, cool hip- hop beat. We 

also have a 3. Latin Reggaeton version & a 4.Latin 

version in Spanish 

This song is great for just having fun too; getting the 

wiggles out or use as a reward. We hope the children will 

really like this version with some great rock guitars & 

drums. 



Rock Out Tooty Ta 

A tooty ta a tooty ta a tooty ta-ta Chorus 

A tooty ta a tooty ta a tooty ta-ta 

Thumbs up 


Thumbs up, elbows back 


Thumbs up, elbows back, feet apart 


Thumbs up, elbows back, feet apart, knees together 



bottoms up 



bottoms up, tongue out 



bottoms up, tongue out, eyes shut 



bottoms up, tongue out, eyes shut, turn around 


12. 



13. Reading Question Song 

Skills - Elements of Print, Fluency, Punctuation, Auditory 

Discrimination 

In this interactive movement song students will have to 

distinguish if the line I sing is right or wrong. 

If the information I give students is correct they stand, if it’s 

incorrect they will sit. Children have to listen carefully & determine 

if I’m right or wrong. After singing and moving to the song, 

discuss the correct & incorrect verses and the reasons why they 

were right or wrong. Have students make up their own versions of 

the song using other reading rules, strategies and reading skills 



Reading Question Song 

Stand up if I’m right 

Sit down if I’m wrong 

Now show and tell me right or wrong Chorus 

In this reading question song 

When you read you go top to bottom, stand up 

When you read you go left to right, stand up 

When you read you go back to front, sit down 

A capital letter starts every sentence, stand up, stand up! 


When you read you stop at a period, stand up 

When you read you pause at a comma, stand up 

An explanation point means read quietly, sit down 

An explanation point means get excited, stand up, stand up! 


A question mark means you’re going fishing, sit down 

A question mark means asking a question, stand up 

Fiction books tell a make believe story, stand up 

Non-fiction books give real information, stand up, stand up, yeah! 


Show and tell me now right or wrong in this reading question song! 

Yeah! 

13. 



14. New Hokey Pokey Dance 

Skills – Right & left awareness, following directions, 

Body movement 

The Hokey Pokey has been around for some time and children 

love it. I tried to make this version have a great beat to make it 

more fun and exciting. Children follow all the movements and get 

some practice with actively identifying left and right. The beat is a 

cool hip – hop pop dance beat and then we go into a faster verse 

and then a slow motion verse. Then we go to some new 

movements to complete the song. Do the New Hokey Pokey 

Dance! 



New Hokey Pokey Dance 

Music and Song adapted by Jack Hartmann 

Jack Hartmann in the house 

I’ve got the beat, do the new Hokey Pokey, Dance with me 

Jump forward, jump back Chorus 

Get your groove right on the track 

Clap, clap boys and girls Hokey Pokey round the world 

Put your right arm in you put your right arm out 

Put your right arm in and then you shake it all about 

You do the Hokey Pokey, you turn yourself around 

That’s what it’s all about 

You put your left arm in you put your left arm out 

You put your left arm in and then you shake it all about 



You put your right leg in you put your right leg out 

Put your right leg in and then you shake it all about 



You put your left leg in you put your left leg out 

You put your left leg in and then you shake it all about 




Now put your right hip in you put your right hip out 

Put your right hip in and then you shake it all about 



You put your left hip in you put your left hip out 

You put your left hip in and then you shake it all about 



Now put your whole self in you put your whole self out 

Put your whole self in and then you shake it all about 



Put your whole self in you put your whole self out 

Put your whole self in and you shake it all about 



Slide left slide right 

Let the beat take you up high 

Clap hands with a friend 

Hokey Pokey never ends 

14. 



15. Compound Word Workout 

Skills – Compound word awareness, fluency, body movement 

Start moving & grooving to this hip beat. When I sing – “Take 

one word”, move right arm/fist far out to the right. When I say – 

“and another word”, move left arm/fist far out to the left. On “put 

them together”, bring both hands/arms together to the center. On 

“that’s two words”, move both arms out right & left and touch back 

to the center over & over again like an exercise. 

Follow the actions in the song – reach up high or bend down 

low. Children listen if the words make sense and reach up or bend 

way down. Visuals with a Smartboard or white board showing the 

words would enhance learning. 

After the song, everyone can think of other word combinations 

that make a real word or two words when put together just are 

silly & don’t make sense. Make up some really silly combinations. 



