Turn over

Warm-Up

This song makes for a great choral warm-up: The consonant-packed words warm up articulators, and the contrast between clear articulation and the glissando "over" helps pitch accuracy and control.

Numeracy

Personally, I bet this song was meant to be sung similar to "Ninety-Nine Bottles of Beer On The Wall." Try singing it with descending numbers to bolster students' numeracy skills.

Physical Break, Form, and Assessment

Have students listen to the recording or sing and turn around every time they hear the phrase "turn over." This may be done standing in a line or circled/partnered with scarves between joined hands. Try increasing the tempo of the song. Can students' singing, articulation, and spinning keep up?

Though this activity seem silly, anticipating the phrase turn over pushes students to identify the form of the lyrics and think ahead to the next phrase while singing. Students can express their understanding of underlying concepts through physical movement before they're ready to verbally articulate ideas about form. A quick visual scan of the room provides the teacher an informal, formative assessment moment; it's very easy to see which students are able to successfully think ahead and make predictions based on their developing sense of musical form.