When things start winding down at school and the students attention span becomes shorter and their activeness increases, I like to pull out a lot of movement activities. One of my students' favorites is "The Cup Game." It is like a rhythm hand-clapping game and a passing game combined. I learned it many years ago at camp and I usually have a handful of students in each class that already know it. I use those students to tutor anyone who needs help.
I use the following poem to help teach the movements:
I found this poem and visual in the 5th grade Gameplan Curriculum by Randy DeLelles and Jeff Kriske. I taught the poem line by line and then took away the words a few at a time until the students had it memorized. Then each student received a plastic cup and we worked on each section slowly. After demonstrating each set of movements, I had the students practice with a partner. Once they learned the entire sequence, they got into teams of 4 and tried out the passing part of the game. Eventually we were able to pass the cups around the circle with the whole class.
As an extention, I had the students suggest songs that we could use to accompany the game. We tried everything from Sousa Marches to Michael Jackson to One Direction. Since the rhythm pattern is 4 measures long in 4/4 time, many familiar songs can be used!
I also picked out a few fun videos for them to enjoy:
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ReplyDeleteSorry Ana! I didn't mean to delete your original comment!
DeleteYou tap the top of the cup alternating hands - ti-ti tah. Its just a way to help the kids remember the rhythm. You could also say "tap the cup." Hope that helps! :)
DeleteWhen you show the new cup game song, do you have any problems with the fact that they use the word "whiskey" in the first verse? I'd like to use the song, but I'm pretty sure my administration would have a cow, lol.
ReplyDeleteI probably should have mentioned that I skip over that part! A lot of my students know this song anyway but just to be safe... ;)
DeleteI was thinking of using this at the start of the school year. Instead of "whiskey" I was going to have them change it to pepsi.
DeleteI was just wondering what grade level(s) you do this game with. I teach K-3. Could I expect my 2nd and 3rd graders to be successful with it?
ReplyDeleteI typically do it with 4th and 5th grades but this year I tried it with 3rd because I had a sharp group. I would tend to say that it might be a little too difficult for 2nd but you'll just have to take your students' abilities into consideration. Thanks for reading! :)
DeleteI love this! My Honors Choir is going to perform "Cups" at our spring concert this year and I was looking for a way to teach a group the cup rhythm!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Tamika! I'm so glad you found this post helpful! I hope the kids enjoy it - good luck! :)
DeleteI just found your post and I'm wondering if there is a way to find the poem your talking about. The links no longer seem to work.Thanks!
ReplyDeleteHi Bonnie! The authors asked me to remove the visual of the poem due to copyright reasons. It is located in the 5th grade Gameplan Curriculum by Randy DeLelles and Jeff Kriske. The words of the poem are:
DeleteClap Clap Bumblebee
Clap Up Down
Clap Turn Touch Touch
Change Pat Down
Hope that helps! :)