This song is available on Hap Palmer's Two Little Sounds: Fun with Phonics And Numbers.
Subjects:
• Place Value: tens and ones
• Addition and/or multiplication
• Word problems
Vocabulary:
Tens, ones, dog, flea, horse, cow,
bicycle, tricycle
Activity:
Each verse begins with a problem.
Combine the tens and ones that march out of
Hubert’s closet and call out the answer when
you hear the words “the answer is . . .” After
you hear each problem, imagine you are playing
a big drum. Pound your fists and sing
“boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom,
boom, boom.” Next, in a seated or standing
position, march in time with the music.
Hubert groaned at his homework
As he struggled with problems like these:
If one dog had ten fleas
and one dog had twelve fleas
Please, how many fleas would there be?”
He scratched his head and frowned
When suddenly from his closet came this sound
Boom, boom, boom, boom,
boom, boom, boom, boom
Two tall tremendous tens
and two wee wonderful ones
Came marching out
and circled ‘round his room
As they bounced across his bed,
lights went on in Hubert’s head
In a flash he knew the answer to the quiz
Two tall tremendous tens
and two wee wonderful ones,
the answer is . . . twenty-two
Then back in the closet they marched
and quickly shut the door
Hubert hollered,
“Hey, can you help me solve one more?”
“How many legs on ten cows and two horses?”
Boom, boom, boom, boom,
boom, boom, boom, boom
Four tall tremendous tens
and eight wee wonderful ones
Came marching out and circled ‘round his room
As they bounced across his bed,
lights went on in Hubert’s head
In a flash he knew the answer to the quiz
Four tall tremendous tens
and eight wee wonderful ones,
the answer is . . . forty-eight
Then back in the closet they marched
and quickly shut the door
Hubert hollered,
“Hey, can you help me solve one more?”
How many wheels on twelve bicycles
and three tricycles?
Boom, boom, boom, boom,
boom, boom, boom, boom
Three tall tremendous tens
and three wee wonderful ones
Came marching out and circled ‘round his room
As they bounced across his bed,
lights went on in Hubert’s head
In a flash he knew the answer to the quiz
boom, boom, boom
Three tall tremendous tens
and three wee wonderful ones,
the answer is . . . thirty-three
Now Hubert does his homework
every night with tons of fun
With help from tall tremendous tens
and wee wonderful ones
Follow-up:
Make up your own problems. Sing
this song with the instrumental version (#26)
using your ideas. Here is an example:
Verse 1
Hubert groaned at his homework
As he stared at the problem on the page
“Trudy is twenty, Tammy is nine
What’s their combined age?”
Verse 2
How many legs in two tables and four chairs?
Verse 3
How many fingers on five hands?
Book Suggestions for this Song:
See more of our Elementary School Math Songs and Addition & Subtraction Songs.
Many thanks to Hap Palmer for permission to display these lyrics.
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