Rhythmic Repitition

I decided after our review the first couple weeks that ALL of my classes (mostly 3-5 graders) needed to brush up on their rhythms. I wasn't sure how I was going to do this at first because it really seemed like we needed to go back to basics on this. I noticed the most difficult part for students was remembering, which note is which and how many beats it gets.

Solution? New rhythm game using quarter notes, quarter rests, and eighth notes. Once students get good at the game I'll add in other harder rhythms and hopefully get us back onto track. I call this new rhythm game Rhythmic Concentration. It was based off of a music concentration that many of you probably have heard about.

Here is how it works:


Everyone in the class sits in a circle on the floor.


Each student is given a basic rhythm that was written on an index card. (I used only quarter notes, quarter rests, and eighth notes, however you could add in other rhythms your students know)

I then put a piece of tape or something to mark the 'beginning/end' of the circle. The person on the right of the marker is #1. The goal of the game is to be #1 at the end of the game.

The #1 person claps their rhythm and then #2 claps their rhythm immediately after. This continues all the way around the circle. During the first round, I normally just let them practice their rhythm. However, after that it gets harder.

Students continue clapping their rhythms as they continue around the circle. When someone misses their turn or hesitates that student has to go to the end (to the left of the marker). Their rhythm stays where it is and then students fill in the spaces. For example: if #5 of #10 misses their turn #10 shifts to #9; #9 shifts to #8; #8 shifts to #7; #7 shifts to #6; #6 shifts to #5; and #5 shifts to #10!

For those visual learners like myself, a model of the switch!:


After that it gets even more difficult. I start sending people to the end of the circle for clapping the wrong rhythm, not doing it in beat, and I have even added the metronome for some of my older students and they have to stay in beat.



My students really seem to like it. What I like most about it is it is fast paced, so those that get frustrated with waiting for everyone to get a turn don't feel that way during this game. I also like it because they are practicing their rhythms without feeling like they are practicing rhythms!



If you try this out, please let me know how it goes or any changes you made to make the game run smoother! Also feel free to ask me questions about it, I'll do my best to answer them. Have fun!

What Did You Learn?

Whenever I can find the time at the end of a day, unit, class, etc. I like to ask my students a few questions about the class. I do this for a number of reasons. First of all, I like to know what students enjoyed the most about the class. I also want to know what they enjoyed the least. This is not to say that I will get rid of what they enjoyed the least and keep what they enjoyed the most. It is just my way of getting student input and it helps me plan for the future. I also like to ask students what they learned from taking this class. If they can't tell me anything they learned, then what was the purpose of taking the class?

The last day of summer school, I only had the first hour class, which was my Fun with Technology class. We had a few minutes at the end of the class, so I asked them these questions about their experiences in the class. I was pleasantly surprised with the results.

The first question was what they enjoyed most about this class.
Here were some of the answers:

• Creating pictures for the Goldilocks project
• Having time to play different puzzle games online
• Using powerpoint for the first time
• Adding animations to their presentations
• Presenting their animations

The second question was what did they enjoy the least about the class. The majority answer for this was of course the typing practice. This was not surprising to me and I told my students that typing practice was one of my least favorite activities in computer class, too. However, it is important and helps you type faster and faster over time.

The final question: What did you learn?
Here are their answers:

• Homerow for typing
• How to animate on PowerPoint
• How to add pictures to a PowerPoint
• How to add additional slides in PowerPoint
• How to add and delete transitions on a PowerPoint
• How to export images in Pixie
• How to add stamps, pictures, and cool effects in Pixie

It is so exciting to hear about all the great things they learned in class. It makes teaching the class a success!

If I were to teach this class again, I would definitely keep the format of the class the same. I liked that the students had time to practice typing, play games, and work on a project every day of class. I feel like it was the right balance of work and play for the students.

I really liked the project, but would probably change it for next year so that the same students could take the class again if they liked. I would want to continue to include PowerPoint and Pixie in the project as these seemed to be big hits with the kids. Maybe even a project that really focused on all the cool things that PowerPoint can do. I think the kids would really like that.

That is all for now!
Thanks for reading,
~Brittany De Laruelle

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

The second half of my Fun with Technology consists of a project they started the first day and are just finally finishing this week. This project is based on the popular story Goldilocks and the Three Bears. I am assuming most of you are familiar with it, but for those that aren't here is just an overview of the story.

Goldilocks is a little girl who loves to walk in the woods and pick wild flowers. One day she wanders too far and gets lost. She happens upon a cottage that belongs to the three bears, however she does not know that. She knocks on the door and when she finds the door open she wanders inside. Once inside she eats porridge from three bowls. The first is too hot, the second is too cold, and the third belonging to the baby bear is just right so she eats all of it. Next she goes into the living room and finds three chairs. One is too big, one is too wide, and one is just right but breaks. Finally, she wanders into the bedroom. She lays in each bed, but only the third is just right and she falls asleep. While sleeping the bears come home and find their porridge eaten, chairs sat in, and find Goldilocks in baby bear's bed. At this point Goldilocks awakes screams and runs out of the cottage never to return.

