Prescribed Learning Outcomes
It is expected that students will:
- respond to beat in music
- perform rhythmic patterns from classroom repertoires
- maintain a repeated rhythmic pattern in a simple texture
- demonstrate an awareness of rhythmic phrases in classroom music
- identify form in terms of repetition and unity of rhythmic patterns
- use symbols to represent simple rhythmic patterns
To view the prescribed learning outcomes for Structure - Elements of Rhythm in other grades click on an icon below.
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Suggested Instructional Strategies
- Build a classroom repertoire of simple rhythmic patterns from classroom activities. Establish a routine of starting with a rhythmic pattern of the day and exploringvarious ways to perform the rhythm (e.g., using classroom instruments, body percussion, movement). Assist students in notating the patterns using standard or invented notation.
- Choose or have students choose a familiar action song. Ask students in small groups to take turns acting as leaders and followers in creating actions to keep the beat.
- While listening to music, have students experiment with locomotor (travelling) and non-locomotor (on the spot) ways to demonstrate the beat. Methods may include finger or toe tap, snap, clap, patsch, or whole or partial body movement.
- Using familiar classroom repertoire, ask students to explore ways of using rhythm or found instruments to demonstrate beat. Vary the tempo of a given song and have students keep the beat. Ask them to describe the tempo in terms of fast or slow.
- Help students explore and discover rhythmic patterns from the lyrics of simple songs and chants (e.g., B-I-NG-O =
, E-I-E-I-O = 
). Introduce rhythm syllables and use them to say the rhythms as a class. Demonstrate the rhythms using standard or invented notation.
- Introduce ostinato by demonstrating a simple 4-beat rhythmic pattern (e.g.,
) using body percussion and speech. Sing a familiar melody while students practise the ostinato. As an extension, encourage half the class to perform the ostinato while the other half performs the melody, then switch parts. Students take turns leading either the melody or the ostinato.
Suggested Assessment Strategies
- As students explore rhythm through singing and chanting, movement, action songs, and non-pitched and found percussion instruments, note their:
- response to the rhythms they hear
- accuracy in keeping a steady beat
- engagement in the rhythm activities
- When students notate simple rhythmic patterns, look for evidence that they are beginning to:
- show interest in different ways of notating music
- explore standard or invented notation symbols
- use the symbols in increasingly consistent ways (the meaning of the symbol does not change within a single entry)
- recognize and show patterns that repeat
- Sort students' names into different rhythms (e.g., Ann has one sound, Sarbjeet has two sounds, Jonathan has three sounds). Work with one group of names at a time. When a sense of the rhythm is established, softly clap or drum the beat while students sit in a circle and practise the rhythm of each person's name. After they have practised as a class, ask a small group to keep the beat while the rest of the class does the rhythm. Look for evidence that students:
- keep a steady beat
- maintain the rhythm throughout the activity
- After a series of rhythm activities, have students reflect on their learning by drawing or writing in response to sentence stems such as:
- I like -----------.
- I find it easy to -----------.
- One thing I would like to be better at is
-----------.
- You can help me by -----------.
Recommended Learning Resources
Print Materials
- Literature-Based Art and Music
- The Magic Circle
- Music For All
- My Drum
- Ride With Me
Video
- Silver Burdett Ginn Music Magic Video Library
- Something Within Me
Multimedia
- Early Years Songs and Rhymes
- Growing With Music
- The Music Connection
- Music Key Stage 1
- MusicPlay
- Share The Music Series
- Susan Hammond's Classical Kids
