Introducing Quarter Notes, Half Notes and Whole Notes

When I first introduced quarter notes, half notes and
whole notes to the kids, I showed the kids the sandpaper
notes
. They looked at the notes, felt them, and also shut
their eyes to guess what they had.

Then I showed them the rhythm pizza pieces. We
stacked them and talked about how many quarter slices
were needed to make a whole pizza, etc. I thought this
was a clever, creative way to introduce the topic to
the kids.

I also (re)introduced the idea of ta, ti-ti and rests. I had
them “buy” some candy by choosing a card and telling
us the rhythm (we had to repeat after them).

Candy bar rhythms

wqswwwwx

I used the fish-rhythm cards below to play a
circle game. I set out six cards that we had to
sit behind. Then we sang a song:

Charlie over the ocean
Charlie over the sea
Charlie caught a blackbird
Could’ve been me…

as one person tapped each seated player on the head.
When the song ended, the last person tapped
had to chase the tapper around the circle. The
tapper had to try to sit down before s/he was
caught. Then s/he had to tell us what his/her
card was.

Here’s where you can download the other part of the
fish rhythm matching cards (with number values).

Be sure to visit http://susanparadis.wordpress.com/ and
http://laytonmusic.wordpress.com/ for more wonderful music-teaching ideas and downloads.

Posted by Picasa

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *