Rocking the grammar on Schoolhouse Rock

Young reader in training! Image from A Child’s Garden of Verses, 1905, by Jessie Willcox Smith. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Last weekend, I was messing around on YouTube and chanced upon a series of Schoolhouse Rock videos. For blog readers not familiar with the Schoolhouse Rock series, they were a set of short, educational TV movies created by David McCall of the New York ad agency McCaffrey and McCall. The idea behind these animated movies was to teach different topics — such as grammar, math and history — to children in a fun way. I wonder just how many of these movies influenced kids to become writers or book lovers?

These little movies were shown on television between 1973 – 1985 and got revived between 1993 – 1999. Most of the videos are period pieces (you can tell from the 1970s-era clothing), but they’re cute. Each film is about three minutes long or so.

I watched a bunch of them and was enchanted. The music for these movies is pretty catchy. For your viewing pleasure, here’s some of the best of the grammar set. Have fun! (And while you’re watching, I’m going to go search for bell-bottom jeans, pet rocks and mood rings. I bet some thrift store around here might have some tucked away somewhere.)