Rhythm Wars

My kiddos are in the middle of the state standardized testing. . . F.U.N.   No, actually it's called TCAP. But I wanted to get some good practice in so I created a set of flashcards that are essentially a movie.  They're based on Star Wars. . . so of course we broke out my pool noodle light sabers.

Here's a little sample of what the Movie looks like (the basic idea is that they will clap the rhythms AFTER they hear the clicks.  The clicks set a tempo.  I did leave a little bit longer in the "answer" time to accommodate for errors):

Here are my 5th graders, recorded this morning, reading from one of the movies:

And here they are using the light sabers.  One person is facing the projector for the first pattern.  After they say the pattern they switch places.  Given this was the first time, I thought they did a pretty good job:

We tried the pool noodles a couple ways: one where both partners could see the show and one where one partner had their back to the show & the other could see it, with them switching halfway through.  The latter definitely worked better: I could really watch the ones who were reading and assess them better, it got them moving (which is JUST what they needed seeing as how they were testing ALL day) and it was a lot more fun!

These can be found on my Teachers Pay Teachers store in the following versions, with each rhythm file containing the movie in both stick notation and with noteheads:

1. ta ti-ti
2. rest (which contains ta and ti-ti)
3. half note
4. tika-tika
5. ti-tika
6. tika-ti
7. syncopa
8. tom-ti
9. ti-tom
10. tim-ka
11. ti-kam
12. BUNDLED SET!!!

I'm starting to work on poison games that will go with these files.  I can't wait to try those out next week with my classes! :)

Hope you've had a great week!