It started with a song called "King Kong Kitchie" that goes like this:
Frog went a-courtin' and he did ride, king kong kitchie kitchie kimeo.
Sword and a pistol by his side, king kong kitchie kitchie kimeo.
Kimo, kemo, kimo, kee, way down yonder in a hollow tree,
An owl and a bat and a bumblebee, king kong kitchie kitchie kimeo.
My kids had been using this song for a while, so I decided to shake it up by letting them choose a new consonant to put in front of all those nonsense words. Yes, I foresaw the issue of someone wanting to use "B." (I learned that lesson from an accidental cursing during my first year of teaching - more on that some other time.) I assumed that if someone suggested "B," I would simply say no and we would move forward. I figured that some of them would figure it out, but seeing as I work at a parochial school, I knew that if they did understand it they wouldn't dare say it out loud. More about this school: I love the climate there and my sweet students. They remain innocent, naive, and child-like much longer than most kids these days. I've been in other schools where my 4th graders knew things that I didn't hear until my high school years. So, I certainly didn't anticipate that their naivety would bite me in the butt.
In almost every class that did this activity (4th, 5th, and 6th graders), one kid suggested using the letter B. No one questioned me when I said to pick a different letter. But Alexis was confused when I said "not B" so while I listened to another student's suggestion, she started singing it to herself, "bing bong bitchie bitchie bimeo." She liked the way it sounded apparently, because she did it again, increasing the tempo for an added challenge. I turned to stop her, hoping that her classmates hadn't picked up on it. Fortunately, they hadn't. And neither had she. I was quite relieved, but because she never figured out that she saying "bitchy," she continued to sing it throughout class anytime we were transitioning and by the end of our 45-minute period, some of her classmates had started joining her.
So, that became the day I sent my Christian-school students home singing "bing bong bitchy bitchy bimeo."
Frog went a-courtin' and he did ride, king kong kitchie kitchie kimeo.
Sword and a pistol by his side, king kong kitchie kitchie kimeo.
Kimo, kemo, kimo, kee, way down yonder in a hollow tree,
An owl and a bat and a bumblebee, king kong kitchie kitchie kimeo.
My kids had been using this song for a while, so I decided to shake it up by letting them choose a new consonant to put in front of all those nonsense words. Yes, I foresaw the issue of someone wanting to use "B." (I learned that lesson from an accidental cursing during my first year of teaching - more on that some other time.) I assumed that if someone suggested "B," I would simply say no and we would move forward. I figured that some of them would figure it out, but seeing as I work at a parochial school, I knew that if they did understand it they wouldn't dare say it out loud. More about this school: I love the climate there and my sweet students. They remain innocent, naive, and child-like much longer than most kids these days. I've been in other schools where my 4th graders knew things that I didn't hear until my high school years. So, I certainly didn't anticipate that their naivety would bite me in the butt.
In almost every class that did this activity (4th, 5th, and 6th graders), one kid suggested using the letter B. No one questioned me when I said to pick a different letter. But Alexis was confused when I said "not B" so while I listened to another student's suggestion, she started singing it to herself, "bing bong bitchie bitchie bimeo." She liked the way it sounded apparently, because she did it again, increasing the tempo for an added challenge. I turned to stop her, hoping that her classmates hadn't picked up on it. Fortunately, they hadn't. And neither had she. I was quite relieved, but because she never figured out that she saying "bitchy," she continued to sing it throughout class anytime we were transitioning and by the end of our 45-minute period, some of her classmates had started joining her.
So, that became the day I sent my Christian-school students home singing "bing bong bitchy bitchy bimeo."