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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!
EOY SURVIVAL Kit! -- 10 resources @ 15% OFF!
By Jason Litt
It's the end of the year... and we're in survival mode. Need no prep solutions to make sure your 5th graders haven't checked themselves out and need engaging games and activities for some of your other students? Check out the EOY Survival Kit, 10 hand picked and proven resources to keep your kids busy during the last few weeks of the year... and when purchased in the bundle here, you get 15% off of each one! Feel free to peruse the resources and use them as you wish either for the end of the year or even anytime of the year. Have a great time, you'll get through this! :)
Back-2-School RHYTHM MegaBundle - 8 resources @ 15% off!
By Jason Litt
Gearing up for August and September and need to infuse something rhythm games, activities, assessments for your intermediate level kids? Look no further than the _Back-2-Schoo_l RHYTHM MegaBundle with 8 separate resources @ 15% off when purchased here together!
From body percussion and movement activities to center games and ensemble games played as a class, you'll never run out of things to do your first few months :)
Check out the products below to see if they fit into your curriculum and let me know if you have any questions!
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
Oh, the kids and this game. Well, might as well learn something? I cut out construction paper squares of the following colors: Purple, Blue, Yellow, Grey, Red, Orange, and Pink A FORTNITE character (or characters) are shown on the screen along with different rhythms in different colored boxes. Which colored box of rhythms goes with the character on the screen? Line up the syllables and find out! I mix it up by putting students into teams of 2 and letting them work through the activity or you can have them play individually by themselves. Or maybe even a race to the board to see which one is right (all you have to do is advance the slide and the answer will appear!) There are 9 different examples of rhythms. The kids will LOVE seeing Fortnite up in your room (and don't worry, this is ALL family friendly, no mentions of violence or weapons in here) :) HAVE FUN!
By Jason Litt
Tracking your students, classes, and sections of your groups have never been easier with music tracking powerpoints! Included are 10 files, all different templates of tracking such as leaderboards for classes, boys vs girls charts, a thermometer powerpoint, and various high score templates All you need to do is plug and play -- put names, classes, however you wish and save it as a different file! If you need any creative ways to track student or class progress, feel free to email or leave a comment. I truly hope this visual aid brings some flare to your classrooms!
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!
By Jason Litt
Aural Dictation has never been more colorful! Students will be given 3, 4 or 5 color coded rhythm examples on the board. Students will then listen to a 4, 6, or 8 beat example of music and try to identify which color has the rhythm they just heard. As the lesson goes on, it gets progressively harder adding in more beats and more cards to the mix. I typically like to play this by cutting out red, green, yellow, purple, and blue construction paper, giving the kids a stack, and have the kids sit on the floor and hold up the answer they think is correct. Sometimes for the 6th or 7th example, I let the kids hear it twice so they can double check their answer! All slides include the embedded sound file in it (with 8 beats of prep before the rhythm example) and you get 10 examples to illustrate for your kids Have a colorful time with this one!
By Jason Litt
4/4, 3/4, 2/4, the whole clan! What splits those evenly between measures, bar lines of course! In this interactive game, I have boys vs girls (side one, side two, class A, class B, however you want to do it!) go against each other as they see a long measure of rhythms. Their job? Split it in half and affix a bar line to the interactive whiteboard! The first kid who gets it right gets a point! You can do this with flash cards, use this as printables, or any other creative way you wish! The answers are on the following slide highlighted in green. Included is an intro video in the folder from Quaver's Marvelous World of Music to start your kids off on the right... foot ;) (You'll see in the video!) Have a fun time with this!
By Jason Litt
Working on rhythms with your kids and need to hammer in those note lengths? Beat me to it may be the trick! Students will see a box on the board displaying rhythms made of quarter, half, and whole notes. They will see a set of number below that will match the amount of beats in that rhythm above. Which number is the correct answer? I usually do this boys vs girls or team vs teams in the class and have a circle magnet that the kids both possess. They run to the board and put the magnet on the answer they think, and all I do is advance the slide and the answer appears in green! Beats go from 1 to 16 and answers change all throughout the presentation! You can use this as an assessment any way you like (kids call it out, kids write it on their lapboards, multiple choice, however you wish). Have fun and let me know how it goes!
Common Sense (Identifying Errors in Common Meter)
By Jason Litt
"4 beats in a measure with the quarter note getting the beat", the time old concept we ingrain in our students' mind! Assess your students by letting them identify inaccuracies in a measure of music with "Common Sense"
Students will view examples of a measure of Common Time (4/4) and find the measure that has too many or not enough beats to equal common time!
