Nothing says spring time quite like flowers, sunshine and….. WORMS?
During the months of April & May, our studio musicianship focus has turned to Listening & Ear Training. At our group lessons last week, we added a fun spring time twist to rhythm dictation practice with these measuring worms I found at my local teacher supply store. The worms come in 1, 2, 3 and 4 inch lengths – which is perfect for constructing patterns of quarter, half, dotted half and whole notes!
Rhythm dictation can be a hard skill to master – even with simple patterns. I love that these manipulatives give my students the ability to figure out patterns through a little trial and error, without having to erase written notes over and over.
After we warmed up our ears with the manipulatives, we had more “worm-y” fun with this rhythm dictation worksheet:
I created and posted this worksheet a couple of years ago (check out this post). So much more fun and colorful than simply writing out rhythm patterns!
You can find the measuring worms for sale online. If you have a teacher’s supply store nearby, there are probably many counting and measuring manipulatives that could be adapted for rhythm practice. (Check out this post on lego rhythms).
The worms worksheet, along with another fun dictation sheet on the Theory Sheets page (scroll down to the bottom to find them).