Tinga Layo - caribbean folk song

I stopped by Dollar Tree today and got quite a few ideas which I'll be sharing within the next week.

In my area of the country, a lot of people celebrate Cinco de Mayo, so there were quite a few "fiesta" related items at my Dollar Tree.

I picked up this little guy (I haven't named him yet, I'm going to let one of my bilingual classes do that as I'm sure they'll be much more creative) for $1.  I've already created a PowerPoint for the song Arre Mi Burrito, so I think I'll be using that with my first graders soon.

The song Tinga Layo (click the link to download it for free) is in Spanish and is also about a little donkey, but it originates in the Caribbean.  I'll be heading there this summer on vacation, so I'm already pretty excited.  I mean, it is almost May, who isn't looking forward to a little summer fun?  This is a great opportunity to expose the kiddos to a few moments of Caribbean music.

Here's a slide for you to discuss with your students.  Try augmenting the lesson with recordings, videos, and books.  Have students share any personal experiences they might have with the Caribbean.

I've also included the notation in both Spanish and English, with the pitches "mi, so, and la" labeled - great way to say, "Hey, what do we have here?" and let students view and sing these with solfa/hand signs.

Here's some movement to add with the song:

And a way to add in our fun little friend:

Have fun!