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Need a Spanish song for Hispanic Heritage Month? Or just for fun? If so, you’ll love using El coqui with your elementary music students, specifically the kindergarten and first graders. Use El coqui for a Kindergarten or first grade Hispanic Heritage Month elementary music lesson, or use any time of the year.
My students love using this song in the Spring, when the frogs are out in full force in our town.
I use this piece with my students to work on high and low, steady beat, and learn about Hispanic culture.
You can get FREE slides for this song and 3 other frog themed songs (Frog in the Meadow, Kaeuro uta ga, and Little Green Frog). All of them are included in the slides, with sheet music, lyrics, activities, and videos with the recordings.
Plus, you’ll get access to many other free music lessons in the free resource library.
You can get the slides free by clicking here!
El coqui sheet music
About El coqui Hispanic Folk Song
El coqui is a Puerto Rican folk song about a frog called a coqui. It is a tiny tree frog that makes a BIG noise– that sounds like he’s saying coqui!
Here’s a video of the sound he makes.
How to Teach the song El coqui
For this song, I just have the students sing the chorus. I find this easiest because it’s only one word to learn in Spanish. (Most of my students don’t speak Spanish.)
Have students make their hands into a “frog” and have the frog jump up when your voice gets high, and go back when your voice gets low.
After singing it a few times, I’ll add in the ukulele, then I’ll introduce the verse.
For the verse, have students keep the steady beat with their frogs jumping on their body.
Then have them move it around the room– students get to frog hop to the beat on the verse. On the chorus, they freeze, sing and show the contour.
Coqui in the City Book Extension
Use this book to go along with the song! It’s all about a little boy who moves from Puerto Rico to New York City, and the changes he goes through.
He still misses Puerto Rico, but he find there are frogs in New York too.
They love this video
If you want, you can also play a video of El coqui Hispanic folk song from Dora! In this video, the frog is singing the song and it’s adorable.
And if you’re having a sub sometime soon, leaving this book or the full episode isn’t a bad idea either….
Looking for more music lessons?
Click here to read or watch songs for Hispanic Heritage Month
Click here to read or watch other frog songs.
And don’t forget to get your free slides to help you teach the lesson by clicking here!
Happy teaching!
Becca
