Submitted by Caryn Mears, Kennewick, Washington

Idea posted November 11, 2009

I've been doing "The Rhythm of the Week" for about 12 years. The students enter the music room and take their assigned seats. Up on the board, I have The Rhythm of the Week, along with a space on the board that specifies who is the Star Student. The Star Student then comes to the front of the class. While the Star Student is writing his/her name on the Star Student Award, we read the Composer Facts (chant). Next we sing (to the tune of "The Farmer In The Dell"):

"The Rhythm of the Week,

The Rhythm of the Week,

Please help us solve

The Rhythm of the Week."

The Star Student uses a pointer and says, "This is a paired eighth note," "This is a quarter note," etc. Then, I ask them to tell us how it will sound and they will say, "Ti-ti, ta, ti-ti, ta, ti-ti rest, rest, ta!" Then they pick up the designated unpitched rhythm instrument on the counter (which changes every week), and I say, "One, two, ready, play." The students all clap along saying, "Ti-ti, ta, ti-ti..." etc.. Next, we move onto "The Red Hot Word." For instance, this week The Red Hot Word is, "Tempo." We are learning that "Adagio" means, "slower" and "Allegro" means, "faster than Andante." I use my friend the tortoise puppet as Adagio and my hare puppet as Allegro. The Star Student then gets to be one of the puppets and we do the Rhythm of the Week using Adagio and then finish with Allegro. Then, we listen to a snippet of The Composer of the Month's music. For instance, this month we are listening to Vivaldi's Four Seasons, "Winter." We then talk about the fact that the composer probably chose Adagio.

I use the exact same rhythm for 1st grade through 5th grade. I start out very basic with the four quarter notes and introduce them to the 1st graders. I tell the 5th graders that it is just a refresher course and I know that it is "too easy for them" but we also have new students who may have not done a rhythm of the week before, so we are all starting over. I use a series that has one measure on each card and I use two cards for the entire week and then change it. If I'm lucky enough to be able to find cards that match the composer's rhythm, I'm thrilled. For instance. when we were learning about Grieg, we were doing "Ti-ti, ti-ti, ti-ti, ta, ti-ti, ta, ti-ti, ta!" The kids loved it and noticed the similarity on their own. Even when we get to more difficult rhythms using sixteenth notes, I tell the 1st graders, "This is probably way too hard for you because it is really for 5th graders," but they beg to do it. They are such creatures of habit.

Kids thrive on routine. They love to know what we are doing next. The Rhythm of the Week enables me to teach music theory and the Red Hot Word keeps me focused on teaching them more concepts. They love incorporating all of these things into one day. It really only takes about 10 minutes, but there are days when I can make it last 15 minutes if I find a "teaching" moment.

Each grade level does a different activity, but they know that no matter what grade level they are, they are going to come in and look at who is the Star Student, read the Composer Facts, solve The Rhythm of the Week, and then incorporate The Red Hot Word. Then it is my challenge to incorporate the Red Hot Word into their lessons!

On my seating chart, I keep track of who the Star Student is for every room. I put a star at the top of their seat and I have eight squares at the bottom of their seat. In one of those squares, I write the date that they were the Star Student. In order to stay ahead of the kids, I have designed a chart which I keep on a clip board and I write down the Star Students for about a month in advance. I can put four weeks on a page. The chart has the days of the week and the class room numbers that I see on that day. Next to the room number, I write the student's name. Then if there are any questions as to "who" has been a Star Student, I can check in both places. I write in pencil because sometimes students are absent and I have to make changes, but it is quite easy. At the end of the day, I change all of the room numbers on the board, along with the date and then write the new names in for the next day. The students love finding out who is the Star Student. They are like the Helper of the Day.