Student Impact Project: Block #2

(1st Grade)

Class Level: 1st Grade General Music

Number of Students: 79

Things To Think About:

I decided to create my unit plan around decoding and reading rhythms for 1st graders.
For this project I have a lot of students to keep track of. There are four 1st grade classes and 79
students overall. Another note to make is that the students have not yet learned how to decode
rhythms at all. I’m introducing a totally new idea for them!

Pre-Assessment:
For the pre-assessment, I made a basic 3 point rubric system in order to keep track of
each students progress. When assessing a student, I could simply write down a number next to
each students name. I incorporated the pre-assessment and post-assessment into the lessons
plans of my unit. Below is the rubric for my 3 point system:

Rubric for Rhythm Assessment

Quality: The student can not The student can decode The student can decode
decode or read the 4 and read most 4 beat and read all 4 beat
beat rhythms that rhythms that contain rhythms that contain
contain quarter and quarter and eighth notes. quarter and eighth notes.
eighth notes.

Achieved
or Not 1 2 3
Achieved:

Lesson #1:
Objectives:
I can recognize and remember a simple 4 beat rhythm.
I can start decoding rhythms with ta and ta-ti’s.

SOL Standards:
● VA Dept. of Education, Grade 1 General Music: 1.5#1 - The student will perform
rhythmic patterns that include quarter notes, paired eighth notes, and quarter rests,
using instruments, body percussion, and voice.
 Materials Needed:
● Drum

Lesson Plan:
Activity #1: Getting Used to Rhythms
Teacher asks students to echo simple four beat rhythms on ta and ta-tis.
Students echo.
Teacher explains that we can decode rhythms and what decoding means.
Teacher takes out a drum and plays a simple 4 beat rhythm and then decodes it
herself.
The teacher only creates 2 examples.

Activity #2: Pre-Assessment

Teacher asks the students to decode the rhythm she plays on the drum.
Students decode.
Students are given at least 5 chances to decode. ​If students make a mistake, the
teacher corrects them briefly by decoding the rhythm herself. The teacher assess the group as a
whole but marks down students quickly on the three point system.

Activity #3: Poison Rhythm Game

Teacher then tells students how we can play the Poison Melody game, but with rhythm.
The Poison Rhythm Game is an echo game where students echo simple 4 beat rhythms on ta
and ta-tis back to the teacher. However, one specific rhythm is the poison rhythm which is
shown to the class previous to the game. If a student echos back the poison rhythm, then they
have to sit down.
Teacher then shows the students the poison rhythm. ​It is drilled by echoing the rhythm a
few times. The teacher then asks how many ta’s and ta-ti’s the rhythm has to make sure
students are aware of the poison rhythm.
Teacher and students then do a practice round sitting. ​Students are able to get used to
hearing the poison rhythm mixed in with the other rhythms.
Students and Teacher play the Poison Rhythm Game.
*​In future lessons, the poison rhythm game can be played by having a student suggest a
poison rhythm for the group. This can help challenge gifted students to create their own
rhythms. Another adaptation is to have the teacher lead the poison rhythm game with a drum
and have students decode the rhythm back, but if they decode the poison rhythm… then they
are out! This is a great transition from echoing to decoding for students.

Reflection/Summary:
This lesson went very well for the students. I tried not to give students too many
examples before their pre-assessment but some students caught on immediately. SOme
students were quick to let me know that this was something they learned in another music class
or in a private lesson. The students absolutely loved the poison rhythm game and continued to
ask to play it in future lessons. It was also an excellent assessment tool to see whether or not
students were beginning to recognize the pattern and assess whether they were actively
engaged or not. One thing I would change about the lesson would be making clearer
instructions to the students that I want them to decode on ta’s and ta-ti’s, because often the
students would try to echo the drum by hitting the pattern on the floor.

Lesson #2:
Objectives:
I can decode simple 4 beat rhythms.
I can create and read my own rhythm.

SOL Standards:
● VA Dept. of Education, Grade 1 General Music: 1.5 #1 - The student will perform
rhythmic patterns that include quarter notes, paired eighth notes, and quarter rests,
using instruments, body percussion, and voice.
● VA Dept. of Education, Grade 1 General Music: 1.1 #2 - The student will read and
notate music, including rhythmic patterns that include quarter notes, paired eighth notes,
and quarter rests, using traditional and nontraditional notation.
● VA Dept. of Education, Grade 1 General Music: 1.9 #4 - The student will create music by
composing simple rhythmic patterns, using traditional or nontraditional notation.

Materials Needed:
● Puzzle pieces with notation drawn on them

Lesson Plan:
Activity #1: Decoding with Puzzle Pieces
Students are asked to find partners and each group gets a set of puzzle pieces. ​In each
set of puzzle pieces, there are 8 pieces, 4 of them have a quarter note written on them and 4
have a pair of eighth notes written on them.
Teacher then explains we have symbols for ta’s and ta-ti’s. ​The teacher draws out a
quarter note and a pair of eighth notes as she explains.
Teacher asks students to hold up a “ta.”
Students hold up a puzzle piece with a quarter note. ​The teacher can assess for
understanding by scanning the room and checking that each student is holding up a quarter
note.
Teacher asks students to hold up a “ta-ti.”
Students hold up a puzzle piece with a pair of eighth notes. ​The teacher can assess for
understanding by scanning the room and checking that each student is holding up a pair of
eighth notes.
Teacher gives a few 4 beat examples to decode on ta’s and ta-ti’s.
 Students decode the rhythms using their puzzle pieces with their partner. ​The teacher
can walk around the room to assess each groups progress.
*In future lessons, the teacher can clap out the rhythm and ask the students to first
decode the rhythm with their voice and then write it out with the puzzle pieces in order to
practice decoding more as well as writing the rhythms.

