This post may contain affiliate links. You pay the same and I get a small commission. Yay! (Please see my/our full disclosure for further information.)
Teaching elementary music can be hard. You‘ve learned your kids, you’ve done some fun things… but what do you actually say when it’s time to teach quarter rest?
Don’t worry, by the end of this blog post, you’ll know exactly what to do and say to your first grade, second grade, or third graders.
We’re going to follow the Kodaly method of prepare, present, practice. Before you explicitly teach quarter rest, you’ll do some activities and songs to prepare it. You’ll present it to actually teach, then practice it.
First things first– you don’t start here. When I teach quarter rest, I do it after quarter and eighth notes, which means that students already know rhythm. If you need a how to for that, check out how to teach rhythm here.
Preparing quarter rest
Before we explicitly teach rest, we’re going to prepare it. That means that we’ll get the kids listening to rest, playing rests, singing rests, and basically get it in their minds before we show it to them.
In the Kodaly method (and even if you’re not “doing Kodaly” you can steal this), you typically to a kinesthetic (feel it), visual (notate it), and auditory prep (hear it).
As you go through this process, you’ll ask a lot of questions. I don’t like to to tell the kids the answers– I like to lead them to it.
You’ll also need a few songs to help. You’ll do lots of songs to prepare, present, and practice rest, but you’ll need two in particular– one to present and the first one to practice.
In this case, I’m going to share all of this with the song Frog in the Meadow (check it out here!), but you’re welcome to use a different one– just substitute any of the lyrics or anything I say for whatever song you choose.
Need some help? Next week I’m sharing 12 songs for quarter rest. Join the email list to get notified when it comes out!
Want some free music teacher resources? Join the FREE Resource Library! After joining, you’ll get access to a library with powerpoints, lyric sheets, quizzes, worksheets, and more! Plus, you’ll get elementary music lessons emailed straight to your inbox to keep the ideas flowing and make lesson planning EASY.
You’ll get access to things like slides with 4 frog songs, including the one down below with a rest in it!
Alright, let’s start:
- Start by introducing a new song that has quarter rest in it. I’m using Frog in the Meadow. At first, just sing the song– over and over so they know it really well. (This is where singing games come in handy!)
- Have students sing the song, and on the rest, they can put a finger over their mouth to show that it’s quiet. (alternatively: Make a statues, shrug, etc). This is your kinesthetic prep. The first few times, you’ll do it and they will follow you, but eventually they’ll understand.
- Have them play instruments along with the song, and on the rest put their hands up or make a statue.
- Next, have students tap the beats. I use the beat chart in the Frog in the Meadow lesson pack.
- Then, have students tap the rhythm with the rest covered up. In Frog in the Meadow, there’s a frog on the rest. When you get to that part, look super confused.
- Say: What’s happening here? Is there a beat? Is there any noise? (Someone will put together that that is where you’ve been putting your finger on your mouth) There’s a beat, but there’s no noise.
- I also say: Is this a rhythm? (No) It’s a frog. Right now the frog is showing us the part where we are quiet.
- Have students make rhythms with quarter notes, eighth notes, and question marks (or frogs or emojis making the shushing face). They can do this whole group, in small groups, or individually. This is a visual prep.
- On another day, sing through the song. Put 2 rhythms on the board (with the rests covered up), and clap one of them. Have students show you 1 finger if you played the first one or two fingers if you played the second one. This is an auditory prep.
Presenting quarter rest
- Sing through Frog in the Meadow. Then have students tap the beats, then have them tap the rhythm.
- Ask: What’s happening here? (Yes, we already did this, we’re doing it again!) It’s quiet.
- Ask: Is there a beat? Yes
- Ask: Is there any sound? No
- Ask: Do we know a rhythm that has a beat of quiet? No
- Show students quarter notes and eighth notes. Review that the quarter note is one sound on one beat and eighth notes aretwo sounds on one beat.
- Ask: Do either of these have a beat of quiet? No
- Show students the rest.
- Say: This is called a rest. It is a beat of quiet. It still gets a beat, but there’s no noise. (I also like to show students how to write it– plus all the things I’ll accept. I let them draw z’s or 3’s so that it’s not too confusing. You could do this later too!)
- Then, read about 3 rhythms with rests in them and have students repeat them. Then ask students to read the rhythms and have everyone repeat them (they may not get them right immediately, and that’s ok!)
- Next, show students the rhythm to another song– in this case, we’ll use Ickle Ockle. Have the read the rhythm. Then introduce the new song, and then play the game to wrap it all up!
Practicing quarter rest
There’s tons of ways to practice rhythms after you learn them. Here’s a few ideas for practicing quarter rest:
- Dictation: Have students write rhythms on white boards that you read.
- 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.
- Composition: Have students create their own quarter rest compositions!
- Decode rhythms: Have students figure out the rhythm to go along with the song they are learning.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
I could go on and on, buuuuut that’s probably plenty to get you started.
Need more help? Next week I’m sharing 12 songs for quarter rest– stay tuned!
Happy teaching!
Becca
