Behind the Curriculum Curtain

One of the most vivid memories from my childhood is how deeply songs, chants, and little jingles wove themselves into the fabric of my language learning. As an immigrant child arriving in Canada, I found myself soaking up nursery rhymes and folk tunes like “Oh! Susanna” or “The Farmer in the Dell” almost like they were a secret key to the new country I was stepping into. They weren’t just melodies; they were a kind of glue that helped the language stick, making words and phrases feel like something I could own.

As I look back now, I see that these little musical elements were a huge part of my elementary experience. We rehearsed them, repeated them, and through that repetition, something magical happened: language settled in. But somewhere along the way, we’ve lost that sense of it being “cool” to sing or chant as we got older. By the time students hit the upper grades, that kind of joyful repetition often fades out of the classroom.

And that’s a loss, I think, because there’s so much potential in carrying this practice forward, even into middle school or beyond. In a classical Christian education school, we can reclaim that culture of singing and chanting as a legitimate, enjoyable pedagogical tool.

We might not have a ready-made library of chants for every subject, but that’s where a bit of creativity comes in. We can adapt existing tunes, lean on AI to help us generate new rhymes or rhythms, and even involve students in creating their own. The point is to make it a shared, accepted part of the classroom culture—something that’s not just for little kids, but a way of learning and remembering that everyone can enjoy.

In the end, it’s about cultivating an environment where singing a chant about multiplication tables or reciting a poem about historical events is just another fun, collective way to learn. And that’s a tradition worth carrying on.

🎶 Rock Cycle Call-and-Responses AI generated chant Suno

Leader: Igneous rocks!
Students: Born from fire! 🔥

Leader: Magma cools…
Students: Rocks climb higher!

Leader: Break it down!
Students: Weather and rain! 💧

Leader: Bits pile up…
Students: Layers remain!

Leader: Press together—
Students: Sedimentary! 📚

Leader: Heat and pressure—
Students: Metamorphy! ⚒️

Altogether:

Round and round—
The cycle goes! ♻️

Changing rocks—
The Earth still grows! 🌍