Warm up rhymes (rhythm names displayed underneath)
Coca Cola
Coca cola went to town
te-te, te-te, te-te, ta
Pepsi cola knocked him down
te-te, te-te, te-te, ta
Doctor pepper fixed him up
te-te, te-te, te-te, ta
Changed him into seven up.
te-te, te-te, te-te, ta
Engine Engine
Engine engine number nine
te-te, te-te, te-te, ta
Going down the Glasgow line
te-te, te-te, te-te, ta
If the train goes off the track
te-te, te-te, te-te, ta
Will I get my money back
te-te, te-te, te-te, ta
Yes, no, maybe so.
ta, ta, te-te, ta
The children may know these rhymes already but will not have done the task.
Teach each rhyme a line at a time with the children repeating after you if they don’t know them.
Use body percussion (eg tap knees, stamp feet) or use instruments (eg claves) to keep a steady beat to the above rhymes.
Afterwards, use the rhythm flashcards with stick notation and clap out the rhythm. Children could take turns to play the rhythm on a set of claves or another untuned percussion instrument.
Split the class into a beat team and rhythm. Ask them to play separately and together.
Skills
Keep the beat with movement
Clap a simple rhythm using rhythm names
Follow rhythm stick notation
Resources
Claves or other available wooden instruments in school.
Rhythm Flashcards – Rhymes with rhythms displayed underneath. eg
Apple Tree
Apple tree, apple tree
Will your apples fall on me?
I won’t scream and I won’t shout
If your apples knock me out.
Listen to the recording of Apple Tree and learn the song together.
Game: The children sit in a circle holding out their hands, palms facing up. Each child places his right hand on top of the person on his right’s left hand (keeping palm facing up).
One child starts with a ball/beanbag/egg shaker in their right hand. On each beat of the song, the child starts to pass it round the circle clockwise, with each person in turn placing it into the right hand of the person on their left.
(NB : the right hand moves but the left hand is static throughout.)
After playing the game, move on to the next step, which is introduction of the ‘la’ pitch (see below).
Introducing the ‘la’ pitch.
Revise hand signs for ‘so’ and ‘mi’. (Pitches from the pentatonic scale) Refer to the video in P3 Lesson 2 for I like Coffee for an explanation of this.
Sing the Apple Tree song and ask the children to identify which word has a pitch higher than ‘so’ (on the word ‘apples’ both times). Explain this pitch name is ‘la’.
Watch the video provided to explore this concept.
Have a go at singing the song with the hand signs.
Skills
Keep the beat with movement
Sing at pitch with increasing accuracy
Recognise and follow hand signs from the pentatonic scale
Resources
Video on Bounce High Bounce Low with handsigns
Ball
Bounce high, bounce low
Bounce high,
bounce low
Bounce the ball to
Mary (change name to suit class)
This game has been covered in P3 lesson plans.
Sing the song along with the backing track until everyone is comfortable with it
Game
The children stand in a circle.
One child is the leader and has a ball –they should stand in the centre of the circle. As everyone sings the first three lines of the song, the leader keeps the pattern BOUNCE-CATCH for each bar. They then decide who to pass the ball to and sing the chosen child’s name whilst bouncing the ball to them.
Sing the song a few times and recap hand signs for so, mi and la using the video.
Skills
Keep the beat with movement
Sing at pitch with increasing accuracy
Recognise and follow hand signs from the pentatonic scale
Resources
Bean bag/ball/egg shaker
Video of Apple Tree Handsigns and introduction to La pitch
Shalalalalalalala Cheerio
Shalalalalalalala Cheerio
Shalalalalalalala Cheerio
Boys and girls it’s time to go!
Sing the song using the backing track.
Turn hands round each other like winding up the bobbin for the ‘shalalalala’ phrase and for each cheerio wave one hand and then the other all the while being mindful of where the beats fall.
Skills
Sing with good diction and expression
Sing at pitch with increasing accuracy