Compound Word Workout 

Take one word and another word 

Put them together to make a new word 

Chorus 

That’s two words that make a new word 

A compound word 

When I put two words together and the new word makes sense 

Reach both hands to the sky together with your friends 

When I put two words together and the new word doesn’t make 

sense 

Reach both hands to the ground together with your friends 

Let’s Go! 

School bus schoolbus 

Foot ball football 

Foot bus foot bus 

Tooth paste toothpaste 


Let’s do some more words 

Spider man spiderman 

Snake cake snakecake 

Rattle snake rattlesnake 

Spider paste spiderpaste 


A Compound Word 

15. 



16. Follow the Leader 

Skills – Exercise & movement, syllables, Phonological awareness 

with ending sounds 

Feel this strong beat and get up and move. It’s exercise, hearing 

the ending sound (ing) & hearing the syllables all in one. Start the 

song pumping your hands up high and lifting your knees. 

When I leave a blank - “the exercise leader is … the teacher 

selects a child to lead the movements and says his/ her name out 

loud. Everyone can clap & give them a hand. The selected child 

leads the class as I sing the action words in syllables. The whole 

class can sing out the words in syllables too. (Just for fun I go to a 

sports store, get a sweatband, and put it on anytime I’m doing an 

exercise song) 

Then, select another child when I sing – the exercise leader is 

…call out their name and have fun exercising together and 

singing the syllables and ing ending. 



Follow the Leader 

Everybody get up 

All together let’s exercise Chorus 

Do the best that you can 

Feel good c’mon really try 

Now follow the leader 

The exercise leader is: 

Say an action word that ends with I N G - ing 

Then say it slowly in syllables 

Sing and move just like me 

Walk-ing, walk-ing, walk-ing, walk-ing 

Run-ning, run-ning, run-ning, run-ning 

March-ing, march-ing, march-ing, march-ing 

Twist-ing, twist-ing, twist-ing, twist-ing 


The new exercise leader is: 

Hop-ping, hop-ping, hop-ping, hop-ping 

Swim-ming, swim-ming, swim-ming, swim-ming 

Pul-ling, pul-ling, pul-ling, pul-ling 

Surf-ing, surf-ing, surf-ing, surf-ing 



The new exercise leader is: 

Reach-ing, reach-ing, reach-ing, reach-ing 

Bend-ing, bend-ing, bend-ing, bend-ing 

Lift-ing, lift-ing, lift-ing, lift-ing 

Stretch-ing, stretch-ing, stretch-ing, stretch-ing 

Everybody get up – All together let’s exercise 

16. 



17. Leroy the Letter Eating Lion 

Skills – Phonological awareness, beginning letter sounds 

Leroy loves to eat letters then eat foods that begin with those 

letters in this cool African jungle song. My talented music buddy, 

Will Duncan, with his great bass voice sings this song. I wrote the 

song, but thought Will would be a better lion than me, and he was! 

Try to use a lion puppet or hat as you do the song with your 

children. Use a Smartboard or white board to show the words and 

foods Leroy is eating. Everyone can think of other foods that 

begin with the selected letter. 



Leroy the Letter Eating Lion 

I’m Leroy the Letter Eating Lion 

I prowl to get letters anywhere I can find them 

Chorus 

I gobble them up and here’s what I do 

I eat foods that start with the letter I choose 

I choose letter a, yum, yum, yum 

Letter a says a then I gobble it up 

A - apple 

A - apricot 

A - asparagus 

They taste so good 

Then I choose letter b, munch, munch, munch 

Letter b says b then I gobble it up 

B - bananas 

B - beans 

B - broccoli 


Then I choose letter c, crunch, crunch, crunch 

Letter c says c then I gobble it up 

C - carrots 

C - cauliflower 

C - cucumbers 



I’m Leroy the letter eating lion 

I love to eat letters, I love to eat words 

17. 



18. Rules of Reading 

Skills – Reading strategies, fluency 

Children can clap hands when the music stops quickly after – 

“These Are the Rules – clap, These Are the Rules – clap”, then 

clap to the beat. Children echo the reading rules I sing to reinforce 

the rules. Everyone can think of other reading rules and important 

skills to remember when reading. 



Rules of Reading 

These are the Rules 



Of Reading 





These are the rules, sing after me 

Always read from left to right 

Read each page from top to bottom 

Read your book from front to back 

Pay attention to punctuation 









Here are more rules, sing after me 

Keep a good pace you don’t have to race 

Reading should flow don’t go too slow 

Always read with good expression 

At home or school reading is cool 

These are the rules 








18. 



