One Step at a Time
Submitted by: Kathy Delaney
Purpose:
To assist students in developing "beat awareness" -- the ability to travel to a beat.
Materials Needed:
drum, tambourine, or other signal maker
Organizational Pattern:
Children will find their own space in an open gymnasium; each making sure they are not touching another.
Description:
During activities in which students are practicing moving in general space, I often beat the drum to a walking beat (slow to medium speed) and have the children walk to the beat of the drum. Periodically, stop the signal and challenge students to stop at exactly the same time. Also have them practice moving in a forward and backward direction, as well as clapping their hands together each time they take a step.
Once they catch on to this -- walking one step per beat -- I have the students count aloud to ten as they take ten walking steps to the beat. Next they can recite the letters of the alphabet as they take twenty sic steps. They can also spell words (like their own first name) as the step to the drum beat. This sounds chaotic because all are spelling their own names. They continue to spell their own name over and over again again a stop signal is given. They can also spell last names, spelling works, name of the school, etc. Eventually, you'll want to have students move in the same manner -- one step to one beat -- to a song with a strong 4/4 beat.
Hint: Because the ability to control the body while moving in time to a beat is a prerequisite to success in almost every form of movement, this is a good "screening" activity for students in the lower elementary grades. While students are moving, you can easily observe and assess their ability to move in synch to the beat. This "benchmark" information can be reported to parents during the year.
Modifications:
In the beginning, just use a drum or other instrument to make a simple beat. When class has mastered the movement, incorporate different types of movements (running, skipping, galloping). To make it even more fun, pair a movement with a certain type of music, for example, when the child hears country music, they will gallop like a horse.