Shaddup Already!
2004-08-25
School House Rock
Does anyone out there remember School House Rock? There is a song that I use with my students to teach them about complete sentences. It's called "The Tale of Mr. Morton." I love this song and have been known to sing it even when there isn't an apparent reason. So I subject my students to it each year and they get the bonus of my singing and dancing around the classroom. Aren't they lucky?Okay, so fast-forward to a week or so ago. I get a phone call from someone on campus named Mr. Morton. I freaked out, I mean Mr. Morton is at my school! It turns out that is the name of the new guidance counselor who I hadn't met yet.
The next day I was in a meeting and Mr. Morton happened to be there. I kept going back and forth in my mind as to whether I should tell him about the song or not. After hearing him laugh quite a bit and seeing that he is one of those people who seems to always be wearing a huge smile, I decided to tell him about it. He hadn't heard of the song and was floored that he had a song out there.
I told him I would get him a copy of it so he could hear it and then I told him the story of the song. He was very amused. See, in the song, Mr. Morton is too shy to talk to a girl, so the girl asks him to marry her instead of the other way around. It's really a cute song.
I got him the copy of the song, plus a copy of the Skee-lo cover version of the song that was made in 96. I can't wait to see his reaction. I hope I can be there when he listens to it for the first time.
The Tale of Mister Morton
This is the tale of Mister Morton
Mister Morton is who?
He is the subject of our tale
and the predicate tells what Mister
Morton must do
Mister Morton walked down the street
Mister Morton walked
Mister Morton talked to his cat
Mister Morton talked
(Hello, cat. You look good.)
Mister Morton was lonely
Mister Morton was
Mister Morton is the subject of the
sentence, and what the predicate says,
he does
Mister Morton knew just one girl
Mister Morton knew
Mister Morton grew flowers for Perl
Mister Morton grew
Mister Morton was very shy
Mister Morton was
Mister Morton is the subject of the
sentence, and what the predicate says,
he does
The subject is a noun,
that's person, place or thing
It's who or what the sentence is about
And the predicate is the verb
That's the action word
that gets the subject up and out
Mister Morton wrote Pearl a poem
Mister Morton wrote
Pearl replied in the afternoon
Pearl replied by a note
Mister Morton was very nervous
Mister Morton was
Mister Morton is the subject of the
sentence, and what the predicate says,
he does!
The cat stretched,
the sun beat down,
a neighbor chased his kid.
(come here kid - come on!)
Each sentence is completed when
you know the subject did.
Mister Morton knocked on her door
Mister Morton knocked
Mister Morton sat on her porch
Yes, he just sat and rocked
when she opened up the door he ran.
Mister Morton climbed up his stairs
Mister Morton climbed
Mister Morton rhymed pretty words
Mister Morton rhymed
Mister Morton was lonely
Mister Morton was
until Pearl showed up with a single rose.
Who says women can't propose?
Now Mister Morton is happy
and Pearl and the cat are too
They're the subjects of the sentence
and what the predicate says, they do
I don't feel like figuring out if that is going to post correctly, so if it doesn't, you'll just have to deal with it.