19. Let Your Body Be a Punctuation Mark 

Skills – Fluency, punctuation practice, body movement 

I love this Caribbean rhythm. I wrote this one to help make 

learning punctuation fun with involvement of the whole body. 

Follow my movements that I describe in the song. Use visuals to 

show your children the actual punctuations. Then make those 

marks with your whole body. At the end of the song I give 

everyone a chance to practice making the proper choice and 

make the marks together with their whole body. Note: on the last 

sentence there’s punctuation missing. Have the class guess what 

it is & put the punctuation in the right place 

Once they better understand how to use punctuations & can do 

the positions, make up many other sentences and - Let Your 

Body Be a Punctuation Mark. 



Let Your Body Be a Punctuation Mark 

Everybody move with me, get ready to start Chorus 

You can let your body be a punctuation mark 

Let your body be a period 

Spread your feet, both hands out front 

Fingers locked, make a little dot 

Put a period at the end of a sentence 

That makes a statement 

Let your body be a question mark 

Turn to the left, legs together and straight 

Curve both arms over a little way 

Jump for the dot in a question mark 

When a sentence asks a question 

Let your body be an exclamation point 

Both hands together, way up high 

Make your body be a straight line 

Jump for the dot - explanation point 

When a sentence shows excitement 

Let your body be a comma 

Both forearms together, fingers locked 

Bring both hands to the left at the top 

Put a comma, when there’s a little pause, in a sentence 

I’ll say a sentence and you punctuate 

Lions live in the jungle. Period 

Do you like chocolate ice cream? Question Mark 

Wow, that truck is awesome! Exclamation Point 

My favorite colors are red, Comma yellow and blue 


19. 



20. Party Down On the Farm 

Skills – Recalling auditory sequences, body movement, 

This Hip – Hop country song encourages children to listen 

carefully to the words/sounds I make and repeat exactly what I 

say. It’s a valuable tool to help practice listening skills and 

repeating auditory sounds. I hope your children have lots of fun 

with this. We had fun making it. 

Get some country hats, shirts, jeans; whatever you can to get 

into that country hip – hop feel. Clap, stomp, sway and do - si – 

do. Follow the movements I sing – pigs are rolling, cows are 

swaying, ducks are flapping, etc as they repeat the sounds 

Follow up with saying different language sounds; ch, sh, th, oo, 

or other sounds and have the children listen carefully and repeat 

the sounds. 



Party Down on the Farm 

Let’s all go down to the farm 

And see what those animals are up to 

There’s a party going down on the farm 

All the animals are clapping and stomping along Chorus 

C’mon join the party 

Here’s what you do, you move and sing like the animals do 

Now everybody, let’s go! 

The pigs are rolling, rolling, rolling and going 

Oink, oinkey doink, oink, oink 

Oink, oinkey doink, oink, oink 

The cows are swaying, swaying, swaying and saying 

Moo, moo, moo, moo dedoo 

Moo, moo, moo, moo dedoo 

The ducks are flapping, flapping, flapping and rapping 

Quack, quack, yo, quack, quack 

Quack, quack, yo, quack, quack 

The sheep are grooving, grooving, grooving and doing 

Baa, baa, babaloo, babaloo 

Baa, baa, babaloo, babaloo 


This is fun, let’s do some more 

The roosters are strutting, strutting and crowing 

Cock a doodle doo, acock a doodle dee 

Cock a doodle doo, acock a doodle dee 

The horses are clopping, clopping and bopping 

Nay, na, na, na, nay nay 

Nay, na, na, na, nay nay 

They’re rolling, they’re swaying, they’re flapping 

Dance with the animals 

They’re grooving, they’re strutting, they’re clopping, this party’s cool 

There’s a party, going down on the farm 

20. 



21. Pay Attention to Punctuation 

Skills – Fluency, punctuation strategies 

I wrote this one a little like the old Ghostbusters Theme Song 

where it says, “Who ya gonna call?? Ghostbusters!” My song’s 

melody & message is totally different, but it does say – “What Are 

You Going to Do??” My wife, Lisa, is the teacher giving the 

answers in the first verse. The second verse is left blank for your 

children to remember what Lisa said, and then repeat it all on 

their own. Show visuals of the different punctuation marks as the 

song mentions them. 



