I'm sure a lot of us remember the lyrics to the simple nursery rhymes that we sang as kids. We sang them while we were jumping rope or clapping a hand-jive with our best friend. For example, when we clapped a hand-jive, me might have sung:
"Pat a cake, Pat a cake, baker's man
Bake me a cake as fast as you can;
Pat it and prick and mark it with a 'B'
And put it in the oven for Baby and me."
Well, one day I was talking with one of our 1st graders who came in for homework help. She finished her homework and instead of playing with her usual buddies, she said, "Ms. Jayda. Let me show you something." She grabbed both of my hands as if we were about to play 'Pat A Cake.' I very quickly went over the words silently in my head to make sure I remembered them. When we began our hand-jive, I began to belt out the song! "Pat a cake, Pat a cake, ba..."
She wrinkled her brow and gave me a perplexed look that said, "What are you singing, Ms. Jayda?" Naturally, I stopped belting out the song, and returned the perplexed look. We continued clapping to the tune of 'Pat A Cake,' but she continued with these words instead:
"Mama, Mama, Can't you see?
What this baby's done to me?
He took away my MP3
Now I'm watching dumb Barney!"
Times have changed and we are having a blast!
-- Jayda Ekundayo
