Year 2 – Term 1
Clever Cubs
Songs & Rhymes – Lesson 4 – There Was An Old Lady
Learning Outcome:
Students will be able to name all the animals in the song.
Some students will be able to order the animals by size.
Introduction to Topic:
Draw (or show picture) of a mouth – ask what we use our mouths for, elicit “talk/speak”, “eat”,
“drink”. Ask students; When we eat or drink, where does the food/drink go? Into our tummies
(or stomach). Demonstrate (with your finger!) how the food/drink goes in our mouth and down
our throat and finally into our tummies. When the food goes down our throats, we are
“swallowing” our food/drink. (You can explain the difference between chewing and
swallowing). Ask students what kinds of things they like to swallow – write them on the board
or make a graph etc.
Make a joke by saying that you like to swallow mosquitoes but sometimes they bite as they go
into your mouth. Ask students what they think of this – am I joking? Is this true/real. What
animal likes to eat mosquitoes? Now ask them if they have any strange things they like to
swallow – any ideas will do!
Read the story. Discuss the different animals the old lady swallowed. First ask students to tell
you which animals she swallowed. See if they can remember all of them. As they say them,
put the flashcard on the board. Sing the song to remind them if necessary. Talk about each
animal – what do they look like, where do they live, what do they eat, etc.
Main Activity:
1) Choose one of the Old Lady activities from Teacher Resource 4: Craft activities
2) For an older group: number the animals in order of being swallowed or in alphabetical
order. (Some students will be able to write the words themselves)
Supplementary Activities:
 Put animals in order of size from smallest to biggest – Teacher Resource 3.
 Make lolly stick puppets of the animals to role-play the song.
 Old Lady colouring (use one of the templates)
 Students draw a picture of the Old Lady and decide what they would like to swallow –
see sample picture in Teacher Resource 4.
Key Vocabulary:
Activities to be included:
Animals: fly, spider, bird, cat, dog, goat, cow,
Story – 1) There Was An Old Lady
horse
Who Swallowed A Fly
Size: big, small
Songs – Teacher Resource 1
Differentiation:
Games – Teacher Resource 5
Swallowing / chewing
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Kindergarten English Language Curriculum Clever Cubs
Year 2 Term 1
Page 1 of 17
Year 2 – Term 1
Clever Cubs
Reflection:
Role-play the song.
Call out the animals and students hold up the correct one.
Resources:
Teacher Resource 1: Songs
Teacher Resource 2: Animal Flashcards
Teacher Resource 3: Animals by size
Teacher Resource 4: Craft activities
Teacher Resource 5: Games
Student Resource 1: Old Lady template (1)
Student Resource 2: Old Lady template (2)
Websites:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8a13-JbxC98
musicfactorymusic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXQPD6OcugY
British Council – LearnEnglishKids - with words.
http://www.makinglearningfun.com/themepages/ThereWasAnOldLadyWhoSwallowedaFly.htm
More ideas for activities
© 2012 ESF Educational Services Limited
Kindergarten English Language Curriculum Clever Cubs
Year 2 Term 1
Page 2 of 17
Teacher Resource 1: Songs
I Know An Old Lady
(Traditional)
I know an old lady who swallowed a fly.
I don’t know why she swallowed a fly,
Perhaps she’ll die!
I know an old lady who swallowed a spider
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,
But I don’t know why she swallowed the fly!
Perhaps she’ll die!
I know an old lady who swallowed a bird,
How absurd, to swallow a bird!
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,
But I don’t know why she swallowed the fly!
Perhaps she’ll die!
I know an old lady who swallowed a cat.
Now fancy that, to swallow a cat!
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird.
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,
But I don’t know why she swallowed the fly!
Perhaps she’ll die!
I know an old lady who swallowed a dog.
My, what a hog to swallow a dog!
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat.
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird.
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,
But I don’t know why she swallowed the fly!
Perhaps she’ll die!
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Kindergarten English Language Curriculum Clever Cubs
Year 2 Term 1
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I know an old lady who swallowed a goat.
Just opened her throat, and in walked the goat!
She swallowed the goat to catch the dog.
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat.
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird.
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,
But I don’t know why she swallowed the fly!
Perhaps she’ll die!
I know an old lady who swallowed a cow.
I don’t know how she swallowed a cow.
She swallowed the cow to catch the goat.
She swallowed the goat to catch the dog.
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat.
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird.
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,
But I don’t know why she swallowed the fly!
Perhaps she’ll die!
I know an old lady who swallowed a HORSE!
