TEACHING GUIDE 9
Jack be nimble,
Jack be quick,
Jack jumped over the candlestick.
Photograph by Joe Mazza / Brave Lux
Jack Be Nimble: Introduction
Jack Be Nimble
“Jack Be Nimble” is one of Mother Goose’s most famous characters, yet she gives us very few clues to piece together his identity. All we know is that he is nimble, quick, and a good jumper. For the Cabinet of Wonder series, we’ve given our Jack a pointed cap and a flaming red satin cape, lined in orange silk. In the music video, he jumps over his candlestick in slow motion. Children will be inspired to jump themselves after they witness his fleet-footed performance.
Keep on Your Toes
This rhyme gives us some new words to define: “nimble” and “quick.” These two close cousin adjectives describe Jack and his special abilities. To be “nimble” is to be agile and swift. To be quick is to be fast moving. Some suggested synonyms might be: nippy, zippy, hasty, speedy, swift, active, rapid, fast, and lively.
“Nimble” and “quick” can also describe the speed of thought: to be nimble-minded is to be clever, bright, gifted, brilliant, brainy, alert, sharp. Which leads us to the many figures of speech that involve quickness: “keep on your toes,” “light on your feet,” “twinkle-toed,” “fleet-footed,” “lightning quick,” ”quick as a flash,” “in the blink of an eye,” “faster than the speed of light,” and “lickety-split.” Use some of these new expressions during the game to praise the skillfulness of your players.
In Mother Goose’s Time
Candles hold a strong fascination for children. Of course, they are potentially dangerous, and children need to know about the hazards of fire. You might source a battery-operated candle to use for the following demonstration. Turn off all the lights in your classroom and sit in a circle around the glow of a single little flame. Challenge your children to imagine a time when this candle would have been all you had to light the darkness. We can refer to this period we are imagining as “In Mother Goose’s Time.” Your children will have already learned that our favorite poet is 300 years old (from the shadow play, “Who is Mother Goose?”). She was born during the era of ship travel, before the harnessing of electricity.
If we could visit Mother Goose’s world, there would be no automobiles, buses, trains, or airplanes. How would we move from place to place without modern transport? Would we be walking, boating, travelling by horse cart? Without telephones, televisions, or computers, how do we communicate and entertain ourselves? Would it be through conversation, games, storytelling, books, newspapers, painted pictures? How do we cook our food? In a copper pot over hot coals? How do we stay warm in the winter months? A cozy fire?
Choral Speaking
Miss Natalie plays a very simple game with the children in the video that you can try in your classroom. All you will need is a candlestick (or a similar prop), an open space, and a group of willing players. Each child takes a turn jumping over the candlestick. Your class can practice choral speaking while they chant the rhyme and clap together. They can vary the game by whispering the rhyme while tip-toeing carefully around the candle, or by using fingersnaps instead of handclaps. Improvisation is always welcome and encouraged!
Wee Willie Winkie
“Wee Willie Winkie” is another Mother Goose rhyme character who is fleet on his feet.
Wee Willie Winkie
Wee Willie Winkie runs through the town,
Upstairs, downstairs in his night gown.
Tapping at the windows, crying through the locks,
“Are the children in their beds?”
It’s eight o’clock.
Wee Willie Winkie is a “sandman” character who visits children at bedtime. Ask your children to describe him. Does he carry a candlestick, or a lantern to light his way? Could he be a friend of Jack B. Nimble? Are they neighbors in Rhyming Town? Children love to talk about their evening rituals (bathing, teeth brushing, bedtime story-reading). Ask them to go into detail about theirs.
Other Jacks
In the Cabinet of Wonder series, we’ll meet another Jack in Rhyming Town, Jack Sprat. There are even more Jacks at the center of Mother Goose’s rhymes, Jack-A-Dandy is another. Introducing these three Jack characters and Wee Willie Winkie at once will help populate the streets of Rhyming Town with some very colorful folk.
Jack-a-Dandy
Handy Pandy, Jack-a-Dandy,
Loves plum cake and sugar candy.
He bought some at a grocer’s shop,
And out he came hop, hop, hop!
All we know of this Jack is that he loves buying and eating sweets and hopping. Ask the question: “Why can’t we just eat candy and cake all the time and nothing else?” A lively conversation about candy, cake, vegetables, cavities, and tummy aches might follow!
