Sing Together: “Down by the Bay”

  • Who Sank the Boat? (book)
  • pictures of various bays
  • bay
  • coastline

MA Standards:

Speaking and Listening/SL.PK.MA.1a: Observe and use appropriate ways of interacting in a group (e.g., taking turns in talking, listening to peers, waiting to speak until another person is finished talking, asking questions and waiting for an answer, gaining the floor in appropriate ways).

Head Start Outcomes

Social Emotional Development/Self-Regulation: Follows simple rules, routines, and directions.
Language Development/Receptive Language: Attends to language during conversations, songs, stories, or other learning experiences.

PreK Learning Guidelines:

English Language Arts/Language 1: Observe and use appropriate ways of interacting in a group (taking turns in talking; listening to peers; waiting until someone is finished; asking questions and waiting for an answer; gaining the floor in appropriate ways).
English Language Arts/Reading and Literature 12: Listen to, recite, sing, and dramatize a variety of age-appropriate literature.

Sing Together: “Down by the Bay”

© Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Early Education and Care (Jennifer Waddell photographer). All rights reserved.

ELA Focus Skills: Listening and Speaking, Phonological Awareness (Rhythm, Rhyme, and Repetition), Vocabulary

Remind children that the animals in Who Sank the Boat lived by the bay. Point to the bay in the book Who Sank the Boat? and have pictures of other bays on display for children to gain an understanding of what a coastline is and what a bay is. Explain that a bay is an inlet of the sea with a wide mouth that partly enclosed by a curved coastline. Tell children you are going to teach them a silly rhyme song about a bay and different animals.

  • Sing the first verse and act out the motions. Have children repeat it after you.
  • Continue with the other verses. Tell children the words before you start a verse so they can sing and act out the motions with you.
  • Invite children to suggest other silly verses with rhyming words.

Down by the Bay
Down by the bay
Where the watermelons grow.
Back to my home I dare not go.
For if I do my mother will say,
“Did you ever see a pig doing a jig?”
Down by the bay.

Additional Verses
Did you ever see a sheep driving a jeep?
Did you ever see a mouse building a house?
Did you ever see a cow taking a bow?
Did you ever see a bear combing his hair?
Did you ever see a snake eating a cake?
Did you ever see a fly wearing a tie?
Did you ever see a moose kissing a goose?

Adaptation: With very young children, sing the song one line at a time.

English Language Learners: As you sing, use facial expressions, movements, and gestures to demonstrate the meaning of words. Then have children act out the words when you arrive at them in the song.

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