cha cha cha

By kiri8

It was my birthday not long ago.

When it is a child’s birthday at school, we celebrate by giving that child a crown to wear all day, and by singing “Happy Birthday” to the birthday kid.  He or she comes up to stand with me, and I ask, “how old are you?” and then I ask, “would you like us to sing with the cha-cha-chas, or with no cha-cha-chas?”  Every single child this year has said, “no cha-cha-chas.”  In past years, most kids liked them.  When it was Miss Slinger’s birthday, she definitely wanted the cha-cha-chas in her birthday song.

We had a birthday before spring break, and as usual, the request was for no cha-cha-chas.  I laughed, and said, “you know, my birthday is coming up soon, and I want the cha-cha-chas.”  The class got really excited when I said I’d bring treats that day.  Then I thought ahead and decided to amend it to “I will bring small treats.”

Every day for the next week or so, the children would come to school and say, “is it your birthday today, Mrs. X?  Do we get to have small treats?”

So on my birthday I got several little handmade cards, and one from a parent (which said, “You are a great teacher” and thrilled me to pieces), and we had tiny cupcakes.

We sang the song this way:

Happy birthday to you, cha-cha-cha!

Happy birthday to you, cha-cha-cha!

Happy birthday, Mrs. X,

Happy birthday to you, cha-cha-cha!

And I loved it.

8 thoughts on “cha cha cha”

  1. How fun!! My class LOVES the cha cha cha. They even taought me something- at the end they say cha cha cha, ooh la la, hiya!!! It is so cute. One girl knew it and now everyone says it. Happy Birthday!

  3. Happy Birthday Cha-Cha-Cha! Awesome you are, Mrs. X. A cha-cha-champion. If every teacher were like you, the world would cha-cha-change for the better. A lot better. Best wishes to you from an admirer in Cha-cha-chakarta. Mel

  4. apparently the teacher who worked with my aid before was anti cha cha cha’s or my aid is anti cha cha cha’s because she makes a huge deal about how we don’t say that in our room.. and i kind of like them.. but eh whatever.. it’s not like the kids aren’t already COMPLETELY wound up for birthdays with or without cha cha cha’s

  5. I can’t help but sing the cha cha cha’s at birthday parties in fact I sang it the other day and my FIL looked at me like I was crazy.

  6. My family calls all relatives on their birthdays and sings the birthday song kind of crazy, with a fair amount of mugging and caterwauling by my husband and sons. The boys always finish the song this way:
    …happy birthday to you, cha cha cha!
    Hooya! Where’s the coca COla!
    Scooby Doo on channel two!
    Big fat lady on channel eighty!

  7. My daughter’s first grade teacher gave the birthday child his or her choice of three versions of the birthday song: robot style, munchin style, or opera style. Very, very popular, especially the munchin style, in which everyone got on their knees and sang in squeeky little voices.

Leave a comment