Rhythm stars

This lesson will introduce the main components of rhythm: quarter, eighth, and sixteenth notes.

A lesson plan for grades K–1 Music Education

By Laura Abernethy

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Learning outcomes

Students should learn to hear, recognize, identify, read, clap, play, compose, and write rhythms using quarter, eighth, and sixteenth notes.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

This unit usually takes 8–9 weeks of class, 35 minutes a week.

Materials/resources

• Stars in three sizes. I use glow-in-the-dark stars. Affix velcro and attach them to a carpet square.
• Popsicle/craft sticks. Twenty-five per student in the class. I put twenty-five in a snack sized zip-lock bag for each student.
• Rhythm sticks.
• Paper.
• Pencils or crayons.
• Cards with four-beat rhythm patterns written on them.
• Cards with one beat on them. There should be enough for each student to have twenty cards. Use one quarter, two eighths, four sixteenths, and one eighth and two sixteenths. I made one sheet with eight cards on it then ran multiple copies on card stock and cut them apart.
• Sheets of 9 x 12 construction paper.
• Strips of construction paper. I use 1/2″ wide x 3″ long.
• Glue sticks.

Technology resources

Optional:

• A cassette tape or CD player
• A cassette tape or CD containing “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,” “ABC Song,” and “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep.”

Pre-activities

Learn the songs:

• “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”
• “ABC Song”
• “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep”

Have some experience with steady beat.

Activities

Lesson 1

1. Sing through “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” having the students tap the steady beat on their knees.
2. Talk about steady beat and show them what it looks like using big stars. Count using “ta” for each star.
3. Talk about the rhythm of the words.
4. Show the rhythm of the words using medium and big stars. Note that the rhythm repeats each line — it is the same throughout.
5. Read the rhythm using “ti-ti” for medium stars (eighth notes) and “ta” for big stars (quarter notes).
6. Sing “Twinkle…” using “Ta” and “ti-ti.”
7. Have students clap the rhythm while they sing “Twinkle…” using “ta” and “ti-ti.”

Lesson 2

1. Review Lesson 1.
2. Say the rhyme “Star Light, Star Bright.”
3. Show the rhythm using the stars.
4. Read using “ta” and “ti-ti.”
5. Sing “ABC Song.”
6. Notate using the stars of three sizes.
7. Read using “ta,” “ti-ti,” and add “tik-a-tik-a” for the smallest stars (sixteenth notes). Note: on “w” the rhythm is read tik-a-ti.
8. Tap the rhythm on knees alternating hands on sixteenth notes.
9. Sing the song with students marching to the steady beat. When finished, reinforce the difference between steady beat and rhythm.

Lesson 3

1. Review lessons 1 and 2.
2. Say and then sing “Baa, Baa Black Sheep.”
3. Notate using stars. Explain that two medium stars take the same amount of time as one big star and that four little stars take the same amount of time as one big star.
4. Read using syllables ta, ti-ti, and tik-a-tik-a. Note: in a few places there are eighth-sixteenth combos, read ti-tik-a. Just read them, the kids will imitate. You can explain if you wish but I have found that they really don’t understand until later.
5. Tap rhythm on knees.
6. Sing using the syllables ta, ti-ti, tik-a-tik-a, and ti-tik-a.

Lesson 4

1. Review lessons 1,2, and 3.
2. Using popsickle sticks, make the stems for the notes with the stars as the heads. Connect eighth notes using one stick and sixteenth notes using two sticks.
3. Explain that on printed music the heads of the notes are usually round. I have the songs written on big staff paper for them to see.
4. Sing the songs (using words) following the notes.
5. Sing the songs (using syllables) while following the notes.
6. Using cards with one beat on a card (one quarter note, two eighth notes, four sixteenth notes, one eighth and two sixteenth notes) arrange into four-beat patterns.

Lesson 5

1. Review lessons 1–4.
2. Distribute one-beat cards to groups of two.
3. In groups, arrange cards into four-beat patterns.
4. As you monitor, have the students read the patterns to you using syllables.
5. Collect cards and come back to together as whole group.
6. Explain that sometimes to save time we use stick notation. Demonstrate using popsickle/craft sticks.
7. Compose several four-beat patterns using stick notation.

Lesson 6

1. Review lessons 1–5.
2. Distribute popsicle/craft sticks to students.
3. Instruct students to make four-beat rhythm patterns using ta, ti-ti, and tik-a-tik-a individually.
4. As you circulate the room monitoring their progress, have them read their rhythms to you using the syllables. Make sure what they say is the pattern they have composed.

Lesson 7

1. Review lessons 1–6.
2. Read the rhythm cards.
3. Clap rhythm cards. I also use various other body percussion.
4. Use rhythm sticks to tap rhythm cards.

Lesson 8

1. Review.
2. Read the rhythms cards.
3. Echo clap rhythms.
4. Distribute paper and pencils/crayons.
5. Have the students write several four-beat rhythm patterns using different combinations of ta, ti-ti, and tik-a-tik-a.
6. See how many different rhythms they came up with (we figured out that there are eighty-one different combinations using one, two, or all three of the types of note in a four-beat pattern.

Lesson 9

1. Review.
2. Distribute construction paper (9 x 12), strips of construction paper and glue sticks. Sometimes I let them glue craft sticks to the construction paper instead of strips of paper.
3. Have the students use the strips to compose three rhythm patterns of four beats using ta, ti-ti, and tik-a-tik-a.
4. When they have their patterns completed, have them glue the strips (or craft sticks) to the paper.
5. When everyone is finished, have each child read his/her rhythms to the class using the syllables ta, ti-ti, and tik-a-tik-a.

Assessment

Lesson 1: Students tap steady beat. Students clap rhythms. Students read rhythm using syllables for notes.

Lesson 2: Students march steady beat. Students tap rhythms. Students read rhythms using syllables.

Lesson 3: Students read star notation using syllables. Students tap the rhythm on their knees.

Lesson 4: Students help you decide if there are four beats in each group as you arrange the cards.

Lesson 5: Students arrange cards in four-beat patterns and read them to you using syllables.

Lesson 6: Students compose 4-beat patterns using sticks and read the patterns to you using syllables.

Lesson 7: Students clap and play rhythms.

Lesson 8: Students write rhythms and read them to you using syllables. If written on paper, these could serve as a hardcopy example of their success with the lesson.

Lesson 9: Students compose rhythms using construction paper and read the rhythms to you using syllables. These papers may serve as a hardcopy example of their success with this lesson.

Supplemental information

Comments

Wherever I say to sing, you may choose to use a tape or CD for them to sing along. I usually just have them sing acapella.

I use this lesson mostly with Kindergarten. In 1st and 2nd grades, I review and let them do the activities to see how much they remember and reinforce what was taught. I continue to add to 1st and 2nd using half and whole notes and rests. I make new cards for these notes. Many times I begin classes with echo clapping and then have the students say the rhythms using syllables. I also add an activity with 1st or 2nd where we write the rhythm of their names and read those rhythms.

I use different instruments or body percussion for different notes. Example: snaps for ti-ti, clap for ta, and patsch for tik-a-tik-a. Sometimes I also let them put the rhythm in their feet. They really like being able to stomp!

I have found that by teaching rhythm intensely in the earlier grades, the students don’t have as much trouble learning to play and sing rhythms from the sheet music when we get to recorders, band, or chorus. It becomes a matter of getting them to realize that it’s the same thing we’ve been doing forever.