Pay Attention to Punctuation 

When you read and when you write 

You’ve got to pay attention, to punctuation 

When you read a sentence and you see a comma, 

What are you gonna do? Pause, then read on 

When you read a sentence and you see a period 

What are you gonna do? Stop, read on 

When you read a sentence and you see an exclamation point 

What are you gonna do? Use strong emotion 

When you read a sentence and you see a question mark 

What are you gonna do? Your voice goes up? 

Punctuation, helps you read helps you write 

Punctuation, as you go left to right 

Bridge 

Punctuation, it’s something that you need, so pay attention 

When you write and read 

When you read a sentence and you see a comma, 

What are you gonna do? (children answer) 

When you read a sentence and you see a period 


When you read a sentence and you see an exclamation point 


When you read a sentence and you see a question mark 


(Repeat Bridge) 

Pay attention to punctuation! Pay attention to punctuation! 

Yeah! 

21. 



22. Peanut the Pig 

Skills - Letter P practice, sequencing, body movement 

Develop letter P awareness with this fun country dance song. 

Get country again with country hats, jeans, boots, etc. Follow all 

the action words; rolls (roll hands over each other), wiggles his 

ears (put hands above your head like big doggy ears and flip flop/ 

wiggle back and forth), jiggles his tail (shake & jiggle your 

bottom), jump up, turn around. 

Then for the chorus: He goes Monkey, Monkey, Egyptian, Cha, 

cha, cha, chicken … do all the dance moves ! 

After doing dances have children think of many other words that 

start with the letter P. And, whose name has the letter P in it? Let 

the Peanut the Pig song kick off lots of letter P activities. 



Peanut the Pig 

Little piggy nose…Cute piggy tail…Pink… 

He’s a pig, but he can dance! 

I’ve got a pink pet pig 

And his name is Peanut 

He rolls and plays every day in the mud Chorus 

He wiggles his ears 

He jiggles his tail 

Then he jumps up turns around and does a little dance 

You should see him go 

He goes monkey, monkey, Egyptian 

Cha, cha, cha, cha, cha, cha, chicken, chicken 

Slide, slide, stomp, stomp, stomp 

Boogie, woogie, pop, hip-hop Bridge 

I clap my hands when Peanut’s done 

I say Peanut the Pig you’re so much fun 

Mmmm, yeah…Let’s do it again 

(Bridge) 

Bring it on back again 

(Chorus) 

Look at him now, here he goes again 

(Bridge) 

Peanut the Pig, you’re so much fun! 

Man, that pig can dance! 

22. 



23. Punctuation Power 

Skills – Fluency, punctuation awareness 

Get your Hip –Hop and rap outfits out for this one. Children can 

sing & rap along, even do some Hip – Hop dance moves too. 

When the deep voice says the punctuation marks – Period, 

Question Mark … the children can call those out loud as teachers 

show them the actual signs. Children can also do some cool Hip – 

Hop moves every time I say Power – Punctuation Power! 



Punctuation Power 

When you read and write, you’ve got all kinds of power 

I’ve got punctuation power Period 

Punctuation power Question Mark 

Punctuation power Exclamation Point Chorus 

Punctuation power Comma 

I use the power to read and write 

I punctuate to get it right 

Punctuations are just like signs 

That you follow when you read each time 

They guide you and show you what to do 

Pause, stop and show the meaning, too - check it out! 

A period’s used to make a full stop 

After a statement you put a dot 

Power! Punctuation Power! 

A question mark’s used to get information 

When you’re wondering about something 


An exclamation point is used to show strong emotion 

Like when something is cool or awesome 


A comma’s used to make a short pause 

Then let it flow and just move on 

Power! Punctuation Power! Let’s Go! 


Punctuations are just like signs 

That you use when you write each time 

They guide the reader to know what to do 

Pause, stop and know your meaning too 


I use that punctuation power and you can use it too! 

Punctuation Power – you got it! Yo! 

23. 



24. Figure Words Out 

Skills – Fluency 

Children point to their eyes, ears and brain at the beginning of 

the song, then circle thumb & pointer finger to look like glasses 

when I say - “look for clues to know what to do” 

Follow all action words and have fun moving. (Walk, walk, walk, 

pedal, pedal, pedal, or gallop, gallop). Then everyone can call out 

what they think is the missing word. Can you think of more than 

one answer? My answers are: door, wheels, horse, basketball, 

toes, Z, water, legs. There’s no perfect answer, could be any 

answer. 

Help children understand that sometimes they can figure new 

words by clues such as context, category, does it make sense, 

rhyming, does it look right?, etc. 



