No More Pie (traditional)
Potential Skills: body awareness, math, self-regulation
Comments:
This video covers more material than I would in one class for the purpose of demonstration. In the first class I usually introduce the idea of call and response, and let them offer up different kinds of pie. One way to do this is to sing “apple pie,” and then pause and look puzzled, saying “hmmm…” If no one names another kind, ask “Do you know any other kinds of pie?”, perhaps going around the circle and asking each child what kind they like or want to sing. A child may object when someone picks a pie that’s the same as theirs, you may want to say (initially): “You may choose a pie that someone else has named, or you may come up with a new one. Either way is fine.” Acknowledging same and different may also come up when children choose body parts to tap when singing their name: “Sometimes we like to choose the same things and sometimes we like to choose different things. Choosing something the same is okay, and choosing something different is okay.” This could lead to a discussion about whether or not it’s okay to be a copycat. But you may want to simply say nothing and take it as it comes, knowing that this could come up.
Variations:
The lyrics to No More Pie are below, which I sometimes sing (each line echoed by the group):
Oh, my!
No more pie,
Pie’s too sweet,
I want a piece of meat
Meat’s too red
I wanna piece of bread,
Bread’s too brown,
I think I’ll go to town,
Town’s too far,
I think I’ll take a car,
Car won’t go,
I fell and stubbed my toe
Toe gives me pain,
I think I’ll take a train,
Train had a wreck,
I fell and hurt my neck,
Oh, my!
No more pie.
Ella Jenkins’ version of this song on her 1994 Folkways album Play Your Instruments and Make a Pretty Sound, is worth listening to. She first sings through the lyrics (above) as a call and response. Then she no longer sings it call and response, but leaves out words, so that once children have memorized the lyrics they can fill in the missing words (e.g., “Oh, my, no more ___, pie’s too sweet, I want a piece of ___…”). (This is a fun game when children know a song but are reluctant to sing it.) Then Ella sings it once more, leaving out every other line, so the children have to fill that in. While I have sung the lyrics with the children, I haven’t tried these “fill in the missing word/line” techniques, as I focus more on the call and response and tapping and counting syllables/words.
When inviting children to participate, I don’t pressure anyone to participate, and return to them if they chose not to take a turn, in case they changed their mind.
Singing silly pies draws in the children (see below). I often sing them with taps or hand claps (sometimes counting the number of syllables/sounds). I may choose words relevant to a particular subject that children are interested in (e.g., underwater theme: tuna fish pie, octopus pie, etc.). Some pies are tongue twisters – in fact, you could sing “tongue twister pie” and follow it up with “unique New York pie” and “yellow leather” pie.
crazy
sunshine
sleepy
sweety
bowling ball
mud
rainbow
bananasplit
milliondollar
secret
macaroni
hairdo
meatball
submarine
octopus
scuba diver
seaweed
tuna fish
bowtie
polkadot
sneaker
lipstick
sunglasses
telephone
whoopie
roly-poly
spiderweb
snowflake
yellow jello
monsterface
monstertruck
french fry
peekaboo
funnybone
homemade
rattlesnake
pingpong
zig zag
hokey pokey
okely dokely
toothpaste
pickle
pom pom
bellybutton
lightning
thunder
goodbye
bumblebee
unique new york
yellow leather
zip zip
bam bam (see motions for Zip Zip Bam chant)
Is a pie always sweet? What is a pie, anyway – is pizza a pie? Why or why not? You might research pies from around the world: spanikopita is a spinach and cheese pie from Greece; bobotie pie from South Africa – and what great words these are, just to say! Spanikopita! Bobotie! I have a “Guacamole Dance” I do with children where we dance to music, and when the music stops, we freeze and yell “Guacamole!” Try this with “Bobotie!” or “Spanikopita!”
Notice how I brought in dynamics, right, singing “oh, my, no more pie” quietly, dramatically, and by choosing pies that lent themselves to this: “secret pie” and “thunder pie.”
Introduce the song by making a story out of it, incorporating sign language, all of which will capture the children’s interest. “Have I told you how much I love pie? Let me wash my hands first, then I’ll show you how I make pie… All set. Now, here is my pie. (do sign language for pie: open palm cut twice by a rigid knife hand to make a wedge; see https://www.lifeprint.com/dictionary.htm). Pretend to take the piece you cut: “Oh, my! Lemon pie! Mmm.” Turn to a child: “Oh! Do you like lemon pie, or would you like a different kind? I have every kind of pie in the world. You like apple pie. That’s a good choice. One piece of apple pie, coming right up!” Repeat the cutting motion and hold out palm for the child to take an imaginary piece. Ask this of all the children. When all the children are served, look at your open palm and shake your head sadly. “Now I’m afraid I have to teach you a sad song. It’s so sad, I don’t know if I can even sing it. Maybe you can help me. Here’s how. I’m going to sing something, and then I need you to sing it again with me. It’s called – oh, it’s so sad I can’t even say it. Oh, well, I’ll just sing it, but help me out. Listen: (sing quietly) ‘Oh, my,’ now we’ll sing it together (oh, my). ‘No more pie’ (no more pie).” Start singing silly pies or singing their names as pies, and they’ll be “eating out of your hand!”
When older children are familiar with song, you could challenge them to figure out how to sing the words backwards: My, oh; pie more no. It even rhymes! You might end up trying to sing pies backwards: what does “apple pie” sound like if you sing it backwards?
When children get antsy and start spinning or if they lie down, challenge them to sing it spinning on their bottoms or lying on their backs. When spinning, have a rule: you have to face me while I sing the line, and then we all spin around as we repeat it.