Dot Composing

I must confess that I love teaching 16th notes.  That's weird, isn't it?  I know.  I know.  There are so many great activities for these rhythmic wonders and so many great ways to practice them!  My kids also love reading and performing them.

Fourth Graders have recently learned "Chicken on a Fencepost".  We learned the melody, played a fun game with a rubber chicken and then deciphered the rhythm.  In this piece we discovered quarter notes, eighth notes and 16th notes.  Our next activity was to compose with dots.

Students decided how many sounds they wanted to hear on each beat and placed the same number of dots into "beat boxes".  Then they wrote the notation for their creations and we performed some of them as a class.

Dot composing is an easy way to get your music students to become composing utilizing rhythm work. Stickers or dabbers are great for this activity that can be used many times in your classroom.

This was a great way to reinforce the four 16th notes and to get them thinking about cadences and how a piece sounds "finished".

Dot composing is an easy way to get your music students to become composing utilizing rhythm work. Stickers or dabbers are great for this activity that can be used many times in your classroom.

One of my favorite parts of this project is the titles the students create.  I explain that somewhere in their title they have to use the word "dot".  Here are some of the clever ones I saw this year:

Dot Road Anthem
I’m Dotty and I Know It
Dot This Down
We Dot the Beat
The Dot of the Tiger
Party Like You are a Dot Star
Jesus Loves Dots
Just Dot It
Can’t Dot This
What Does the Dot Say?
Dot Me Maybe
Such creative minds!  I just loved doing this project with them.  I think next time I am going to try it with dabbers.  I'm not sure it will be as forgiving as it is impossible to erase the dab marks, but I think it will still be fun.

 Teachers: Download the worksheet here.

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Dot composing is an easy way to get your music students to become composing utilizing rhythm work. Stickers or dabbers are great for this activity that can be used many times in your classroom.


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5 comments:

  1. GarlandMarch 29, 2014 at 4:02 PM

    I love this! The titles they came up with are hilarious too!

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  2. Steph March 31, 2014 at 11:40 AM

    This is great! Thanks so much for sharing!
    - Staytuned

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  3. AnonymousApril 29, 2014 at 7:52 PM

    That's adorable! I can't wait to try this out. Thanks for sharing!

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  4. AnnMay 6, 2014 at 6:49 PM

    Thanks so much for sharing this idea! I used it with my 4ths as a pre-spring break filler when I didn't want to get into anything new, and it went fine. For the last week or so, however, I've been using it with 3rds, who have recently been working on 4 16ths, and 2nds (just quarter and 2 8ths, plus the option to leave a box empty for a quarter rest). They are loving it, and I am loving seeing them make the connections between the notes and the visual representations - the 3rds especially have been quick to catch on and often beat me to the punchline.
    My kiddos aren't as creative as yours, but my favorite title so far was the highest vote-getter for the class example composition in 2nd grade this morning: The Dot Ness Monster.
    Again, Thanks for sharing! It's a great idea!
    ~Ann in NC

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