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Tacky and
aTambourine:
Enhancing First Grade
Literacy Through Music 
by nanCy mCbride arrinGton,
GeorGia Southern univerSity

Abstract
This integrative lesson engages students in retelling 
the story Tacky, the Penguin through music. First grade 
English Language Arts Common Core Standards 
(ELACC) are addressed as students play instruments, 
create movement, sing and chant, and discuss their 
roles throughout the process. Students’ understanding, 
fluency, and discussion skills are enhanced through 
their participation. The activity requires inexpensive 
hand bells and basic classroom rhythm instruments, 
and can be facilitated by general education teachers 
or music specialists with their young students. While 
the focus of this lesson is on the development of first 
grade literacy, this activity can be easily adapted to 
other stories and grade levels.

When teaching as an elementary music specialist 
in grades K-5 several years ago, I was 

approached by the first grade teachers in my school 
to contribute lessons to an interdisciplinary unit on the 
continents and to teach each lesson in music class 
during their study of each continent respectively. As 
one can imagine, it was easy to contribute a lesson 
consisting of folk songs/instruments/dances from 
North America. The lesson from the Asia unit brought 
to life many instruments and songs resonating in 
pentatonic modes. The Europe lesson afforded 
our students a rich heritage from classical music, 
along with French, Spanish, and German children’s 
songs. Didgeridoos and kangaroos were at the 
center of the Australia lesson. African drumming rang 



GEORGIA JOURNAL OF READING 24 VOLUME 37, NUMBER 1   2014

throughout our building during its respective lesson. 
The South America lesson focused on Argentine 
and Brazilian children’s game songs, along with the 
Andean panpipes. When I began brainstorming about 
Antarctica, I asked myself the same questions as I 
had regarding the other continents: Who were famous 
composers from Antarctica? What are some folk 
songs from Antarctica? Instruments? Dances? Well, I 
obviously drew a blank! 

Using my best resource (my students!), I asked the 
first graders what they knew about Antarctica. In 
unison they shouted, “PENGUINS!” So, I visited the 
librarian for a recommendation for a children’s book. 
Without hesitation, he presented me with Tacky the 
Penguin (Lester & Munsinger, 1988). As soon as I 
saw the book, I knew it was the one to use for my 
lesson. I, however, had to get creative to turn it into a 
musical lesson. This lesson, which is described in this 
article, served the purpose for contributing a musical 
Antarctica lesson to the Interdisciplinary Continent 
Unit for many years at my school. 

According to the Common Core State Standards 
Initiative (CCSS, 2012), literacy instruction is the 
responsibility of all content areas, which includes 
music education. Similar themes are shared between 
CCSS for English Language Arts (ELA) and the 
National Standards for Music Education (NAfME, 
2014). Some of the commonalities between these sets 
of standards include demonstrating independence, 
having strong content knowledge, comprehending, 
critiquing, and understanding other perspectives and 
cultures (Weidner, 2013). Additionally, other learning-
to-read skills correlate with music literacy skills. These 
include phonological awareness, sight identification, 
orthographic awareness, and fluency (Hansen & 
Bernstorf, 2002). Coleman (n.d.), one of the authors 
of the Common Core State Standards, developed the 
Guiding Principles for the Arts and made connections 
between these principles and literacy. For example, 
principal one states, “Studying works of arts as training 
in close observation across the arts disciplines and 
preparing students to create and perform in the arts” 
(para. 2). This interdisciplinary connection enables 
students to actively participate in performance. In 
addition to actively participating in reading through 
music, concepts of literacy can be taught and/or 
enhanced through music. Research has demonstrated 
that music contributes to focused attention (Asaridou 
& McQueen, 2013; Tierney & Kraus, 2013) and 
enhances auditory processing (Saffran, 2002; Skoe & 
Kraus, 2012). Bernstorf (2013) reminds us that good 
music literacy can “provide the very same benefits as 
those who teach language reading, plus the enjoyment 
of an arts experience” (p. 2).  

As I examined this lesson in the context of literacy, 
I discovered that the musical retelling of Tacky, the 
Penguin also served as an effective read-aloud. 
Therefore, in the description of this activity, I have 
noted the Common Core Georgia Performance 
Standards (CCGPS) in English Language Arts (ELA) 
addressed in this lesson (GaDOE, 2014).