After the students select the correct measure, advance the slide to find out the answer. You can then trigger a discussion of what made it inaccurate (too many beats, not enough beats, etc)
The latter half of the lesson shows you one measure of music with a [ ? ] box. Students will have to select (from a multiple choice selection of answers) which answer would best fit in the box to complete a measure of 4/4
Off the Beat! (Rhythm reading with offbeats)
By Jason Litt
Getting into advanced rhythms with your kids, try to ace these rhythm examples of Off the Beat!
In this presentation, there are 30 3, 4, 5, and 6 beat rhythms to challenge your kids on the "and" counts. Have your students play this on percussion instruments (such as tubanos, StickStations, boomwhackers, rhythm sticks, or anythign that will produce music!)
The 21st example splits into an "A" section and a "B" sections where you can split your class (boys and girls, side 1 side 2, etc) to perform a 2-part rhythm. You can even experiment around with the last slides and play the on barred instruments on difference pitches (C and E for the "A" section and G and C for the "B" section) to create polyrhythmic harmony
Included are 5 percussive grooves to play as a background supplement (all at various tempi)
By Jason Litt
Reviewing the Percussion chapter with your kids and have discussed unpitched instruments? Pitched instruments and the accessory effects and how to play?
Try this interactive powerpoint that's full of fun with Percussion Jeopardy!
All new categories, all new answers! An authentic jeopardy game board with categories for:
Pitched Percussion
Unpitched Percussion
Percussion FX
Percussion Techniques (How to Play)
Students can elect to pick $200, $400, $600, $800, or $1000 answers. After clicking on the amount, the answer will appear on the next slide. Students (keeping in true Jeopardy! fashion) can answer in the form of a question
"What are Timpani Drums?"
"What are mallets?"
"What is a Piano"
After the money is awarded (You can split sides of your class, boys vs girls, class vs class, however you want it!), there is a link in the bottom right hand corner to go back to the title screen and game board.
After extracting the ZIP file, make sure to install the Jeopardy! font included, or else you'll see random characters all over -- not good eats!
Email me at jasonlitt@gmail.com or leave a comment if you have any questions. Happy Jeopardy...ing!
By Jason Litt
The follow-up to "Rhythm Wind Up and PITCH!"
______________________________________
This one will get the kids on their edge of their seats!
You will need 1 thing for this particular game:
The students will see a melody at the bottom of their screen and memorize the melodic direction or say it back in their head (just make sure the melodic is not sung out loud). They will then hear a musical example of an endless loop of melodic figures separated by 4 beats each in between rhythms. (Teacher will click the speaker icon to play)
Take a listen...
....
....
One of the melodic figures will be the melody that is on the screen. AS SOON AS THEY HEAR THAT MELODY, they throw their suction cup ball at the target. The first kid who gets it correct is the winner (and make sure you advance the slide to make the target turn green) :)
Obviously, we cannot play this as a class because of
The amount of suction cup balls tossed at the screen would be insane
Team A v Team B would be a bit more competitive and only two balls would be launched at once
If you don't have a whiteboard/projection screen, you can alternatively have the students raise their hand when they hear it and choose the kid who has their hand up the fastest.
Have a great time with this fast paced game!
Brass with Class! (Identifying order of Brass instruments)
By Jason Litt
Focusing on the timbres of the Trumpet, Trombone, Horn, and Tuba? Try "Brass with Class" on and let your kids zero in on differentiation between each... and more!
In "Brass with Class!" will hear the brass instruments in all sorts of orders (immediately following each other's segment) and their goal is to put them in order they hear them. Students will get a brief review in the beginning by playing the examples of a Trumpet, Trombone, Horn, or Tuba.
After reviewing the timbres, go onto the game where the options will be shown at the top and blank spots at the bottom for the instruments to go. Students can either have printed cards with the instruments, write it in on the whiteboard, call it out, or however you wish! I like to do the printed cards on the floor so the students can line them up and I can assess from the top.
Included are
Have some class -- Brass with Class!
Rhythm Imposter ("Among Us" theme Aural Theory!)
By Jason Litt
A game that will keep your 4th and 5th graders entertained, engaged, and competitively charged, here's RHYTHM IMPOSTER inspired by "Among Us"!
In Rhythm Imposter, you will see 2 or 3 "crewmates" assigned with different instruments (either a trumpet, violin, or xylophone).
