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Rainy Day Rhythms

My first graders (I don't see kindergarten) are practicing their high and low sounds and getting ready to learn about steady beat and rhythm as "the way the words go" pretty soon.

We are having some great fun with rainy day activities and the timing is perfect as we have been getting some rainy days here in Kansas.

I read a book "Rain Talk" with my kids and I get out my rain sticks and have students help to create the rain storm using the rain sticks. You could use any rainy book. I found this one at Goodwill. I always love to rummage through the cheap books to find ways to tie in literature with my songs. Kids are not read to at home very much anymore, and I feel like this is so important for developing reading skills and imagination so I do my part to help out! This book has some opportunities for vocal exploration and I usually add a sol-mi melody to parts of the text. I sing the song "Rain Rain Go Away" every other page turn and that is their cue that they need to pass their rain stick on to let someone else have a turn.
The kids really enjoy this and I have found that it's a fun way to introduce the song "Rain Rain". 


We put "Rain Rain" on our body scale- "high" on our heads and "low" on our shoulders.  I have these slides like this that I use for high and low:


They are available in my "Rain Rain" collection , my Songs for Spring, or my Sol-Mi Bundle on my teachers pay teachers store. 

I also use my flashcards for this: 

My Sol-Mi flashcard kit had flashcards like this and with the solfege under the icon. This kit is also in the Sol-Mi Bundle.

Next we prepare for steady beat by practicing tapping to the rain drops on the board: 


Once we know I will bring this song back for "The way the words go", "long/short" sounds, and ta/titi.

Once we get to ta-titi, here are some fun activities I have created to go with it!









Team clouds:



I cut out these little rain drops and stick tape on the back and we tape it to the team's cloud every time they get a point. The team with the most raindrops on their cloud wins!
Other ideas:

Match iconic rhythm to real rhythm



You can purchase this game from my tpt store and download a preview of it here.

Lindsay

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