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).