Hey y’all! Welcome back to the blog! Today we’re talking about one of my favorite seasons of the year…Spooky Season!! 👻 I love using all the Halloween music activities during the month of October. I also introduce new rhythms using Target mini erasers! I started this a few years ago and it has quickly become one of my favorite lessons of the year!
Teaching Rhythms with Halloween Mini Erasers
For Kindergarten and 1st grade I introduce ta and titi using the erasers. We talk about how many syllables each word has and then introduce the terms “ta” and “titi” to the students. I always teach this lesson right after we finish covering steady beat, so we also talk about beat v. rhythm. Here are the rhythms I use for Kindergarten and 1st grade:
- Pumpkin: ti ti
- Monster: ti ti
- Spider: ti ti
- Cat: ta
- Web: ta
- Ghost: ta
My 2nd and 3rd graders start by reviewing the rhythms above. Then I tell them that we’re going to change some of the words. We morph pumpkin into jack-o-lantern, monster into frankenstein, and spider into black widow. I really play it up, and say, okay you’re older now so you can call them by their real names. But that means the syllables and rhythms have changed! Shout out to my Instagram followers for helping me come up with black widow! I’ve always struggled finding a rhythm for ti tika! We also change cat to black cat so they still have a “titi” rhythm to use. Here are the rhythms for 2nd and 3rd grade:
- Jack-o-lantern: tika tika
- Frankenstein: tika ti
- Black Widow: ti tika
Obviously you can use whatever rhythm counting system you like for these! For both groups I give them 10-15 minutes to build 4-beat patterns and explore the rhythms. My goal for Kindergarten and 1st grade is to just say the words (pumpkin, pumpkin, cat, cat). Some of the higher Kinder friends and 1st grade will say the rhythms too. The goal for 2-3 is to say the words AND rhythms. Their extension is to do just the rhythm without saying the words.
Halloween Music Activities: Stations
I love using stations during Halloween, too! It’s a great way to keep my sugar crazy kiddos busy while still learning! I have a ton of Halloween music activities that can be used for stations, so each year I pull out different ones. This year I’m using these stations with 2nd-5th grade. In hindsight, I should have pulled a different set for 2nd and 3rd grade. They struggled a little with remembering the pitches on the lines and spaces. No worries, though because I made a note of that for next year! Here are the stations they’re doing this week! (Check out the links for more information on each station!)
- Pitch Match-ups
- Fall Rhythm Clip-it
- Halloween Interactive Rhythm Game
- Halloween Rhythm Bingo
- Coloring
- Eraser Rhythm/Pattern Building
This year, I made a video of myself doing each of the stations that I could show to each class. This saves time and my voice! In order to keep everything as clean as possible during COVID, I also added a bottle of hand sanitizer to each station bin. The kiddos sanitize their hands before they start each station and I clean them between classes. I use the same groupings that the kids are in with their homeroom teacher. That way they aren’t in contact with someone they normally wouldn’t be.
Thanks for stopping by today, y’all! If you try any of these ideas in your classroom, make sure to leave a comment or DM me on Instagram!
Need some more spooky ideas for your classroom? Check out this blog post by my friend Liz at Mrs. Cookie’s Music Room and this YouTube video from my friend Jessie at Music and Motivate!
