Less than $5 1st Grade Music Composition Resources (by date, oldest first)

Get your class on beat! Included are 24 background tracks with ethnic flair -- tablas, bongos, electric kits, and drum sets for your kids to jam with. The 24 tracks vary from 95 bpm all the way to 125 bpm (there are 6 different tracks with 4 different tempo)

Want a sneak peak? Give the preview a sample of some of the tracks!

I use these in my class for Orff, Boomwhacker, Rhythm Sticks, Dancing, Movement, or singing activities. The tracks go for about 1 minute each, but you can manipulate a longer track by having it stay on repeat for as long as you wish

Have fun!

Your Kindergarteners and 1st Graders may understand high and low (although they may think it's loud and soft, but this is why we teach them), but can they identify it which way it travels through non-traditional notation?

In "Up, Down, All Around!", your students get a brief introduction of melody, the most important aspect of a song or piece and will venture into the lesson where they will learn to identify melodic direction.

They will be given a multiple choice selection of 3 answers and then asked to identify which answer is UP, DOWN, or is a melody that STAYS THE SAME. Advance the slide and the correct answer will illuminate green!
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You can play this one of several ways
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• Individually by calling students to the board and pointing to the correct answer
• As a class by having them write down the answer on a white board, holding up an answer paddle, etc
• Race each other to the board to press the answer first and assign points (Team A vs Team B)
• Tell the students they have to beat a certain score of right answers (Oh, Mrs. so-and-so's class got 8 of them right, can you beat it?), and then play with one of the methods above!

Play some classical music in the background, and you have a win-win!

In BoomBox, students will see a series of 8 to 12 boxes with corresponding boomwhacker colors filled in each box. When played, the teacher will count off the students to read down the Boomwhacker boxes from left to right, line by line.

Teachers can use a laser pointer, point with a cursor, or even have kids read by themselves from the beginning to the end.

In this resource, there are 3 levels

• Eight Beat Patterns
• Eight Beat Patterns with Quarter Notes
• Twelve Beat Patterns (with Quarter Notes)

There are twenty five (25) exercises meant to get your kids booming right along! Included in this resource are the powerpoint, PDF, and percussive background tracks from MM 90 - MM 120.

Enjoy!

No need to have drums, recorders, or even auxiliary instruments for this one! If you don't have access, are traveling to rooms, or want to give a change to your curriculum try "Body Percussion Warmups"!

There are 10 warmups in each level with CLAPS, SNAPS, STOMPS, and SNAPS, all indicated on the powerpoint slide. Count your kids off with a few prep beats and watch them go!

Also terrific for reading in some of the younger grades who are not familiar with standard notation and need a warmup to reading using these icons.

Use the included background tracks (90bpm to 110bpm) or put on your favorite music so the kids can jam along!

Here are the 4 levels:

• Level 1 - Quarter Note Rhythms
• Level 2 - Quarter and Eighth Note Rhythms
• Level 3 - Adding in Quarter Rests
• Level 4 - Six Beat Rhythms (with Quarters, Eighths, and Quarter Rests)

In Holly Jolly Rhythms, your kids will be challenged to body percussion like never before!

Students will see familiar Christmas characters and items along with body percussion that go along with the characters. They will use a series of claps, pats, stomps, and snaps indicated by clip art in beat boxes read from left to right
If everyone in class performs the body percussion PERFECTLY, you will move onto the next character… and then… A Present will drop into Santa’s sleigh if the students perform a certain number of the Holly Jolly Rhythms correctly!

You will control the amount of time the students can do this. You can put on a holiday song (2, 3, or 4 minutes long) or set a timer, and upon the conclusion, see how many presents they've amassed at in Santa's Sleigh!

It gives the kids an ending goal to get as many presents as they can along with aligning syllabic language to modified notation.

Have a great time with this a cheers!

In Spooky Rhythms, right in time from one of your favorite October holidays, students will see a character, item, or a semblance of something from Halloween

They will then view a series of pumpkins with rhythms on them (all combinations of quarter notes and two eighth note pairs) and will have to identify which pumpkin matches the character displayed on the powerpoint.

Have the students select the answer and the correct pumpkin will turn green (maybe it's ripe)

There are three levels

1. One or two Halloween characters/items with 2 pumpkin choices

2. Multiple Halloween characters/items along with 4 pumpkin choices

3. Spooky Rhythms ReMix -- 1 pumpkin rhythm and 3 multiple choice characters/items

You can assign to distance learning and have the students select the 1st, 2nd (or 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th pumpkin) or play it in class (side vs side, boys vs girls, individually, or all together!)

Have a spooky time with this ;)

A great way to work on expressive movement with your kids is through HAPPY FEET!