Activity #2: Creating with Puzzle Pieces

Teacher asks students to create their own 8 beat rhythm with their partner, but the
students must be able to decode the rhythm together.
Teacher goes around asking students to chant their rhythm for the class and assessing
their progress in reading.
*If your students need a challenge, have them decode a song they know well line by line.
They can combine partners into groups of four for more help and puzzle piece.

Reflection/Summary:
This lesson worked very well! I could easily make note of each students progress and
assess them in pairs. The students liked the puzzle pieces a lot and I found it was a great
transition into reading rhythmic notation. This also gave me the opportunity to assess certain
students in the 1st grade are english language learning students. I find that many of these
students feel uncomfortable speaking out in the classroom. Although they will say the nonsense
syllables “ta” and “ta-ti,” I found it was easiest for them to use the puzzle pieces as a visual
instead of a aural assessment. One thing I would change about the lesson would be how I give
out the examples to decode. I found that it could quickly get chatty after I checked a groups
work and would move to another group, so I started giving the groups who finished fast little
challenges. For example, “I see you finished the example. Good, hard work! Can you use the
other four puzzle pieces to make a rhythm different than the one I gave you?”
Lesson #3:
Objectives:
I can decode four beat rhythms with quarter and eighth notes.
I can read rhythms with quarter and eighth notes.

SOL Standards:
● VA Dept. of Education, Grade 1 General Music: 1.5 #1 - The student will perform
rhythmic patterns that include quarter notes, paired eighth notes, and quarter rests,
using instruments, body percussion, and voice.
● VA Dept. of Education, Grade 1 General Music: 1.1 #2 - The student will read and
notate music, including rhythmic patterns that include quarter notes, paired eighth notes,
and quarter rests, using traditional and nontraditional notation.
● VA Dept. of Education, Grade 1 General Music: 1.13 #4 - The student will analyze music
by recognizing differences in melodic and rhythmic patterns and dynamics.

Materials Needed:
● Smartboard
● Pointer

Lesson Plan:
Activity #1: Mrs.White with Dynamics
Teacher has students chant “Mrs.White.”
Teacher turns on the Smartboard to show the chat “Mrs.White.”
Teacher writes down dynamics on Mrs.White and asks students which each dynamic
marking is.
Students answer with raised hands.
Teacher has students chant song with the dynamics.​ For more practice using dynamics,
the teacher can ask students to write in their own dynamics for the song and have the class
perform it with the new dynamics.

Activity #2: Decoding Mrs.White

Teacher then points to a pair of eighth notes and ask what it is.
Students respond by saying “ta-ti.”
Teacher then points to a quarter note and ask what it is.
Students respond by saying “ta.”
Teacher then asks the students decode Mrs. White on “ta” and “ta-ti.”

Activity #3: Decoding Challenge

Teacher asks students to chant the song on words but change to decoding when she
claps her hands.
Students chant and decode.
 Teacher asks students to start with decoding and switch to words when she claps her
hands.
Students chant and decode.

Activity #4: Post-Assessment

Teacher shows 4 four beat rhythm examples and asks the students to decode each one.
Students decode each example.
Teacher then asks students to figure out which example she is clapping by putting the
number of the example behind their backs.
Teacher claps an example 2 times.
Students then show the teacher which example they think is being clapped. ​This can be
repeated as many times as necessary until the teacher has assessed all of the students.

Reflection/Summary:
This lesson went very well! I was amazed at how fast the students caught on and found
that most students felt confident in decoding and reading. They certainly have progressed from
where they started. One thing I would have changed when it came to executing my lesson plan
would be asking students not to immediately read what was on the Smartboard but to just look
at it until I asked them to decode it out loud. These instructions would have been helpful
because many students decoded the examples the moment they appeared on the board.
Another way I’d change my teaching strategy would be asking students not to try and peak at
other students answers during the pre-assessment. It wasn’t distracting, but I noticed a few
students trying to see if their answer matched their neighbors.

Post-Assessment:
After reviewing the results of the post-assessment, I was very happy with my student’s
progress. I had originally thought I would only use this project to teach them how to decode, but
then they caught on quickly and I needed another challenge for them in order to keep them
engaged. Reading rhythm notation was the next step and they caught on rather well.
A few changes I would make to this unit for next time would be to do more lessons with
visual notation that students could manipulate and find a way to have students play the rhythms
they create with a song. I find that the visual notation was the best choice for my students who
were ELL students, because they prefered to show what they know rather than speak it. Having
students play their own rhythms to a song would be an excellent segway into learning about and
playing ostinatos.

Below is a graph of the students results for the pre-assessment and post-assessment
compared: