Kindergarteners Compose Toothy Rhythms

Kindergarteners got to use their creativity this month by composing rhythms using teeth (Paper teeth that is!) After talking about dental health briefly and learning a fun song called "Bye Bye Baby Tooth," we composed a toothy rhythm on the SMARTboard as a class. Each tooth is a beat and each missing tooth is a rest. Here is Mrs. Rydjeski's class clapping their composition.

KR Claps their Rhythm

Then students each got their own red lips and paper teeth to create a composition. 

Click here for last year's loose teeth post.

Loose tooth sound poem by K/1

The second week in K/1 of our "Bye Bye Baby Tooth" theme, students performed a sound poem called "Loose Tooth." In sound poems students play instruments on certain words. Below is a picture of the Loose Tooth poem. Woodblocks play on the pink words "loose tooth", egg shakers play on the green words "wiggly, jiggly", hand drums play on the yellow words "thread", "bed", and "head", cymbals play on the gray word "quarter", and the ratchet plays on the orange word "hole".

From Interactive Now Volume 1

Here is Mrs. Raney's 1st grade class performing "Loose Tooth":

Here is Mrs. Schultz's Kindergarten class performing "Loose Tooth":

Loose tooth compositions

In K/1 we made loose tooth compositions. We learned about beats and rests while making a whole-class composition, on the Smartboard, with teeth as the beats and missing teeth as the rests! Then students got some big red lips and paper teeth to make their own compositions in pairs. How fun!

January Lessons Preview: Grades K/1

Below is what grades K/1 will be doing in music the month of January:

We will start off with a lesson on losing baby teeth and sing a cheerful song from MusicK8 called "Bye Bye Baby Tooth." Then students will begin learning how to count simple rhythms of quarter notes and quarter rests. They will apply this knowledge by composing their own rhythms using big paper lips and paper teeth. They will line up teeth next to each other for quarter notes, and leave gaps for quarter rests, being able to clap and share their compositions.

The following week students will learn a chant called "Loose Tooth" and add classroom instruments, such as the triangle, to certain words.
The third week in January students will talk about how colors feel, sound, and move through the book "My Many Colored Days" by Dr. Seuss. Students will listen to music representing different colors and move their bodies with colored scarves to match the music.

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