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The "Big Kid" Rhythm Bundle (Grades 3-6) **30% OFF!**
By Jason Litt
Included in these rhythm bundle are 25 resources that you can utilize in grades 3-6. Games, dictation, worksheets, races, and more are in this bundle as the resources discuss longer rhythmic patterns, sixteenth notes, triplets, and long durations of rests.
Definitely a semester filler in here, terrific for reinforcing your 2nd half of the year with some of your upper grades, and with 30% off when bundled together, it's a sale you can't beat!
By Jason Litt
Five jamming Boomwhacker arrangements for your classroom! Each Boomwhacker is assigned an 8 beat rhythm, most different than others. This gives kids opportunities to reinforce their own rhythms while playing in an ensemble. If you want to explore a different method, you can split half of the class on one rhythm, and the other half on a different. You could play them in a round, canon, explore different dynamics, loop it -- the possibilities are endless! And with 5 different compositions, you'll have the freedom to explore without getting tired of the same arrangement. This can also be used with non-pitched and even pitched percussion. Included is a 5 minute African drum groove to get your kids going. Have fun -- here comes the boom!
By Jason Litt
Getting ready to teach your kids about intervals? Try a fun new flash card game named Inspector Interval! In this powerpoint is a brief overview of intervals. Step by step instructions are given on how they are built, and more importantly, how they are identified. Throughout this powerpoint, there are over 100 random flash cards with intervals on a treble clef staff with an accompanying blank box. I usually have my students compete against each other (boys vs girls, top risers vs bottom risers, etc) to see who can name the interval the fastest. The winner stays up and competes against the next student in class and the one left standing at the end is deemed the winner! Included are two powerpoint files: Inspector Interval 2nd-7th: Only with 2nd thorugh 7th intervals Inspector Interval Unison-Octave: Full intervals (with descriptions for Unison and Octave intervals, and how to identify them) All the slides have animations attached them and should work on Microsoft Powerpoint 2007 and above. In addition, the "jazztext" font is included (with installation directions) as your system may not have the file already on it. Have a great time with this, kids get SUPER competitive! :)
By Jason Litt
If you're working on meter in your classroom, here's an engaging lesson that'll test your students' math skills! In Sign of the Times, we do a brief introduction of meter (from there on called" Time Signature"). After the introduction, we talk about how measures (musical sentences) are formed and how composers have the freedom to write different beat patterns in music. The lesson in PDF format (also included is the video along with an editable powerpoint file) continues with illustrations of 4 types of time signatures, and gets into the game format -- a measure with combinations of quarter, eighths, whole, and half notes will appear in the staff and students will have to guess the time signature. On the next slide, the answer will appear. I like to do this boys vs. girls -- they have to use their quick thinking to add up the beats! Some are easy to moderate, but as we progress it gets a little harder! If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment... that's the sign of the times!
By Jason Litt
Working on aural theory with your kids? With "Rhythm Mixup" students shuffle up notecards with quarter notes, 2-beamed eighth notes, half notes, and quarter rests to reflect the musical example being played! We start off the first lesson (level 1) with a brief overview of rhythm from Quaver's Marvelous World of Music, and then head right into rhythm mixup. Students will lay out their notation cards (you can either print these out or have the students draw them on a whiteboard, etc), and then a musical example will be played. Students will have to put the notes in the order that they hear the music example -- hence, the "mixup"! Level 2, goes into quarter rests and the students will have to place it appropriately (hint: it's never at the beginning or end of the phrase!) :) Students identify rhythms upon hearing them and use their aural skills to dictate where each rhythm is placed. Make sure to play these several times, especially for the younger ones so they can check their work! Designed in Powerpoint 2007, all animations and transitions should work on machines that support it. A file is included for instructions on how to install fonts. If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact me. Have fun!
By Jason Litt
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!
By Jason Litt
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!
Who am I -- Identifying Music Terminology!
By Jason Litt
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!
It's just Formality! - Identifying Form in Music
By Jason Litt
Introducing your students to musical form? It's just Formality may be the answer! After a short introduction and review about musical form (with a video illustrating musical examples), 8 form examples are played Students are to identify the form by using the letters "A", "B", and "C". Some are easy, but some can get really challenging! They'll see a blank slate on the screen with the number of letters in the form. All form examples are a maximum of 3 measures (so you can even teach this to your little ones!) Students can write it on whiteboards, use cut out cards, use an interactive SMARTboard/Brightlink pen, collaborative grouping -- it's up to you! If you have any questions, please feel free to ask in the Q&A section or email me: jasonlitt@gmail.com Have fun!
