Big Black Cats

Big Black Cat notebook
Big Black Cats flipchart

Process:    

• Sing song for students several times
• Discuss why the cats are arranged like they are (shows the pitch moving down)
• Ask the students to show the pitch direction on phrase 1, 2, and 4
• Add jogging movement on phrase 3
• Using the interactive board, write the rhythm of the words for phrase 1 using icons for quarter notes - discover where the quarter rest would go
• Continue with the remaining phrases
• The next page does the same with the actual notes
• Following pages show the entire song with stick notation and then regular notation
• For a fun ending, ask students to walk on the quarter notes, being sneaky like a cat, jogging on the 3rd phrase. You can add a "meow" on the rest.

EQ: How can we read and write rhythm patterns?

Assessment: Assess individual students as they come to the board to write the rhythm of each phrase. You could also assess when they move to the quarter and eighth notes at the end.

Extension: Find a similar song/poem and write the rhythms of each phrase. "2, 4, 6, 8, Meet me at the Garden Gate" is a good example of one.