A quick note about students experiencing food insecurity: I've found that focusing on discussing our favorite foods, rather than asking students to discuss specific things they eat for specific occasions etc, keeps it positive for everyone. My entire school building receives free breakfast and lunch and I do have students experiencing food insecurity, and I also have students who won't be having a big family gathering or special meal over Thanksgiving break because their family is not together, their caregivers have to work, they don't recognize US American Thanksgiving, etc. But in my experience even the ones who struggle the most with food insecurity are happy to talk about their favorite foods. Don't assume everyone is having a special meal for Thanksgiving (or any other time of year), but in my opinion you also don't need to shy away from the topic of food in general either.
A lot of these activities are things I keep in my back pocket for when schedules get weird before a break, or to add into a heavier lesson so my students and I don't have to think so hard when we're tired. But some of them are just a different twist on skills and concepts I'm already teaching in different grade levels that just make the lesson more fun!
Canon and Partner Singing
I love using the Fast Food Canon to introduce canon singing to my 3rd graders this time of year. The students always love this song and it's so easy to learn! I also introduce partner singing with 4th graders, and the Fruit Canon (it's called a canon but it's really best done as a partner song as shown in this video) and Fish and Chips and Vinegar song are some of my favorite ways to introduce partner singing with them as well.
You Name It
My favorite Thanksgiving reference to throw into my lessons the day before or after break is the "You Name It" song. This body percussion play along is easy enough for younger students but also engaging enough for even my oldest 6th graders, and it's a great activity to use as a class opener or warm-up activity to get everyone focused and having fun.
Rhythm Play-along Videos
Of course play-along videos are always an easy way to incorporate a specific theme. The "time for pie" videos have iconic notation, quarter/ paired eighths/ quarter rest, and sixteenth/eighth combination rhythm versions that I've used with Kindergarten, 1st grade, and 5th grade, and the "peanut butter vs jelly" duet mode videos have the class split into 2 sides and read 2 different sets of rhythms which is great for working on ensemble skills while reviewing rhythm reading- there are versions with quarter/ paired eighths/ quarter rest, added half and whole notes, and dotted quarter/ single eighth note versions which I use with 2nd, 3rd, and 6th grade (so that's a play-along option for almost every grade right there!).
Mi, Sol, La
I love using the song "Pizza, Pizza, Daddy-O" to review mi, sol, and la with 2nd grade because it gets students singing the same melodic pattern over and over again while giving them the chance to be up and moving. After they learn the song I have students aurally identify the solfege of the repeated phrase and notate it on the staff. I also have students come and lead the song themselves and make up their own dance moves at the end so it's a quick and fun way to assess their independent singing without them even realizing!
Steady Beat
The chant "Chop Chop Chippity Chop" is one of my favorite ways to practice steady beat with Kindergarten. I ask different students to choose what else to add to the soup and we act out the whole process of getting each item out of the fridge/ pantry, washing it off (if applicable) and putting it on the cutting board before starting the chant. I'm always amazed at how many times students will beg to repeat this over and over, and we come up with some pretty unusual soup combinations!
Rap Flow
One easy way to practice flow is to have students list a bunch of their favorite foods (or limit it to one category like desserts or vegetables) and practice rapping them with a beat in the background and try to match the beat. For older students, you can have them practice rapping with different numbers of syllables to each beat using the same word sequence as well. This post has more detail about how I teach beginning rap skills, including flow, and links to some rudiment exercises and tracks you can use for this!
Improvisation
One of my new favorite hand clapping games for upper elementary is the Argentinian game "Tutuca". Students take turns saying a 4-beat pattern with any combination of 4 Argentinian snack names and then the class repeats the pattern with hand gestures that are assigned to each word. I've used it as a way to get students improvising (because the leader doesn't get time to think before they say their pattern) but it's honestly just a great way to get squirrelly preteens to concentrate, and my students were intrigued by the different snacks they hadn't heard of before! Here's the blog post with the game demonstration and all the details on the lesson activities I did with it.
Food is such a fun theme to use any time of year, and it's an easy one to use with almost any concept with any grade level! There are so many other great songs about different kinds of foods as well, and activities I've done over the years with a food theme. What are your favorite food themed songs and lesson activities for elementary music? Let me know in the comments!
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