Thanksgiving Song Writing Activities

Have your students compose and perform their very own songs for Thanksgiving!

This resource contains six structured songwriting activities that allow even students struggling to succeed!

There are SIX guided music composition templates and teaching ideas and suggestions.

How it Works

Students compose their own THANKSGIVING song by choosing from the given bars/measures of rhythm with words and placing them in their preferred order. They then select one of the six song templates and followed the steps to create their song.

Display the following slide or make class copies and hand out one to each student. Have your students compose and perform their songs for THANKSGIVING with these SIX guided songwriting activities.

Have the students clap the rhythm of each bar, then say the words rhythmically while clapping the rhythm.

It is essential that you work through each of the rhythms with your class before introducing the song templates. Here are just two of the song templates in the resource.
          

For the More Advanced Students

♫ The more advanced students in your class can use the given measures/bars as a springboard for creating their own THANKSGIVING verse for their song and use the template provided to notate their song!

♫ Also included in the resource is a songwriting activity sheet where the pitches have NOT been specified. Teachers can use this sheet to draw the clef and pitches they have been working on in class.

Use this resource to develop/assess understanding of:
♦ Pitch
♦ Rhythm
♦ Words and rhythms
♦ Standard notation on the treble staff

Completed activities/songs can then be used for:
♦ A class concert

Once students have composed, rehearsed and presented their Thanksgiving song, place them with a partner. Have the pair combine their songs to create an 8 or 16 bar song which they will then rehearse and present to the class.

*** More ideas on how you can use this resource with your music classes are included in the resource on the Teacher Tips and Suggestions page.***

Check out more of our Thanksgiving Music Resources for Your Classroom. Click the image below to be directed to our collection.

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