Jolly Miller (Stow-on-the-Wold) Prep
Key stage 2 years 3/4

The original manuscript and notes – http://glostrad.com/jolly-miller/.  Go to this link to download the “See the song/tune as collected (PDF file)

Audio of song:

Resources needed:
audio equipment to play music,
whiteboard to project text and write text.
Paper and pencils/pens.
In advance need to find the audio file and words on the www.glostrad.com website
Length of lesson 45-60mins

Learning Intentions:
• To Learn a traditional playground game and song
• Understand how children played in the past
• Create a new game

Background:
What is a folk song?
• Not sung by professional musicians
• Passed down through families/communities/friends
• some songs are very old (often dating back to seventeenth century or earlier.
• Were often sung without any instruments.
1909
• Edwardian era
• After the death of Queen Victoria
• Before the first world war
• Lots of people working on the land
• The country was peaceful and wealthy
Cecil Sharp
• Collected over 1600 folk songs
• Also collected Morris dances

Millers
• Every farming community had a mill.
• Millers were paid by taking some of the flour.
• Farmers always used to think that the millers were taking more than their fair share.

Jolly Miller (Stow-on-the-Wold) Lesson:

• Ask children what they think a folk song is.
• Tell them what a folk song is
• Introduce the Jolly Miller
• Listen to song without the words displayed
• Ask children what they can remember
• Play song again with words and get the children to sing along
• Ask the children what games they play, do they have songs that go with them?
• Look at other old games like spinning tops and hoops.
• Get the children to invent their own game with a song
• Finish the session by showing the games to the rest of the group.
• Optional extra activity: write a series of clear instructions for the game, pass it on to
• another group and see if they can follow