Today, I'm sharing one of favorite songs for upper elementary: "Hogs in the cornfield."

I learned this song while in Kodály Level II at Capital University, with Bruce Swank. Here's the notation; it can also be found in An American Methodology.

The song is great for several concepts. It's great for tika-ti, especially since it has some unique patterns in it. Melodically, it works really well for high do! 

As far as games go, I originally learned this game for it:

Students stand in two lines, facing partners; you can name one line “1” and one line “2.” After they sing the song, they play tug of war by holding hands in a crossed position and pulling. The first person to step over the line loses and stands behind the winner. The game continues until all students who wanted turn have had one, and then you declare a winning team based on which side has more students. 

 A few years ago, I learned this game from Jenna Mabee, my former colleague, which is now the game I play:

Students find a group of four and face a partner. At the end of the song, students pound their fist as saying "rock, paper, scissors." On "shoot," they either show rock, paper, or scissors. Rock beats scissors, scissors beats paper, and paper beats rock. Whoever wins finds a new person to play, and whoever loses sits down. If there is a tie, students keep going until the tie is broken. The game keeps going with students singing, then playing, until one person wins!

The students LOVE this game, and the song is a fun way to practice tika-ti and high do!

Pin this if you want to refer to this post later:

Looking for more ideas for tika-ti or high do? Check out these sets:

     

     

Happy teaching!