Submitted by Linda Burwick

Idea posted August 24, 2001

These are not necessarily school opening ideas, but activities which can be used in a classroom.

  1. If you have worked on rhythms, try doing rhythm races. My kids, from first grade (2nd semester) on up, love to have board races. I clap a four-beat rhythm using ta, ti-ti, and rest combinations. They try to see who can write it correctly first in order to score a point for their team.
  2. If your students know the staff, have board races. I say a word that uses only the letters a-g. I have each person at the board ( I have 3 teams) write the word under the staff they have drawn and turn to face me. When I say go, they have to write the word with notes on the staff. Of course, if the word has two of the same letter (ex. deed), they have to use two different places on the staff.
  3. Circle passing games such as Al Citron, or any of the others in which students pass an object to the beat of the music.
  4. I teach my Ks & 1st graders to play "Doggie, Doggie Where's Your Bone", which is a voice guessing game. They ask to play this game even when they become 2nd graders.
  5. You can always play "Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar?" or a similar game, in which the students have to keep a steady beat.
  6. One year, I made "rhythm fish." The students got to go fishing. They then had to clap and say the rhythm written on the fish. This is good for students just beginning to read rhythms. Again, I used a four-beat pattern on each fish.
  7. You can do worksheets with stories containing words written on the staff, which they have do decode. Several years ago I ordered a set of 24-25, of which 17 are treble clef and the rest bass. These are great teaching tools as the first page has the treble lines and spaces written on it, and page 18 has the bass clef on it.
  8. If you have a portable keyboard with rhythms on it, take it to class. Turn on a rhythm and let students use it for creating raps. Even saying nursery rhymes in rap style to a rhythm are great fun.

I hope you can use some of these ideas. I have used them in a regular classroom on occasion when I couldn't use my music room. I definitely use them in my music classroom. My students seem to have enjoyed all of them. I also have some books that I read and the kids join in. They love "There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly," "Abiyoyo," "Soldier, Soldier, Won't You Marry Me," "Old MacDonald," "The Wheels On The Bus," "I Had A Cat," etc. Whenever I pull out a book, the response is always positive.