As we are wrapping up a unit on "Musical Opposites" in first grade, we are preparing to tackle basic rhythm patterns. Our last two opposite words were "Long and Short" and students spent some time singing, playing, listening to, and moving to long and short sounds.
A great way for me to assess their understanding of long and short sounds is by using scarves! I told the students to pretend that they were famous painters and that they had a huge blank canvas in front of them. They were to listen to the music and use their scarves paintbrushes to paint long strokes or short strokes according to what they heard in the music. They did a great job and had so much fun!
Now we are working on transferring their knowledge of long and short sounds to the introduction of basic rhythms. They are learning about the quarter note (tah - long) and the eighth notes (ti-ti - short) and how to put them together to make patterns. Over the next few weeks they will be working on identifying, performing, and creating patterns using tah and ti-ti. As I said to my first grade class today... "You are now REAL musicians!" They thought they were big stuff! ;)
Playing...
Identifying...
Creating...
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