I hope you have been enjoying our folk song pick of the week, Simple Gifts. Here is a link to the free song card and a bit of history behind the folk song.
As I was considering what to share for a free printable resource to go along with this folk song, I decided on a gratitude page! The song lends itself so well to reflecting on the simple gifts in our own lives, and so I adapted the iconic Shaker “gift art” titled “The Tree of Life” by Hannah Cohoon and turned it into a gratitude tree. You can work together or individually to write or draw the things you are thankful for in your life.
It would be wonderful to share the actual image of The Tree of Life, and play a few recordings of Simple Gifts as the children fill out their gratitude trees. Older students may enjoy listening to “Appalachian Spring” by Aaron Copeland and finding the Simple Gifts theme in the ending of the piece.
Last year I found a book on Thrift Books called “Simple Gifts”, and it has some gorgeous photographs of Shaker art, furniture, buildings, quilts, and so on. It goes through the song as it shares more about the culture of the Shakers through the photographs. This book is no longer in print, and the link isn’t an affiliate link or anything. I just wanted to share in case you could get ahold of a copy and share it with your students. Sharing actual photographs of Shaker life will deepen the children’s cultural connection to the song. As we know, folk songs do not exist in isolation, but rather within the context of the culture in which they were cultivated and passed down through the generations. We do our students a disservice by presenting the folk songs without sharing the cultural context in which they exist.
I think this will be a really sweet activity to celebrate this season of Thanksgiving. I hope you find this helpful!
Click here to download the simple gifts gratitude page
Happy Singing!
-Lauren