Jack Be Nimble: Discussion
Mysterious Jack
(Before showing an image of Jack Be Nimble to your class ask…) Who is Jack Be Nimble? What do you think he looks like?
Fire
Jack jumps over a candlestick! That sounds dangerous. Should you ever play around fire? What could happen if you did?
Nimble
In the rhyme we hear, “Jack be nimble, Jack be quick.” We probably all know that “quick” means fast, but what does the word “nimble” mean? If you can run across the carpet when there are wooden blocks scattered everywhere and not knock them over, you are nimble. It means you are sure-footed, and light on your feet.
We have some other fun words to describe quick and nimble people. They can be called nippy, zippy, hasty, speedy, swift, active, rapid, fast, and lively.
Have you ever heard anyone say “faster than the speed of light”? That must be very fast. Nothing travels faster than light in the whole universe!
Jumping Candles
Would you like to play a candle-jumping game? Let’s go!
Imagine the World
Can you imagine what the world was like in Mother Goose’s time when there was no electric light or other machines?
Wee Willie Winkie
Wee Willie Winkie runs through the town making sure that all the children are in their beds at eight o’clock. What time do you go to bed? What do you do to get ready for bed? Do you take a bath, brush your teeth, or read a story?
Wee Willie Winkie
Wee Willie Winkie runs through the town,
Upstairs, downstairs in his night gown.
Tapping at the windows, crying through the locks,
“Are the children in their beds?”
It’s eight o’clock.
Jack-a-Dandy
Jack-a- Dandy loves cake and sugar candy, do you? What is your favorite cake or candy? We eat cake and candy on special occasions like holidays and birthdays. Why don’t we eat sweets ALL THE TIME, whenever we want? What would happen to our tummies and teeth if we did?
Jack-a-Dandy
Handy Pandy, Jack-a-Dandy,
Loves plum cake and sugar candy.
He bought some at a grocer’s shop,
And out he came hop, hop, hop!
Jack Be Nimble: Language
KEY RHYMING WORDS
quick – stick
RESPONSE RHYMES
brick – thick – flick – click – chick – lick – kick – wick
VOCABULARY
“nimble”
“quick”
SYNONYMS
nippy
zippy
hasty
speed
swift
active
rapid
fast
lively
IDIOMS
“keep on your toes”
“light on your feet”
“twinkle-toed”
“fleet-footed”
“lightning quick”
”quick as a flash”
“in the blink of an eye”
“faster than the speed of light”
“Lickety-split”
Jack Be Nimble: Activities
OVERVIEW
In the following activities and games, students will practice experimenting with dynamics (loud and soft), create candlesticks out of nonrepresentational materials, and practice taking a risk jumping over tall, taller and tallest candlesticks!
1. ACTIVITY: Loud & Soft
Teacher: “Let’s explore loud and soft by saying the ‘Jack Be Nimble’ rhyme, using our loud and soft voices.”
Seated in a circle.
1. Listen to the “Jack Be Nimble” song.
2. Then whisper the rhyme.
3. Then say the rhyme loudly.
Add hand movements:
4. While whispering the rhyme, have children use two fingers to make small jumps in the palm of their hand in rhythm with the song.
5. Repeat step 4 but change the dynamics and use a loud voice.
2. GAME: Jump Over the Candlestick
The children in our video play a very simple game that you may want to try in your classroom. All you will need is a candlestick (or a similar prop), an open space, and a group of willing players. Each child takes a turn jumping over the prop.
Teacher: “We are going to find candlestick, and then we will try to jump over it like Jack. Let’s look around our classroom. What could be a pretend candlestick?”
Preparation:
1. Find a “candlestick,” set it down on the floor, and pretend to light it.
2. All children form a line to wait their turn.
3. All children chant the rhyme together, punctuating it with claps.
4. Each child takes a turn jumping over the “candlestick.”
Jack be nimble (clap),
Jack be quick (clap, clap),
Jack, jump over the candlestick.
Variant 1
Substitute the name “Jack” for the name of the child taking their turn.
Example: “Katie be nimble, Katie be quick, Katie jump over the candlestick!”
Variant 2
Modify the rhyme and action with different adverbs and motions.
Example:
“Jack be silent, Jack be slow (snap). Jack, walk around the candle tippy-toe (snap, snap).”
Rather than jumping, the children tiptoe carefully around the candle and modulate their voices by chanting the rhyme in a whisper, using finger taps and snaps instead of hand claps.
