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Rain, Rain, Go Away

We have had a very unusual Spring this year. We have had tons and tons of rain. I can't actually remember a day in the last two weeks that we haven't gotten a little bit of rain and most days we have gotten a good down-pouring.

Needless to say, we have been ready for some sun and some warmer summery weather. 

A few weeks ago I took advantage of the rain and included some fun activities for "Rain Rain Go Away".

Here are a few ideas for rainy days:

1) Practice beat vs. rhythm by pointing at icons on the board.


Looking for ready made slides like these? Click here for my beat/rhythm/ta/titi slides or here for a set that has high/low and sol-mi.

2) Use body percussion and then non-pitched percussion instruments to show the ta's and titi's. 

3) Create a rain storm in the music room.
My kids just LOVE this. We talk through a rain storm. What happens? Before the storm, the sun is out. Then the clouds come and it begins to start raining with just little sprinkles of rain. The rain gets heavier and heavier and may eventually be accompanied by thunder and lightning. Eventually the thunder and lightning stop. The rain slows down to a stop. After we talk through it, pull out instruments to help us make those sounds - rain sticks, hand drums or thunder drums if you have them. The kids who do not get an instrument are body percussion rain drops on their laps or the floor. If you lay a hand drum on the floor in front of you and play with just the tips of your fingers (like typing on a keyboard slowly) it makes a cool sound for the start and end of the rain. I let one person stand at the lights and give us a few quick lightning flashes. We assign one person to be the sun and one to be the rain clouds. The first time I ever did this, it was a filler thing in the last few minutes of class after singing "Rain, Rain"  but they ask for it again and again and request to "make a rain storm" every chance they get.

Let me know if you have done something similar. You could even incorporate the song into it as an A section, have the storm be B, and then end with singing the A again.

4) Rainy Day Freeze Dance
Put on your favorite rainy music and play freeze dance. When you pause the music, students must freeze like the picture. When I do freeze dance, I project the pictures onto the screen so they are nice and big for my kids to see.



The next two pictures are from the classroom of Andrea DeAnn. Her kindergartners really enjoyed posing like each of the different images.


Trying to catch raindrops in their mouths! Too funny!


Here are some ideas for rainy music to use:
- "Singing in the Rain"
- "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head"
- "My Favorite Things" - Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens...
- "If All the Raindrops"
Or maybe an instrumental piece that reminds you of the rain!

5) Notate a Rain Song
My students notated the rhythms for the song, "Rain Rain Go Away" below the beat umbrellas. 




Do you have any additional "rainy day" songs or activities that I haven't mentioned? Add your ideas in the comments below, or let me know if there was something you really enjoyed learning about in this post!




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