Old Songs From Nowhere

I’ve been watching a lot of math classes recently for tricks to implement in my class. Why math? Our school has incredibly high scores on the state math tests and students are generally obsessed with math. The book I just read, “Work Hard. Be Nice.” touches on the origins of some of the chants that can be found in a lot of charter schools, particularly in math. It’s pretty impressive watching an entire class of 5th graders “roll their numbers.” Think complicated chants about multiplication tables. For a lot of students, if they can sing something, they will know it for life.

So I’ve been trying to do more of this in history class. But there is one problem: anyone that knows me knows that I can’t write a chant that a bunch of kids in Brooklyn will find entertaining. I need to find examples and I haven’t been able to find many social studies or history related ones. Last week I introduced the Animaniacs song about the Presidents and my students haven’t stopped singing it since. We have a little bet going – the first student that can sing the whole thing without the music or a lyric sheet gets dinner for them and a friend with me at DuMont Burger. The song is pretty hilarious and for students that have trouble with time lines and order of events, it really helps. Hidden in the lyrics are references to a lot of great events – Jefferson writing the Declaration of Independence, Harrison’s 30 days in office, the Civil War, Johnson’s impeachment, the Compromise of 1877, Wilson and WWI, the Stock Market crash, etc…  They are in the process of writing a verse about George W. Bush and Obama, which should be pretty hilarious.

Does anyone remember any catchy songs about history from your days in school? How about teachers – any suggestions?