The first step of this project was for students to illustrate the story. Students used Pixie which is a fun illustration program much like paint, but a lot fancier. I taught students how to add stamps and use some of the different tools. Each day they had another part of the story to illustrate. This part of the project took much longer than I expected. This is partially due to the fact that many students do not come to school every day. So, they get behind and need a day or two to catch up. The illustrations were finally done by Wednesday last week and we started on the PowerPoint presentation on Thursday and Friday.

In order to put the images onto PowerPoint I learned that you must export the images. In most image editors you can just save the image as a JPEG or PNG so that is can be uploaded on PowerPoint. However, in Pixie it automatically saves the image as a Pixie image. There are no other options. However, if you are looking to save something as a JPEG in Pixie, here is how!

1) Open the image you want to save in Pixie

2) Click option that says EXPORT:


3) Choose the type of file you want to save the picture as and then click export:


4) Save your file: (I had my students save it as the exact same thing they saved their other image as. It will not save over your original since it is a new format)


Once it is saved as a JPEG you will be able to upload it into PowerPoint and here is how:
1) Open a new PowerPoint presentation:


2) Click the insert tab (this may not be an actual tab if you are using an older version of PowerPoint this image is from PowerPoint 2010)
Click the picture icon:


3) Browse for the image you want:


4) Click insert and it is now in your powerpoint:


5) You can use the small squares to make the image bigger or smaller:


My students inserted all 8 pictures of the story into their powerpoint before beginning the editing process.

The 8 pictures for this project were:
Title Page
Goldilocks gets lost and finds a cottage in the woods
Goldilocks tries the porridge
Goldilocks sits in the bears chairs
Goldilocks tries the bears beds and falls asleep
The bears come home and find their porridge eaten
The bears find their chairs sat in
The bears find Goldilocks taking a nap in baby bear's bed

Remember, it is great to get students to really think about the environment of the story. When they are illustrating don't just let them illustrate the objects like all the bowls. Have them really imagine what the kitchen of a bear's cottage would look like. Does it have wood floors? Linoleum floors? What color is the walls? Do they have wallpaper or paint? Maybe they are also wood... Really let them use their imagination and put details into their story.

Miss De Laruelle

Fun with Technology

Summer school at my school is split into three sections. Each section is 55 minutes with a 5 minute passing time. School runs from 8:30 am - 11:30 am. However, students normally arrive at about 8:15 am and start by eating breakfast. At the beginning of summer school they used to have students eating in the room they had their first class in. However, having 15 students from the ages of 6-9 eating in a computer lab is just a recipe for disaster. So, about the second week we switched it to students eating breakfast in the cafeteria. I am a bit anal and will not allow my students to eat in the cafeteria alone. So, I have ALL my students meet in the cafeteria and then walk down to the computer lab at 8:30 am.

Once students are in the computer lab they have specific directions to follow. First they must log into their computers. Then they go to my teaching website and fill out a form for attendance. I linked this to my email so that I can fill out my attendance later. After filling out the form it takes them to a different website. The websites I have used are typing websites so that students are practicing their typing. I have used a wide variety of them, but my own personal favorite is Dancing Mat Typing. This BBC website is very interactive and helps students learn the home row of keys. It is colorful and fun for kids and makes it fun to learn!


When students complete a level they are then allowed to spend 10-15 minutes playing a game of their choice.

Some favorites of my students are the following:
ABC Ya

This site has a WIDE variety of different games. As you can see from the picture it has a tree on the main site that links to games of different age levels. They also have a wide variety of games under each grade level. There are typing games, math games, science games, puzzles, fun games, etc. One game the students really liked was Sugar, Sugar (5th Grade - Just for Fun). I have to admit it was even fun for me to play! :)

Fun Brain

Fun Brain is a site with all sorts of academic games. Students were begging to go on this website to play the games and it is great that this site encourages learning.

Keyboard Climber

This website was one I linked for typing practice one day. However, students play this one even when they get a choice for all the other games. They absolutely love watching the monkey jump from branch to branch as they type the correct letters. However, keep in mind this is better for the kids going into 2nd or 3rd grade as it is a bit difficult for the younger ones.

After the gaming and typing practice they are half done with class. This half normally goes really fast and the kids are sad to have to turn off their games, but the second half normally goes just as fast and it is soon time to go. More about what we do in Fun with Technology coming soon!

Remember every day is a good day to practice typing! :)
Miss De Laruelle