As stated earlier, my music students were my most 
valuable resource to utilize in generating creative ideas 
for lessons. Through the years, I had found that their 
natural movements led to innovative choreography 
and that their chants at play developed into meaningful 
songs for school events, etc. Therefore, it was natural 
for me to use their ideas when developing this activity: 
their contributions were invaluable, as they made many 
suggestions to make this activity more meaningful 
than I could have imagined. For example, I had initially 
only used the hand bells, tambourine, and drums for 
a select group to participate in their assigned part. I 
quickly learned that all students wanted a special 
role to play, and my first graders suggested having a 
“choir” and some “dancers” for the story. As a result, 
the Crooning Penguins and Partying Penguins groups 
were formed, joining the characters named in the book. 
Based on my experience in the general classroom 
and in sharing this with preservice teachers, I have 
found that this activity can be facilitated by a general 
classroom teacher. The instruments used in the activity 
are basic and are most likely available to borrow from 
the elementary music specialist. These classroom 
instruments are inexpensive and can be purchased 
easily through PTO or mini-grant funds. Vendors that 
provide these basic instruments at reasonable costs 
include local education supply stores, toy stores, 
and online vendors such as Musician’s Friend (www.
musiciansfriend.com/classroom-kids) and Music is 
Elementary (www.musiciselementary.com).

The following is the description of the lesson activity 
in which I correlated music with the book Tacky the 
Penguin written by Helen Lester, illustrated by Lynn 
Munsinger. Enjoy! 

LESSON ACTIVITY
Tacky, the Penguin – Retelling the Story with Music
GRADE LEVEL: First
CCGPS: 

ELACCKRL5: Recognize common types of texts 
(e.g., storybooks, poems)
ELACCKRL6: With prompting and support, name 
the author and illustrator of a story 
and define the role of each in telling the story. 
ELACCKRL10: Actively engage in group reading 
activities with purpose and understanding. 



GEORGIA JOURNAL OF READING 25 VOLUME 37, NUMBER 1   2014

ELACC1RL1: Ask and answer questions about key 
details in a text.
ELACC1RL2: Retell stories, including key details, 
and demonstrate understanding of 
their central message or lesson.
ELACC1RL3: Describe characters, settings, and 
major events in a story, using key 
details.  ELACC1RL6: Identify who is telling the 
story at various points in a text.
ELACC1RL7: Use illustrations and details in a 
story to describe its characters, setting, or events.
ELACC1RF4: Read with sufficient accuracy and 
fluency to support comprehension
ELACC1SL4: Describe people, places, things, and 
events with relevant details, 
expressing ideas and feelings clearly. 
ELACC1SL5: Add drawings or other visual displays 
to descriptions when appropriate to clarify ideas, 
thoughts, and feelings.

MATERIALS:
Lester, H. & Munsinger, L. (Illustrator). (1988). Tacky 
the penguin. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Music Instruments:
Hand Bells – (Pitches C, D, E, G, and C1)
Tambourine 
Hand Drums 

Procedures for Initial Reading of the Book:
1. Share and discuss the Title, Author, and Illustrator. 
Use the illustrations to help students determine the 
type of story.
2. Ask the students what they think the story is about, 
what they know about penguins, etc. 
3. Read the book, pausing to note how the illustrations 
contribute to the meaning of the story, the characters, 
setting, and/or events.
4. Facilitate a discussion by asking questions about 
key details in the text, and other questions such as, 
“Who told the story?” and “Which words/phrases 
suggest feelings or appeal to senses?” 

Procedures for Retelling the Story with Music:
As a group, the class will help retell the story with 
music as the teacher narrates, using the following 
directions.
1. Assign the characters (Companions, Tacky, 
and Hunters) represented by musical instruments, 
as described below. Demonstrate proper playing 
technique of instruments. Characters:

5 Companions – represented with Hand Bells (The 
pitch, or note, which is printed on each bell, is 
denoted beside each Companion’s name). 

Goodly  C
Lovely  D
Angel   E
Neatly  G
Perfect  C1

Tacky – represented with tambourine 
Hunters – represented with hand drums. Play 
a steady beat on thump, thump, thump, and as 
a steady beat accompaniment to the Crooning 
Penguins’ chant. The steady beat can be related to 
their pulse or heartbeat in that it is evenly played 
(See chart below).
Partying Penguins – perform the movements in the 
story
Crooning Penguins – perform the songs/chants in 
the story

2. Assign the Partying Penguins their role and allow 
them to create the following based on the feelings 
elicited by the words and phrases in the story at the 
respective times the words are read:

a. Performing strict marching pattern
b. Performing haphazard marching/tripping 
pattern
c. Performing splashy cannonballs

3. Assign the Crooning Penguins their role and allow 
them to practice the following based on the feeling 
elicited by the words and phrases when they are read:

a. “Sunrise on the Iceberg.” Sing with sweet and 
pretty voice. (Suggest using the pitches sol-mi, or 
sol-mi-la which are the pitches sung naturally in 
childhood songs such as “Rain, Rain, Go Away,” 
and “Na Nana Boo Boo”).
b. “How Many Toes Does a Fish Have?” Sing 
with harsh and weird voice.
c. Chant. (Hunters will accompany the beat of 
this chant with hand drums. Beat is marked with 
X underneath the words). The steady beat will 
contribute to students’ fluency.