Variant 3
Try substituting toe tapping, or stomping, or rhythm sticks in the place of claps.
3. GAME: Tall, Taller, Tallest
Teacher: “We’re going to play a game called “Tall, Taller, Tallest.” This game is all about being brave and believing in yourself, like Jack. If you would like a turn you will get to try jumping over the different candlesticks. They get bigger and bigger, so you’ll have to jump higher and higher.”
Preparation:
1. Children can find any classroom object and imagine it is a candlestick.
2. Set up your “candlesticks” in order of height (tall, taller, tallest)
3. Pretend to light them.
Teacher models jumping over the first (tall), second (taller) and third (tallest) candlesticks.
Standing in a line, chanting the rhyme together and punctuating the rhyme with claps.
1. Each child takes a turn jumping over the first (tall) candlestick.
2. In the second round, each child tries jumping over the second candlestick (taller).
3. In the third round, each child tries jumping over the third candlestick (tallest).
4. Celebrate when someone jumps over!
Jack Be Nimble: Music
THE MUSIC
How does this music make you feel?
Is this music slow or fast?
Does it change your mood?
What pictures does this music create in your mind?
Do you imagine a particular place, person, thing, color, animal, etc.?
How would you move to this music?
THE INSTRUMENTS
What instruments do you hear, can you name them?
How do you think the instruments make their sounds?
Are they blown through, plucked, strummed, bowed, tapped, hit, or struck?
Are these instruments made of wood or metal?
Double Bass
The double bass (sometimes just called bass) is the lowest instrument in the string family. The bass is most often found in classical and jazz music. It can be played by pulling a horsehair bow across the strings or by plucking the strings individually.
Drum Set
A collection of drums and cymbals set up to be played by one person. The drummer uses drumsticks in their hands, operates a pair of cymbals, and plays the bass drum with their feet.
GENRE: Funk
LESSON: Choral Speaking
Choral speaking and synchronous clapping are gateways to ensemble performance. All the rhymes in Cabinet of Wonder could be recited as call-and-response chants or in unison. Make them your own and incorporate them into your routines and classroom traditions. The clapping section of the chant could be replaced by rhythm sticks or woodblocks to introduce percussion instruments to the children.
LESSON: Double Bass
The double bass is the featured instrument. Have your children listen for the deep sound of this large and lowest member of the string family. It is plucked, rather than bowed in this song. Play the introduction to “Hey Diddle Diddle” to hear the bass front and center in the arrangement.
LESSON: Percussion
The featured instruments in “Jack Be Nimble” are bass, drums and percussion. The cymbals play a primary role in creating aural excitement and mystery with their whooshing sound. Jack’s cape furls around his shoulders, accompanied by the sound of the cymbal rolls and crashes. If you have access to a cymbal, this sound could be illustrated.
Jack Be Nimble: Related Rhymes
“Wee Willie Winkie” is a similar rhyme in that it describes another Mother Goose character who is fleet on his feet. He runs through the town telling the children that it’s bedtime. Maybe he carries a candlestick?
Wee Willie Winkie
Wee Willie Winkie runs through the town,
Upstairs, downstairs in his night gown.
Tapping at the windows, crying through the locks,
“Are the children in their beds?”
It’s eight o’clock.
Another Mother Goose rhyme with a Jack at its center is, “Handy Pandy Jack-A-Dandy.”
Handy Pandy Jack-A-Dandy
Handy Pandy, Jack-a-Dandy,
Loves plum cake and sugar candy.
He bought some at a grocer’s shop,
And out he came hop, hop, hop!
Jack Be Nimble: Standards
Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework (ELOF)
The Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework: Ages Birth to Five (ELOF) presents five broad areas of early learning, referred to as central domains. The framework is designed to show the continuum of learning for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. It is grounded in comprehensive research around what young children should know and be able to do during their early years.
The Head Start Program Performance Standards require grantees to implement program and teaching practices that are aligned with the ELOF. Education managers use the ELOF Implementation Toolkit to guide the alignment process and help their programs strengthen practices to promote children’s development in all ELOF domains.
The Cabinet of Wonder teaching guides are in alignment with Head Start’s ELOF. They have been designed to enhance any standard preschool curriculum by assisting teachers and families in both meeting school readiness goals and developing a joyful learning journey!