A musical example will be played where all of the crewmates will play their assigned rhythms on their instruments.
During the example, You, along with your students, will soon find out that the trumpet, violin, or xylophone did NOT play the correct rhythm!
Your task is to decide which crewmate is the IMPOSTER by selecting the one crewmate instrumentalist who didn't play their rhythm correct (or even at all!). Advance the slide and check your answer and go through the rounds!
Included in this resource are
All examples have quarter, eighth note pairs, quarter rests and half notes (in Levels 3 and on)
Have a terrific time with this while your kids study polyphony!
Fully Staffed! - (Lines and Spaces of the Treble Clef Staff)
By Jason Litt
Need a resource that is a creative and intuitive way to work on the notes of the treble clef staff?
In “Fully Staffed” students will see several notes on the Treble Clef staff. They will then be asked to identify one specific note out of all of the notes shown. By process of deduction, or even using previous knowledge, they’ll have to find the note as fast as they can, either individually, as a class, or team vs team, boys v girls, however you wish! As soon as they’ve locked in their answer, advance the slide, and the correct note will be revealed by illuminating green
I like to have the students challenge either other and see who can be the first student to name the note
Included in this 55 slide resources are 5 levels:
Level One: Find one note out of 3 listed (ex, find the “E”)
Level Two: Find one note out of 4 listed (ex, find the “F”)
Level Three: Find two notes listed out of a melodic figure (ex, find “A” and “D”)
Level Four: Backwards! Find the note that is NOT “F” or NOT “D”, etc
Level Five: Find one note out of 8 notes listed (ex, find the “G”)
Get ready to get FULLY STAFFED!
Meter Imposter ("Among Us" theme Time Signature practice!)
By Jason Litt
A game that will keep your 4th and 5th graders entertained, engaged, and competitively charged, here's METER IMPOSTER inspired by "Among Us"!
_________________________
_IN METER IMPOSTER, YOU WILL SEE 2 OR EVEN 3 CREWMATES ASSIGNED INSTRUMENTS WITH DIFFERENT METERS.
EACH CREWMATE HAS THE CORRECT AMOUNT OF BEATS AND RHYTHMS THAT ADD UP TO THE DESIGNATED METER (4/4, 3/4, 2/4, ETC)_
_YOUR TASK IS TO DECIDE WHICH CREWMATE IS THE IMPOSTER BY SELECTING THE CREWMATE WHO IS SHOWING THE METER THAT HAS MORE THAN OR LESS THAN THE AMOUNT OF BEATS IN THEIR METER
THERE WILL BE ONLY ONE CREWMATE WHO IS THE IMPOSTER_
Included in this resource are
Notation covered:
Quarter notes/rests, Half notes/Rests, Whole Notes, Eighth Notes/Rests
Have a terrific time with this while your kids study time signatures!
TAKE NOTE, Lines of the Staff (Reproducible Worksheet)
By Jason Litt
Review your lines of the treble staff from EGBDF and FACE with "TAKE NOTE"
In this reproducible worksheet, there are 3 pages of exercises where students will identify the names of the treble clef letters from 1st line E to top line F.
TAKE NOTE 2.0 is a continuation of the first page
TAKE NOTE 3.0 is a treble clef note shown and the student will circle the answer they think is correct.
You may use this as an assignment, warmup, timed practice, or however way you see fit!
Poison Bucket Patterns! (Poison Patterns/Poison Rhythms)
By Jason Litt
One of the favorite end-of-the-year (or even beginning-of-the-year) activities for the kids to get them sight reading and of course, keeping their eyes and ears out for one of those DEADLY Poison Rhythms/Poison Patterns!
Poison Bucket Patterns! takes students through 78 slides and 5 levels of Bucket Drumming sight reading. Students will play a variety of rhythms as the teacher scrolls through the slides. Each slide contains one rhythm they will play and after advancing to the next slide, you can elect to give them a 4 beat or 2 beat prep to read the next rhythm, whichever works for you. The less prep they have, the better because...
There will be one rhythm (the poison rhythm, poison pattern, or OOPS! rhythm as we'll call it) that students DO NOT play! If they do, they're out of the game.
Students learn the rhythm before the round is played. Be careful or you will be ELIMINATED!
You can play this in teams, As vs Bs, however you wish! There are 5 background grooves that go from 80 bpm to 120 bpm to challenge your kids as they go through the levels. Levels begin with 4 beat rhythms and end with 6 beat rhythms with rests, quarter notes, and 2 eighth note patterns.
Have a great time with this!