______ "Beats per measure"
(Top #)
______ "Gets the beat"
(Bottom #'s code)
I explained that you read the bottom number like a code, and that when you see a "4", you say "quarter note"... and then you finish the script.
The students were getting the hang of it and reading time signatures like champs! I have been working with them on reading rhythms, so I put the rhythm of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" on the board and had them read it without putting the words up. After we practiced it, I wrote the words under the rhythm and had them sing the song with me.
***THEN***
I started dancing the waltz. I showed the girls how to hold their hands and showed the boys how to hold theirs. In the last hour of the day, I called two girls up to the front and then two boys and had them face each other. I told them they didn't have to touch but they did need to face each other and put their hands up. After a while, there were students everywhere pairing off!! We were all laughing and waltzing and singing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" and then I heard a "Miss Fitch?" I turned around and saw little Adam, he asked "Can we actually do it? Can we touch?" My heart was meellllttttinnnnggggg! I told him he and his partner could do the real waltz if they wanted to, and then there was hardly a pair in the room who wasn't trying the waltz for real.
I kinda love my jobs...
