Nancy Stewart

September is a great time to begin using this song when you are establishing new traditions and habits. I have used this song successfully for many years, and hope it works for you as well! Sing or play this song for the children, and tell them whenever they hear it, to try to sit in a circle before the song ends. The counting seems to motivate them to move quickly! I have included the second version which you can use if they are really fast and ready to actually do something before the song has ended.

TIP:

Use the last line of the song only, when you have completed an activity in music time, and want the children to get back in the circle (the last line is just the count). It's a fun way to regain order after the children have been scattered.

VERSION 1 One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten Can you sit in a circle before I count to ten again Let's see how fast you are today, Can you sit in a circle before I say One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten

VERSION 2 One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten Can you sit in a circle before I count to ten again

Put your hands on your head, hands on your toes, Hands on your elbows, hands on your nose One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten

A Note for Guitar Players:

If you play guitar, you may not know the Ebdim (diminished) chord on the you'll find a chord diagram for it. for it. Diminished chords are fun because you can move the whole chord up every four frets, and it will be essentially the same chord. Listen to the song, and you'll hear what I mean. You can either just keep the first position pictured below, or slide it up three times as you will hear me do.

Have fun!

Don't play the two low strings (that's what the X's mean).

Optional: slide the whole chord up 4 frets at a time and strum once in each position.