Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Kindergarten began learning ta and ti-ti patterns yesterday. I have a Mimio file teaching 16-beat songs for lower elementary that are great for introducing these beginner rhythm patterns. 

We began by learning the song. I started with "Rain, Rain, Go Away" as most students would be familiar with the first half of the song. It is then followed by a beat page and we sang the song with tapping the steady beat. Then we moved on to the rhythm of the song. We learned the two basic rhythm patterns of the song and moved on to figuring out each line. After we learned the first line, we got out the Popsicle sticks and completed the rest of the song. I did the corresponding line on the Mimio and they checked their answers. When each line was correct we spoke the pattern, sang the pattern and then sang the words while pointing to the pattern. 

When done with Popsicle sticks we noticed which lines were the same and that finding those patterns were easier as we had already done them once. 

This is something I spend a great deal of time on in 1st grade so it's nice to get a head start.