Out of the Box! (Playing accessory percussion)
By Jason Litt
Got a box full of percussion instruments? Work on rhythm reading together with the kids in creative fashions! In "Out of the Box!", 4 separate lines hold 4 different classroom instruments -- tambourines, rhythm sticks, hand drums, and maracas. These instruments are all assigned different 4 beat rhythms and focus on quarter notes, quarter rests, eighth notes, and more techniques throughout the presentation. To get everybody playing, shaking, and grooving, I place four stations throughout the room filled with the associated instrument. I then have a group of students rotate through the instruments throughout the activity so they can all get a feel of each instrument (no more "you get what you get, and you don't throw a fit...") Win-win! You can run in the way you wish! You can have the students perform an ostinato by repeating the 4 beat measure, or have them read it in a canon, or just do it all together as suggested! Or... you can have students write their own composition if you have an interactive whiteboard! How cool! Included are the powerpoint file (completely editable and expandable with images embedded in) and PDF file as a static presentation. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them. Have a great time!
Identify Form in Pop Music - Part THREE!
By Jason Litt
The #1 selling "Identify Form in Pop Music!" has multiple follow versions! In addition to the Original Version, you can download Part TWO (2014), Part FOUR (2017), Part FIVE (2018) Part SIX (2019) and Part SEVEN (2021) below:
Identify Form in Pop Music PART TWO
Identify Form in Pop Music PART FOUR
Identify Form in Pop Music PART FIVE
Identify Form in Pop Music PART SIX
Identify Form in Pop Music PART SEVEN
Tweaked from the 2014 version from the beginning to end with more eye catching layouts and updated music, the 2015 follow-up to the #1 selling "Identify Form in Pop Music / Identify Form in Pop Music - Part TWO!"...
Part THREE!
Kids love their pop music, right? Want to integrate it into your classroom? This is great lesson to do with 4th and 5th graders that lets them listen to their favorite pop music while learning about musical form!
The lesson begins with a video introduction to form and then talks about elements of pop music and how it ascribes to a specific form. We talk about the intro, verse, chorus, bridge, and outro, and include the collision and the channel and then go onto our activity.
I cut out cards... a whole bunch of intros, verses, chorus, bridges, outros, channels, and collisions (or you can do it with a whiteboard/marker, or even as a unison class response) and give them to each student, then have have the kids sit on the floor. I then play an mp3 of a song which has 10 second clips of each of the sections (there is about a 2 second gap in between each clip and all clips are safe for little ears -- no profanity!) and have the students identify them by spelling them out on the floor in front of them. This works great if you're putting kids into groups of 2 or 3 as they try to figure out the form of the song.
It's a great compromise to having your kids listen to their music and still satisfy a 4th and 5th grade standard in identifying the structure of music!
The 2015 hit list:
Style - Taylor Swift
Animals - Maroon 5
Shake it Off - Taylor Swift
Love me Harder - Ariana Grande
Centuries - Fall Out Boy
Blank Space - Taylor Swift
Heartbeat Song - Kelly Clarkson
Riptide - Vance Joy
Uptown Funk - Mark Ronson/ft. Bruno Mars
If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment email me at jasonlitt@gmail.com
Have fun, kids LOVE this!
PS - Need more and haven't been to Part 2 and Part 1? Here are the links below!
Identify Form in Pop Music - Part TWO!
https://www.TeachShare.com/Product/Identify-Form-in-Pop-Music-PART-TWO-1213858
Identify Form in Pop Music
https://www.TeachShare.com/Product/Identify-Form-in-Pop-Music-677524
SOL-FISH - FISHING FOR SOLFEGE!
By Jason Litt
We reinforce tons of Sol-Mi patterns in early elementary music. How about the kids dictate it through Sol-Fish? Each student receives a "Fishing for Solfege" printout which is a fish bowl with 2 spaces - the top space reserved for the SOL and the bottom space reserved for the MI Ten examples will be played and students will have to decipher where the sol's and mi's are after listening to them. They do this by putting bingo chips on the Sol or Mi spaces. After students lock in their guess, advance the slide to reveal the answer! You may do this through the printouts, or you can make it an interactive game with your whiteboard, the possibilities are endless! All sound files are embedded in, so you'll need to manually click each "speaker" icon to play each example. Have a great time with this, and let me know if you have any questions or concerns!
By Jason Litt
Shaun the Sheep hits theaters this summer, and there's no better way to work on Solfege than "Sol Mi Sheep - Level One!". In Sol Mi Sheep, Shaun the Sheep, the Lambs, and the Farmer, help the kids identify where the Sol, Mi, and La lines are on the staff in a game format. Characters are placed on different solfege levels and students will sing back the solfege syllables as they see them. If the class masters the solfege example, the slide will advance and the high score will continue to elevate. Each character has an independent rhythm -- Shaun is a quarter note, the lambs are a pair of eighth notes, and the farmer is a quarter rest. The way I construct the lesson is I have all classes participate and record the highest score at the end of the lesson. I run this exercise about 2 or 3 minutes (it helps if you have a percussive background track running around 90-110 bpm) and let the students keep adding to their score. You'll notice that the more the activity progresses, the solfege examples become more lengthy and difficult. I keep track of the scores on a different powerpoint so the kids can see how they're progressing AND how they match up against other classes in their grade. Trust me, it gets pretty competitive! :) Included are instructions and the game in PDF and powerpoint format. All steps are a 2nd, so no La to Mi skips... yet ;) If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment. Happy Sol Mi La-ing!
