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Teaching rhythms can feel daunting, but the good news is that it don’t have to be scary. Half note is actually one of my favorite concepts to teach. So let’s talk about how to teach half note in a fun, simple way that gets the students engaged and thinking. I’ll share all about the process that I use to teach half note in a a Kodaly-inspired way.
Not a Kodaly inspired teacher? That’s ok, it’s just the strategy and framework to help me figure out how to the concept in an easy to understand way. If you haven’t checked it out, I highly recommend the Kodaly levels– it gives a very clear framework for how to teach each concept in a way that will actually work. If how to teach is too much, it will help a lot.
For this lesson, you’ll need some half note songs. I’ll use some examples, but you can swap out the songs I suggest for any half note song that works for you.
Need some ideas? Here are some songs that all teach half note!
You can make it super easy by getting the lesson packs to go along. We’ll use A Tisket A Tasket in this example (check it out here), but the half note bundle in my shop has a lot of half note songs– enough to prepare, present, and practice.
Click here to check out the half note songs bundle.
And this bundle has songs AND games, so you have games to practice afterwards.
This blog post could be considered part 3 of “how to teach rhythms”. Check out the posts below for part one and two!
Prepare Half Note
Before we present half notes, we are going to prepare the students. You want to use songs that have half notes in them to sing, move, and play along with half notes before the students know what half notes are. We typically learn a few different folk songs, but for specific examples in this blog post, I will use A Tisket A Tasket.
Once you’re ready to “notice” the half notes, here’s what I do:
Start with a song. I like A Tisket A Tasket. Sing through it. Then sing through it again, and when you get to the half notes, slide your hands together (see video for explanation) for the half note. Have students copy as you sing.
Then ask: What happens in the song when I move my hands? (eventually someone will say it was longer).
Sing again, and ask them to raise their hands on the long notes. Call on students and ask them with words are “long”. (In the case of A Tisket A Tasket, that would be TIS-ket, TAS-ket, BAS-ket, drop)
Then, look at the rhythm on the board. Replace the half notes with an icon. I use a “note” (letter) for A Tisket A Tasket, but I use a squirrel for Let Us Chase the Squirrel, so it just depends on what you’re learning. Anything will do.
Read some rhythms with the icon, calling it “long”, and make sure they slide their hands together! That slide is their kinesthetic prep.
Then, over a few lessons, do a few activities that include different preps. You want to include kinesthetic preps, visual preps, and auditory prep.
Reading rhythms with the slides is a kinesthetic (movement) prep, as we already discussed.
Here’s a few ways to do visual preps:
- Have students use manipulatives of rhythms, with an icon for the half note and create rhythms or decode the rhythm of a song.
- Write rhythms with white boards and markers! If you do this, use heartbeat charts! For this, students can draw a line over 2 hearts for the beats, which is the main thing that students need to understand.
Auditory preps:
- Play Poison Rhythm, where anything with the half note is poison (you read a rhythm and they repeat it, unless it’s poisoned. If they repeat the poisoned pattern, they are out)
- Put a pattern on a slide, and have students give you a thumbs up or down to show if it is what you are saying.
- Put 2 patterns on a slide and read one of them. Have students hold up a 1 or 2 on their fingers for which one is matches what you read.
While you are prepping students, make sure that they understand that this is ONE SOUND on TWO BEATS. They have to understand that, or everything else will be lost.
I know some people teach two tied quarter notes before the half note. If your students are struggling, that might be an option.
Present Half Note
After you’re prepared half note, it’s time to present it! This is actually really quick– it’s just explaining what it is, and showing them what half notes look like.
When presenting half notes, we start with a song we already know. Then we look at the rhythm of the song on the board. I’ll ask a few questions like these:
- What’s happening here? (Point to the half note) That note is long
- How many sounds are on this note? One.
- How many beats is it? Two.
- So this note is one sound stretched over two beats. Do we know any notes like that? (Look at the notes you’ve already learned and compare.) No.
- Say: This is a new note. This is called a half note. It looks like this. When we see it, we say _________
I’ve taken to calling half notes “looooong”, but typically, people say “taaa”.
That’s literally it. Easy peasy. Takes just a few minutes.
Note: You want the students to answer the questions. If they can’t answer the questions, they don’t understand it well enough yet.
After the presentation, we practice reading rhythms with half notes. Usually I’ll do 5-6, and have them repeat after me for the first two. Then I’ll ask if someone wants to take a guess about the next one. After the one student, then everyone reads it.
Then, we’ll read rhythms to a new song that also has a half note. I usually pick a folk song that includes a game so that we can play a game along with it for the rest of class.
Practice half note
After you’ve presented half note, you’ll want to practice reading and writing half notes! As you practice half note, remember that reading, writing, identifying, dictating, and playing instruments are all different skills. You need to practice each one.
Here’s my timeline:
- The first day after we’ve learned half note, we practice reading it (options below)
- The second day, we’re dictating rhythms with rhythm manipulatives (need some? you can get free in my free resource library)
- The next day, we write half notes on white boards. We might also do rhythm play alongs.
- The next day, we’re writing on paper– either doing dictation or composing.
Of course, we intersperse different things in here as well, but that’s kind of the gist.
It feels like a lot, but seriously, go slowly. You’ll thank me later.
Here’s a few other ideas for reading rhythms:
- Flashcards: Have students read flashcards, or have them put a bunch of flashcards together to make a long rhythms.
- Rhythm play along: Rhythm play alongs on youtube have saved my life on more than one occasion. Just type in “rhythm play along quarter rest” and you’ll have tons of options.
- Kaboom: Students sit in a circle and take turns pulling out a rhythm to read. If they get it right, they keep it. If not, they put it back. If they get a kaboom, that person puts them all back. Get a ready to go set here.
- Shark Attack! Shark Attack is a card game that I made up. It’s similar to kaboom, but with other options like putting one card back, skipping a turn, and more. Click here to purchase.
- I have, Who Has? Students get cards that say “I have…..” and a rhythm. They read their rhythm then the who has rhythm. Whoever has the second rhythm reads their card. This means they have to read the rhythm and identify that it is in fact their rhythm. Get it here.
Annnd finally… Assess!
This isn’t technically part of the 3P process, but without it, you’ll never know if students learned or not.
Here’s a few easy assessment ideas for half note:
- Is it right? Put a rhythm on the board. Clap a rhythm. If you clapped the rhythm on the board, students give a thumbs up. If you didn’t they do thumbs down. Super easy assessment.
- Secret Code Detective: Students get 12 cards (everyone has the same ones). The teacher reads the rhythm and the student shave to find the right one. They are color coded, so you can easily see who has the right one– and it’s a fun way to do assessment! Get it here.
- Dictation… but as assessment. On paper. To turn in.
- Assessments: When we are finished with rhythms, I like to use an actual assessment to make sure that students understand. Plus, it’s good to have something concrete for grades that you can send home to show the parents as well. I use these assessments for half note.
If you need some activities, you can check out this bundle with lots of different games in my TPT shop!
And if you need lots of ideas, this mega bundle has songs, games, and activities– everything you need to teach half note!
Need more help? Check out these blog posts:
Happy teaching!
Becca