 “We’re  gonna  catch  some  pretty  penguins, and
 X    X X  X  

  we’ll  march  ‘em  with   a      switch,  and  we’ll
 X X  X X

    sell      ’em  for             a     dollar;  and  get
 X X X X

   rich,     rich,    RICH “
 X* X* X*
(All add CLAP on *. Use gradual increase in 
dynamics, or crescendo, which means “to get louder,” 
on the repetition of “rich.” 
4. The teacher re-reads the story, allowing the 
characters to play their musical instruments and 



GEORGIA JOURNAL OF READING 26 VOLUME 37, NUMBER 1   2014

perform their movements, singing, chants, etc. at the 
appropriate times, as follows: 

a. Companions are named slowly, one at a time, 
to allow each student to play his/her individual bell 
after his/her respective name is called.
b. Every time the name “Tacky” is used, the student 
assigned the tambourine shakes and beats his/
her instrument.
c. When the words thump, thump, thump for the 
hunters are used, the students assigned the hand 
drums beat their drums. Also, the drummers will 
play a steady beat to accompany the hunters’ 
chant. (See chart above for beats marked with X)

5. At the end, the teacher will facilitate additional 
discourse to include, “How did the illustrations, musical 
instruments, movement, and use of different voices 
help us understand the story better?” and “Compare 
the characters.”

It is my hope that your students (and you) enjoy using 
Tacky, the Penguin in this musical read-aloud as much 
as my students (and I) have. And, don’t forget … you 
can always use this activity in your Antarctica lesson! 

References
Asaridou, S. S., & McQueen, J. M. (2013). Speech 

and music shape the listening brain: Evidence for 
shared domain-general mechanisms. Frontiers in 
Psychology, 4, 321. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00321

Bernstorf, E. (2013, Fall). Reading acquisition in music 
and language: The cry for preschool music endures. 
Kodaly Envoy, 24-28.

Coleman, D. (n.d.). Guiding principles for the arts 
grades K-12. Retrieved from http://www.aep-arts.
org/resources-2/common-core-and-the-arts/

Common Core Standards State Initiative (CCSS). 
(2012). Implementing the common core state 
standards. Retrieved from www.corestandards.org

Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE). 
(2013). Common Core Georgia performance 
Standards (CCGPS). Retrieved from https://www.
georgiastandards.org 

Hansen, D., & Bernstorf, E. (2002). Linking music 
learning to reading instruction. (Cover story). Music 
Educators Journal, 88(5), 17.

Lester, H., & Munsinger, L. (Illustrator). (1988). Tacky 
the penguin. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

National Association for Music Education (NAfME). 
(2014). National standards for music education. 
Retrieved from http://musiced.nafme.org/resources/

national-standards-for-music-education/

Saffran, J. (2003). Absolute pitch in infancy and 
adulthood: The role of tonal structure. Developmental 
Science, 6(1), 35-47.

Skoe, E., & Kraus, N. (2012). A little goes a long way: 
How the adult brain is shaped by musical training 
in childhood. Journal of Neuroscience, 32, 11507-
11510. doi:10.1523/JNEURO-SCI.1949-12.2012

Tierney, A., & Kraus, N. (2013). Neural responses to 
sounds presented on and off the beat of ecologically 
valid music. Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience, 7, 
14. doi:10.3389/fnsys.2013.00014

Weidner, B. N. (2013). Supporting common core 
reading literacy in the music performance classroom. 
The Illinois Music Educator. 73(3), 55-59.

n Empower members of the GRA and  
local councils to become effective 
leaders in the field of literacy.

n Provide quality reading education 
services to all Georgia educators.

n Recognize exemplary individuals,  
local, and state literacy efforts.

n Achieve maximum involvement of 
members at the local, state, and 
international levels to receive  
maximum benefits.

n Promote the goals and objectives of  
the International Reading Association  
of Georgia.

Georgia Reading Association

     GOALS


