#3440. Music Activity at Family Math Night

Music, level: Elementary
Posted Wed Mar 23 21:35:09 PST 2005 by Jolie Shushansky (joliegs@cox.net).
George J. West Elementary, Providence, RI
Materials Required: One melody instrument, Rhythm cards, home made staff cards, notes, glue, a pen and tickets
Activity Time: 5 minutes per student
Concepts Taught: Counting notes and lines and spaces, Connecting visual placement of notes with pitch.

Popular Music Activity for Family Math Night Includes a Take Home Product! by Jolie Shushansky, March 2005

Material Preparation:
STAFF BOARDS: I used thin blue 8"X 8" foam squares from the teacher recycle center and had 6th graders use rulers and black markers to draw the 5 lines of the staff spaced at 1" apart on both sides. The 6th graders also drew a single bar line on side 1 and a double bar line on the back. Cardboard squares could be substituted. I drew a Treble clef on one side of each STAFF BOARD.
RHYTHM CARDS: I used Kodaly 4/4 cards with half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes and quarter rests. Card stock could be used to make your own.
NOTES: I used multi-sized foam circles from the teacher recycle center. They were blue on one side and black on the other. Perfect for differenciating between note values.
TICKETS: I purchased a roll of ADMIT ONE red tickets years ago and use some every year. This time the students received one ticket to "sign in". Any student who wanted to play the Music and Math Composing Game, signed their name and room number on the back of a red ticket, which I then attached to a piece of cardboard in the order in which I received them. This board became my organizational tool, reminding me of names and showing me which student to call next as I reviewed student work.

PROCESS of ACTIVITY:
1. Sign in
Each student writes their own name and room number on a ticket and it is attaced to a board in the order received. The board is displayed for everyone to see.
2. Take Materials
Each student takes 1 rhythm card, 1 staff card, and the number of notes that correspond to their rhythm card.
3. Compose
Students work individually, or with a parent sibling, friend or teacher to place all their notes on the five lines and four spaces of the STAFF BOARD. Placement of notes must match the RHYTHM on the RHYTHM CARD.
4. EDIT
Student brings their completed song to the music teacher as their name is called. Notes are identified by line number or space number as well as high and low. The melody is then played aloud on a recorder, and edited if desired.
5. PUBLISH
Student moves down to the glue table and glues their notes to their STAFF BOARD. Each student takes home their composition.