Oh, Row the Rattlin' Bog

Materials:

Poster (print out from this page).  Watch this video for tips on putting posters together.

Lyrics:

Oh, row the rattlin' bog,
The bog down in the valley-oh.
Oh, row the rattlin' bog,
The bog down in the valley-oh.

In this bog there was a tree,
A rare tree and a rattlin' tree
And the tree in the bog
And the bog down in the valley-oh.

Oh, row the rattlin' bog. . .

On this tree there was a branch,
A rare branch and a rattlin' branch
And the branch on the tree, and the tree in the bog
And the bog down in the valley-oh.

Oh, row the rattlin' bog. . .

On this branch there was a leaf,
A rare leaf and a rattlin' leaf,
And the leaf on the branch, and the branch on the tree, and the tree in the bog
And the bog down in the valley-oh.

Oh, row the rattlin' bog. . .

On this leaf there was a bug,
A rare bug and a rattlin' bug,
And the bug on the leaf, and the leaf on the branch, and the branch on the tree, and the tree
in the bog, and the bog down in the valley-oh.

Oh, row the rattlin' bog. . .

Recommended Grades:

PreK-3

Teaching the Song To PreK

• Pre-K kids love this song, but the clapping pattern may be too complex for them.  Try having them do the pattern "down-clap" (first patting the legs, then clapping) on their own, without a paclick herertner.

Further Activities:

• After teaching the song, you can try having the kids make up more verses, starting with something that could be on the bug.
• You can also have the kids make up entirely new lyrics using a new location--instead of a bog, for example, you can sing "oh row, the rattlin' school," and list things found within a school.  Other locations could be a forest, a spaceship, a house, a grocery store, a specific country--any place will do!

Skills and Concepts:

• Steady Beat (during the clapping pattern)
• Pentatonic
• Low sol:  Low sol is approached from low la in this song.
• (timri): The chorus for the song is excellent for teaching the dotted-eighth-sixteenth pattern.
• Composing lyrics, if you use the extended activity

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