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Shake it Morena Puerto Rican Folklore


As the "official" celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month comes to an end that doesn't mean that we won't continue to celebrate our beautiful Hispanic Heritage beyond this month-long recognition. 

Throughout the year you can continue to learn about the Hispanic culture through crafts, cooking, books, and songs!  Multicultural Kid Blogs has tons of link-ups with posts about Hispanic culture just make sure you scroll all the way down, and don't forget to pin for later!

Shake It, Morena! and other Folklore from Puerto Rico by Carmen T. Bernier-Grand is a book I highly recommend. The illustrations from Lulu Delacre  are beautiful and look like taken out of a painting!  


I love that this book provides children's songs, riddles, and short stories about Puerto Rico. It also has the lyrics, and musical symbols so you can play the song.

The illustrations depict Puerto Rican culture and family life. For instance, you can see a picture of a family dinner with avocados and plantains. You can see the beautiful tropical island vegetation with coquies and all! Children with their school uniform (just like the one I used to wear). 

The illustration on the left of this book of the girls in their uniforms is exactly the same uniform we used when I was going to school. 

I have fond memories of growing up singing "Los Pollitos Dicen Pío, Pío, Pío", chanting "Mi Escuelita" before heading to school, and jumping rope with my sisters, and cousins as we all sang, "Mi Madre y Mi Padre." These are all songs that my Mamá taught us when we were growing up. These are songs that I myself will be passing along to my child. With this book children can learn about Puerto Rico's history, games and songs.

Cheki Morena
Cheki, morena, cheki,
Cheki, morena, ¡jue!
¿Que a dónde está
Ese ritmo caramba
Del merecumbé?
Un pasito alante
Y otro para atrás
Y dando la vuelta
Y dando la vuelta
¿Quién se quedará? ¡Jue!
Shake it, brown girl, shake it,
Shake it, brown girl, hey!

 Here are some of our favorites: 

cuando tienen hambre, cuando tienen frío.
La gallina busca el maíz y el trigo
les da la comida y les presta abrigo.
Bajos sus alitas acurrucaditos
hasta el otro día duermen los pollitos.


Mi Escuelita
Mi escuelita, mi escuelita,
Yo la quiero con amor,
Porque en ella, porque en ella,
Es que aprendo la lección.
Por la mañana temprano,
Lo primero que yo hago,
Saludar a mi maestra,
Y después a mi trabajo.
Mi escuelita, mi escuelita,
Yo la quiero con amor,
Porque en ella, porque en ella,
Es que aprendo la lección.

Mi Madre y Mi Padre
Mi madre y mi padre
Viven en la calle
De San Valentín
Número cuarenta y ocho.
Mi padre le dice a mi madre,
Señora, toque el piso,
Señora, dé una vuelta,
Señora, coja sus maletas
y lárguese de aquí.

Pollito, Chicken
Pollito, chicken,
Gallina, hen,
Lápiz, pencil
And pluma, pen.
Ventana, window,
Puerta, door,
Maestra, teacher
And piso, floor.

Brinca la Tablita
Brinca la tablita
Que yo la brinque,
Brinca la tu ahora
Que yo me canse.
Dos y dos son cuatro,
Cuatro y dos son seis,
Seis y dos son ocho,
Y ocho diez y seis.

Hope you enjoy, and use this book in your homeschool, classroom or simply to learn more about Puerto Rico's rich and beautiful culture.   The book has plenty of activities that can be implemented into the math, social studies, science, writing, reading, and physical education lessons in the classroom. 

If you want to read more children's book about Puerto Rico read about my top five choices, and it includes Shake it Morena!