Turkey, Turkey, Turkey!

November is a time for post-Halloween candy, blustery days, and, of course, Thanksgiving! This week, my students are playing a fun Thanksgiving (assessment) game to get them in the spirit of the holiday.

This song/game is called Turkey, Turkey, Turkey!

To play the game, students sit in a circle. One student sits outside of the circle, facing away from students. Students sing the song and pass a turkey around the circle. I used a Turkey printed on a paper but a stuffed animal would work great as well! Whoever has the turkey on the word day "hides the turkey before Thanksgiving Day" by putting the printed or stuffed animal Turkey behind their back. The student who is sitting outside of the circle remains facing away from the rest of the class and sings "Turkey, where are you?" (sol mi mi sol mi). The student who is hiding the turkey sings "you'll never find me" (sol mi mi sol mi). The student sitting outside the circle has three tries to guess who sang "you'll never find me" without looking. The individual singing responses gave me a chance to assess my students' singing.

Fall is in the Air! Singing Game and Assessment

Fall is certainly in the air here in North Carolina. While the days are still hot and sunny, mornings are crisp and cool. With this in mind, I thought it would be fun to sing about the change in seasons with my kindergartners!

I started by asking if someone knew what season is coming up next. A few enthusiastic hands shot up. After we determined the next season is fall, I read a short book about fall. There are so many great options out there!

Next we learned a song/game celebrating fall called "Fall is in the Air!" Students sit in a circle while three chosen students stand in the center of the circle and pick a fall object. I printed out pictures of a scarecrow, pumpkin, squirrel, acorn, pile of leaves, and sun flower. I did not have time to laminate my pictures this time around but will definitely do so in the future!

The whole group sings this song while the three students "show off" their fall objects:

Fall is in the air!

  s  m  s  m   s

Fall is in the air!

  s  m  s  m   s

Gather round,

   s   s   m

Let us see!

  s   s   m

What do you have here?

  s      s     m     l       s

Students in the center of the circle are called on one by one to sing what they have with this response:

I have a _______________.

s  m    m      s-m or just s depending on syllables

The whole group responds immediately after with:

She/he has a ________________.

     s       m  m     s-m or just s depending on syllables

This group response is a good sol mi reinforcer.

Assessment

I assessed students on their individual response with the following rubric:
4. Sings sol mi pattern in correct key 

3. Sings sol mi pattern in tune but in a different key 
2. Sings but does not sing sol mi pattern 
1. Uses speaking voice, even with I sing, you sing prompt
0. Would not attempt to sing, even with I sing, you sing prompt