She’s dead, OF COURSE!
Alternate Endings:
I know an old lady who swallowed a horse
She's alive and well of course!
She's sad of course!
She’s sick of course!
Another Alternate:
Change "perhaps she'll die" to "perhaps she'll cry".
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Kindergarten English Language Curriculum Clever Cubs
Year 2 Term 1
Page 4 of 17
There's a Fly Up in the Air
(Tune: If You're Happy and You Know It)
There's a fly up in the air, in the air.
There's a fly up in the air, in the air.
There's a fly up in the air
It saw _____ and landed there.
There's a fly up in the air, up in the air.
*Use words such as names, color words, etc. in the blank.
I'm A Little Spider
(Tune: I’m a Little Teapot)
I’m a little spider, watch me spin!
If you'll be my dinner, I'll let you come in.
Then I'll build my web to hold you tight,
And gobble you up in one big bite!
Shoo Fly!
(Tune: This Old Man)
1, 2, 3,
Flies bug me.
Shoo, fly, shoo;
Don't bother me.
4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10,
Shoo, fly, shoo,
Again and again!
Chant – I Love Chips
I love chips, yes, I do.
I love chips, yes, I do.
I love chips, yes, I do.
And my tummy loves it, too.
Chant the above rhyme and ask students to add their own favourite foods. Or, add in some
animals/insect names. Add actions.
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Kindergarten English Language Curriculum Clever Cubs
Year 2 Term 1
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Teacher Resource 2: Animal Flashcards
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Year 2 Term 1
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Year 2 Term 1
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Teacher Resource 3: Animals by size
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Year 2 Term 1
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Year 2 Term 1
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Teacher Resource 4: Craft Activities
1) See sample picture below. Each student will need a small Ziploc bag. Head, arms and legs can
be pre-cut.
2) Or use Old Lady template (1) - Student Resource 1 and cut out mouth and attach Ziploc bag
to the back to put the animals in.
3) See Old Lady template (2) - Student Resource 2 to make a pull-through version of the song.
3) Old Lady with animals in her mouth – see sample picture below. Use the animal pictures
from Template 2 and the face from template 1 (enlarged).
4) “If I were the old lady, I would swallow a ____” see picture below.
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Kindergarten English Language Curriculum Clever Cubs
Year 2 Term 1
Page 10 of 17
Teacher Resource 5: Games
Role-play the song with students acting as the animals. One student can be the
Old Woman/Lady and sit on top of a table and the “animals” can crawl under the
table to be “swallowed”. Or make a circle and the Old Woman sits in the middle
and chooses the “animals” to come in the middle with her.
Play a game that includes these animals – Teacher holds up the flashcard and
students make that animal noise or play charades – call one student to the front
of the class and show him/her an animal and they have to make that animal’s noise
or action and the others guess.
Class Activity - Big or small: Draw a line down the middle of the whiteboard. On
one side write the word BIG and on the other write the word small. Hold up the
animal flashcards one by one and ask students if these animals are BIG or small.
Ask students to place them in the appropriate column. If students are not sure,
see Teacher Resource 3: Animals by Size.
There are many different versions of this song – if you can find another one,
you might want to compare & contrast.
Some titles are:
There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Pie
There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Bat
There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed The Sea
There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Bell
There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Shell
There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Rose
There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Books
There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves
There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Chick
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Kindergarten English Language Curriculum Clever Cubs
Year 2 Term 1
Page 11 of 17
Teacher Resource 3: Old Lady game
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Kindergarten English Language Curriculum Clever Cubs
Year 2 Term 1
Page 12 of 17
Teacher Resource 3: Old Lady game
Print the pieces. Attach the Old Lady picture to an empty cereal box. Cut
the mouth out. Cover the lady with a piece of clear contact paper. Cut
the cards out and laminate. Have the children "feed" the lady as you retell
or sing the story.
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Kindergarten English Language Curriculum Clever Cubs
Year 2 Term 1
Page 13 of 17
Student Resource 1: Old Lady template (1)
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Year 2 Term 1
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Student Resource 2: Old Lady template (2)
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Year 2 Term 1
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Student Resource 3: Old Lady booklet
What Did The Old Lady Swallow?
The Old Lady Swallowed a __________
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Kindergarten English Language Curriculum Clever Cubs
Year 2 Term 1
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Student Resource 3: Old Lady booklet
The Old Lady Swallowed a __________
The Old Lady Swallowed a __________
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Kindergarten English Language Curriculum Clever Cubs
Year 2 Term 1
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