Last week my first graders visually prepared "la" with the song, Bounce High, Bounce Low. I love this part of the unit because it shows me exactly who "gets it" and who doesn't.
After kinesthetically preparing the melody "s l s m" for several class periods, I ask aural questions that get students to think critically about what they are hearing.
For example, in this lesson, the questions are things like, "How many beats are in phrase one?" and "Which beat has the highest sound?"
Once they are able to answer these questions, we can move on to the visual representation of the sound, using manipulatives. But, if they can't answer these questions, we have to go back and do more kinesthetic activities (see examples here).
After kinesthetically preparing the melody "s l s m" for several class periods, I ask aural questions that get students to think critically about what they are hearing.
For example, in this lesson, the questions are things like, "How many beats are in phrase one?" and "Which beat has the highest sound?"
Once they are able to answer these questions, we can move on to the visual representation of the sound, using manipulatives. But, if they can't answer these questions, we have to go back and do more kinesthetic activities (see examples here).
My students get four unifix cubes and are instructed to "create a representation of phrase one of Bounce High." We have already tapped the beach ball contour on the smart board, gone over aural questioning and even placed magnet beach balls on the board. This is the last step in the preparation stage and most of them get it.
This is a great chance for the ones that don't understand to get some one-on-one time with me. I crawl around to each student and sing the way their blocks would sound and help them find the correct contour. (If that still doesn't fix it, we go back and do our kinesthetic activities again!)
*Side note: I learned the questioning process in my Kodaly levels training at Texas State University with Philip Tacka and Micheal Houlihan. If you ever get a chance to work with them, jump on it!
Have I mentioned I LOVE unifix cubes?! They are perfect for rhythmic units, especially, since you can connect the blocks and make "longer" and "shorter" sounds. I like to use poker chips for melody, so that the students separate them in their minds as something different than rhythm.
What is your favorite manipulative?
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