Figure Words Out 

I can use my eyes 

I can use my ears 

I can use my brain Chorus 

And figure words out 

I look for clues to know what to do 

Think and figure words out 

Now have fun and move and figure out the missing words 

Before you walk, walk, walk in your house, you open the _____ 

As you pedal, pedal, pedal on a bike, you spin the _____ 

When you gallop, gallop, gallop on a trail, you’re riding on a _____ 

When you shoot, shoot a ball through a hoop, you’re playing _____ 


All right, figure these words out 

If you bend, bend, bend way down you can touch your ten _____ 

If you dance, dance to the alphabet you go from A to _____ 

Or when you stroke, stroke, stroke in a pool 

you’re swimming in the _____ 

If you jog, jog, jog in place you’re running with your _____ 


I can think and figure words out 

I look for clues to know what to do 

Think and figure words out 

24. 



25. Workout With a Family of Words 

Skills – Word families, body movement 

Let this cool Hip – Hop exercise song help your class learn 

about word families as they exercise together. Let children have 

fun Hip – Hopping to the beginning – What, what, what! Make 

some Hip Hop moves. 

Follow the body movements I describe and do them as we put 

together different word families. Reach up high to the right, to the 

left; touch your head, your waist, knees; leg lunge left, squat 

down, leg lunge right. Again, visuals will enhance learning. 



Workout With a Family of Words 

What, what, what, what, what, make word families 

Chorus 

What, what, what, what, what, make word families 

Let’s make words it’s easy 

Together let’s make word families 

Change the beginning sound each time 

Make new words and exercise 

When I say the beginning sound reach out left 

When I say the word family reach up high 

When I say the word reach out right 

Work out work out with a family of words 

Move and groove with the et family 

G et get 

M et met 

S et set 

P et pet 

When I say the beginning sound touch your head 

When I say the word family touch your waist 

When I say the word touch your knees 


Move and groove with the ed family 

B ed bed 

R ed red 

L ed led 

T ed ted 


When I say the beginning sound leg lunge left 

When I say the word family squat straight down 

When I say the word leg lunge right 


Move and groove with the op family 

T op top 

M op mop 

P op pop 

H op hop 


25. 



26. You’re In the Band 

Skills – Recalling auditory sequences, creative movement 

Your children get to play in a rock band in this rockin’ song. 

Make some creative moves as I sing… Get out your rock guitar & 

play (children can pretend to be playing an electric guitar, move 

hands like they’re playing drums, pluck with their fingers like a 

bass guitar). 

Then as I focus on each instrument, your children can pretend to 

be playing those instruments and repeat the patterns of notes 

we’re playing. I sing each one twice so they can repeat. They 

have to listen carefully and play those exact patterns. Music is all 

about patterns so this can develop those connections in the brain. 

Make some cardboard rock electric guitars, cool sunglasses & 

hats and rock out to this “COOL” rock song. 



You’re in the Band 

Get out your rock guitar and play 

Get out your drums and sticks and bang 

Get out your bass guitar and pop 

Chorus 

You’re in the band, you’re in the band 

C’mon let’s rock 

Play your rock guitar just like this - guitar sounds 

Now clap for the band 

Don’t let the music stop 



Now play your drums just like this – drum sounds 





Now play your bass guitar just like this – bass guitar 

sounds 






26. 



27. Vowel Sound Hound Dogs 2 (Beginning sounds) 

Skills - Vowel sound awareness, body movement 

Have fun acting like the Vowel Sound Hound Dogs and learn 

about the short vowel sounds. Use visuals; make some hound 

dog ears and tails. Follow all the action words; wag, beg, dig, flop 

hands like ears and, jump as they repeat after me & sing with the 

dogs. 

Hope your children have lots of fun as they learn! 



Vowel Sound Hound Dogs 2 







They say the short a sound as they wag their tails 

They go a - a - a Africa 

They go a - a - a Africa 

They say the short e sound as they beg for a bone 

They go e - e - e egg 

They go e - e - e egg 

They say the short i sound as they dig in the dirt 

They go i - i - i igloo 

They go i - i - i igloo 

They say the short o sound as they flop their ears 

They go o - o - o ostrich 

They go o - o - o ostrich 

They say the short u sound as they play and jump 

They go u - u - u umpire 

They go u - u - u umpire 







27.

Rockin' Reading Songs TM Activities and Teaching ... - Jack Hartmann

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