By Jason Litt
Learning the values of quarter and eighth notes are a good solid foundation to start off, but when it gets to rests, understanding a beat of silence is a little different! In "Give it a Rest!" students are introduced to the quarter rest, which is a note, but a note of silence. They watch "Give it a Rest!" from Music K-8 and then are given an activity -- try to decipher where the rest occurs in a musical example. The students will be told how many beats are in the example and then a four beat percussive introduction is played. Students will be asked to dictate the quarter notes AND quarter rests in the musical example. The teacher can play this again for reinforcement (but for kids in upper grades, playing it only ONCE can be a challenge!). There are 12 examples, each one getting a little more difficult than the last! You can run this activity in many ways: - Student can write on whiteboards with dry erase markers - Pairs of students can team up in a race to spell it out - Use as a whiteboard/smartboard/IWB activity - Print out cards of quarter notes and rests and have them line it up on the floor - Any other way you find creative! Enjoy this with your class and as always, if you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!
By Jason Litt
The ultimate Boys vs Girls competition! If you're working on notes of the treble clef staff, this is a fun way for kids to competitively spell them out. First, we made a boys side (on the left of the screen) and girls side on the (on the right). A word will appear and the students have 10 seconds to spell the word out (there is a timer attached to the powerpoint and it will count down as soon as the slide appears). This games works best on a whiteboard that has magnetic backing as I print out notes and have the kids race as fast as they can to put them on. After the kids lock in their answer, the next slide reveals the notes. For notes that have F's and E's, the answer key has both top line, top space notes -- those F's and E's both count! :) Some are easy (CAB, DAB, DAD), some get a little tricky (BECCA, CABBAGE, DECADE) and so on. Towards the end they repeat, and feel free to edit and make your own! Have fun with this and if you have any questions, let me know!
By Jason Litt
Included are some pretty hefty Orff arrangements for your advanced groups! On the powerpoint, all arrangements are color coded and marked with letters for easy rote teaching. The first arrangement is a piece called "The Zoo" which is 8 measures long and is intended to be repeated. The bass has a bordoun in the beginning and splits into a bass line in the second part. The alto provides chords and the soprano the melody The second arrangement, Untitled, has a lovely assortment of indepenent parts and a haunting E minor intro section. The next section gets more rhythmic in the sopranos as the alto takes over the melody along with the bass Enjoy these advanced arrangements!
By Jason Litt
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!
By Jason Litt
Need to connect with your kids with their pop music through general music? Involve them in bucket drumming with the Imagine Dragons smash hit, "Thunder"!
There are three all-color coded slides along with the form identifiers listed next to each phrase. Discuss form with the students and teach them (by rote) the rhythms on the powerpoint with the corresponding repeats (most are repeated 2 or 4, times). Then, apply it to drums!
All regular notation is to be played on the buckets (or drums, or ground, however you wish), and the X notation (with a down stem) are played as stick clicks above their head (or you could apply it to a tambourine or other auxiliary instrument)
Here's the track so you can play along...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDOrNeBpsKs
Have a great time with this!
***** Interested in MORE BUCKET DRUMMING resources? *****
Check out the free downloadable Mr. Litt's Music Room Bucket Drumming Anthology! resource, a comprehensive list of all Bucket Drumming resources in the store!
By Jason Litt
The smell of fall is in the air and that can only mean one thing -- COLLEGE FOOTBALL! Identify rhythms in proper nouns with this fun activity. Students will see a college football team and their corresponding mascot and given a set of blank beats that go with their team. Have the students identify the syllables in the team name and match it to rhythm! Most are eighth and quarter note rhythms, but some have eighth note triplets in there. For a competitive activity, I have kids all have a bag of cards and lay them on the floor and have tap lights for when they are ready to answer. I typically give 7 points for a touchdown if the kids get it correct before anyone else -- or you can award the first three kids who get it right, or however you wish. 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. You have 20 teams to go through and can last up to 30-45 minutes depending on what pace you go in the activity. Have a great time and GO.... anyone know which my team is? ;)
Stick it to the Rhythm - Part II!
By Jason Litt
In Stick it to the Rhythm, we used popsicle sticks to identify quarter and eighth note notation in our classrooms. What happened if we didn't give the kids a blank slate and they had to use eyes, ears, and minds? In this follow-up, "Stick it to the Rhythm Part II", students are instructed to put a number of sticks on the floor (6 to 12 'quarter notes') and will listen to a musical example made up of quarter and eighth notes. They are then to interpret that example and use the last sticks and place them where they think they heard the eighth notes... In essence, they are taking the quarter notes at the end of the phrase and making them into eighth notes by beaming the quarter notes together -- this will really get your kids thinking! There are 10 examples (all with an 8 beat count off to establish tempo) and the examples range from easy to difficult with the mp3 embedding into the file. Have a great time and let me know what you think in the comments :) As always, any questions or concerns, you know where to find me!