Thanksgiving Dinner Foods

Since my 1st graders are super busy with the music for their Winter Program, this year my Kinders (yes, Kinders - they are doing so well) are working with Thanksgiving Rhythms (you can find this activity and other lessons and printables in this download from my TPT store):

First, we discuss each food you see below:

Then, we sit in a circle and chant (while keeping the steady beat):
We will eat your dinner,
Whatever you might pick,
But we won't eat those monkey brains
'Cause that will make us sick!

We pass around a little stuffed turkey while we chant this.  Whatever child the turkey lands on chooses a food, and then we figure out the rhythm that goes with the food.  (The kiddos are pretty solid on "ta" and "titi", so now we're working on combining them into two or four beat phrases)

So:
Quarter Note: corn, bread
Eighth Note Pair: gravy, turkey
Eighth Note Pair and Quarter Note: casserole, pumpkin pie

Once we know what the rhythm of the food is, we turn it over and it is "eaten".  The kiddos enjoy it and the whole activity doesn't take too long to complete.

With my 1st graders, we usually complete this worksheet:

I don't know about you, but cutting and pasting with kinders is just not something I want to do.  To practice the rhythms this year, we're using Amy Abbott's wonderful set of "Thanksgiving Dinner Rhythms".  The kinders are only using "corn" and "turkey" but they're having fun creating the rhythms.  Then, we move them to high and low pitch levels (prepping for so and mi) and use our singing voice.

Lots of fun!

The Mayflower

My 2nd graders are about ready to add in "do".  This will be one of the last strictly "mi-so-la" activities that I have them complete - so I packed with everything I could think of to enhance their learning.  (Note: Although I do frequently create songs for my students to use, the folk songs I use to teach them far outnumber anything I create - as it should be).

The song is called "The Mayflower".  I've included the music, feel free to use it.  At my Teachers Pay Teachers store (click on the picture below to check it out), you'll find a thorough lessons with visuals, printables, movement ideas, assessment ideas, instrumentation, and more.

I'm really excited to use a few printables I created.  This is a great way for me to assess the students in a way that is fun for them.

First, I'll give the students their Mayflower cards.  The students will:
1) chant the rhythm of each card
2) chant the solfa of each card in rhythm
3) sing the solfa of each card on pitch
4) locate a card I sing or play on a pitched instrument
5) locate a card their classmate sings or plays

Then, the students will match the Pilgrim cards to the Mayflower cards.  Once these are correctly matched, I'll collect the Mayflower cards.  Then, the students will:
1) chant the rhythm of each card
2) chant the solfa of each card in rhythm
3) sing the solfa of each card on pitch
4) locate a card I sing or play on a pitched instrument
5) locate a card their classmate sings or plays

To extend this, students can:
1) Create their own two to four beat measure phrases by arranging the cards in order
2) Play the cards on a pitched instrument
3) A moveable match game - students will be given either a pilgrim or a mayflower card and will have to search for a student that has their matching card
4) Memory matching game with a partner (put cards face down, if they draw a match, they keep the pair and play again, if not, their partner takes a turn, whoever has the most cards at the end is the winner)

My 2nd graders will also be busy with Turkey, Turkey (another mi-so-la activity).

The Turkey Dance

By the time November rolls around (fingers crossed) I'll be working with my older kiddos (4th and 5th) on low so.

I created this little song for us to have some fun (and extra practice) with low so.  It is called "The Turkey Dance".

Here's a slide of the verse:

Here's a slide of the refrain:

I've created slides for teaching the song (starting with the lyrics, adding the steady beat, adding the rhythmic icons, adding the rhythm, adding the solfa off the staff, adding the solfa on the staff, ending with the complete song on the staff).

I also created movements to go with the song (even my older ones like to sing and dance - I always tell them that "motions can help us remember the lyrics" and insist on complete participation).

The melodic activity that goes along with this song is what I can't wait to try out.  The students are singing in a circle - singing and moving to the music.  A "turkey trainer" selects as many as 8 students to hold up a turkey card:

After each repetition of the song, I can either:
A) Select a turkey for the class to sing
B) Sing or play a turkey for the class to find
If the class does so correctly, the student holding that turkey is "eaten", they turn in their card, and then they go to play an instrument (soprano, alto, bass xylophone, rhythm stick/claves, and slap stick parts are all included).  Because the song is in G Major, many of my students can play it on the recorder as well.

In a subsequent lesson, the students will complete a worksheet where they label the turkeys with the correct solfa (either low so, low la, do, re, or mi).

Pavo, Pavo

I know it is a little early, but I found this gem in one of my teacher editions ("Making Music" Grade 1 by Silver Burdett).  I'm so glad to find a "turkey" song in Spanish.  This particular song is from Chile (English words courtesy of CP Language Institute).

The game instructions are:
Formation: Circle, with one child (the turkey) in the middle
Performance Notes: A Section: Phrase 1, 3, and 4 the students sing, Phrase 2 the turkey sings
B Section: students sing (not turkey)
Movement:
Ms. 1-4: Circle moves to the left as the turkey does a turkey strut to the right
Ms. 5-8: circle moves to the right.
Ms. 9-12: Standing still, the children shake their fingers at the turkey.
Ms. 13-16: The turkey closes his/her eyes and stretches out his/her arms - the turkey spins around and points to a new turkey.