Searching For My Valentine (Duple Rhythm Reading)

Post date: Feb 13, 2014 5:06:18 PM

Happy Valentine's Day! These are the 3rd graders singing "Searching For My Valentine" while moving to find a heart with a duple pattern written on it. We've spent the last few classes learning how to read the rhythm patterns that we have been echoing and creating orally since 1st grade. My philosophy has always been "sound before sight", which means that students should be able to aurally understand and orally demonstrate elements of music before we look at any symbolic notation. Then, when we get to reading patterns, they are simply attaching what they already know to the symbols that they see. In this activity each heart has a different pattern written on it, so the students have to be independent readers. There are also two hearts with question marks on them, which means those students must create their own duple rhythm pattern.