Fall/Thanksgiving Rhythm Activities (Flash Freebie!)

Wow! Was this week a long week for the rest of you? It seemed to drag on for all the teachers at my schools.

Now that Halloween is over, it is time to look forward to Thanksgiving. Are you looking for some fun rhythm activities to use with your students for Thanksgiving and fall? Well, I have a bundle of activities for ta, ti-ti, and ti-ri-ti-ri.

This bundle includes all the following:

• Cute pictures of different fall and Thanksgiving items (from My Cute Graphics) with words typed underneath.

• Directions for 3 different activities you can use these pictures for.

• A composition worksheet for using ta and ti-ti

• A composition worksheet for using ta, ti-ti, and ti-ri-ti-ri (this worksheet also comes with one that says ti-ka-ti-ka, one that says 4 sixteenth notes, and one that is blank)

These activities are great for working in small groups, station work, or even whole class work. It is a fun way for students to be creative and create their own patterns. My 3rd graders did the Halloween composition and they had a blast doing it.

All of this is FREE until Tuesday at 9:00 pm. Make sure you do not miss out on this! Also, please leave me feedback on what you think. Every comment really does make my day and helps me improve my products.

Get the bundle HERE!

2/4 Tuesday - Halloween Rap and Concert Prep

It is Tuesday again, which means 2/4 Tuesday! This has been a rough day for me, so this is probably the best part of my day.

1) Halloween Rap Using Ta, Ti-ti, and Ti-ri-ti-ri:

My 3rd graders used their new knowledge of ti-ri-ti-ri to create their own Halloween Raps. This is very similar to the freebie I offered here, but this one adds in ti-ri-ti-ri (you can get just this worksheet for free --->here. Please rate it if you get a chance!). My students got one half hour period to work, plus 15 minutes a second day. At the end of the day my students got to share their compositions for the class and they had a great time!

2) Holiday Concert Try-Outs:
It is hard to believe, but I started Holiday Concert prep on Monday. It may seem far off, but when you only see some of your classes once a week you have to start early. I started this week by introducing the music and talking about my try-out process. Try-outs will be held next week and students that want a speaking part must prepare for try-outs by taking home the one page script I sent them home with. Then, next week, I pick students to read their part aloud for the class. I'll discuss more about my try-outs next week, but for now I'm sharing the short letter I send home to parents about my try-out process. I try to make it clear what I look for from each student during try-outs. You can download the file by clicking the link below:

Holiday Concert Try-Out Letter
3) Holiday Concert Smartboard Files for Kindergarten and 1st Grade:



3 years ago, I started to make Smartboard Files with pictures for my little ones. This helped my students who could not read, by being able to connect the words through pictures. The Kindergarten teachers and 1st grade teachers at one of my schools really enjoy these and ask for them each year. One teacher in particular said that it really makes it easier for her, and the kids thought it was awesome that she had the same file I do. You can see a few picture above of what this sort of looks like. (Clip art used in this file is from My Cute Graphics.)

One final note:
My Halloween Freebie was such a hit that I decided to put together a bundle for Thanksgiving. If you liked the Halloween bundle you will definitely like this one! This bundle will be free for the next week (until 9:00 pm Tuesday, November 5) after that it will be $3.00 so make sure to take advantage of this offer now! You can get the bundle here.

Have a terrific Tuesday!

Sing a familiar song...with Halloween Rhythms?

My 3rd Graders recently learned about 4 sixteenth notes (ti-ri-ti-ri) with a variety of songs we knew and learned this last month. (Our Gallant Ship, Coffee Grows on White Oak Trees, Pick a Little Talk a Little, and The Swapping Song)

We started off the month by figuring out the rhythms we already knew, like the quarter note and eighth notes:



Then, as we became comfortable with the rhythms we already knew, we added in the four sixteenth note pattern - ti-ri-ti-ri (which I know a lot of you call ti-ka-ti-ka, but where I teach we are trying to be unified in our syllables and the other teachers call is ti-ri-ti-ri, hence so do I). We discussed how the rhythm has four sounds in one beat and students got a lot of practice finding the beats that represented sixteenth notes.

After finding the sixteenth notes we would sing the song while clapping the rhythms we knew. (We rested during the rhythms we didn't know) Then we would say the rhythm syllables instead of the words.

After a couple of days of finding the ti-ri-ti-ri patterns and singing and clapping them, I decided it was time for a fun challenge. First, we took one of our songs we have been singing that uses ti-ri-ti-ri. (You could pick any song, but we picked Pick a Little, Talk a Little.) Then, instead of singing the words or rhythm syllables we came up with Halloween related words to fill in the notes with. For example one line of ti-ri-ti-ri's was Trick or Treating, one line of ti-ti's was candy, and one line of ta's was boo! Each line got a new word or words to fill in the notes we knew. Then we sang the song with the new Halloween theme. It was a lot of fun and the kids were laughing and having a great time by the time we were through.

Here is an example of what it looked like:


For those that have a hard time seeing it, it says:
Trick-or-Treating, Trick-or-Treating, Trick-or-Treating, Trick-or-Treating,
Zombie! (rest) (rest) (rest)
Jack-o-lantern, Jack-o-lantern, Jack-o-lantern, Jack-o-lantern,
Candy! (rest) (rest) (rest)
Frankenstein's brain, Frankenstein's brain, Frankenstein's brain, Frankenstein's brain,
Get OUT! (rest) (rest) (rest)
Ghosts and goblins, ghosts and goblins, ghosts and goblins, ghosts and goblins,
Pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin,
Spooky, spooky, spooky, spooky,
Boo! Boo! Boo! (rest)

Being SMART with a SMARTboard

I am glad to say that I'm back to blogging. I really wish I was better at staying on top of my blog and being really consistent about blogging. I know it is frustrating to follow a blog that is inactive for several months and then suddenly posts again. I'm really trying to work on that. If any of you strong bloggers have any suggestions about being consistent I would love to hear them!

I was going to post beautiful pictures of my current classroom arrangements, but unfortunately my laptop has died. I do not currently have the funds to get a new one, so until then, you will only be seeing pictures from my phone, ipad, and computer screenshots. (Sorry!)

Instead, I wanted to talk about my current goal as an educator this year. I am lucky enough to have a SMARTboard at both schools I teach at. I use my SMARTboard EVERY day in my classroom, but my goal for this year is to really use my SMARTboard in the most interactive way. Instead of just projecting lyrics, videos, etc. I want to make interactive lessons using my SMARTboard that tie into our district standards and benchmarks. So, the last couple weeks I have spent HOURS working on SMARTboard files to share with my students. They aren't all finished. (I'm kind of adding to them as I teach.) However, I do have one that I finished this summer for Bee, Bee Bumblebee. Check out some of the highlights of this file below:









The goal for each is to teach the standard or benchmark by getting students up to the board. For pages with beat or rhythm, I call students up to actually point to each bee. It is great to see the kids reaction to these cute files and to know that my time was well spent. I'm hoping these files will really help reinforce concepts, as well as, get kids excited about the songs we are learning.

And the even more exciting news! I finally opened a Teachers Pay Teachers Store and you can get this file there! I'm currently working on a bunch of other files, but am not finished and ready to upload them. Here are some to look forward to seeing:











Hope you enjoy the sneak peak and if you like what you see, check out my Teachers Pay Teachers Store.

Hope you are all as excited for the new school year as I am! :)

P.S. All Graphics used are from My Cute Graphics. Her graphics are amazing and free!