Manipulative Monday: Rhythm Round Up

My first graders just started their rhythm unit, and it really is one of my favorite times of the year. There are just so many good ideas for teaching rhythm! Below are a few of my favorites. If you wish, most of these would be easy to turn into stations.

Chair Rhythm

An oldie but a goodie. I got this from Jim Solomon, but this is so common there must be more than one source. You set up four chairs, and inform the kids that each person is a sound and each chair is a beat. I have them count the number of heads; one head is a tah (its real name is quarter note) and so on. This makes note heads easier to explain later. We start with the representative notation, and I follow along with stick figures on the smart board. Once it is time to introduce the musical notation, I simple fill in a stick figure’s head and draw the note. The “aha” moment they get is pretty fantastic to watch. My district teaches rhythm in a “# of sounds, # of beats” format, so teaching them to count note heads to know the number of sounds is very helpful. I use chair notation to introduce rhythm. I usually bring it back for any new rhythm as well, or whenever students get stumped on a rhythm.

Introducing musical notation

Mini-Notation Sort

When I moved into my current classroom, I found stacks and stacks of empty CD cases. I was tempted to toss them all, but decided to keep them just in case. Boy, am I glad I did! It turns out that when you take a sharpie and add a line down the middle of the case, you get a perfect four-section sorter. (You could do this with the typical square cases as well, just pop out the black cd-holder.)

I printed off a quarter sheet with each of the rhythms as well as their definitions, then printed off mini notation cards. Kids take their cards and sort them into the correct term and definition. This is a great check for understanding if your objective is identification.

Pipe Cleaner Notation

When my art teacher graciously donated a box of short pipe cleaners, I knew I had struck manipulative gold. These things are useful in general, but perhaps my favorite use of them so far is as a way for student to get to know the notation of rhythms. I have students first use a set of mini-notation to set up a rhythm, so there is an exemplar close at hand. Then students use the pipe cleaners to create each rhythm. Kids can get a bit “creative” with them at first, but it’s fun and engaging.

Foam Heart Notation

My first year teaching, I went through the trouble of laminating a ridiculous number of hearts for steady beat and rhythm teaching. It was a pain, and my school is VERY protective of the laminator and encourages us to use it as little as possible (preferably never.) Oh, if only I knew then what I know now! Instead of feeling guilty for a large laminating job and burning through your paper supply, pick up some foam from the dollar store. It works with the die-cut machine, and lasts as long as laminated paper. You can also easily find pre-cut shapes at hobby stores. These hearts were free (yay!) so I use them constantly, but it could easily be a different shape if you wish.

I use the big hearts to represent the beat, and the little hearts to represent the number of sounds. Alternating the colors of the big hearts makes it easy to add in the concept of strong and weak beats later.

Chip and Stick Rhythm

This also uses representative notation, but uses a square for each beat and a chip or stick for each sound. You could use just the bingo chips, but I throw in popsicle sticks as well for the longer rhythms like half and whole notes.

Rhythm Dice

I love these things! They have so many uses. Students could identify the sounds, beats, or sound of note they roll. These dice could also be used to create a rhythm, or inspire a game of notation-search using a piece of sheet music.