I’ve Been Working On The Railroad Lyrics
I 've been working on the railroad,
all the livelong day.
I 've been working on the railroad,
just to pass the time away.
Can you hear the whistle blowing?
Rise up so early in the morn.
Can you hear the conductor shouting?
Steam engine blow your horn.
Smoke stack won 't you blow,
smoke stack won 't you blow,
smoke stack won 't you blow your horn?
Smoke stack won 't you blow,
smoke stack won 't you blow,
smoke stack won 't you blow your horn?
Fireman puts the coal in the fire box!
The flagman check the tracks, tracks, tracks, tracks.
The brakeman cleans the headlights
and the conductor is the boss of the train!
So singing:
Huff, puff huff, puff, puff.
Huff, puff, huff, puff,
Huff, puff, puff, puff.
Huff, puff, huff, puff, puff.
That 's how the smokestack blows!
I’ve Been Working On The Railroad Learning Activities
Music
- Feel the beat of the song - the steady pulse. Use body percussion - clap hands, slap your thighs, click fingers, tap your chest, or tap your toes in time to the beat!
Dance
- Divide the children into groups. Each group creates a "train". Discuss the moves that you can create as a group together - then dance the moves.
- Each group has a turn at performing their "train dance" to the rest of the class.
- Ask children 's assessment of each performance. How did they feel their performance went? What could they do better next time?
Science
- Find out facts about a "steam engine" train.
Literacy
- Sing and read along to the YouTube song to achieve multi-sensory learning "Do it, see it and hear it!"
Print out the song PDF
- Read the song lyrics - ask children a variety of questions.
- Re-read the song lyrics and ask children to join in.
- Recognise and use a variety of punctuation when reading. " " ! ? . ,
- Look at print and conventions (bold, italics).
- Talk about interesting/challenging words and discuss what they mean.
- Word study - phonic knowledge, compound words, rhyming word, contractions etc.
