Submitted by Tamela Cook, Camden, Tennessee
Idea posted March 5, 2004
I just wanted to share an idea I did with the book Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb in celebration of Dr. Seuss' birthday (March 1, 1904). I read the book first and then applied the rhythmic poetry to instruments. We practiced counting to seven, clapping seven times, etc., and on a cue from me, my students performed the seven beats by themselves.
For the 1st graders, we played drums and tambourines for seven beats during the words, "dum ditty dum ditty dum dum dum, hum drum hum drum hum drum hum," and so forth (the kids really enjoyed that).
On a whim, I thought I might try that same book with my 3rd graders. They seemed kind of put off by the book, perhaps because they thought it was too juvenile for them. I thought that adding the first part of the cup game to the words mentioned above might be more appropriate and make it more interesting for this grade level. So I taught them the following motions (4/4 time):
- clap, clap, tap, tap (tap=pat alternating hands on bottom of overturned cup)
- clap, up, down (up/down=pick up/put down cup)
I had them play instruments only and didn't enforce that they say the words, but some did anyway. I did have one lad get extremely frustrated. However, most of the students did very well in keeping the steady beat, and by the end of class they were begging to show their classroom teacher what they had accomplished.