Oh Neat! A Steady Beat!

It is very difficult to tell someone how to feel a steady beat. By first grade, students seem to understand the idea of your heartbeat, or pulse. They also understand what it means to say that a steady beat stays the same while a rhythm can change between long and short sounds and silences. However, kindergarten is a whole different ballgame. We have been practicing playing rhythms sticks while saying simple chants. For example:

 "1, 2, 3, 4. Mary at the kitchen door. 

5, 6, 7, 8. Mary at the garden gate"

With the rhythm sticks we can practice saying the poem fast and slow and change the steady beat. I needed a way to test their individual understanding while still keeping the whole class involved, so we made Bubble Gum Beats!

"Bubble gum, bubble gum, chew and blow.

 Bubble gum, bubble gum, scrape your toe.

 Bubble gum, bubble gum, tastes so sweet. 

Get that bubble gum off your feet!"

One at a time, students came up to the board and pointed to each bubble to show the steady beat. The rest of the class had to follow along, so if the student at the board went faster, the class had to go faster. It was a lot of fun!