Brewer Elementary
Long – Addie Newcomer
Learning Objective/Exit Outcomes:
- Students will be able to pair different sounds and beats of body percussion with sight words.
- Students will be able to discuss the types of sounds that can be made with body percussion.
- Students will be able to match a beat with the contraction sight words they are memorizing.
- Students will be able to make a rhythm and body percussion beat as a class.
- Students will be able to speak their contraction sight words with the beat.
Integration Area/Subject:
ELA & Music
State Standards:
ELAGSE5RF4: Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
ELAGSE2L2: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
- Use an apostrophe to form contractions and frequently occurring possessives.
ESGM5.CR.1 Improvise melodies, variations, and accompaniments. Improvise rhythmic phrases.
ESGM5.CR.2 Compose and arrange music within specified guidelines.
- Create rhythmic and melodic motives to enhance literature.
- Arrange rhythmic patterns to create simple forms, instrumentation, and various styles.
ESGM5.PR.2 Perform a varied repertoire of music on instruments, alone and with others.
- Perform rhythmic patterns with body percussion and a variety of instruments using appropriate technique.
- Perform body percussion and instrumental parts, including ostinatos, while other students play or sing contrasting parts.
Materials/Playing Space:
Students can stay by their desks for this activity
Description:
The PAIR Specialist introduced body percussion, telling students all the instruments needed for the lesson were already in the room. After a few suggestions of where these instruments were hiding, students figured out the instruments in the class were our bodies. Students learned to use claps, laps (hands to thighs), snaps, and stomps as four instruments we would use during the lesson.
The teacher provided a set of sight words the students have been working on. Since they mostly consisted of contractions, the students discussed what contractions sounded like and how they compared with specific beats of body percussion. They decided their body percussion rhythm should be sharp, quick, and staccato. The class divided into parts, some performing a beat by slapping the tables, some using pencils to make a tapping sound, some using their voices to ad lib, and the rest used a call and response vocal beat to review all the contraction site words.
Notes:
The strategy was successful in many ways, but the greatest success lies in having the students connect types of sounds and the characteristics of certain beats with the characteristics of the sight words themselves. It would be interesting to see how the same class could take a separate set of sight words (longer words with more syllables, words with softer syllables or softer sounds) and create a beat that is the opposite of the sharp, staccato beat of contractions. This class could definitely do that! Their enthusiasm was evident.