In this lesson, students will hear a 4 minute and 32 second compilation of classical music, Edvard Grieg, John Philip Sousa, Dmitri Shostakovich, and more! Each piece will be played for a segment of time and while being played students will mimic the tempo by showing expressive body movement

• If students hear FAST music, they run as fast as you can in place!
• If students hear SLOW music, try a slo-mo movement in place!
• If students hear MODERATE speed, try marching in place

Of course, as the music teacher you can tailor this however you like, but with social distancing in our classroom at this juncture, the motions are preferable the way they are built :)

In between each segment there may be a slight pause which students will "freeze" in time. Keep the kids' attention by saying if they moving during the silence, they're OUT! ;)

Have a great time and perform this however you wish!

Something that'll satisfy your caffeine fix and your students understanding and mastery of rhythm!

In Rhythm Espresso, students will see an assortment of 10 famous beverages (by national coffee chains, of course) and accompanying coffee logos with rhythms in them. One of the rhythms match the rhythmic syllabes said in the beverage name.

Have your students select the rhythm they believe to be correct, advance the slide, and the correct rhythm will illuminate green!

Works well with boys vs girls, team vs team, individually, or even as a distance learning activity!

Working with your kinders and first graders on high and low pitches? Got a little bit of space in your classroom? WIth Hi-Low Rally Race, you can put two hula hoops (or taped off areas) in your classroom and designate one a "high" area and a "low" era.

You will play a short example of a melody (8 examples included) that's pitched high or low and students will walk "briskly" :) to the corresponding area which they think the pitch is -- high or low

You then advance the slide and show the correct answer!

Also works well for Distance Learning if your district has applied that. Just upload it to your Google Classroom and have the kids self pace it at home

Have fun with this!

If you're working on melodic contours, high and low, and direction, this may be for you!

Included are 16 printable cards you can reproduce, cut out, and issue to your students.

Play these melodies on a piano, clarinet, slide whistle, however you wish! Then, ask the students to place the card which they think best resembled the melody you played.
Although there are 16 cards, you can ask students to do 4 cards a time (by telling them which cards they are to us), play the melody, and then they can choose from the multiple choice answers you allotted to them.

The image files can be put into a powerpoint as well and you can us it as an answer key after you play the melodic example.

Have fun with this on your quest to discover melodious melodies

Terms of Use:

All images/photos/clip art in this resource were created by me.

This is a terrific lesson for your younger kids in Kindergarten and 1st grade who aren't familiar with standard notation just yet! In Rhythmania, students are given two separate rhythms on the powerpoint. The teacher will play the rhythm back (embedded mp3 files included) on the powerpoint and the students will have to identify which rhythm the teacher played.

I cut out "1" and "2" cards and have the kids hold it up, or you can have them answer as a class, write it on whiteboards, or even race to see who can get it first! After the answer is locked in, advance the slide to see the correct answer!

In this lesson, you will see 7 different examples all of different "Levels". They are named levels like "3rd grade level", "high school level", "pro level" and such to get the kids thinking as it's a huge challenge. And of course, if they get it correct, how smart do they feel? :)

Have fun with this and if you have any questions or comments, please leave 'em below!

Are you as hungry as I am? Let's eat! Identify rhythms in proper nouns with this fun activity. Students will see a food (or foods!) and their corresponding word (or words!) and given two plates on each slide. Have the students identify the syllables in the food and match it to either rhythm on plate number 1 or plate number 2. After kids lock in their answer, advance the slide and reveal the answer! Most are eighth and quarter note rhythms, but some have eighth note triplets and 4 sixteenths group in the examples You can also play it as an assessment and have kids work individual or in teams. There's a powerpoint and PDF included in this package and there are 13 sets of foods go through and can last up to 30-45 minutes depending on what pace you go in the activity. Have a great time and of course, BON APPETITE!

We know percussion instruments are anything that you either hit, shake, or scrape, but how well do you know them? Want to see how well your kids can identify which instruments are which? Try "Pitch Perfect 2!" where a musical example will be played of a pitched percussion percussion instrument. Students will see three different instruments and will have to select one of the instruments they think matches the musical example. On the following slide will be the answer! In this 9 question game, you can play this any way you want -- boys vs girls, team vs team, individually, or have students write answers down on whiteboards or even come up to the board to interact with the powerpoint. Have a great time with this and leave a comment below if you have any questions!

Simple simple songs for your primary classes in Boom Along Songs! This powerpoint is pretty much start slideshow AND GO! Animations have been previously set so the teacher advances the slide and the arrows indicate which note to be played. No more pointing to the screen and reaching across the projector -- it will automatically do it for you as you advance the slide! Best part -- take it at your own tempo. It's like the old sing-a-long songs... pretty much fool proof! Enjoy these arrangements of This Old Man Go Tell Aunt Rhodie Mary Had a Little Lamb Twinkle Twinkle Little Star Ode to Joy Have fun!

