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Lesson plan: «Sal de ahí, chivita»

Children sing «Sal de ahí, chivita» (“Get Out of There, Little Goat”), remember the characters of this chain song in order with the help of picture cards and gestures, and tell in their own words how the goat got out in the end.

Ages
Ages 3–6
Time
35 minutes
Areas
Language and communication · Attention and self-control · Music and creative expression

Opening

  1. Put the hoop on the floor with the goat card inside it. Ask: «¿Quién es? ¿Por qué no querrá salir de ahí?» (“Who is it? Why won’t she come out of there?”). Welcome every idea.
  2. Show the other cards one at a time and name each character together. Ask how each one sounds or moves.
  3. Watch the video once, together, and notice the order in which the characters arrive. Then turn the screen off.

Main activity

  1. Sing the chorus slowly, without the video. On «Sal de ahí, chivita, chivita» (“Get out of there, little goat, little goat”), beckon the goat with your hand; on «sal de ahí de ese lugar» (“get out of there, out of that place”), point to the hoop.
  2. Make up a gesture for each character together: wolf ears, fingers flickering like flames, waves with your hands, ox horns, cat whiskers… For the stick, give the floor a gentle tap: the stick never touches anyone.
  3. Sing the song verse by verse. Before each one, ask «¿A quién vamos a llamar ahora?» (“Who are we going to call now?”), let the group guess, then tape the new character’s card at the end of the row.
  4. Each time the chain repeats, point to the cards from the newest one back to the goat and do each character’s gesture. As the chain grows longer, sing more slowly.
  5. Make nine small teams, one per character, each with its card; the goat team sits inside the hoop. Sing the ending: from «¡El gato sí quiso espantar al ratón!» (“The cat did want to scare away the mouse!”), the teams stand up one after another, like a wave, and on «¡Y la chiva tuvo que salir de ahí!» (“And the goat had to come out of there!”), the goat leaves the hoop. Repeat it with new characters.

Closing

  1. Shuffle the cards and ask the group to tell you what order to tape them back in, from the goat to the cat.
  2. Talk about it: “What happened when the cat did want to? Who else could we call to get the goat out?”
  3. Color a page from the song’s coloring book and ask each child to tell which character is in their picture and what it does in the story.

Materials

  • Nine large picture cards, one per character: goat, wolf, stick, fire, water, ox, rope, mouse and cat
  • Tape to stick them in a row on the board
  • A hoop or a cloth on the floor: the goat’s spot
  • Crayons

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What to observe

  • Says which character comes next before the card is shown.
  • Does each character’s gesture in the order of the chain.
  • Puts the cards in order from the goat to the cat, with or without help.
  • Stands up with their team right when it’s their turn.

Adaptations

  • With 2-year-olds, have them sing the chorus and do the gestures while you sing the chain and point to each card.
  • For children who don’t speak yet or who use AAC, the cards are their support: they can point to or hold up the next character.
  • For children who need to move less, every gesture works sitting down, and their team can hold up its card instead of standing.
  • If the group speaks other languages, ask how to say «lobo» (wolf), «gato» (cat) or «ratón» (mouse) at home and write it on the card.

For families

Ask families to sing the chorus at home and have their child tell them, in order, who was called to get the goat out.

If you teach Spanish as a new language

  • Teach the key words with gestures (TPR): «chiva» (goat), «lobo» (wolf), «palo» (stick), «fuego» (fire), «agua» (water), «buey» (ox), «soga» (rope), «ratón» (mouse), «gato» (cat).
  • Model one line at a time and let students echo it: the chorus comes back after every verse, and the ending flips «no quiere» (“doesn’t want to”) into «sí quiso» (“did want to”).
  • Hold up a card and ask either/or questions in Spanish: «¿Es el lobo o el gato?» (“Is it the wolf or the cat?”) — «¡El gato!».

ACTFL World-Readiness Standards: Communication (interpretive and interpersonal), Cultures (a traditional game is a cultural practice; the song, a cultural product) and Comparisons (Spanish sounds and words next to your students’ languages).

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