FINGERPLAYS AND SONGS

A ROYAL ROMP
SLP Kick-Off
March 18 th , 2005
Wisconsin Dells
STORIES AND POEMS FROM BOOKS
Auch, Mary Jane and Herm. Princess and the Pizza. Holiday House, 2002.
Dunn, Carolyn. A Pie Went By. HarperCollins, 2000.
Lansky, Bruce, editor. New Fangled Fairy Tales Classic Stories with a Funny Twist. Book 1.
Simon and Schuster, 1997.
Moore, Lillian. See My Lovely Poison Ivy. Atheneum, 1975. See “Lost and Found.”
Scieszka, Jon. The Frog Prince Continued. Viking, 1991.
Seuss, Dr. I Can Lick 30 Tigers Today and Other Stories. Random, 1969.
See “King Looie Katz.”
Seuss, Dr. The 500 Hundred Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins. Random, 1965.
Zwerger, Lisbeth, illustrator. The Swineherd. William Morrow, 1982.
JOKE BOOKS
Tucker, Kathy. Do Knights Take Naps? Albert Whitman, 2000.
Thomas, Shelley Moore and Plecas, Jennifer. Get Well, Good Knight. Dutton, 2002.
Walton, Rick and Ann. Kiss A Frog! Lerner, 1989.
CUT AND TELL STORIES
“The Princess and the Dragon Cut and Tell Story” pp. 235-237 in the Dragons, Dreams and
Daring Deeds Manual.
“Uncle Merlin’s Magic” in Fold and Cut Stories by Jerry J. Mallet and Timothy S. Ervin.
Alleyside Press, 1993.
RESOURCE BOOKS
Carlson , Laurie. Days of Knights and Damsels An Activity Guide. Chicago Review Press, 1998.
Castles and Dragons Intergrated Activities for Whole Language and Thematic Teaching.
Creative Teaching Press, 1990.
Knights & Castles 50 Hands-On Activities to Experience the Middle Ages. Williamson, 1998.
Phelps, Joan Hilyer. Finger Tales. UpstartBooks, 2002
Presented by
Barb Huntington
DLTCL
125 S. Webster Street
Madison, WI 53707-7841
608-267-5077
barbara.huntington@dpi.state.wi.us
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FINGERPLAYS, SONGS AND OTHER RESOURCES
from Building Blocks by Liz Wilmes
from Theme Series Castles and Dragons
If I Knew the King/Queen Was Coming Creative Teaching Press, 1990
(Sing to tune of “If I Knew You Were
Come To The Castle
Coming I’d A Baked A Cake”)
(Sing to the tune of “Down by the Station.”)
If I knew the King was coming
I’d a washed my face, washed my face…
Come to the castle early in the morning,
See the lords and ladies all in a row…
from Glad Rags by Robin Curry and Jan from Finger Tales by Joan Hilyer Phelps
Irving (Libraries Unlimited, 1987) (Upstart, 2002)
Knight’s Song
Five Knights in Shining Armor
(Sing to the tune of “She’ll Be Coming
‘Round the Mountain”)
5 (4,3,2,1) knight in shinning armor,
fearless and brave,
I’ll be wearing iron plates upon my chest… Went dragon hunting deep in a cave…
From the Manual See:
p. 226 “ The King and His Royal Crown”
“Old King Cole”
p. 227 “Sing A Song of Sixpence”
p. 228 “Q-U-E-E-N”
“Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat”
“The Queen of Hearts”
p.230 “Royal Counting”
p. 231 “Put Your Crown on Your Head”
“All The Way to Town”
“Here Is the Prince”
p. 252 “King Queen, Prince and Princess”
The Secret of Ring Around The Rosy for older children
from Knights and Castles (Williamson, 1998.) p. and p. 69
The rhyme became popular during the time of the bubonic plague which was called “Black
Death.” The lines refer to things that people saw everyday in connection with the plague.
“Ring around the rosy.”
This first line refers to a traditional dance in which everyone held hands and marched stamping
their feet in a circle around a tree. This was called a “wassail”which means to toast. It was done
in spring to toast a local fruit tree. People thought be singing and stamping the ground with their
feet they were waking up the roots and give food to the tree. People thought that wassailing
would charm the tree so it would have a lot of fruit.
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This is the chant people said as they circled the tree:
Hail to thee, old apple tree!
From every bought
Give us apples enow. (enough)
Hatsful, capsful,
Bushel, bushel, sacksful,
An our arms full, too!
“Pocket full of posey.”
During the bubonic plague (Black Death) there were many bodies laying around, but everyone
was afraid to bury them because they were afraid they would get sick and die too. To help kill
the smell of the decaying bodies, people carried flowers (poseys) in their pockets and took them
out and sniffed them when the smell was too bad.
“Ashes, ashes”
To get rid of the bodies quickly, and avoid the spread of the plague, bodies were piled up and set
on fire. All that was left were the ashes. These ash piles were very common sights at that time.
“We all fall down.”
“Falling down” is a way to say that someone is dead. This line indicates that anyone or everyone
might get the plague and fall down dead.
See p. 71 for the rhyme song around the Maypole and history of the Maypole.
See p. 68 for background on a Widdershins Day when everything is done backward.
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Medieval Last Names
from Knights and Castles (Williamson, 1998.) p. 33 and p. 38
For many years people used only a first name because there were not very many people in each
village. Often adults took the name of the work they did. For instance the baker’s name became
Baker. The son of the baker became known as Bakerson.
Many words and terms we use today started in the Medieval Times. One if them is when we say
that a family is “upper crust.” That means they are important or rich. In Medieval times, the
first thing served at a feast was a loaf of bread that was elaborately decorate by using food
coloring to paint on rose petals, violets, or herbs and spices. The pantler, who was in charge of
cutting and serving the bread, sliced off the top part of the loaf that was decorated. He served
that to the most important person in the room. Those people became known as “upper crust”
people, which means they were important.
Here are some more last names that come from the jobs in the Medieval Times:
Bailey—the person in charge of the inner castle courtyard
Carver—the person who carved meat at castle feasts
Miller—the person who ground grain into flour
Pantler—the person who served bread at a feast
Smith—the person who used fire to make and fix tools and other metal things like wheels.
Taylor—a person who made clothes
Thatcher—a person who made or fixed roofs that were made of thick grass layers called thatch.
Warner—this person was a pastry maker whose job included running out in the halls of the castle
and yelling a “warning” that the pastries were ready and people could come and eat them while
they were hot.
“Poof, Begone! What Not To Serve” p. 37
from Knights and Castles (Williamson, 1998.)
Which of these foods were not served in castles during Midieval times?
Potatoes Strawberries
Tomatoes Chocolate
Vanilla
Answer: None of them, they all came from the New World which was not known at the time.
Medieval Games for Children
from Knights and Castles (Williamson, 1998.)
p. 32 “Hunt the Slipper” using the rhyme “Cobbler, cobbler, mend my shoe.”
p. 70 “Oranges and Lemons” using the rhyme “Oranges and lemons! Say the bells of St.
Clements.”
p. 71 Maypole (Morris)dancing using the rhyme “Here We Go Round the Merry Maypole.”
Other games from the Manual
p. 231 “Kiss the Frog Prince or Princess”
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