Sing a Succulent Song!

A KS1 unit of work built around Menu song from the Song Bank.

The curriculum reviews preparing for changes in 2011 suggest that, although discrete subject areas will maintain their specific skills, primary education will move towards a greater commitment to a connected curriculum, using Areas of Learning to link commonalities between subjects.

A song can act as a springboard and sustain those connections, providing opportunities for creating useful link between curriculum subjects. A song can become the musical 'glue' for a half-termly unit of work, underpinning the message that singing is a genuine tool for learning.

Menu song is a catchy and vibrant traditional KS1 song, arranged in swing style by Sarah Watts. It has a simple construction with an appealing melody, mouth-watering lyrics and a cumulative pattern. There are obvious links to the current Change4Life healthy eating agenda, with opportunities for related projects. Read on for many more ideas to support learning and teaching. 

Topic/Theme: Fun with food

These exercises offer curriculum links for a unit of work, incorporating Art & Design, Dance, Design Technology, English, IT, Maths, MFL, Music and PSHE. Using the song to springboard the topic, talk with the children about their favourite foods and who makes family meals. Ask them to name any ingredients and encourage them to describe their aroma, texture or colour. Find out about the least-loved foods, too...sprouts may loom large on that list! Then introduce the song:

• Listen to the song and notice that when the opening phrase 'Today is Monday' is repeated, the melody goes down at the end the first time, but up the second time.
• Encourage the singers to join in the final phrase: '...is everybody happy? Well, I should say.'
• Talk about the cumulative pattern. Practise saying the days of the week forwards and backwards. You might find cards with names of the days very useful, or simply put a list on your whiteboard.
• This song is so accessible and simple that it needs very little teaching input. Even after one hearing, many children will have recognised and absorbed the cumulative pattern.
• Help everyone remember the order of meals by displaying and reading a list of days with their menu, displayed as words or pictures.

KS1 Song: Menu song

English speaking and listening

Play 'My aunt went to market'. Sit in a circle; the leader begins by choosing a food for his 'aunt' to buy at the market: 'My aunt went to market and bought a banana'. The next child delivers this line but adds another food item: 'My aunt went to market and bought a banana and a jar of marmalade...' The third child continues the pattern: 'My aunt went to market and bought a banana and a jar of marmalade and some eggs...' and so on.

Once this structure of this cumulative game is really established, suggest to the players that they could add adjectives to their good choices: eg. a yellow banana, a jar of orange marmalade...to extend descriptive vocabulary.

Reading, Writing, Drama & PSHE

Share the story of The Shopping Basket by John Burningham - a delightful tale of aggressive creatures who try out some imaginative but unsuccessful tactics to steal Steven's food.

This story has a diminishing cumulative pattern and one that works very well in comparison with the song. This is an ideal story for developing drama, with roles for many children plus opportunities for discussing, addressing and resolving bullying issues. Why not rewrite the story using the published one as a scaffold, but substituting other foods and animals.

History

Research the kind of meals eaten by the children's grandparents; what fruits and vegetables are available now that weren't on the menu then? Invite a granny and grandpa into the school to talk about their memories of childhood foods and invite question and answer structures [English].

Geography

Conduct research into which foods are imported from abroad. Invite children to bring in food labels which show the country of origin and match labels to places on a world map using pins and threads. Find out about food eaten by children in other countries and tie this in with fundraising for famine relief.

Mathematics

Use this song to establish the sequence of days of the week. Alternatively, study packaging for different foods and order these by weight as noted on the packaging.

ICT

Design menus, importing images of meals into text: use eye-catching fonts for invented restaurants' names and develop layout skills. Photograph food items, then edit the images using computers.

Modern Forgein Language

Sing the song with days of the week in French, Spanish, German or whichever language your singers are studying.

Design Technology

Adapt or customise a cookie recipe, then design and make your own enticing packaging, listing the ingredients. Use alliteration [English] for maximum labelling impact: eg. Chris' Crumbly Cookies. Involve correct imperative verb use when writing the order of cooking instructions.:

1. Break an egg into a bowl
2. Add flour and mix well
3. Stir in sugar and dried fruit, etc

PSHE & Healthy Schools

Talk about healthy eating, identify the different food types and the ideal ration per meal. Plan healthy meals to substitute for the ones in the song, with more salad, fruits and vegetables, and then perform in a 'Healthy Food' assembly!

Art & Design

Create collages of exciting but healthy meals by using torn magazine pictures of foods. Arrange and glue images onto large paper plates or roll out clay platters and make 3D meal models. Use exotic fruits to stimulate close observational drawings or still-life compositions with a range of pencil leads, 2H to 6B.

PE/Damce & Drama

Create a dance about a cafe, with waiters darting about with trays, and diners miming scoffing their meals. Add an overworked chef and a constant flurry of customers, and invite the children to develop and choreograph a storyline. Compose a piece to accompany the action using sounds produced on pots, pans and kitchen utensils [Music].

Music

Perform the song with seven actors sitting on chairs in white chefs' hats, each holding a meal. Whenever their particular food is mentioned they stand up. All the others stand behind and wear or hold something associated with cooking: an apron, wooden spoon, bowl or whisk. Use these to produce sound effects played on the pulse to underpin the swing rhythm. There are many songs to 'sample' with lots to 'feed' and inspire your cross-curricular work, so 'nibble' a few more singing delicacies and connect our children's curriculum through music!

Words: Sue Nicholls

Sue Nicholls is a published freelance music education consultant and provides INSET and training nationwide. She's a Vocal Force Facilitator and writes some of the activity notes for the Song Bank. Some of her courses may be available through local area leaders.