Happy Thanksgiving!
I hope everyone has a fun and safe holiday this week! In spirit of Thanksgiving, we came together to make music focused around Indians, Pilgrims, Turkeys and food. Thanksgiving songs are actually harder to find than you would think. There are not many originals that I had come across that did not piggyback off of a familiar tune. Several of the songs used in group today were borrowed tunes from another song. See if you can name that tune!
Hello to You!
Hello everyone! It’s good to see you. Well, we’re so glad you’re here with us today!
Drums
Using a gather drum, a song honoring the American Indians was used to accompany the activity. First Americans was a tune used from http://www.songsforteaching.com/usahooray/firstamericansproud.htm. It provides only a brief recording which I used for the main melody and just repeated phrases over and over. Repetition sticks!
Dancing
There are some fun turkey movement songs out there! During our group, we used Turkey Trot and Turkey Dinner Dance. These were slightly modified to increase participation for floor work as well as standing. Feel free to add your own verses or modify as needed for you!
Sing!
We eat Turkey. Yum yum yum! Using this familiar tune, simple lyrics encourage verbal participation from everyone especially since each line repeats. A visual was also made showing a picture of a turkey dinner, pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes and green beans. Originally the visual was used with a GoTalk that when pushed, a recording said what the picture was. It was modified to Bitboard app of iPad that did the same thing. If you have neither of these tools available, flash cards or a collage of these will work and have our friends choose a Thanksgiving dinner item to eat or have them find the one being sung about. It is a lot of fun!
Social and Cognitive
I had a great time putting this activity together and I felt that it was a hit during group and individual sessions! Piggybacking a song from a Disney movie, we identified different things we are thankful for. In a group, it was an interesting challenge to come up with generic responses that did not create awkward situations. For example, the responses previously written were Family, Home, Pets, Flag, Sun and Moon. Food should have been one but I did not think of it until later. Whoops! Listen to the song and it will tell you how to do this activity!
Book
I do not remember exactly where this book was discovered and who originally made it but I will share until contacted. This book features generalizing colors to every day items: brown- turkey, green- green beans, yellow- corn, etc. It is a fun book to read and has a catchy tune!
Recycle!
Other activities done this week were recycled from previous weeks. As mentioned earlier, repetition sticks! When repeating certain activities and songs, it increases participation, understanding, comprehension and efficiency. There is nothing wrong with reusing recent or older material. Have at it!
Goodbye
Until next time! Happy Thanksgiving!
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