Rhythm Labels for Level One

Here are some rhythm exercises that correlate with the Faber Level 1 Lesson Book.

Labels Level 1 Rhythm Exercise  

Teaching the White Keys

I use the story of two houses to teach the names of the white keys.  There is the big house of the three black keys and the little house, which is the dog house.  As we learn more keys we find out that the big house is Grandma's house (G) and she loves to make things with apples (A).  The F and B are the front door and the back door.  Beside the dog lives a Cat (C) and Elephant (E).

Here are some worksheets I use to introduce the concept.


Google Doc Link: Name of the White Keys Worksheet
Name of the White Keys

Numbers and Counting

Numbers March Right In! Sung to: "When the Saints Go Marching In"

Oh, When the numbers march right in,
Oh, when the numbers march right in.
We will count them one by one,
When the numbers march right in.
Oh, one-two-three, Four and five

Now backward, five, four, three, two, one

Oh here comes one, Oh here comes one

Here comes the number one

We have one nose and one mouth

Oh here comes the number one

Oh here comes two, Oh here comes two

Here comes the number two

We have two eyes and ears

Oh here comes the number two

Oh here comes three, Oh here comes three

Here comes the number three

A triangle has three sides

Oh here comes the number three

Oh here comes four, Oh here comes four

Here comes the number four

A square has four sides

Oh here comes the number four

Oh here comes five, Oh here comes five

Here comes the number five

We have five fingers on our hand

Oh here comes the number five

Have students march carrying different numbers.

Umbrellas Fingerplay
Five umbrellas stood by the back door,
The red one went outside, then there were four.
Four umbrellas pretty as can be,
The blue one went outside, then there were three.
Three umbrellas with nothing to do,
The green one went outside, then there was one.
Just one umbrella alone in the hall,
The purple one went outside, and that was all!

Make different colored umbrellas for students to visualize

Clifford Sung to “This old man”
Clifford, the big red dog
He ate zero and was a hero.
With a knick-knack paddy whack,
Give the dog a bone,
Then let's all go rolling home.

Clifford, the big red dog
He ate one and had some fun.
With a knick-knack paddy whack,
Give the dog a bone,
Then let's all go rolling home.


Clifford, the big red dog
He ate two and then he grew.
With a knick-knack paddy whack,
Give the dog a bone,
Then let's all go rolling home.


Clifford, the big red dog
He ate three in a tree.
With a knick-knack paddy whack,
Give the dog a bone,
Then let's all go rolling home.


Clifford, the big red dog
He ate four down on the floor.
With a knick-knack paddy whack,
Give the dog a bone,
Then let's all go rolling home.


Clifford, the big red dog
He ate five and took a dive.
With a knick-knack paddy whack,
Give the dog a bone,
Then let's all go rolling home.


Clifford, the big red dog
He ate six and chased some sticks.
With a knick-knack paddy whack,
Give the dog a bone,
Then let's all go rolling home.


Clifford, the big red dog
He ate seven and looked to heaven.
With a knick-knack paddy whack,
Give the dog a bone,
Then let's all go rolling home.


Clifford, the big red dog
He ate eight and cleaned his plate.
With a knick-knack paddy whack,
Give the dog a bone,
Then let's all go rolling home.

Clifford, the big red dog
He ate nine and then felt fine.
With a knick-knack paddy whack,
Give the dog a bone,
Then let's all go rolling home.


Clifford, the big red dog
He ate ten and started again.
With a knick-knack paddy whack,
Give the dog a bone,
Then let's all go rolling home.

I have a Clifford stuffed animal that I bring out for this song.  I also have some foam letters that he pretends to eat.

Ten in the Bed

There were ten in the bed and the little on said "Roll over, roll over"

So they all rolled over and one fell out.

Keep counting down until

There was one in the bed and the little one said "Good night"

You could bring different stuffed animals, toy animals/people or cutouts and count down with them.

You could also have the students lay down and act this out

Recommended Books

1. Roll Over by Merle Peek

2. Fish Eyes  by Lois Ehlert

3. Five Little Monkeys by Eileen Christelow

4. Ten Little Ladybugs by Melanie Gerth

Faber Primer Rhythm and Finger Exercises

I have decided to make some rhythm and finger exercises based on the Faber Primer book.  I got the idea of making them label from Susan Paradis.

I am assigning the student these exercises to have some extra practice with counting and playing rhythms and coordinating fingers.  I have placed page numbers on some exercises because the correlate with that page.

Though some are the exact pattern found in the song, some are combinations of patterns.  I am assigning these exercise one to two weeks before the student gets to that page, so they have done the preliminary work on the song already.

There are many possibilities with the rhythms, playing hands separately, hand together, clapping, stomping, patting, snapping, playing with instruments, counting out loud, playing on the keyboard, etc. .

I use Avery labels 48860 with a measurement of 1" by 2 5/8'

Faber Primer Level Rhythm and Finger Exercises

If you have trouble printing them, email me and I will email you a pdf file

Eight is Enough Game

I have come up with a new game called "Eight is Enough"

To play you need staff playing cards with a set of A- G.  I recommend two sets of A-G for each player.  Staff playing cards don't have the answer of what note it is on the back.  I have some flash cards I made. I suggest printing or copying them on card stock and then cutting them out.

Staff Playing Cards

Flash Cards

Each player gets four cards and the rest of the cards go into a pile.  Four cards are set around the pile, face up.

The youngest player goes first.

Each player takes turns building on the card that is face up.  You can build up or down regardless of clef.  So if the starting card is a Middle C you can put a Treble D above it or a Bass Clef B below it.

When you play a card you draw another card from the pile.  If you have no card to play you forfeit your turn.  You can trade in two cards in your hand for two cards in the pile, placing your two cards at the bottom.  If you trade in two cards, your still forfeit your turn and may not play a card until the next turn.

The person who plays the eighth card wins the pile.  The person who gets four piles is the winner of the game.

Variations: You could make the piles move up and down by intervals: 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc. . You could also do chords.

  

Fun Magnets

I love these Smiley Face Magnets I found for $1.00 at Target.  I use them to represent notes on the staff on my magnetic white board I made.  I also found some heart shaped ones for Valentine's day.

Place Race

     Over the summer I invested in new flash cards to supplement my own.  So now I have many, many flash card to play with, which is super!


      To start off the new fall semester I chose to play a new game called "Place Race" to review the notes, chords and keys.  This is a great review game at the beginning of the year because you can limit what you test the student on.  To play you need alphabet cards, staff cards and a stop watch.  For Level One, I set out two rows of alphabet cards C D E F G.  I make the first row Treble Clef and the bottom row Bass Clef.  I give the student flash cards for C position in both clefs.  I have the student place the correct staff card on the letter and time them to see how fast they can match them up.  Then we play again and I see if they can beat their first time.   Here are some suggested levels, but I had one student who had a piece with ABCDE ledger lines in between the clefs, so I pulled out those flash cards and had her match them up.


Level One: C position (Top row Treble Clef, Bottom row Bass Clef)
Level Two: Lines and Spaces of the Treble Clef (Top row lines, bottom row spaces)
Lines and Space of the Bass Clef (Top row lines, bottom row spaces)
Level Three: Ledger Lines (Top row Treble Clef, Bottom row Bass Clef)
Level Four: Chords (Top row major, bottom row minor)
Level Five: Keys (Top row Sharps, Bottom row Flats)
 Keys (Top row major, Bottom row relative minor)


I could see modifying this to include intervals as well, rhythm values, just by changing the alphabet cards to number cards.