A fun activity to play with kids of all ages! Check out these Italian names and guess whether it’s a PASTA or a COMPOSER! See how many you get right! Some of these are quite tricky while others are pretty obvious :)

This will sure to get your class energized and all you need is about 8 hula hoops! We group all the boys on one side and all the girls on another side (or you can do team A + team B) In front of the teams will be 4 hula hoops (representative of 4 beats of music). Kids will be called up in groups of 2, 3, 4, or more and listen to the musical example. After they hear the example, they have to act as the quarter and eighth notes in the example and spell it out from left to right! It's a hot mess, but it sure gets the kids to work together! As soon as the first team gets the right rhythm, advance the slide and show the answer! Each slide will contain how many students will be in the group, the musical example, and the hoops shown. Up to 2 students (2 eighth notes) can be in a hoop, 1 student (will represent a quarter note) alone in a hoop, or a blank hoop (0 students) for a rest. Have a great time with this the KIDS LOVE THIS!!!!!!

Based off the hit Windows 3.11 game we all knew and loved, Rhythm Sweeper is a progressive game where one slip can end you up on the dreaded mine! This will have your kids reading and mastering rhythms in NO TIME! Students will see a grid of 40 squares on the home page. Each square contains either a link to a rhythm.... or a mine :) I select one student at a time to pick a number. I'll then click on the number and it'll advance to the designated slide. If it's a rhythm, we add that rhythm to the Building Board on the home page. The teacher will click "Back to Game and Building Board" and put the rhythm they just received on the board. As for the rhythms they earned, you can cut out rhythms, write them in dry erase, or have a student keep tabs on the side. Students will now say, sing, or play the rhythm back. Then we repeat! See how it gets progressive? ;) ...until the mine! There are 5 mines in each game, and once the mine is hit, it's GAME OVER! At the end, you can tally up how many beats the class amassed (which is great if you can allow student to add it up as the game has half, quarter, and pairs of eighth notes). Compete against other classes, or themselves! There are 10 files in the pack and each one is completely different (all the rhythms are mixed up and of course, so are the mines) Have fun with this! I keep lively music in the background and have the kids on lummi sticks to play the rhythms back. Let me know if you have any questions by leaving a comment!

Based off the hit Windows 3.11 game we all knew and loved, Solfege Sweeper is a progressive game where one slip can end you up on the dreaded mine! This will have your kids reading and mastering solfege in NO TIME! Students will see a grid of 40 squares on the home page. Each square contains either a link to a solfege syllable.... or a mine :) I select one student at a time to pick a number. I'll then click on the number and it'll advance to the designated slide. If it's a solfege syllable, we add that solfege syllable to the Building Board on the home page. The teacher will click "Back to Game and Building Board" and put the solfege syllable they just received on the board. As for the solfege syllable they earned, you can cut out the included syllables (make a bunch of copies!), write them in dry erase, or have a student keep tabs on the side. Students will now sing the solfege syllables back in order. Then we repeat! See how it gets progressive? ;) AND what a great way to do a composition. Heck, you should get your piano involved too! ...until the mine! There are 5 mines in each game, and once the mine is hit, it's GAME OVER! At the end, you can tally up how many syllables the class amassed. Compete against other classes, or themselves! There are 5 files in the pack and each one is completely different (all the syllables are mixed up and of course, so are the mines) Syllables included are DO, MI, SOL, and LA. Have fun with this and let me know if you have any questions by leaving a comment!

Get your kids reading notation with this rockin' assortment of body percussion! Each line is denoted with with claps (A part), snaps (B part), pats (C part), or stomps (D part) and the notation is displayed in color coded boxes. Students play these body percussions back after the teacher counts them in. In the package is a powerpoint file and PDF, and contains 20 different slides of 4 beat and 8 beat passages with quarter, eighth note, and rest patterns. Ideas include splitting the class into 4 parts, having the students switch body percussion, or even having students use an IWB to drag the body percussion signs around. The uses are endless. Put some rhythmic music on in the background to get things rollin'. Have a great time with this and if you have any question please feel free to leave a comment!

Was that Presto or Largo? Staccato or Tenuto? Forte or Piano? Use "Who am I" to reinforce the music terminology you've been working on in your class! After a brief review, 6 musical examples will be played with all examples ascribing to either Presto or Largo, Staccato or Tenuto, and Forte or Piano. Students can do this in a variety of ways: -- On whiteboards and dry erase markers -- Through collaborative grouping or partner activity (using pre-cut cards as an idea -- On a SMARTboard or brightlink -- As a race (maybe boys vs girls, side A vs side B) After the example is played, you can advance the slide in the powerpoint to reveal the answer! If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the Q&A or email me at jasonlitt@gmail.com!