Blog Posts

Thanksgiving Ideas

Denise Gagne

Canadian Thanksgiving falls on Monday, October 10th. For my American friends, save this newsletter until November!

I love to play the game, "I'm the Fastest Turkey" for Thanksgiving. This is in Musicplay 2, October Lesson 1, but you can use this game with almost any age. It's a call-response, with a leader singing the call.

Fastest Turkey Notation

Directions

Have the children make a circle. Choose one child to be the turkey. The turkey struts around the outside of the circle while all the children sing the song. At the end of the song, the turkey tags a child who chases and tries to tag the turkey before the turkey reaches the inside of the circle. Both the 'turkey' and the 'chaser' sit in the middle of the circle until all the children have had a turn. Sing the song as a call-response with the 'turkey' singing the call.

This makes a great vocal assessment.

This vocal assessment rubric comes from the Musicplay 1 Digital PowerPoint for #36 Cuckoo. Adapt it for your own use!

Screenshot 2023-05-29 at 2.33.02 PM

Other Songs for Thanksgiving:

Musicplay 1:
#23 I Like Turkey (same game as Fastest Turkey)
#25 Five Fat Turkeys
Musicplay 2:
#15 Thanks a Lot!
Musicplay 3:
#14 I'm Thankful

Musicplay 3: Number Concentration

Number Concentration Notation

Directions

Number off each of the kids. When you sing the #, they sing back their name. Keep a beat with two fingers. If someone misses singing back their name on the number, they are "out." Instead of going "out", I have them choose a new tempo from the word wall, and we repeat the game at the new tempo.

Darlene Ngo from Campbell River, BC sent the following suggestion for this game:

Hi Denise, I have tried your Number Concentration game with a little variation. I changed "say" to "sing" and have the whole class sing the numbers. Then I made number flashcards which the whole class sings after which the student sings their name. They have to be paying attention and listening to be ready for their name! Good game!

There is an Orff arrangement (by Rob Amchin!) in The Orff Source Vol. 2

I like to teach and play the game one class. In the next class, we review the game (and the names), then teach the orchestration. I have kids create a B section using number patterns: 1, 2, 4-5, 6 8, 88, 2, 1 and then transfer the number patterns to non-pitched. We then perform the whole thing as a rondo.