My kids absolutely love this song! I have used it successfully with my younger and my older students. The melodic structure is very easy - uses just the pitches so, mi and la, but in a way that if you use this with older kids they won't think it's too "baby-ish."
I also find that my older kids just get really nervous singing in front of others. However, if you give them a really fun call-and-response song like this, they don't really notice that they're singing a solo, and it gives you a chance to individually assess them in a non-threatening environment.
Last year, I was looking around on Pinterest, and I found a blog post about this song with some fantastic improvisation ideas: Pizza, Pizza, Daddy-o improvisation. The authors of this blog, Janet and Laura, came up with a great improvisation worksheet that I have used countless times. My kids love it too - plus it incorporates a little bit of that "writing" technique that many of us now have to use with the Common Core stuff.... (printable version of this worksheet on their blog)
After the kids come up with their different movements, each student leads the class in what they came up with. Side note - as a proud music teacher, I love that the group above used "compose it." Made my day :)
Anyway, another extension idea I found was on Teachers Pay Teachers. A new seller, Megan Bracciano, came up with these adorable pizza composition worksheets. You cut out red circles for the "pepperoni" (my school has a die cut machine that is perfect for these) and the kids can glue them on. It helps them practice writing music left to right, placing notes on lines or in spaces, etc. She has 3 versions of these worksheets you can download for FREE!
One is with "high/low" - you can use this with your kiddos who haven't labeled "so-mi" yet:
Another version is with just "sol/mi":
And finally, this is the version I will be using with my 2nd graders, as we have just labeled "do":
After they glue on the pepperoni (or just color them on if you want to go that route), you can have them color the rest of the pizza with other toppings, or whatever you want to do.
So cute, right?!?!?!
Going back to the "Pizza, Pizza, Daddy-o!" song, I made some files for Teachers Pay Teachers (you can find it here) for my kids to practice the melodic patterns found in the song, both on and off the staff.
Off the staff:
On the staff, where do is in a space:
On the staff, where do is on a line:
I also made some printable tone ladders, both in color and black and white:
And I even added a steady beat chart, though I don't use this song for rhythm as it contains some complicated syncopation:
Improvisation slide:
Game/dance instructions:
A couple of other great places to find extension ideas on this song:
I also found another really cute song called "Rico's Pizza Restaurant" on Beth's blog that would be great for practicing "re" and using some improvisation!
Have lots and lots of fun with this song! My kids LOVE it!
Just for funsies for you music teachers - love this clip by Brian Regan! :)
