Submitted by Artie Almeida
Idea posted March 24, 2006
Here are the components of a Meter Unit I did with fourth and fifth grade. The children did very well on their written assessment and did pretty well at identifying metric details aurally. The meter activities were not always the entire lesson. If you see your children more frequently, this may also work with third grade.
LESSON 1:1. Vocabulary Intro: To elicit a definition of meter, I ask them how they have heard the word "meter" used. Students usually come up with meter as a measurement in math (i.e., centimeter, millimeter, etc.), parking meter, etc. We come to the conclusion that "meter" is also a form of measurement in music. Meter measures how many beats are in a set and how many beats are in a measure. I show a variety of meter signatures, and we talk about what the top number means. (I don't address the bottom number yet.)
2. Body Percussion Patterns: We practice doing duple (pat-clap) and triple (pat-clap-snap) meter body percussion patterns while singing "Yankee Doodle" (2) and "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" (3).
3. Duple to Triple to Duple: We take a song in duple meter ("Jingle Bells" or "Hush Little Baby") and start it in duple meter with the body percussion. In the middle, we stretch it into triple meter and change the body percussion to fit. Then we put it back into duple before we finish.
4. Tambourine Charts (in various meters): I display a chart of four-measure rhythm patterns in 2/4, 3/4, 4/4 time. I prep the patterns, and we look for note values, practice difficult measures, etc. We clap each pattern and then pass out the tambourines. We play the patterns with repeats, rolling on half- and whole-notes.
5. Meter Cards: When the children enter the room, I give them a two-inch square of fluorescent poster board that has a note or rest written on it and magnetic tape on the back. They put it face down on the floor in front of them while we do the beginning portion of the lesson. Then they pick up the card, turn it over, and determine how many beats their note or rest gets.
6. Measure Building Activity: Students then turn and face the whiteboard that has four big, empty measures on it. I draw a 2/4 meter signature and point to the first child in the front row. He brings up his card and sees if it will fit into measure one. If it does, he places it there and sits down. If it won't fit in (perhaps a dotted half note), he has to go to the mush pot (i.e., sits off to the side looking forlorn). The second student comes up to the board to see if he can finish the measure, or starts a new one, etc., until the four measures are filled. Whenever it is possible to get a kid out of the mush pot, the class shouts it out, and we parole the mush pot person to place their note or rest. I then remove the cards, change the meter signature to 3/4, 4/4, and 5/4, and we play the game again. This is a great exercise for measure building and note values.
7. Individual Patterns: Students get a partner and a pair of cups for each person, and they spread out around the floor. For this activity, I use the Phyllis Weikart recording of "Yankee Doodle" (six times instrumental) on Rhythmically Moving Vol. 2. I ask the students to create an individual duple meter pattern that just involves them and not their partner. Then they are to create a duple meter pattern that connects somehow with their partner's pattern. I start the CD, and they do their individual pattern on the A sections and their partner's patterns on the B sections.
LESSON 2:
1. Body Percussion: We review the "Yankee Doodle" cup game but instead use student-created body percussion patterns.
2. Ma Coo Way: We do the Maori Song and stick passing game (triple meter).
3. Whiteboard Bar Lines: I have 4- or 8- measure rhythm patterns drawn on the whiteboards with no bar lines. Students have to come up and draw the bar lines, and the class votes "yay" or "nay."
4. Meter Rabbit Assessment Game: I have three large rabbits on the board. They have a meter signature (2/4, 3/4, 4/4) drawn on their tummies. They have paper clips all over their body that can hold pieces of paper. Each child gets a small clip art carrot with a rhythm pattern drawn on the back. When I call their row they have to go over and place their carrot on the correct meter rabbit. We check them as a class, with each correct carrot earning a point for the kids and mistakes earning a point for the teacher. I record all class scores on the board so they can see how they did compared to other classes.
5. Kickballs: We make a circle and give a kickball to every other student. We bounce the kickballs to an "Irish Jig" (2) and "La Cucaracha" (3) recordings. When the first group has done 2/4 time, they pass the kickball to their right and the second group of students bounce. They pass them back to the left, and the first group does triple meter. Group two takes their turn, and we collect the kickballs.
6. Recorder Accompaniment: We sight read easy recorder pieces in various meters from BAG pieces I created. We accompany it with duple and triple meter patterns on G and D on the Orff instruments. (This was so hard for the children in triple meter!)
LESSON 3:
1. The Conductor: Discuss the role of a conductor. We learn the conducting patterns for 2, 3, and 4 and conduct with chopsticks to "Yankee Doodle," "America," and "Don't Worry Be Happy." Then we conduct to soundtracks of ET, Back to the Future, Indiana Jones, etc. We only did short excerpts of each.
2. Recorder Review: Review the recorder pieces with Orff patterns from the previous week.
3. Meter Spoke Game: Put four pieces of yarn down on the floor to make the spokes of a huge wheel. Now there are eight pieces of pie on the floor. Students stand in one piece of pie, just in front of a yarn piece. Start a recording in 2/4 and students take two steps in each segment around the spokes of the wheel. Then they stand a little farther out from the center and step three times in each segment to a 3/4 recording. Repeat the game again in 4/4 time, then choose students to take turns. I usually only have three or four students up at once. This is difficult for children!
4. Discuss Activities: Discuss the various activities we've done with meter.
5. Written Assessment: Students have to draw barlines for patterns in 2, 3, and 4. Then students have to fill in incomplete measures in those three meters.