Fishy Fishy

Just in time for summer! Though fishies are fun year-round, to be sure. Besides having a bit of fun with the surf music vibe, we wanted to explore the basics of setting up an aquarium, or "fish tank." We give you a few ideas: Get a fish tank, stand, gravel, plants, etc. That said, the ideas in this song are by no means exhaustive. We don't even mention important things like fresh water versus salt water or the proper temperature and pH to keep your fishies happy. Should a student or your class decide to set up their own aquarium, we recommend seeking the advice of a professional at your local pet store.

The inspiration for the title of this song came from a certain animated feature where the niece of a dentist refers to her new fish as "fishy." That said, we hope your students will be more kind to their fishies than the niece in question! We're thinking that thumping the glass might not be a kind thing to do.

For performance, you might consider projecting footage of an actual aquarium with fish swimming on a screen during the song. You could even have parts of an aquarium to display, like a fish bowl with some rocks, plants, and water in it. Shine a spotlight on it, then have students gesture to it during the section at measure 22. Having live fish on stage might also be traumatic for the fish (lots of kids moving, loud music), so that's probably not a good idea.

Apparently, this ditty inspired a few of our other creative folks, too, as it was the song chosen for our additional fun extras this time – both an arts and crafts idea by artist Kristyn Johnson, and choreography by dancer/teacher Melissa Schott. Wow! Details for accessing these extras can be found on our web site.